Bees are buzzing but need warmer weather
News from the Fonmon Apiary with Harold Williams
THE APIARY is literally buzzing with life.
All the colonies have come through the winter months and theit priority is to collect pollen as the Queens are now stepping up their egg laying and the beekeeper must be prepared to keep up with the bees.
The weather, of course. is a major factor in the bees’ world and things seem to be improving. What we need is dry sun filled days. These conditions will allow the flowers to open and advertise the pollen and nectar contained within. Needless to say, there has been a distinct shortage of sunny days so far and by good planning, Barbara and I decided at the close of last year’s beekeeping session to leave extra food stores with all of our colonies.
Why did we do this? Well, our winters are decidedly less harsh than they used to be. They are somewhat wetter, but very mild. This means that our bees are active when they should be going through a dormant period (they do not hibernate). Some of the colony members have ventured out and about but finding food outside is not likely to happen, so in house food stores can very quickly start to run out! A much-delayed spring has meant that our extra food supply has been the saviour of our colonies.
This month (weather permitting) the first in depth inspection of all of the colonies will take place and this will coincide with the first of our new beekeepers joining us and getting hands on experience. Advice from our society to those wishing to take up beekeeping is to enrol on one of our courses. We provide beekeeping apparel and arrange for apiary visits. In this way, familiarity with beekeeping equipment, i.e., hive tool, smoker, mouse guards and Queen Excluders, etc., will be gained.
Swarming will be a subject to be discussed, it is a perfectly natural part of a honeybee’s life cycle, and it is after all how they ensure the survival of their species. The collecting of swarms can sometimes be a simple task or sometimes very trying. In fact, Barbara and I have been contacted with a view to our hopefully saving two colonies of bees in the walls of a church that is to be demolished very shortly. We will meet with the contractor and discuss how we would like to go about it. This could well turn into a future article. Watch this space!
Harold Williams
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