Hive Guide 2011

I'm pleased to announce I've updated the Hive Guide

Hive Guide 2011
I've added several new hive types and a section on plastic frames and how to use Thymol as an effective varroa control in Spring and Autumn.

The purpose of the guide is to help new bee keepers decide which hive to use and some helpful advice on where to start. Click on the link above or the picture in the side bar. The guide will take awhile to download.

Closing down for winter 2010

Once again we are having an Indian summer and its lovely for us, temperatures are a barmy 14'C for this week so far which is way above the seasonal average for October - November. As a result the girls have all been working solidly collecting as much pollen and nectar as they can for winter. During September I fed them then treated them with Apigard, however as of next year I will solely use thymol for varroa control on the recommendation of a very good bee keeper and friend.

Closing Down
On Tuesday Clare and I went to visit the two apiaries to removed all the queen excluder's and any other excess equipment I had stored above some of the colonies. The main reason for this is to reduce the hives down to minimal size and profile. We sliced up a 12.5Kg lump of fondant into about 2 KG lumps and wrapped it in greaseproof paper and cut a slit and placed the slit over the hole in the crown board and finally wished them each good luck.

I may need to buy another box of fondant, although they will be loosely clustered at the moment they are still fairly active, ideally I would like the temperature to drop to around 4'C which is said to be the optimal temperature to ensure the colony remains clustered.