Early Spring in the Apiary

Looking back at my last post  from Breeze Hill  in 2018 it was as you recall a year of the "Beast from the East and then If I remember correctly about five weeks with out rain, as result we lost all our bees from our out apiary in Irchester  ( The Corner Field) and very low production  from our remaining colonies in Breeze Hill.  This was mainly due to no rain and the plants producing very little nectar for the girls  to forage on.
But as we begin our  eight  season of bee keeping with our sole Apiary at Breeze Hill the early spring signs are good . All three Colonies have come through the winter, I had fed them at the end of last year  and again both after Christmas and again at the end of February with Apicandi  a synthetic food that contains all the essential vitamins and  food supplements to give the bees a kick start for the new season.
The first hive I inspected ,the "Jane" colony was in the process of producing a new queen, how do I know this? Well the girls make "play cups" to start with , a sign they are thinking of doing something!
As it was early season there was very little  chance they were going to swarm so it  looked like the old queen was not preforming very well!
A new queen is created by the colony, who know they need one and feed selected grubs extra nutrias food stuffs (  often refereed to as "Royal  Jelly"). The chosen grub then develops several more chromosomes and becomes a queen.
True to  form several of these play cups had been taken down ( bees very  often do this) but two had been charged  and one sealed meaning a new queen had been produced she was now entombed to  pupate.
She will be the first of the two to emerge, she will sting the other through its cell wall to be come the new queen in about eighteen days time!  (she may  also live along side the old queen  for a while). 
Then the new "Queen Jane" will fly to get mated with drone bees ( males) that are just waiting to get a whiff of her and mate  ( Pheromones play a very important function in a bee colony).
A successful mating will result in the drone dying ( presumably with a smile on his face)  and the queen becoming fertile, this may well happen a dozen or more times! the more she has a successful encounter with a male the longer she will remain fertile  ( two to three years).

As for the other two hives ( Matilda and Bodica) both had eggs, grubs and sealed brood showing that all was well.
I will write again before the season gets going proper, but in case you have not seen it I recently posted about different types of bees and bee swarms that you may or have seen.  Freddie.



OUR FIRST BEE CALL OF 2019, yes folks it's that time again. As many of you know we are local bee keepers, on the council list and Northampton Bee Keepers Association.
There are lots of Bumble bee types, typically the queen has come out of hibernation, finds somewhere she can lay her eggs. This might be a bird box, or up under your eves or air brick. The first you probably notice as the youngsters emerge, fledge and start flying about This is when we get the call!
There is little to be done I'm afraid! Bees are not aggressive,
There will seem to be a lot, but in due course they will disperse as they mature and go out in the world to pollinate our crops and plants.
But there is only one type of honey bee! These are generally kept by bee keepers. But around late April ,through to june some colonies will swarm. This a natural way of procreation of species. Seeing a swarm in the air or arriving on your property can be very alarming! But the bees are well fed and only interested in keeping with the old migrating Queen, DON'T PANIC! They are not in anyway aggressive, they are simply waiting for scouts to come back with a DesRes!
You can call the council, call me 07895 088 401. Or wait for them to leave, they will when they are ready.
But we can usually collect them , it's a free service, hive them or give them to a new keeper ,