Seasonal Greetings 2004

I hope now with all the festivities past we can settle down to some serious beekeeping. Did you check your bees over the Christmas break? With all the mild weather we have had it is a good idea to heft your hives to have some idea as to how much stores the bees have. If you feel the hive is ‘light’ then some action needs to be taken. The books say feed sugar candy but to those that have tried making it, it is not the easiest to make. It is far easier to buy a block of baker’s fondant and feed this to the bees. I usually fill an old margarine container with the fondant. I cut a hole the size of a 10p coin in the lid. This is so the fondant doesn’t slurp down through the ‘feed’ or porter escape hole and over the frames. The bees if they want extra stores will soon find your offering but be warned that once you start feeding you may have to keep this going until spring nectar is available. However over feeding will clog the brood box with stores and therefore restrict the queen laying. It is all a question of balance.

A good idea to check your supers for wax moth- both types. One of the easiest ways of eradication is to put all your comb in a chest freezer and freeze them for two days. At this point why not clean up the top bars of the frames also scrape and clean the inside of super boxes also queen excluders. Keep all the ‘scrapings’ and render together. It can be surprising how much this can amount to and how useful a commodity wax is especially as ‘trade in’ for foundation.

If you have any damaged equipment now is the time to repair it. If the item is beyond economic repair then be bold and scrap it. Hopefully this is a rare incident. Make up new equipment. How about making some open mesh floors? There are numerous designs available, I understand. Open mesh floors (OMF) are going to form a valuable front line method of varroa control. It is said that 20% of all varroa mites fall off bees or comb within the first 3-4 days after hatching. With OMF the mites fall straight through whereas with a solid floor the mites wait for a passing bee, hitch a lift and in no time are back on comb!

If any beekeeper keeps records of natural mortality mite drops either on a day by day basis or even on a weekly basis would they contact me. The Bee unit is looking for field information to compare with their findings.

Finally, I noticed on Saturday (3rdJan.) that hazel catkins were out. They look as if they had been out for some time ( possibly a week before this date) Is this a record ? Is it going to be and even earlier Spring start than 2003? or possibly a another bumper honey year. We will have to wait and see, but it does make all the tasks above the more urgent.

Best wishes for 2004

Robin Hall