24th - ~10°C in sun

Christmas Eve and lots of bees from all three hives gathering dew from surrounding grass!

11th - 20°C

Replaced Apiguard trays in all three hives. Removed two weeks later.

28th - 25°C

Spun 12 frames of mostly filled frames - 16 lbs (7.3 kgs). Spun another 12 frames of partially filled, unripe honey (4.5 lbs (2 kgs)) for feeding back to the bees for winter store. Put five supers of wet frames above Apiguard chamber (L - 1, R - 2 & W- 2) to be cleaned up. The brood chamber is at the bottom, then an empty super with just the Apiguard tray, then 1 or 2 supers of wet frames above. They will stay in for 2 days to be cleaned up before storing them over winter.

(154 lbs (70 kgs) extracted in 2005)

21st - 23°C

Hive L: Removed spun frames, cleaned up and repaired. Brood inspection - queen not found but eggs and larvae present. Not much store so intensive feeding required. Removed 2 filled frames of honey & approx 4 frames partially filled. Added first application of Apiguard in an empty super on top of the brood chamber.

Hive R: Removed 1/2 super of filled frames and 1.5 frames of partially filled frames. Found queen. Good brood coverage and some eggs. Stores building up well. Removed varroa floor for the winter and added first application of Apiguard in an empty super on top of the brood chamber.

Hive W: Removed 2-3 frames of filled frames and the rest partially filled. Found queen. Good brood coverage and some eggs. Stores building up well. Removed varroa floor for the winter and added first application of Apiguard in an empty super on top of the brood chamber.

Removing the 5 supers of honey resulted in lots of activity - robbing bees, and swarm-like conditions for about an hour. It was not a good idea to remove these in the middle of the day. Must use a clearer board next year or do it at the end of the day!

13th - 20°C

Hive L: Routine inspection. Bees tetchy. Queen not spotted. Very few eggs/larvae. Single super nearly full. 10 spun frames placed above (on 16th) to be cleaned up.

Hive R: Removed about 5 frames of mainly capped honey. 18 lbs (8kgs) of a red/brown honey (inc. Hive W). Queen not spotted but eggs and larvae found.

Hive W: Removed one super of empty frames (drawn & undrawn) and about 5 frames of mainly capped honey. Queen spotted. Some eggs and larvae.

31st approx - ?°C

Hive L: Routine inspection.

Hive R: Routine inspection. Queen cups destroyed.

Hive W: Routine inspection. Queen cups destroyed.

18th approx - ?°C

Hive L: Routine inspection.

Hive R: Routine inspection. Queen cups destroyed.

Hive W: Routine inspection. Queen cups destroyed.

3rd approx - ?°C

Hive L: Routine inspection.

Hive R: Routine inspection. Queen cups destroyed.

Hive W: Routine inspection. Queen cups destroyed.

26th - 18°C

Adjacent fields of beans almost finished. Rosebay Willowherb and blackberry coming into flower.

Hive L: Brood chamber has about half a frame of eggs and young larvae. Queen found and marked yellow but not clipped. Super beginning to be filled.

Hive R: Half a super removed. Another half to be removed soon. Strong brood. Queen spotted. New queen cups removed. 21 lbs (9.5 kgs) of golden honey removed from hives R & W.

Hive W: Two-thirds of a super removed. Very strong brood. Queen spotted. New queen cups removed. Half drawn foundation moved to the centre. Three supers remain: top mostly filled, waiting to be capped; middle 'wet' frames having just been spun; bottom undrawn.

19th - 30°C

Hive L: Queen cell hatched and no new ones have been created. Colony quite calm but queen not spotted. No eggs yet. Super added.

Hive R: This colony will expand rapidly in the next few days as there are huge areas of capped brood. One super nearly completed so a second super was added.

Hive W: Two of the three supers almost filled. Still drawing frames in the brood chamber. Swarming urge has been stopped!

12th - 18°C

Hive L: Removed 3 more queen cells, 2 of which were new and 1 which must have been missed last week. The queen should hatch tomorrow and, as there are no other queen cells, she should not produce a cast swarm.

Hive R: Half a super was removed. Queen found, marked (yellow) and clipped. Not huge but beginning to lay well.

Hive W: Two and a half supers were removed (55 lbs (25 kgs) with hive R). Frames half capped but beginning to set. Queen spotted. At least four undrawn brood frames still and, guess what, a queen cup. It was duly removed.

5th - 20°C

Hive L: The empty feeder was removed and replaced with a frame of foundation. There were good reserves of nectar and pollen as there are now a number of flying bees. Removed ~10 queen cells from the sides of two frames. Two queen cells were located on the bottom of two frames and one was removed.

Hive R: Six capped frames were removed producing 18 lbs (8.2 kgs) of light straw honey. Queen found (not marked or clipped yet) and small numbers of eggs & larvae present.

Hive W: Four supers are largely full but none are capped so they are left on (despite the end of the oil seed rape in flower). Two / three of the new frames have been drawn and eggs and larvae present. Queen found.

28th - 18°C

Hive L: 10 brood frames from hive (W) were placed in brood box at new site. Internal feeder added containing regular strength sugar solution. Large amount of sealed brood and larvae. The start of two queen cells were left.

Hive R: Super half full.

Hive W: Two new queen cells were found so another artificial swarm was done. The queen, flying bees and all bees from the supers were given 11 undrawn frames. One super of half-capped frames was removed and produced 21 lbs (9.5 kgs) of honey.

25th - 20°C

A warm spell has arrived. Oil seed rape beginning to go over. Hive R: Released swarm from top box and let queen go into brood chamber. Second queen cell had hatched so lost swarm on 23rd was probably a cast from this hive.

23rd - 16°C

Hive R: Another (small) swarm. Lost. Not sure which but suspect second queen cell will have hatched.

22nd - 16°C

Hive R: Swarm! One queen cell hatched and queen plus workers in small swarm on nearby bushes. Captured and placed in empty super on top of hive with a queen separator so queen can't escape. Other queen cell unhatched.

21st - 16°C

Hive R: 2 queen cells still unhatched. No nectar in super. Nectar in outer brood cells.

Hive W: Removed new uncapped queen cell. Added 4th super. Top super partially capped, 2nd some and 3rd about 50% full. Moved outer undrawn frame in by 2.

15th - 20°C

Hive R: About 10 capped queen cells, 2 of which are large near the bottom of the frames, the rest smaller half way up. Removed all but two largest. Added super and removed empty feeder.

Hive W: One queen cell removed. Found queen and clipped one wing. 2-3 frames drawn out and full of brood. Outer frames not being built up. 3 supers nearly full but not capped.

8th - 12°C

Hive R: Moved new hive to final location and added internal feeder with weak sugar solution. Removed super. Not full inspection (too cold) but found one good queen cell nearly capped at bottom of frame plus others half-way up being started. Some larvae and unhatched brood.

Hive W: Hive not inspected.

2nd - 20°C

Oil Seed Rape in full flower about 1 mile. Apple & plum blossom out.

Hive R: 10 brood frames plus one empty super were placed on one side of (W).

Hive W: Found about 6 beginnings of queen cells so time for the artificial swarm. Found queen and marked her yellow. Left one brood fame, 10 undrawn frames and queen in original location. Gently shook some of the younger bees off the old frames in front of the artificial swarm hive. Two supers were nearly full so added a third.

24th - 16°C

Hive W: First super, nectar being collected. Second drawn frame super added. Brood box - three new frames building up foundation well. Lots of brood. Destroyed three queen cups so must do artificial swarm soon. Queen not seen.

17th - 14°C

Hive W: No nectar in super but cells being prepared. Brief inspection of brood as it was cold. Good strong colony building well. Moved new frame of foundation to 3rd in. Door widened to 15cm.

2nd - 16°C

Hive L: Hive dead. Remains of small colony covered in mold. Hive felt damp inside. Removed all frames and burnt in case of disease.

Hive W: Opened hive for the first time. Cleaned through. Removed varroa floor and found lots of wax moth pupae underneath. Brood building well. Removed 3 frames of old store and replaced with 3 new frames of foundation. Door opened to about 4cm. One super added. Queen not found.

Introduction

I over-wintered two WBC hives in a corner of the garden facing due south. It was a mild January but a long, cold February, March and April.