The Heckington Show

I spent a really enjoyable day on Saturday at The Heckington Show on  the bee stand.
Considering Heckington is a village in rural Lincolnshire, it is a huge show which runs over a full weekend.  It has been going in excess of 100 years and judging by the numbers there on Saturday will continue to do well.

The bee stand was continually busy from the time the show opened until I caved in at around 5pm.  So many inquiries it was difficult to fit in the odd cup of tea, and the odd cup of tea is an essential as far as I am concerned.

The observation hive was a great favourite, everyone trying to spot the Queen, especially the children, and although the Queen
was marked she still proved illusive.

An incredible amount of interest, no doubt driven by the media focus on bees and their plight over the last couple of years, its nice that people care enough to ask how the bees are coping.






Its very rewarding helping and passing on knowledge to new beekeepers and those wishing to become beekeepers.
With luck I will be at the show again next year
and will see some of you there.

Wannabee a beekeeper 3, The Bees

As a new beekeeper, your first colony is very exciting and therefore deciding on which option to go for requires a lot of thought.

I collect quite a few swarms during the course of a season, they are isolated from my working colonies they are treated for varroa and requeened.  For this reason I have always been opposed to beginners collecting swarms, as age of Queen, temperament of the colony and level of desease/varroa are all unknowns and not something that you should have to deal with as your introduction to beekeeping.

Do you purchase a Nuc ( nucleus), a mini colony ready to move up to a full hive, should it have a new season or late autumn overwintered Queen.  Top right is one of my stock 5 frame nucs, they will have starter colonies installed late in the year with a new Queen.  These are overwintered and form the basis of my earliest nucs and colonies. I also produce early nucs with current season Queens.   With a nuc a new beekeeper can grow in confidence as the colony expands, and if acquired early enough may produce a crop.

or

Do you buy a colony that has recently moved up from a nuc and is now on 6-7 frames of brood, very soon it is likely to require a Queen excluder and the first super, with the right weather conditions and a good flow it will be thinking about swarming.  Its a fast learning curve with this option, things move very quickly in the hive and the bees don't wait while you stumble over decisions.  A mentor who can help you through the first season is an essential.

or

Do you purchase a full working colony at its height. This is for either the brave or foolhardy, possibly both.  There will be 60-70,000 bees, 11 frames of brood, supers filling.  You would have to deal with probable Queen cells, artificial swarming and then uniting, no amount of book reading or course attending can prepare you for dealing with a colony in full flow on your own, it has to be experienced and for a beginner it would be daunting.


Wherever you buy your bees from, you should visit the apiary, at least once.  You should handle the bees you are going to buy, the actual colony.  The beekeeper you buy them from should be happy to mentor you through your first season or at least be at the end of the phone if you need help/advice.

Pollen

Some of my colonies are bringing in  huge amounts of pollen right now, I'm sure they know what they are doing.  The picture is from a brood frame in one of those colonies.
The enormous variations of colours shows what a diverse range of plants the bees are foraging from.
The lightest is almost white to the darkest black, which is almost certainly poppy.
There is a colour chart in Wikipedia and although it is probably North American and incomplete for the UK, it does give a guide to what is coming in.

Fame at last

I was googling , (is that really a word), around the other day and stumbled on this.  I have been a member of River Cottage Landshare since it started, but had discontinued my blog on their site due to its limited features, nice to be highlighted though.

In Bingley ms_phoenix was looking for a plot to expand from her balcony and matched with catvirago who had a private allotment. They now share the produce. Do you know of any successful matches? Please email them in toinfo@...
Lincsbees is looking to start 3 new apiaries in the East of England near Spalding. They've got a great blog with some fascinating pictures. Contact them for more information.
There can't be many more rewarding acts then planting a seed in the ground and watching how, with a little sunshine and light rain, it sprouts, grows and ripens into something delicious and nutritious. Growing your own veg truly is one of life's great pleasures! This DVD gives you some of the top River Cottage tips to produce your own haul of tasty seasonal veg... "You may well find that your veg patch turns food into something you do rather than just what you eat." Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
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Wannabee a beekeeper 2, you've been framed

Once you have your hive, you are going to need frames.
Frames are where the bees will build their comb, brood frames will contain all the eggs, larvae, metamorphising bees and a small amount of honey and pollen.  Super frames will contain all the honey and perhaps a small amount of pollen.
The picture shows all the parts that make up a frame, one topbar with wax retaining strip, two sidebars, two bottom bars, 11 frame pins and a sheet of wax.

Once assembled your frame should look like the picture on the left, the frame must be straight and square and the wax must be flat.  The bees will draw their comb on the wax, if the wax is not flat nor will the comb be.

If you have built the frame correctly and the bees have done their part, after a short while the frame will be covered in drawn comb.  This frame is ready for the bees to clean and then the queen will start laying, one egg per cell.

I use just two types of frames, in the brood box I have DN4's, as in deep national type 4.  The type 4 is a Hoffman self spacing frame, which means when they are pushed together the raised shoulder on each sidebar creates a gap that is exactly right for 'bee space', the space required for bees to work back to back.  It is usual to have 11 frames in a national, it is possible to fit 12 but it is very tight and when extracting frames, bees will be 'rolled', which they do not take kindly to.
In the super I use SN1 frames, as in shallow national type 1.  The type 1 has straight sides and is not self spacing.  I have only 10 frames, sometimes 9 in the supers, this encourages the bees to draw deeper comb, deeper comb = more honey.  I use standard wired wax in both types of frame.