Apichat

13th January, amazing the difference in the weather in just a few days. Last visit was in glorious winter sunshine, today it was 8 degrees but felt sub-zero, was dark, overcast and raining. We carried out the 2nd round of OA sublimation which should catch any mites that were in sealed brood at the ...

10th January - last few days have seen sub zero temperatures which will have tightened the clusters following their first sublimation. 1℃ this morning, no wind, cold and bright, the sun on the snow and ice dazzling, perfect for a quick round to check feeders and top up where necessary.

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30th December, the sun in a cloudless sky and with overnight temperatures sub-zero it was an ideal opportunity to carry out the first OA sublimation. The bees were clustered tight up in the hive and less inclined to object to the wand coming through the entrance. It made for an easy and straight ...

14th November, cold 4C start to the day with rain forecast for later. High winds and very heavy rain over the last week, time for a quick round of the colonies.

All hives are now configured for winter - a super of honey under the brood box, queen excluder removed, eke in it's place, fondant feeders ...

No updates since the end of April due to a very busy year leaving little spare time to spend on the laptop! Quick summary of the seasons activities - great start, colonies built up well and collected a fair amount of honey. Swarm control success was varied despite ample space to expand. When they ...

22nd April, sunny spells, 12C, industrious bees bringing in pollen of various shades of orange and yellow. time for the first full inspection of the season. Now we'll find out if the winter preparation and management has paid off. There's always a deal of anticipation in doing this after avoiding ...

17th March, weather still cold, 5C and overcast, feels sub-zero! Snow drops and crocus mostly past now but willows, hazel, ivy and early flowering trees and shrubs providing pollen. Soon as the sun comes out foragers bringing in plenty pollen. Queens are getting busy, and the season has started ...

3rd March, 9C and overcast. The high winds took their toll again, three hives over this time but thankfully the hive boxes were not scattered and bees remained snug in the brood boxes. Surprisingly they were still bringing in small amounts of pollen, two colours, one definitely ivy. All the colonies ...

25th Jan, a cold 2C and breezy after the previous nights storm with howling gales and morning thundersnow. Quick round of apiaries once the thundersnow had stopped. Lower apiary colonies were in tact, but one colony at the upper apiary had been blown over. With sheer luck, the hive had gone over ...

Bees need your help please. This is important for the future of beekeeping in the UK.

An increasing number of beekeepers are becoming concerned about the threats posed by imports to both free-living and managed populations of honey bees, the main concerns being:

Biosecurity: Small Hive Beetle ...