Winter is here

Hello again, well winter is well and truly here! Its just 4 degrees as I am writing these lines and with an Arctic wind coming down the the north the temperature is close to zero.

You will recall when I penned my last tales from the Corner Field Apiary that I had just finished all the early winter preparations.

So it seemed a good idea to complete them today. So wrapped up warm from the bitter wind I recruited brother Kens help and drove over to the Corner Field armed with four cut lengths of quilted foil covered insulation.

It was bitter walking down the bees the wind cutting through my three layers of of clothes!

The nursery where our girls live, looked deserted and locked up for the winter. The only sign of life was their small flock of sheep, who as usual bleated their welcome and came over to see if we had any nuts for them, sadly we had to disappoint them!

Once down in our copse it only took a few minutes with my brothers help to slide the insulation in between the hives and the wood pecker guard.

About a week earlier I had put on the mouse guards and as I had a close look, one of the ladies came out out our Elizabeth hive , did an about turn and very quickly went back in!

Nothing else to do now except a weekly visit to see help with my withdrawal symptoms and see that every thing looks OK.

Around Christmas time on a suitably sunny afternoon I will quickly lift the lid on all the hives and dribble some Oxalic Acid from a syringe along the top of the frames over the main swarms.

The acid does not harm the bees, but because the queen has almost or completely stopped laying eggs. It means that all the cells are empty and thus the horrible Varroa bugs have no where to hide

 ( in the summer they get sealed in with wax by the bees and latch onto the developing bee grub). Thus the Oxalic Acid can do its work and severely cut back their numbers.

We that's about it for now, I hope you are all well and I will write again soon.