Hive Inspection
The beautiful weather drew us out to visit our bee hives, following our successful GIAG and AGM last week. We donned our new bee suits and gloves to find the bees were still buzzing (as ever). The classically stronger of the hives had half a super box (smaller on top) of honey stores. The brood box (larger on the bottom) was almost entirely full, however, not with honey but brood. There were several frames of eggs and even more with sealed cells containing larvae waiting to develop into fully fledged adults.
For the first time there were not just worker bees but also drones. Some had hatched and were wandering around the hives, and there were several drone cells developing. Drones are the only male bees in the hive and will soon mate, before dying in a rather short existence. We were even lucky enough to see a drone first appearing out of its cell, eating away the wax, with strangely brown eyes rather than the usual black. The other hive was slightly behind this one, having only about a third amount of stores in the super box and less brood in the larger one below. Both hives were healthy, with the queens found in both. Before closing them we gave them more liquid feed to help them develop further into the developing spring.
Excitingly the inspection then developed into a reconstruction of the hive area. We replaced both of the floors of the hives with brand new mesh floors, reducing the chance of infection within the hives. Additionally we swapped the somewhat worn out crates the hive were mounted on for brand new stands (see photos), making the area look much more professional and also reducing disease chance.
We hope to see people buzzing around the hives next week, and even more the week after with another give it a go (on 9.5.10). The bees are healthy and active with the nice weather really bringing them back into action after their slumber over winter.
Before:
After:
- Joseph Earley (@SephEarley) President of the Beekeeping Society 2014-2015