Beekeeping - Short and Sweet

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Honeybee Swarm Season is Here! S2:E15 May 10, 2019

Show notes

It’s Easter weekend, so a very Happy Easter to you all. Here in Norfolk, we’re expecting temperatures to rise to nearly 20 degrees centigrade, that’s around 68 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s definitely T-Shirt weather and time to get some decent Spring inspections carried out.
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We’ve been waiting patiently since late Winter for our warmer weather to kick in, it’s been a little up and down with only the odd day warming up before dropping back down to what, in reality, is actually closer to the more normal, average temperatures for this time of year.

With the rise in temperature comes the inevitable start of the swarm season and it’s something we can all work with to ensure, for the most part, we don’t lose swarm after swarm from our hives and miss out on an early Spring crop of honey.

Today I wanted to take a look at the swarming process and look at opportunities we beekeepers can take advantage of, rather than viewing the coming weeks with dread and worry.

For the beginner beekeeper, understanding the process of swarming and knowing key features will allow you to gain control of the situation by knowing what is happening within the colony and how you can affect the outcome to best suit your beekeeping priorities. Now this may simply be that you don’t want any swarms or increases, perhaps you have a couple of colonies and that suits you very nicely. Alternatively, you might be looking to increase from a single colony that you purchased last year as a nucleus colony and you’re looking to grow the number of colonies you have this Spring. Of course, for the more experienced beekeepers out there you’ll already have a good handle on what’s likely to happen over the coming weeks and you’ll obviously have a plan and all the equipment you need at hand and prepared ready for one of our busiest periods of the beekeeping season. It doesn’t do any harm to just recap on the various factors with swarming, so I hope all you seasoned Pro’s out there will keep listening too, who knows I might say something that helps or you might find yourself dropping me a message to tell me a better way of dealing with swarms.

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April Beekeeping Q&A S2:E14 May 03, 2019

Show notes

Another week another challenge here in Norfolk. I’ve managed to tweak my recurring back problem again and that’s causing some fun issues for me, particularly putting my socks on, however, it happened after we moved around 50 of our colonies to the Oil Seed Rape pollination and I think it was probably just tiredness and no doubt laziness that caused it so I’m resting up for a few days and hopefully it will be fine. I really must look into some lifting gear to help move hives around more easily, perhaps that will be something I can report back on in a later podcast.

So this week is my regular Questions and Answers session, thank you to everyone over on my patreon page for submitting some really great questions for this month, and there’s lots of them so let’s get stuck into them straight away. First up with have a question from Ben Hoen, Hi Ben, thanks for the question.

Ben asks:

I have heard the reversing deeps (in a 2-deep 10-frame configuration) can help reduce swarm tendencies. True? If so, when's a good time to do that? And any advice on how best to do it and what to watch out for?

Context: I have 2 very strong hives (out of three) coming out of winter (they have 8 frames wide of bees in the top box). My concern is that they might not fill up the lower box and think they are out of space. One hive is not using the lower entrance at all currently. Both are 2 weeks into drone rearing and still appear to be fairly light when hefting them. I heard that by reversing the boxes you can encourage them to build up, filling up the less-full what would then be the upper box (after reversing it from its lower position), and therefore discourage swarming.

What do you think?

Hi Ben, I think you have almost answered the question for me. I’ve heard beekeepers talk about this as well although I’ve never practiced it myself. I think a lot depends on the type of bees you have and whether they fill the brood boxes fully or if there is additional available space that the bees can utilise. I would also say that a lot depends on your reasons for keeping the bees in a double brood box set up. For me, the vast majority of my bees are very happy in a single commercial brood box and I only double up if I intend splitting at some point during that season.

Focussing on your specific question and I’m in agreement with your comments, I suspect it may help with swarming if the bees have plenty of space in the bottom box because the brood nest will naturally move up into the top box and expand there, this will leave the bottom box relatively empty with stores in just some of the frames, the rest being put above the queen excluder in honey boxes or supers. By reversing the boxes you immediately give the brood area more space and the queen can move up and continue to lay in the newly available cells above. I suspect that’s the reason people say it can help reduce swarming. I hope that helps Ben.

Next up is a question from Charlie Edge

Charlie asks;

when would be the earliest you would commence splitting?

Also if you did an artificial swarm is there anything wrong with splitting the queen cells down into 2/3frame nucs instead of leaving 1 cell in the original brood box?

Hi Charlie,
That’s such a good question and perfectly timed for a lot of beginner beekeepers out there. Unless you have a specific set up for breeding and rearing bees I would say wait wait wait.

So many beekeepers attempt to split colonies way too early and they get set back by cold weather which almost seems to cause a bigger delay that if they’d left them a month before splitting. Smaller colonies, that’s the splits you’ve made, have to work so much harder than full sized colonies at regulating colony temperature and this early in the Spring the weather fluctuates so much that small splits can get dangerously cold at night, so my advice is to wait until t

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First Spring Beekeeping Inspections Get Started S2:E13 Apr 26, 2019

Show notes

Hi, I’m Stewart Spinks and welcome to Episode 59 of my podcast, Beekeeping Short and Sweet. We’re finally into some early Spring inspections and I’m gearing up to move some bees to their first nectar flow of the season.

Welcome back and this week has seen that lovely warm early Spring disappear down a rabbit hole and we’re once again back down to more normal temperatures for the time of year. A lot of days over the past week have been down into the single figures, temperature wise and the last couple of days have seen frosts on the truck windscreen which is as much frost as I think I saw all Winter.

I’ve been able to carry out inspections on all of my colonies during that warm spell and I have to say on the whole they are looking really strong and healthy, I have colonies with as many as eight frames of sealed brood ready to explode into life and with our main early nectar flow of Oils Seed Rape just starting to flower it looks as though we might see an alignment of good fortune and a decent early crop of honey.

That said, it’s way to early to be counting jars of honey on the shelf from a crop that’s not yet past 10% in flower, a lot can change between now and then and we have to be careful not to get too far ahead of ourselves.

I posted a lengthy video to my Patreon page showing my first inspections at the University apiary, overall it was a really good inspection but it did throw up a number of questions that I’d like to go over and hopefully give some explanation as to why I did some of the manoeuvres with the hives that I did.

If you haven’t seen the video, it’s available on my Patreon page, check it out here.
I carried out inspections on three very different colonies on video to show my approach to each one. The first was a straightforward single brood box colony, the second was an overWintered nucleus colony still in a nuc box and the third was a colony that had been under-supered for the Winter.

I obviously inspected all of the colonies in the apiary but these were the three I chose to show on the video.

The first colony was the one that had a massive varroa drop when I treated with Oxalic Acid in the Winter, they looked really well and were building up strongly. One of the benefits of this apiary site is the huge amount of early season pollen that’s available to the bees, this means strong, healthy brood and this year the bees were able to get out very early because the weather was so mild. This brings me to the main question that I’ve been asked since posting the video and it revolves around when to add a first super to a colony after Winter.

As with most things in beekeeping it boils down to a judgement call but you can make some initial assessments of the colony and that will help you in making that decision of whether to add a super and queen excluder or not.

When I inspected this colony it was obvious they had grown and were doing well but that alone isn’t enough to make me add a super. What I did notice however, was the large amount of sealed brood that was already present in the brood box which already had a large number of adult bees in it. With so much sealed brood it’s important to remember some of the time lines and numbers. A single frame of brood will produce enough bees to fill a couple of seams between frames so if they emerged over a few days apart they would quickly become congested in a single brood box. It’s easy to see in this colony that the brood had been sealed for several days prior to me inspecting so I would expect the workers to emerge around the time of the next inspection if I were doing weekly inspections. However, with the possibility of the weather preventing an inspection a week later it might be the case that I would inspect for nearly two weeks and by that time the bees would have definitely emerged filling the brood box, becoming congested and potentially triggering a&

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The Beekeeping Month Ahead - April S2:E12 Apr 19, 2019

Show notes

Welcome once again to my weekly podcast, That week seemed to fly by. I’ve been busy again at the workshop and when this podcast comes out to you on Friday I’ll be gearing up to head out to carry out first inspections on the remaining colonies I’ve not yet checked up on.
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I’m hoping the queen failures I encountered last week are the last of any immediate issues with our colonies. That will make a total of three failed colonies over Winter which is pretty good really in the big scheme of things.

Before I talk more about the colonies and my plans for the coming month I thought I’d update you on the progress out at the workshop.

Well, I seemed to have filled most of the available space pretty quickly. It’s starting to get a little cramped and I need to get a bit more organised. My main reason for taking so much equipment over there was to get it out of the rain. I need to make some repairs to a fair bit of very old equipment, mostly stuff I acquired when I first got started and is now starting to show it’s age. I have some old Langstroth floors that i bought as part of a job lot of Commercial beehive parts, what the beekeeper had done is screwed a piece of timber to the outside long edge on both sides and converted it to a square footprint to allow commercial and national brood boxes to sit on top. They work fine just like that but they are a little on the old side now and some of the wood had started to rot because water seeps in between the added pieces of wood and the main floor. It hasn’t helped with them being sat outside through the wetter months, although this Winter hasn’t been particularly wet or cold, even so, to sort them out I need them to dry out, hence I’ve moved them to the workshop where they are now sat prior to being repaired. There’s no point throwing them away only to have to buy new floors for my expansion plans.

I’m beginning to cultivate that “make do and mend” attitude lots of my fellow bee farmers have and I now understand why with the prices of beekeeping equipment seemingly increasing year on year. Even with price rises we could probably all do with a change in attitude regarding our throw away society, don’t repair it, just dump it and get a new one. We seem to have lost some of the skills in taking a broken thing and repairing it. Not everyone of course, Pete was telling me about an electric drill he managed to salvage because the battery had died and it’s previous owner just dumped it. Pete, for those of you who don’t know, has just started beekeeping and I’m mentoring in exchange for some help around the apiaries and at the workshop. It helps that he can bring hot coffee across the road to the workshop on his way to work but together we’ve made up a heap of kit recently and I’m excited to help him learn more beekeeping skills as the new season progresses.

If you’ve not got a mentor and you’ve only just begun beekeeping have a chat with members of your local association and see if you can go along to help out with a more experienced beekeeper some time. Stand, watch and listen, don’t be in too much of a rush to get your hands on frames, it’s amazing what you can learn from a more experienced beekeeper by watching how they handle their bees.

Anyway, back to Pete and the Drill, Pete managed to buy a replacement battery and the drill works just fine and it’s a decent brand too, so well done Pete for your “Make do and Mend” attitude.

It’s going to come in handy as I have a number of boxes that need mending too.

The workshop is about 10m by 12m so it’s nice size, some of you might have seen the recent videos shot in the workshop. I think it will become a makeshift studio when rain or cold stops us from getting into the bees&

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Selecting and Using a Beekeepers' Smoker S2:E11 Apr 12, 2019

Show notes

Hi I’m Stewart Spinks and welcome to episode 57 of my podcast, Beekeeping Short and Sweet. I’ve been inspecting this week carrying out first Spring checks on some my colonies and it got me thinking about how I use a smoker, so here are my thoughts.

Websites mentioned in today's podcast:
My Website: http://www.norfolk-honey.co.uk
My additional videos and up to date podcasts Page: Norfolk Honey Co at Patreon
The smokers I currently use available from Bee-Equipment online

Welcome once again to my weekly podcast, If you want to catch up with the very latest podcast do check out my Patreon page where you can get up to date with all of my content as we head into the new season.

The last couple of days have been lovely, Spring days, each day has that characteristically chilly start but as the sun burns through the clouds so the day warms up and around lunchtime I’m talking T shirt weather and that’s just fine for checking the bees. To be specific I’m looking at something like 14 degrees, it’s on the edge for beginner beekeepers, but most experienced beekeepers who can inspect relatively quickly can get into a hive see what they need to see and get out without too much disruption.

Also, and I know I’m repeating myself here but know exactly why you’re checking your colonies. Have a check list in your head or even write it down if you need a reminder.

Size of colony, Large or small?, Food, Do they have enough? Brood, Is there a nice brood pattern forming, Eggs, Can you see eggs in any of the cells? Drones, are there any drones or drone cells? Queen cells, Unlikely in early March but keep an eye open, it’s been warm! Queen, but only if she’s spotted, don’t waste time searching for her.

That’s probably all you need on your list to start with, you can see most if not all of these things as you move through the frames with bees on, quickly and quietly, causing the minimum amount of fuss as you go. Finish off by moving all the frames back in place and close the hive down again.

Remember to write up your inspection notes and grab cuppa while you think back to what you’ve seen and plan out the next steps.

Of course, you’ll already have checked over your notes prior to inspecting the colony so most of what you see shouldn’t be a huge surprise for the most part.

I’ve already picked out just three colonies that I intend to select as my queen rearing colonies. You have to be ruthless when selecting to raise queens, even if you have just three or four colonies, more often than not, one will stick out as a favourite or something about them will set them apart from the rest. It may be that they are super calm, or perhaps they produced more honey than the rest of your colonies put together last year. Whatever it is, if you just have a few colonies try to be very selective about the one you choose to raise new queens from. It will pay dividends in the end.

I have inspected a few hives this week, and for the most part all of them are doing fine, the warm Winter has allowed colonies to begin building up strongly and some colonies are filling with bees nicely. That’s not to say I’m going to rush out and add a couple of supers and a queen excluder, for me, it’s just too early still. There’s heaps of pollen coming in, mostly from willow now, bright yellow and covering the bees from tip to tail.

What I’m seeing are colonies with maybe 8 or 9 seams of bees and 4 or 5 frames of brood, a lot of that brood is capped and so when that emerges the colonies will have a sudden increase in bees and that’s when they are likely to need a little more space. That’s the point I shall add a queen excluder and super. Around 10 to 14 days time I would think and that’s way earlier than last year. We may be in for a good Spring, who knows?

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The Beekeeping BeeTradex Show 2019 S2:E10 Apr 05, 2019

Show notes

Hi I’m Stewart Spinks and welcome to episode 56 of my podcast, Beekeeping Short and Sweet. The start of the new beekeeping season is almost upon us and last weekend I travelled out of the County to the first major Trade show of the season, BeeTradex.

Links for this week's podcast mentions;
http://www.patreon.com/norfolkhoney
http://www.modernbeekeeping.co.uk
http://www.bees-online.co.uk
https://www.thorne.co.uk
https://www.carl-fritz.de
https://en.swienty.com
http://beefarmers.co.uk
http://www.northernbeebooks.co.uk
https://www.bee-craft.com/

So, last weekend was the first of the major beekeeping trade shows here in the UK, BeeTradex, it’s held at Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire here in the UK, although it’s becoming much more than that with various lectures, AGM’s and business meetings also being held at the venue. The weather was much warmer this year and this resulted in a huge turnout of beekeepers and the show hall was constantly busy. The really nice thing was that the hall was large enough to accommodate everyone with room to move about and around displays without constantly bumping in to each other.

The weather was a bit bright and breezy, heavy rain showers blew across the event fair frequently so it was great that everything was under one roof. Those people who were smart had bought advanced tickets as the queue for buying tickets at one point must have been 100 beekeepers long if not more. The main hall was bright and roomy as I said and apart from wanting to chat to equipment suppliers and manufacturers I was also there for the Bee Farmers Meetings which were being held from midday so my morning was a little bit of a whirlwind.

It was great to stop and chat with a few beekeepers who had seen my videos, particularly those who are supporters on my Patreon page, particularly Gregg and Jackie Palmer who were lovely. It was nice to hear Gregg’s plans for the coming season and chat about how he was enjoying his beekeeping.

I was funny to hear how many people were really surprised that I was so tall, I’m 6’3” but I assume you don’t get to see that on the videos, for those of you who did stop to say hello, now you know why I have back problems!

The actual trade show itself was well attended by suppliers, there must have been 50 or 60 stands and i would think there were well over two thousand beekeepers passing through the main doors. Add to this the lectures that were available it all added up to a great day out for everyone.

Some of the highlights for me on the day were actually meeting some old friends as well as making new friends as I wandered around the stands. I have to wish good luck to my very dear friend Sandra Gray who has just taken up the post of National Bee Inspector for the National Bee Unit. Sandra and I used to work together as seasonal Bee Inspectors and she is not only a fantastic beekeeper and inspector but a great administrator too so I’m sure she will do a fantastic job and with the ongoing challenge of the Asian Hornet incursion I’m sure she will have her hands full.

I also stopped at the Modern Beekeeping trade stand to chat with Paul Beardmore. Paul supplies the Honey Paw hives and the Zukan Apipasta that I’ve been using with very good results. It looks like he is expanding and has taken on the Modern Beekeeping business who sell the Paradise Honey Poly Hives and this will compliment his Honey Paw Langstroth hives as well as the various Zukan feed products and other bits of kit.

I tried to get a moment with the very nice people at Maisemore Apiaries, you’ll possibly remember they applied me with their own Commercial Poly Hives to try out in 2017. Those hives are doing great so far and the bees in them have come through the Winter strongly. I say I tried to chat with them because they were so busy I just couldn’t get anyone to stop for long enough to say hello, even Caroline was so busy she didn’t even see&

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Monthly Beekeeping Q&A March 2019 S2:E9 Mar 29, 2019

Show notes

This week sees the return of my regular monthly Questions and Answers podcast and we have some cracking questions as always.
Web addresses and links mentioned in todays podcast:
My Support page; www.patreon.com/norfolkhoney
My Website; www.norfolk-honey.co.uk

David at Buzzed Bees; www.gofundme.com/Rescued-Bees-Drowned-In-Mudslide
Near Native Bees - Bibba www.bibba.com
Apipasta Syrup and Fondant - www.happyvalleyhoney.co.uk

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Winter Honeybee Losses and How To Rebuild S2:E8 Mar 29, 2019

Show notes

Having just discovered my first overwintered queen less colony I wanted to discuss Winter losses and how to bounce back this Spring.

For the very latest Podcast check out my page here www.patreon.com/norfolkhoney
You can also sign up to my fortnightly newsletter via my website www.norfolk-honey.co.uk

Well, It’s been another week for record breaking temperatures here in the UK, we’ve hit temperatures in excess of 20 degrees centigrade where the seasonal average should be more like 6 or 7 degrees.

A lot has been made of the fact that last year we were in the grips of a very Icy blast from continental Europe which was named “The beast from the East” with overnight temperatures down in the negative double figures and snow and ice covering the hives, what an incredible change. It has given beekeepers a fantastic opportunity to get out and check colonies way earlier than anyone would normally suggest and this is where a dose of common sense is required. Temperatures are once again falling and the forecast is that there may even be snow next week in some parts of the UK.

I grabbed for one of the beekeeping books from my shelf that has a month by month guide for beginner beekeepers, each month has jobs to do and what to look out for. In the section for February it suggests hefting to gauge the weight and making sure the entrance is not blocked by dead bees and snow.

Sensibly, there is no mention of inspecting bee hives as you might expect.

If you’re a beginner beekeeper and have such a book or you’re looking online at what to do each month, remember it’s just a guide, you must take in to account the local conditions that you face and not just plow on with instructions without giving it some thought.

I’ve had probably the best Winter I can remember in a very long time, just one colony that appears queen less and without brood, all the rest are alive and well. Some of those colonies are a little on the small side and would possibly have succumbed in a harsher Winter but this year with the very mild weather and the addition of some fondant to help them along they have seen out February and now head into March.

They are a long way from being safe, March can be such a fickle month, one day warm and inviting, the next cold and harsh, so we have to be wary and not relax our guard but for the most part they should cope. Last year I wasn’t so lucky and suffered the lose of far more colonies, and it occurred to me that this can be such a very difficult time for beekeepers regardless of the number of colonies.

I’m always devastated when I lose a colony of honeybees even though I have nearly 70 and I’m sure it feels as bad if not worse if you are a beekeeper with just one or two colonies and suffer the lose of one or both.

Very often it’s not the beekeepers fault, colonies die out for a number of reasons and I’ve talked about these previously. Sometimes it is the beekeepers fault, maybe through lack of experience or bad timing but as long as it is learning experience and you’re able to take steps to try to prevent it happening again it can be viewed as a positive learning experience.

So having suffered this loss what do you do. Firstly, the hive or hives need to be blocked up and moved to a position ready for cleaning, whether it be one hive or ten hives, get them away from the apiary ready fro cleaning but first remember to block up the entrance, you really don’t want other bees robbing out a dead hive, again, I’ve discussed the reasons for this in previous podcasts but disease in honeybees spreads very quickly so don’t give it a helping hand by leaving the lid off the cookie jar.

Once you have the hive in a location for cleaning out the first step is to check out what was going on inside, it’s time to turn detective and try to work out what happened and why the colony failed to get through the winter.

When you take off the roof and crown board you may det&

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Crazy February Beekeeping Weather S2:E7 Mar 22, 2019

Show notes

Hi I’m Stewart Spinks and welcome to episode 53 of my podcast, Beekeeping Short and Sweet. As we head into the last week of February we’re expecting to be wearing shorts and T shirts as the crazy warm weather continues, the bees enjoy an early break from the Winter’s cold and I’ve finally found somewhere to expand and build my beekeeping business.

Welcome back to the podcast, the crazy weather continues, average top temperatures for February in our region are historically around 7 to 7.5 degrees C according to the Met Office data I was checking this morning and it looks likely we’ll double that this week with temperatures hitting 14 and possibly 15 degrees or higher. Winter hasn’t finished with us yet I’m sure, but I always look at February as the month where the Snow and Ice takes hold and we freeze our way into March but this year it looks like we’re on a mini heatwave as warm air is being dragged up from the Canary Islands and I’m sure lots of beekeepers will be jumping at the chance to have a look in their beehives.

This is where you expect me to say don’t inspect but I know some of you just can’t help yourselves so what I would say is make sure you’re going in with a plan and know exactly what you are looking for and why you’re inspecting. I’ve touched on why and how to inspect this early in the season before so I’m not going through all of that again today, just be sure to go carefully and quickly with your goal in mind.

I’ve been round all of my colonies and put fondant on the ones I wanted to feed. Everything’s looking good and with just the one colony currently being queen less we appear to heading out of February with plenty of strong hives for the start of the new season.

So I won’t be inspecting any bees this weekend, although I might have a quick look at the CBPV nuc I have at my allotment. I saw the bees flying from the nuc yesterday so they are still alive but I think the virus still has a firm grip on them. One of the benefits of living in the UK is we have a very active core of beekeeping associations all helping their beekeeping members to improve and develop their skills as beekeepers. One such association is the Cambridgeshire Beekeeping Association who hold an Annual one day event in March with guest speakers talking about a range of topics, this year I’m particularly interested to listen to Professor Giles Budge from Newcastle University who is talking about the ongoing research into Chronic Bee Paralysis Virus. This is the research to which I contributed a sample of my bees. Hopefully they can come up with a plan to help beekeepers who find this infection in their colonies.

The other reason for heading to the Cambridgeshire talks is they always provide a fantastic lunch! Food is never far away from my thoughts. On the subject of food, particularly food with honey as an ingredient, I saw a fantastic recipe for honey and peach pie on the tv last night. One of my favourite tv celebrity chefs, Rick Stein made this really simple dish so I’m going to give it a try and will post my efforts on video to the patreon page as normal. I hope those of you that have subscribe to the Patreon page have enjoyed my cookery exploits this Winter, I’ve certainly enjoyed making them. The Honey and Peach Pie looks really simple to make and has very few ingredients, I’ll post a blog with my efforts and recipe in the next couple of weeks so you can have a go too if you want to.

It’s going to be a busy couple of months coming up as I’ve been putting off some essential preparatory work for the new season. I’ve still not made up all of the frames and hive parts that I’ve recently bought and there is still some cleaning to be done. The reason for the delay is also the reason I have some exciting news to share this week. I don’t very often share personal stuff but it’s all relevant beekeeping challenges and I’m sure I’m not alone in the frustrations I’ve faced over the past few years.

As yo

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My Beekeeping Podcast One Year On S2:E6 Mar 08, 2019

Show notes

Today I’m celebrating my podcast’s first birthday! Fifty Two podcasts recorded and published.

I’ve covered quite a varied number of beekeeping topics over the past year and also attempted a few interviews which have been a little nerve wracking! I’m not a journalist or professional presenter, just a beekeeper looking to share my knowledge and views with other interested listeners. Hopefully I’ll be able to try out a few more interviews in the coming year.

You may be aware that I am sending out a fortnightly beekeeping newsletter with the same name as the podcast, Beekeeping Short and Sweet, it’s early days at the moment and I’m trying to keep it light and image rich, so no massive pages of text to trawl through just a few interesting pictures with hopefully some useful links. I’ll be promoting various events and offers through the newsletter too, so do sign up, it’s quick and easy, just go to my website and leave your details when the sign up pop up appears.
Websites I referred to in the podcast:
www.norfolk-honey.co.uk
www.beetradeex.co.uk
www.scientificbeekeeping.com

Talking of events, we are fast approaching the Spring Sales events here in the UK, The first major event on Saturday 9th March is called BeeTradex, billed as The Biggest Beekeeping Show in 2019 it is a one day trade show with various lectures and talks being given. It’s held at the agricultural show grounds at Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire. It’s also a chance to pick up a bargain from one of the beekeeping equipment manufacturers or suppliers as they usually have discounts available. One of the nicest things about BeeTradex is that it gives me the chance to catch up with friends within the industry and also chat with fellow beekeepers who I would not normally have a chance to get together with. If you’re going along please do stop me and say hello. I’ll pop the Beetradex website link in the show notes.

With the temperatures on the rise, the bees have certainly been getting out and about, clusters have been breaking up, not that we’ve had many very cold days but the nights have been chilly falling to below freezing. I was out putting some fondant on some colonies a few days ago and was happy to see so many colonies with large numbers of bees, I would say an average of six seams of bees but some were around 9 seams which is excellent. That can obviously lead to a food shortage, particularly if the colony gets quite active in the warmer weather but fails to find any early food source. We’ve had lots of snowdrops in flower locally and now the crocus is exploding into flower with this milder weather. A vital source of food and we’re very lucky to have so many crocus plants flowering near our apiaries. It seems to be the number one Spring flowering plant of choice for our Norwich City council who appear to have planted millions of bulbs over the last few years all around our fine City.

That said, it is still February and the weather can as easily turn cold and wintery again so let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. I spoke to a beekeeper a couple of days ago who said if the weather stays warm he was going to inspect at the weekend, I think this is a little too soon, I’m certainly not going to be inspecting my colonies although there are a couple I’m keeping a close eye on.

The first colony is the nuc I have in my allotment apiary, that’s the one with the Chronic Bee Paralysis Virus, I popped some fondant on them last week, they’re still alive although the entrance was badly clogged up with dead bees so I think they are still suffering. I’d like to get into them as early as possible and see what’s going on.

The other colony is at one of my out apiaries, I was out treating with the Oxalic Acid trickle method a while back and as I finished treating this particular hive and was putting the roof back on a larger than normal bees flew across my eye line. The more experienced beekeepers out there will&

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