The first inspection of this year took place on 22nd March when we found that two of our six colonies had died. Out of the remaining four only two seemed strong enough to carry on, clearly not a good start to the year. Meanwhile the Apiary was given a good spring cleaning, and all empty hives were blow torched and treated with acetic acid.
On 29th March James Morton, our Regional Bee Inspector paid us a visit to check the health of our bees.To our great relief no EFB was found this time and we could now start afresh. Unfortunately the weather did not make it easy, neither for us or the bees. Due to the continuous cold and rainy spring it was virtually impossible to open any of the hives. It was obvious, however, that more bees were needed and as always Maggie Ridout came to our rescue by donating two brood boxes from her colonies at Regents Park. Help was also at hand from David Woodhead who kindly donated one colony to the Club for which we are greatly indebted.
All colonies were treated with formic acid in Spring, and again in late Autumn on James Morton´s advice. He incidentally paid us another visit later in the year to ensure that all was well.
In early May we split our 4 hives which with Maggie´s and David´s bees gave us a total of 9 hives. In addition to this 5 New Zealand Queens were purchased and introduced so that all the adopt-a-hives were headed by strong and good-natured Queens. The colonies continued to fare well as the season progressed which was very encouraging, in particular to the adopt-a-hive people. A hive record system was introduced by attaching a written record of all manipulations made on each hive. This proved to be a great learning tool for the beginners and helped keep the Committee Members up-to-date.
This year´s practical training was undertaken by different Members of the Committee, assisted by some of our beekeepers. This set-up proved to be extremely helpful during the manipulations and I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who was involved. An extra pair of hands really makes a difference!
In the summer the Apiary was full of busy bees. We had one swarm which was caught and rehoused, and a drone layer in Hive No. 9 which was dealt with accordingly. On some occasions we had 20 people attending the meetings which was great fun. Please remember that these venues really is a great Forum for getting help/advice with your bees and making the Club successful.
The honey from the Adopt-a-hives was extracted at my home with the Beginners over three days. Needless to say this was a very sticky business but thankfully the amber nectar was flowing freely and there was time to enjoy the odd glass of beer. A big Thank You to John Hauxwell who extracted a deep brood box full of honey, and to Margaret Jarvie who as usual bottled all the honey. A total harvest of 180 lbs.
I would like to thank everyone who has helped me as stand-in Apiary Manager for Maggie Ridout. Although daunting at times, it has been an exciting year and a steep learning curve for me.
Happy Beekeeping from Johan C. Kjaer