Hello again, well the end of the years
is nearly here but the weather as I am sure you will have noticed
does not know if its on its head or its other end , if you will
excuse the expression. But the the topsy turvery weather has given me
both an opportunity and a worry for my girls in the Cornerfiled
Apiary.
On the 23rd of December it
was a lovely sunny winters day and as I drove home with my good lady
at the end of the Christmas shopping day The car temperature gauge
told me it was eleven degrees.. Ideal for opening the hives for a
brief moment to treat them with the Oxalic Acid I talked about in my
last Blog..I had already been doing my regular visits though November
and the final winter defence I mentioned in the November blog was
in place, the mouse guards and insulation.
But the many warm days also worried me
because if the the bees were more active because of the balmy winter,
but could not collect much nectar or pollen then there was a worry
that they may consume much more of their winter stores and run out
well before the first spring flowers are coming into bloom and this
could cause the swarm to starve!
Fully prepared we headed over to the
hives with both the Acid and some fondant to give each swarm an early
Christmas present, some fondant. This we put on top of one of the two
cutouts provided and cover it with a small plastic cover . The bees
can then get to it and if they need the food lick it to their hearts
content. When I first used it in my first winter I was amazed how
quickly the lump of fondant disappeared!
Georgina came with me as two hands are
a lot easier than one when it comes to removing and replacing the
wire guards and insulation. The first hive we opening was the Queen
Anne swarm, I was hoping and expecting to see most of the girls in a
tight ball just under the lid, but no! I could only see a few. Never
the less I could not have the top open long so I applied the Acid to
the tops of the frames replaced the lid and then put the fondant in
place , along with another empty super as a spacer before the roof
went on. Not a good start! Where they OK? What else should I or could
I do!
No sign of dysentery on the external
landing stage , so it was not the killer that befell one of hives
last year . If for some reason the swarm had colapsed should I
amalgamate it with a healthy one, No was the answer if they had
another thus far unidentified disease then I would be spreading to !
So in the end I decided there was
little I could do but wish that my Christmas present would be that
the swarm is going to be OK!
With trepidation I opened the other
hives and one after another they were all fine a, up in the top of
the “super” and looked in fine fettle. We treated them all and
put some fondant on just in case.
So thats it really now for with regards
to they are fully protected and with some emergency food if they need
it. |I will of course be doing my normal weekly visits to see they
look OK and I have resolved that on the next warm day I will open up
“Elinor” again and see if there is any change.
Well the days are lengthening The
Christmas festivities are looming and I have started to think about
the new the hive that my allotments want me to put down their next
year So spring cannot be that far away now!
I hope you are all well and I will
write again soon.
