I just acquired two colonies that someone had decided were surplus. they were both quite active when I looked in the top, but both were totally different. One sat tight and we never saw a bee emerge, even when the hive bottom came adrift moving it. The other lot went wild, and came bioling out when I opened the hive up. That now gives me six colonies, and we'll see how many come through the winter.
Excellent! Any idea why they behave so differently?
We have 2 lots of hives in adjacent corners of our site and someone else has asked to keep bees too which is good news. But we were wondering do they compete - is there a maximum recommended concentration per given area?
I think they're so different because one has a small cluster at the top of a double broodbox, so there aren't that many bees, and they're a long way from the entrance. The other has a much bigger cluster, a lot more bees, and they're in a single broodbox so they're close to the entrance. But bees do vary a lot.
They don't really compete; there should be enough forage around for a lot more colonies than you have now. If you have too many colonies close together then you're creating ideal conditions for disease to spread, but you'r a long way from reaching that situation, so go ahead an let the guy have his bees. If you had a dozen hives on every plot, then I might be a little concerned!
Thanks, it's good to know it's hard to have too many. I'm happy having the hives around. Apart from the pollination benefit, I get fascinated watching them on my comfrey while I'm having a cuppa break.
Robert,
I'm really interesting of keeping bees!
But have no idea how to start ,and how to keep them,
I also wonder what do you do with them in winter?
Where to keep them I mean in winter, will they die ???
Hello Yuet,
Your best bet is to find your local association and then ask a friendly beekeeper (they are all friendly) there to give you the lowdown. Bees do not die in the winter, at least not if they are properly looked after.
It's far better to have two hives than one, because unfortunately they do die in winter, I always lose some. I found one dead the other day, a weak swarm I requeened very late when the original queen failed. it was a tossup whether it would come through. Other reasons are starvation, which is going to be especially common this year, after two dreadful summers when the bees have gone long periods without being able to forage, mites, a tricky 'invisible' disease called Nosema (I treated mine for it this year), and queen failure, which can happen at any time, and is just one of those things.
The main thing is to keep a strain which doesn't need routine feeding in our climate, make sure the hives are heavy in the autumn, and feed if necessary. If a colony needs feeding every year, requeen it. Get mite treatments done annually, learn about resistance, and look for bees which have it. Don't rely on local beekeepers for this, join internet groups. If you lose a lot of colonies in winter, it's probably going to be either poor mating or nosema. You can treat for the latter easily, though it can only be detected reliably under the microscope. As fr queen failure, if you get a lot, it's going to be down to poor mating, and you need to look for the reasons for this. Again, this is where you need internet groups.
thank you very much! Robert ;)
Hi Robert
Sorry to muscle in on this thread but through that I would let you know that I am busy reading the book "A World without Bees" - have you read it and if so - what do you think about it. I am quite amazed by all the diseases that these poor bees face and the terrible deaths that seem to be happening all over the world. Hope all your bees come through the winter.
Jitterbug
I haven't read that one, but there have been increasing problems ever since the arrival of varroa, which spreads all sorts of viruses. Add pesticides and monoculture farming and you can see why there are such problems!
Robert, what do you feed them in winter ???
Candy. They can't process sugar without some water; in warmer weather they get syrup which they process into tasteless honey. This time of year I boil up sugar with a little water. I just boil off enough water to make it set when cool. It's the traditional sweet, more or less. The bee version is tasteless as it can't be allowed to caramelise at all. Their digestion can't handle it.
The idea to make the candy, sounded great, worked to the point I got two blocks made. Will be putting on top the crownboards later today.
The residue left in the saucepan took some chiseling out, till I realised that boiling water was the answer.
How are the new colonies. Hope all is well with them.
All's well as far as I know, but I never do know for sure till the weather warms up. If they're going to die out the commonest time is late Jan or early Feb. I had a quick look at a couple this morning to check that they're taking the candy, which some of them are.