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Wellington Beekeepers Association Inc. About the Apiary - May 1998 |
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May 98
There is very little to do to your bees this month as they
have gone into their winter cluster and will now only fly on warm days. Most of the drones
will have been thrown out and the last lot of brood is about to emerge.
Entrances should have been reduced to prevent mice and winter drafts from entering the hive. Keep the grass down and if you wish, provide an additional piece of timber in front of the landing board, so those bee coming in short of the landing board, can easily walk into the hive. Give the hives additional (but not too much) ventilation by putting a match stick in each corner, of the hive mat or crown board. Check in a month's time by removing the roof and looking under the crown board. If it is reasonable dry inside put back together and forget about it until September. If wet, give more ventilation by putting a slightly bigger stick under each corner. Check in a few weeks to see that it has dried out inside. It should be. Feed - If you are not sure how much food is in the hive - heft from the handle in the top box. The hive should be very heavy. If its easy to rock forward, it will need feeding, with sugar syrup, (thick as possible 8 litres ?) or put on that box of honey you were holding in reserve. There is a trap here. If you had an old queen last season, there could be an awful lot of pollen (up to half a box) stored in the frames making the box feel heavy. You'll have to judge the weight for yourself. If you are not sure, put some raw sugar in the top feeder (if you have one) as emergency food, add a little water to the edge of the sugar and the bees will take it down into the super if they need it. For the rest of the winter, read some good books, and plan for next year. It pays to order new queens now, as well as replacement wood-ware. Winter is the time to get everything ready for the next season. Wasp Nests Killed any of these recently. Wasp numbers are dropping rapidly as the queens are no longer producing brood. (Well here in Wellington anyway). We had a call from a lady who had used carbaryl at the entrance but didn't kill the nest. There weren't enough flying to take it in. When I opened the nest up, it was full of semi-hibernating queen wasps, about thirty of them. These were dispatched and won't be a problem next year. Fly spray or a sprayer with a good squirt of dish washing liquid to a litre of water will kill most wasps, but wrap up before hand - their stings hurt for days afterwards. Late Flow Autumn has been so warm that the bees have taken advantage of late flowering plant: Boxthorn is flowering, north of Wellington (dark honey), Lancewood (finished in some areas), Banksia (very good producer during winter), Inkweed, (the bees can have this stuff - it tastes awful), Scarlet Gums plus quite a few ornamental. It pays to plant a few of these trees in your garden or close by for your bees. |
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