Phew what a scorcher! Pity the poor beekeeper in the heatwave. To safely inspect my hives I wear 2 pairs of trousers, a thick cotton beesuit with veil, under which I wear woolly hat to keep the hair out of my eyes, wellingtons and a pair of rubber gloves! It’s a very hot way of losing weight!
I’ve just carried out a weekly inspection of my 3 hives to check that all is well with the bees, and that they have plenty of room for expansion. Lack of space is one of the reasons a colony might swarm and no beekeeper want to lose a hive if it can be prevented. Another reason for swarming maybe a failing or old queen ( the colony’s first imperative is to survive and if the existing queen is not producing enough healthy progeny the bees will create a new queen and then the old queen will either be killed or swarm away with the flying bees).
The hives are made up of two main elements, a brood box where the queen lives and lays up to 1500 eggs a day at this time of year, and above that a smaller box (called a super) holding the frames that the bees will store their surplus food – honey. As this fills the beekeeper will put another super on top to give the bees room for expansion: this is what I did during my latest inspection. The supers are separated from the brood box by mesh grill that allows the bees to climb up, but prevents the larger queen from entering (nobody wants eggs and grubs in their honey!).
During the inspection I look at each brood frame in turn – is there a good laying pattern of brood? – is there evidence of eggs and grubs as well as sealed brood? ( this shows the presence of the queen even if you haven’t spotted her) – is there any evidence of the bees making queen cells? (this is a sign that the bees are considering creating a new queen and I would have to take certain measures to try and prevent swarming).
I also look at the health of the colony – do the bees and grubs look healthy and as they should? – are they good natured and calm? . I also monitor for presence of Varroa, a parasitic tick that weakens the health of the colony if allowed to get out of hand. I’ll talk about Varroa and its effect on the bees another time.