Apiary Report July 2020.

July has come and gone and hopefully so has the swarming season.
That said, we should not become complacent. In the words of Winnie the Poo “you never can tell with bees”. A sentiment I’m sure that anyone with even the slightest knowledge of these little darlings would readily agree.

Likewise the seasons, I am frequently asked how long I have been keeping bees and each time I have to try and think back as to when I did actually started beekeeping.
On checking back through receipts, I found a Thorns’ receipt for a “Bees on a budget” package dated 5th July 2010. priced at 295.00.
All very interesting, I here muttered, my actual point is that in the 10 years I have been involved with bees I have never seen Two seasons where the bees or the weather have been the same and this year is no exception.

As I have reported in previous newsletters, by late April-early may many hives had Two, and in some cases, Three supers.
By early June, the same hives needed feeding, and due to intermittent nectar flow, some failed to build up and recover sufficiently to produce any surplus honey or failed completely.

The queen breeding program didn’t exactly go to plan either, with the first grafting attempt not being very successful due to various factors. The second attempt, although more successful, was not without hitches, namely the temporary support platform collapsing, resulting in 5 of the 10 nucs being strewn over my garden, queens not returning from mating flights, drone layers etc. the list just seems to go on and on.
Anyway, the upshot is that there are 5 nucs available for beginners, three of which need to go ASP.

During the forthcoming apiary meetings decisions will have to made as to how much, if any, honey is to be harvested, what colonies are strong enough to go into winter, what colonies need to be united, Varroa monitoring/treatment and feeding.
Frightening to think that we are so close to winter preparations AGAIN.

All in all, from an apiary point of view and the effects of the dreaded virus it has not been the best of years.