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Wellington Beekeepers Association Inc. About the Apiary - June 1996 |
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June 96 Well, I’m now bringing in the last of my honey crop. A bit late considering its now 8 deg C outside. Unfortunately, I’ve found another diseased hive. They are usually the best ones and this was no exception, 6 high, chocker with honey. Put a bit of a damper on the day when its the first one you inspect, however its better found now than later in the spring. When I visited another apiary site one hive was flying quite strongly while there was no activity from the rest. They must have found something I thought, but looking closer noticed the bees were flying up high and then landing just under the lid of their own hive. The lid was slightly askew and the bees were robbing their own honey from the top super. A bit of an effort when they could just as easily have walked the honey down to the bottom super. While inspecting the hives, it was evident the different characteristics of the bees. Some were down supers, that is they stored honey in and around the bottom supers, while others were top supers, preferring to store all the honey above the second super. It was also quite noticeable that some hives had very little pollen stored, while others had heaps. Most of the hives in the direct sun still had between half and two frames of brood. I’ll even these frames up by adding pollen frames to them from frames not put through the extractor. [what about the risk of transferring disease?] Only problem found that concerned me a little was the amount of water in some hives. The top feeders had small pools of water in them. This was from condensation so a match stick or small twig under each corner of the lid or crown board should reduce this. Don’t create too much top ventilation as experiments I conducted last year showed that bees with well ventilated hives consumed far more stores to keep warm than those that were totally shut up. Check the front of the landing boards on a fine winters day. If the bees are falling short and landing on the grass, put extra boards in front to create a bigger landing area. No need to waste bees or their pollen loads. Now is the time to sit back and catch up on some reading. Books and journals can be obtained from the National Beekeepers Library if you are a member. Our club would have a good selection if everybody returned our missing books. If you know of past members, ask them if they have any of our books or magazines. It is also time to plan the season’s activities. What replacements do you need? Order spring queens early so you are top of the list. Don’t throw out those supers that are slightly rotten. They can be repaired to make them bee tight and used for honey supers. Full depth supers can often be cut down to take 3/4 frames (all beekeepers should use 3/4 gear as they are easier to handle and the bees fill and cap them quicker than full depth ones). Those with hives in rural areas should consider planting bee trees within a short distance of the hives. Especially earlier nectar and pollen varieties such as tree lucerne and pussy willows. These boost the hives into brood production so they can take advantage of the early nectar flows. Only drawback to this is that you have to watch for early swarming in October. Generally, those with hives around the city have no problems with early nectar and pollen sources. The bees seem to find something to feed on even during the winter. Take care of your honey supers by applying another couple of teaspoons of PDB crystals to your stacks of supers just to kill any hatching wax moth larvae. Other than that, enjoy the winter by holidaying on a tropical island for a couple of weeks. |
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