Jon

Time to start 2013 blog

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Jon
, 15-03-2013 at 08:43 PM (12532 Views)
Just had a look at what I was writing this time last year and it was all so much better. Strong colonies and it was over 20c apparently on 27th March and a colony had 7 frames of brood.

I have about the same number of colonies I had this time last year but they are nowhere near as strong.
A lot of the nucs I made up in July and August just dwindled to nothing by mid January which was a disappointment.

This has been a rough year for bees.
The weather turned wet cool and windy from the start of June and has never really improved.
Bees needed to be fed in June.
The autumn was no better and the ivy pollen was nearly a month late and it was too cold for the bees to forage it when it finally appeared.

I have a lot of small colonies which could still succumb in a cold spell but I will do the best I can to keep them alive and then try and build them up later by adding emerging brood from stronger ones.

Locally there have been loads of reports of beekeepers taking heavy losses and a lot of people who normally work six to eight seem to be down to one or two already.

Warm weather is needed soon but the forecast for next week is not great.

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  1. gavin's Avatar
    Last year here the willow was blooming in Feb, the bees were booming (10 seams of bees!) and we were (naively) looking forward to a bumper season. Ours broke for May rather than June and simply never recovered.

    http://www.sbai.org.uk/sbai_forum/bl...?1-gavin/page2

    This year - much smaller clusters, no willow yet in mid March, few OSR fields due to the very wet fields last autumn ... yet the summer will be better surely?!
  2. Bumble's Avatar
    One thing I've noticed this year is the lack of overwintering queen wasps in the hive roofs. Have you seen any?
  3. Jon's Avatar
    I did a talk about a fortnight ago for a local beekeeping group.
    They meet in a wooden prefab type building.
    Half way through the talk I noticed there were about 6 queen wasps out and about.
    The heating had brought them out.
    I squashed one which was stupid enough to land beside my laptop while I was doing the presentation.

    last year the roofs were full of wasps but no sign of any yet this year.
  4. gavin's Avatar
    The wooden prefab building must seem like a gigantic hive to wasp. Is that why they congregate there?

    Or possibly a hive looks like a miniature wooden prefab building, and they are in a mood to downsize.

    Do neonics affect an insect's sense of scale?
  5. Trog's Avatar
    Saw my first queen wasp in the greenhouse on Thursday. Decided not to help her outside but think she found her own way out. Last March was abnormal in terms of temperature but I agree the willow is late. At least the gorse is out and my bees made good use of the snowdrops.
  6. Jon's Avatar
    Mine don't bother much with gorse (whin, we call it) and there is plenty of it about.
    I have seen bees work it the odd time in spring.

    Do neonics affect an insect's sense of scale?
    Probably make them confuse winter with summer.
  7. Trog's Avatar
    Mine have whins within easy flying distance so they like it, especially when there's nothing else suitable nearby. Mind you, we don't have OSR so abundant gorse is useful.