Now, where did I get to?

It's been a busy couple of weeks here at Bee Central. More captured swarms, more artificial swarms, and many many bees. Chris and I have to remind ourselves not to complain about the amount of work involved because it is all so good, but it is easy to get a bit overwhelmed at times. Today, I finally managed to get numbers on all our hives so that we can keep track of which one is which. When we only had a few it was easy to tell them apart, but now we have so many I need a spreadsheet to keep everything in order. I do love a good spreadsheet. 

Over the last couple of weeks our efforts have been hampered slightly by wind and rain which has made it difficult to get the hives open to do our inspections. But we have still managed to collect three more swarms, including one which was hidden in the long grass on the allotment. We had gone to the allotment to collect another swarm, and didn't even realise this second one was there until we went through it with the strimmer. Fortunately most of the bees were unharmed, and seemed grateful to be rescued from their plight. I think they must have been there for some time as they were very small - a sign that they had used up all the honey that they fill themselves with before swarming. They're now safely tucked in a hive and will hopefully grow and flourish.

In between beekeeping we have made good progress on the allotment itself, digging over several beds and planting some small plants that I purchased at the farmer's market. There's still a good bit to do, but it feels very good to have made such headway. It's hard to get things done sometimes because there is so much at the allotment to distract me, like this 'bee hotel' that hangs on the shed where mason bees nest. You can see some of the tubes are filled, some of them have had a bee hatch out of them, and there is a bee that was just visiting emerging from the side. 

We have spent today clearing some land that will be used for beehives. It's very close to our best apiary so I'm hopeful that it will be very successful. John and Sue, our apiary hosts, have been very tolerant of our rapid expansion but it will good to clear some space so that they can get back into their garden! 

A week is a long time in beekeeping

Last week was a week of two swarms, our second and third of the year. On Monday we were called after work to a very small swarm on the same tree in St Helens that most of our swarms land on. They had been there some time, but we got the call late and then couldn't get there until after work. They were still on the branch so we got out the equipment and set about collecting them as usual. Being such a small swarm, we found the queen fairly easily and put her into the nuc. And then we found her again. And again. She really didn't want to stay! I had recently cleaned the nuc with soda crystals, so we wondered if there was a residual scent that was putting them off. The skep has never been cleaned and is full of a good bee-ish scent, so we tried that instead. We managed to get them in and from there moved them away and transferred them to the nuc. Hopefully the bees would accept it now as their new home.

Friday afternoon, another after work call out to another swarm. This one was slightly bigger, and strangely enough it wasn't on the 'swarm tree'. Instead it was on a branch of another tree nearby. Again, we hadn't been able to get there straight away due to work, and by the time we arrived it was starting to get chilly. The bees were quite grumpy at being interfered with and both Chris and I got buzzed at angrily. Despite that, these bees were actually pretty well behaved, and did all the textbook things that I've been told about and never seen. Chris got them in the skep first try, and immediately they flocked around the entrance and started fanning - a great sign that the queen is inside as they tell all the other bees that this is the place to be.

The bees all gathered round and were trying to get underneath the skep as well as through the entrance, but almost immediately set up a little marching train going from the bottom to the entrance above. Perfect! We waited a while and watched, and the small cluster of bees that had been left on the tree melted away before our eyes as the bees realised that the skep was their new home. After that, it was a simple manoeuvre to transfer them from the skep to a nuc and leave it in a safe place. Well done girls.

As we were in St Helens, we decided to check the nuc that we'd put Monday's swarm in to. Empty. The bees had obviously decided they'd rather go somewhere else, and flown off. Not a bee to be seen. It's the first time this has happened to me and it is rather disappointing. I can't help feeling slightly responsible as I washed the nuc - but I'm not going to be too hard on myself about it, because they were also very reluctant to go into the skep. Maybe the fact that they had been there some time meant that they had already found a better place? I guess we'll never know.

An Easter bonus from the bees

Easter Monday we managed to get out to check on some of the rest of the hives. One of the challenges of having so many now is that inspections - especially if something unexpected happens - can take quite some time. First thing was to take a look at the swarm we collected the other day. Although we didn't want to disturb them by taking the lid off, I wanted to see if there was any sign of activity at the front.

Oh yes, they were busy! It's really exciting to see them so active and I'm looking forward to getting a proper look at them next time. After that, it was on to proper inspections of the other hives at this site.

Bees have a very orderly society; each bee has its role. These two are performing their duties and evicting a wax moth grub. I know they do this but I've never seen it before, and neither had Chris. When they got the grub to the edge one of the bees flew off with it and dropped it unceremoniously on the ground. Fabulous to see!

This is our most established site and the bees here do really well. As evidenced by this hive below, which was busily producing queen cells ready to swarm. There's a high probability that this is where the swarm on Good Friday came from. (Queen cells point downwards, Chris is holding the frame upside down here).

So, a queen cell means an artificial swarm into a nuc. But wait, what's this? More queen cells?

This hive did a similar thing last year, and we had lots of swarms to deal with. This year we are determined to manage the situation better and so instead of leaving these beautiful queen cells for the bees to deal with (often the bees will destroy unwanted cells, or a new queen will go round and destroy her rivals) we have pre-empted things by splitting this hive in to four. It's a bit more of a risk but we are still aiming to increase our hive count rather than maximise honey production.

These girls had plenty of space on the other side of the hive but had decided instead to build a load of wild comb in the gap here. (Yes, we should have filled it but we didn't have a dummy board). So when we lifted the lid, we broke the comb and the bees were straight in there to get their honey back. 

And here, you can see that one of the cells was filled with pollen. When bees store pollen they head-butt it into the cells and you can see that there are layers of different colours and type of pollen. Isn't it beautiful?!

I'm hoping to document more of our beekeeping adventures here on the blog this year, especially as we expand our number of hives. The bees are endlessly fascinating and I hope you think so too.

Beekeeping begins for real

We've already been inspecting most of our hives and have been optimistic about their progress through the winter and into spring. Yesterday we got the chance to inspect the last three which hadn't been opened this year. Surprising doesn't really cover it!

The first hive we inspected was number 16. The sheer number of bees was incredible - they're doing really well. It's really full and we shall be looking to put a super on them soon to give them more space.

Beekeeping was a team effort as we were accompanied by our friend Henry, as well as Amanda and Jamie. Amanda received a bee suit for Christmas and this was her first chance to get it dirty. Beekeeping is not a particularly clean and tidy operation.

Luckily for me, having so many pairs of hands around to help meant that I was free to take photos. The girls were very tolerant as I got up close and personal with my phone to take some shots. I like to make the most of it, because as we get busier my chances to do this will be less and less.

So, first inspection done and all looking very positive. On to the next hives, which were moved here last week from one of our Newport apiaries due to some building work taking place. Both hives showed signs of bringing on new queens, so we performed artificial swarms with them both. This involves taking the existing queen out, putting her into a smaller hive (a nuc), then leaving the nuc in place and moving the old hive with bees in to another spot. All the flying bees should then return to the nuc, so we will be left with half the bees in each hive. It sounds straightforward, but the most complicated bit is finding the existing queen to move her. Sometimes queens are really easy to spot, but neither of these wanted to be found and we had to go through both hives several times to catch them and this took quite a while. One split was fairly straightforward, so now we just have to wait and see what happens with the new queen. The second split was a bit more complex, as the queen we removed looked very small - possibly a virgin queen. This suggests that the old queen had died and the bees had replaced her. However, there were still queen cells with eggs, so we risked either the new queen destroying her competition, or another queen hatching and the bees swarming away. Doing an artificial swarm like this will hopefully give us the best chance of keeping all our bees.

This all took much longer than we were expecting, but it had been a great introduction for our new beekeepers and a great chance for them to see lots of action. But the day wasn't over yet! Chris' phone rang several times as we were packing up, so he returned the call to be told 'we've seen a lot of bees flying at the bottom of the garden.' You can never be certain about swarms unless the person calling you is a beekeeper, but as we weren't far away we popped along to have a look. Oh my. A huge swarm of bees on the same tree that we collected most of our swarms from last year.

Another team effort - we all took turns in brushing the bees off the branch and into the nuc. There were certainly plenty of bees for us all to have a go. Once most of the bees get the idea then they will sort themselves out, but there were a lot of bees trying to go through a very small entrance so it did take some time.

The bees are all very calm, though, and I'm probably the least likely to get stung here than I am at any other point. For a bee to sting they have to bend themselves in half, but before swarming they've already stuffed themselves full of honey, so they really can't bend very easily. I did get one try and sting my leg, but that was mostly because she got caught up in my trousers rather than any real anger.

There were so many bees that in the end Chris and Henry took the lid off the nuc to try and brush some of them in, and I think we got most of them. At any rate, those that weren't safely collected will find their way back to the hive they originally came from. And there is our first swarm of the year! Apparently we missed being the first on the island by one day, but this really isn't a bad start. I wonder what the rest of the year will hold...

Tales from the allotment

Just like beekeeping, allotmenting came into my life with Chris. I think it was the third time we'd met when I went to see him on his allotment. Little did I know then! These days we tend the allotment together, as well as growing a small selection of vegetables at home. Last year was so busy that neither of us managed to do as much down here as we'd have liked, and the wet weather has certainly hampered our efforts so far. We managed to get out last weekend and start digging over one of the beds, and we decided to head down again today and make a bit more progress.

After checking most of our hives last weekend, we were hoping to do some more today but the weather was too cold. The bees were out and about but there were showers of rain and hail that made us keep running for shelter. If the weather picks up again hopefully we'll be able to get some more checks done next weekend.

The bees are quite happy to come and see what we're doing, and often sit and rest in front of us. And of course I am quite happy to whip out the camera and take a few photos!

This little slow worm was hiding in some of the long grass. Chris rescued it and put it safely in the greenhouse.

The allotment has two long beds and a bramble hedge down one side. Over last weekend and today, we have been digging over the beds on one side and reclaiming them from the grass that is trying to take them over, as well as chopping back the brambles. It's a brutal job, and at the moment everything looks quite brown and untidy. It's very satisfying, though, to see the spaces start to appear and the pile on the bonfire grow. We're going to have to be realistic about what we can achieve this year, because work and bees already take up a lot of our time, but I'm hopeful that we can keep on top of things and grow some good crops.

I'm learning to pace myself and take a lot of breaks for tea in the shed. And after our work today we stopped for an ice cream and admired the view. What a lovely way to spend our Sunday.

Life right now: beekeeping

Beekeeping started off as the thing that Chris did. Then I got involved, and somewhere last year it became a massive part of our life together.  I can talk the talk about slow living and being close to nature, but this is walking the walk - and I have the stings to prove it. Maybe they are to remind me that this is reality; I don't just get up and go to work in an office, this is real life and it's happening now. With the coming of spring and some properly warm weather it is also time to acknowledge that this is going to take significant chunks of our free time over the coming months. This weekend we began our first proper inspections to see how the bees had coped through the winter and if there were signs of new life.

This weekend we have checked on 13 out of our 16 hives. As you can see, the bees are pretty comfortable with us, and us with them! It is still slightly stunning to have a bee land on you, but once I remembered they just wanted somewhere to rest for a minute then it was easy to just let them get on with it. If you look closely at this bee you can see she's been out collecting pollen and is carrying it back to the hive in little 'baskets'.

So, for the first time this year we got out the smoker and had a proper look inside the hives. We were looking for good numbers of bees, new stores of honey, and eggs and larvae which is a sign that there is a queen who has started laying. We've been seeing lots of pollen going into the hives so we were very hopeful. Chris is also trying out his new beekeeping outfit - wearing a whole suit is a bit of a pain, so he's gone for a hat and veil, worn over two layers of long sleeves. Much easier to get on and off, and I am tempted to do the same. (It also means you can wash your layers, which is excellent because they do get very mucky).

Pleasingly, all of our hives so far have got eggs and larvae in all stages of development - our queens are up and running. Some of the hives have more bees than others, but that was how they ended last year so it is not a cause for concern. What was most satisfying was that some of the hives we were most worried about - including this little one above, and the two that we rescued from the flooding over the winter - were all in good shape. We've removed the fondant food from most of the hives now, but we'll be looking to put new frames in and encouraging some of the colonies to make new honeycomb so we will have to give them some sugar syrup to help them along.

Watching the bees flying in and out is still one of the most relaxing things I know. They don't seem to mind me at all and just get on with their business, swooping past to drop onto the landing board and trot in to the hive.

As it gets busier it will be harder for me to take photos as we do our inspections, but for now I am enjoying getting to know our girls again and remind myself of all the things we have to do for them. Here's to a wonderful summer.

Beekeeping in winter

The first question anyone asks me about our bees is "what do they do in the winter?"

And the answer to that is - pretty much the same as us. They stay indoors, hunker down and wait patiently for spring. In the meantime, their food source is sadly depleted as there is no pollen or nectar around so we help them along by feeding them. At the moment we are checking the hives every few weeks, quickly lifting off the lid and putting a slab of fondant on the crown board. As it gets warmer we will start feeding with sugar syrup but in cold weather the fondant is better as it won't freeze.

It's too cold to take the frames out, so we can only assess how the hives are doing by the bees who pop up to see us as the lid comes off. We have good numbers of bees in all the hives, and they've been doing a good job of eating the fondant. (It's the same stuff you cover cakes with.) In a couple of hives there wasn't even any sign of the plastic bags, which was most confusing until we realised the girls had obviously tidied them away and out of the front door to be blown away on the wind. 

The bees do fly out on sunny days even when it's not very warm. Just like us, they like to make the most of the sunshine and get some fresh air. We've seen them bringing in pollen in and they are enjoying all the flowers that are starting to blossom. It won't be long before spring is here in full force and they can start gathering nectar as well.

Busy little bees

Things have gone quiet here on the blog front lately, and as usual it isn't for the lack of anything to write about, but because life has suddenly become so busy that there hasn't been time to sit down and put some words + photos together.

When I first met Chris and he told me he kept bees, I didn't really have any concept of what it meant. He became known as 'bee-man' when I talked about him to my friends, and it was one of those things that sounded interesting in a vague sort of way. Mostly I loved his enthusiasm for it, the way that he made bees sound so engaging and his plans for a bee empire. I helped with the honey collection at the end of last summer, but didn't really get involved apart from that. 

Bee-keeping season rolled around in the spring, and it was time to start inspecting hives again. Chris decided to do it at the weekend and invited me along to watch (with my camera, of course). I borrowed a bee suit and away we went. 

Bees are amazing. They are surprisingly calm when you lift the lid and start having a look, and many of them will just carry on with their work while you do yours. I watched Chris doing his inspections and took lots of photos.

Chris pointed things out to me (can you see the queen in the picture below?) and after a while I stopped taking so many photos and started to hold a frame, or help by using the smoker. I started to pick up the terminology, and understand what we were looking for. It was a very proud moment when Chris asked me to lift out a frame by myself and check it, before carefully lowering it back in. These bees are his babies, and I was honoured to be trusted with them.

Since those early inspections, it has been a steep learning curve as our original four hives started showing signs of wanting to expand, so Chris carried out some 'artificial swarms'. This left a queen egg in the old hive, and took the old queen and half of the bees into a new hive. Four became seven, and all was looking promising. Then the swarms began! And this is what has kept us so busy over the last few weeks:

Sometimes bees decide to swarm by themselves, and they will cluster on a tree or post while they look for a new home. When this happens - and someone spots it - Chris gets a phonecall and we drop everything and rock into action. The theory behind swarm collection is simple - the bees follow the scent of the queen, so get as many as you can into your basket and hopefully if the queen is in there, all the other bees will go in too. In practice we rarely seem to get the queen first time, and not all of them have been in such convenient locations as this tree. 'All of them', you ask? Our original four hives, with artificial swarms and 'incomers', are now a total of 17. Not all of them will produce honey this year, and we are braced for one or two to do less well, but even so - I keep having to pinch myself. 17 hives?!

I confirmed my status as bee-keeper rather than bee-photographer last weekend. Chris got a call for a swarm, and he couldn't go. The only way for us to get it was for me to go by myself - so I did. With a bit of help from Chris' mum (also a bee-keeper) who kept a close eye on me, I did it! These bees (above) are now safely in their new home. Their queen isn't laying yet, but there is still time and we are hopeful that they will do well.

In the midst of all this excitement, I totally missed that June 6th was the third anniversary of my most major surgery. As we sat on the Downs earlier, enjoying a picnic lunch after a morning of bee-inspecting, I couldn't help but reflect on how far I have come and how much my life has changed. Even this time last year, if you had told me how I would be spending my time and how good I would be feeling, I would have thought you were being ridiculous. I count my blessings every day, and there are many.