Bee update and other stuff

For both apiaries this will be a transitional year. There have been new Nuc colonies introduced, hives re queened and swarms introduced.
This will mean there won't be too much honey produced, or to be more precise not too much honey produced that is sold at Farmer's Markets. This isn't a problem as honey production for sale is of very little interest to me. What is important is that the bees are healthy and produce enough honey stores to get them through the winter and this will be my focus for the remainder of the season.
Saying that I do have enough mature colonies that should be able to provide enough honey for the very few markets I still do.

Ravensden

The two swarms seem to be doing well and producing lots of brood. Producing new comb is expensive in honey terms for the bees and they consume 6 ounces of honey to produce one ounce of wax. Therefore they are both being fed regularly.
With both swarms I have managed to do something stupid.
For the Little Staughton swarm I left too much space on one side of the hive and as bees do they have filled this up with a slab of comb. At some point I will try to cut this out and then put it in a proper brood frame.
For the Park Bench swarm I inspected it a few weeks ago and saw the queen. I caught it but as I was about to mark her she flew away.
I spent the next two weeks worrying about whether or not she would return but when I checked there was open brood which means she is back.
Its unlikely they will be transferred to their main hives until next year.

The two new queens were left alone for two weeks to let them settle in and when I checked them there was plenty of brood in both hives. One queen came out and said hello.

The new Nuc is doing very well and expanding rapidly.

One of the hives had gone queenless but there were numerous big queen cells so I decided to leave them to it and produce another queen. As I was looking at the frames a queen emerged from her cell right in front of me. Instinctively I picked her up and put her in the marking cage I always have with me. I marked her with a small dob of paint and put her back. Whether I should have done this as she might be too young, I don't know. I will wait a few weeks to see what happens.

I had ordered a Nuc for my Top Bar Hive but for various reasons this didn't happen so will be left for next year.
The other hives are doing well.

Scald End

Things have not gone well here.
The three hives that would have been re queened next year all went queenless. However with the refund from my Top Bar Hive nuc I got some queens and they have been installed.
The Apple Tree swarm is doing very well but the Train Station swarm less so.
The Phil hives [the ones I got from my friend who became anaphylactic] are now on proper hive stands. Both the frames have been propolised tight and they will be a job for next week. They seem Ok with lots of bee activity.

Bumblebees

Still happily flying around at the end of my garden;

Solitary Bees

Some of the eggs have passed through their larval stage and are now chrysalis's [??].

Starvation warning

One of the features of modern monoculture farming is that when a crop is harvested often this means there is nothing for the bees to forage on.
The Oil Seed Rape ended a month ago and there's little, if anything, for the bees to forage on.
Recently the National Bee Unit issued the following email:-

Beekeepers may wish to monitor their colony food levels closely over the next month as many colonies, particularly those which are strong and had their spring honey crop removed, will be at risk of starving. In some parts of the UK, the weather is still cold and foraging opportunities for large colonies are few and far between.

  I am feeding them with a syrup solution.

Varroa

I have done something about varroa on my website here
In it I said

Australia is thought to be the only country that is Varroa free but as its in New Zealand, so surely its just a matter of time

Well you've guessed it, varroa has been discovered in Queensland.
Admittedly its only a few mites and they are a less destructive strain of the mite we have in Europe but its varroa.
Australia authorities have said they will quarantine the area to prevent the spread of the mite.
Which is exactly what the Italian authorities said they would do to prevent the spead of Small Hive Beetle. They failed.

Glyphosphate

In a victory for Monsanto's undoubted bribery and weapons grade lobbying, glyphophate, the main constituent of Roundup, has been relicenced for another 18 months.

Neonicitinoids

Defra have just turned down the NFU's latest application for an emergency use of neonicitinoid seeds.
Perhaps the NFU should have used Monsanto's lobbyists.