Winter feeding

Returned to the hives yesterday to do a bit of housekeeping in my beekeeping and to set up the contact feeders.
Emptied the wasp trap and refilled and re-primed it. As soon as I put it down, wasps already started flying in. Have decided to put up a second one. Not that I fear too much for my bees: the entrances to the hives are easy to defend and all food is internal now. But I'd rather not risk it.
Removed the emptied super and frames from the Star and noticed that wasps had been chewing the wax away. Hate wasps even more now. Some of the frames have holes in them. Live and learn, I guess. Next year the Star will start with a disadvantage again,a s the bees will have to build up comb first. Hmmm....
Filled both contact feeders full. Or relatively full. The way the contact feeder works is that you fill it full, then tip it upside down and the syrup doesn't flow out through the gauze, because of the partial vacuum that's created. So the theory goes. Of course, when I turned round the feeders, a huge flow gushed out over the bees, hive, crown board - everything. Same when I tried it for the Star, only this time I held it over the ground, not the hive. The feeder still dripped for quite some time, though. Sure that I had done something wrong, I looked it up and sure enough: I should have filled the contact feeders to the very brim and then turned them around over a bucket, before putting them on the hive.
But I love the idea of 'putting' things on the hive. As if that were so easy. With me there are always hundreds of bees in the way...
One day I may learn.

Try putting anything on that!

Star stores

Yesterday (Friday) was the final day of the Star's Apiguard treatment, so I decided to combine the removal of the medication with an inspection of winter stores. Armed with three pupils (who proved to be competent photographers and record keepers, unlike the last batch, whose skills at the latter were dubious) and a walkie-talkie, we made out way to the hives.
The first little bit of excitement was when one of the pupils informed me he had a spider scuttling in front of his eyes - on the inside of his veil. Obviously, he couldn't take the veil off, so he resorted to that most primeval of human instincts and squashed the critter.
The wasp situation was bad. The trap was so full of wasps, they weren't able to drown in the water. I didn't want to change that with the pupils around, so left it like that for the moment.

Star stores

The star hive were a docile lot. There's a lot of bees in the hive, but not an excessive amount. The inspection was a real joy, actually, the bees keeping to themselves, not getting in the way - and none stinging! The only interruption to the calm lifting of the frames, checking, calling out amount of stores and replacing was the occasional wasp I couldn't help squishing in aid of my little workers.

The star queen with drone and workers

The star has quite a few stores, but not all short frames have comb on them (a result of my drone trapping). We saw the queen. You can see her on the photo with the yellow dot. The other seemingly huge bee on the photo is a drone, which is much larger than the worker bees. The colony is still rearing brood, as we saw a number of capped brood cells as well as larvae. So things are looking good in the Star, basically. Will have to do a varroa count to see if and how the medication worked.
Having checked the stores, I took out the super, which the bees, despite it being on the crown board, were not emptying (Moon and Star seem to have similar ideas about what is a part of the hive and what isn't) and placed it on the roof. Once again, not ideal, because of wasps &c, but that way the supers get cleared ready for storage.

A quiet Star

Also removed the last frames from the Moon and brought it down to just brood box level ready for feeding on Saturday.

Clearing the super frames

Empty comb

Got 'em

All people with sensitive stomachs might want to skip this post. Indeed, I am not proud of what I am going to write. This is exacerbated by the fact that I'm currently also teaching Hinduism, where I tell the children all life is sacred. And while I am not a Hindu, it is hard to argue with such great philosophy/theology that has such resonance, but anyway....
Checked the wasp trap today and (why should I feign remorse or nonchalance?) - yay! - it finally had a load of wasps in it. I can explain my exultation only in the light of the fact that I view the bees as my pets and friends and helpers and the wasps as their, and therefore also my, enemies. So the fewer of them, the better.
It seems the jam needs to ferment a few days before it is potent enough to lure the wasps. But then, what  a job it did.

Wasps jam packed in the trap

But my shame goes deeper. This evening when I went to put the emptied super frame from the top of the hive away for storage, there were five wasps idling on the roof. With five quick bangs I had killed them all with the top bar of the frame. It could have been worse, I suppose. I could have killed them all with one blow and then had a belt made with 'Five at one blow' inscribed upon it. But as I am neither valiant, nor a tailor, I didn't.

Bees super busy

Bees still busy in the super

Wanted to start feeding the bees on Monday, so they could store enough for the winter, but the silly billies are still storing nectar and pollen in the supers. While it's great that they are still foraging quite nicely, I do feel they might have got the hint and stopped storing in the supers. The hint is what every beekeeping book tells me that bees instinctively realise: everything above the crown board is not the hive and therefore forage and free for all. Now, despite my super being above the crown board, my little loony bees have decided this is still their hive and are using it for storage. So much for the bee books. I should leave them in the hive over winter so the bees can read in them how to behave.

Beautifully multi-coloured pollen

But the problem remains: how do I get the supers cleared quickly so I can start feeding? As the bees obviously won't listen to me (and I don't really know how to communicate with them), I decided a different approach.
Using a spare super, I placed those frames with only few stores in them in that and left it on top of the Moon hive, exposed to elements and wasps. Yes, I know. This was an open invitation to all wasps in the area to help themselves. My reckoning was though that the workforce in the Moon would be big enough to clear most of the supers and the wasps would not get that much.

Frames ready to be emptied and then stored

And sure enough - within a day the bees had cleared the five or so frames and I was able to put those away for storage. Buoyed by that success, I am now taking a super frame or two out a day and putting it on top of the hive. The bees will collect the stores from there and store them wherever. Even if they store the food in the supers, it won't matter, as eventually all frames will be removed and then the bees will have to store it in the brood box. Mission accomplished (hopefully). But I'm sure there must be easier ways of getting the bees to store their forage in the brood box come autumn.
Currently I have five frames left in the super and hope to have those cleared by Saturday, so I can start feeding then.

Concerning storage, I asked our maintenance team to make me two plywood planks of 460x460. These I have put underneath and above the super holding the empty frames and thus have a hopefully quite tight and secure way of storing the super frames for next year.

An invitation to any passing wasp

Honey for auction

This year's honey crop was not awe-inspiring, but very decent, considering it came only from the Moon. In the end I had 20 jars to sell after having ear-marked a few to give to the headmaster, bursar and the parents who, with their generous donations, had made the whole project possible. Having sold a few at a premium price (after all, it is all for the benefit of the bees), I decided to auction the rest. This proved an inspired move as this way more money came in than I could ever have made by selling them at a set price. As soon as parents realised the money from the sale of the honey would go exclusively to the bees and that the bees were entirely self-sufficient and not funded by the school, the bids started coming in thick, high and fast.
Being able to draw on the enthusiasm (and purse strings) of parents is another good thing about working in a school environment. Thus the future of the bees at the school seems secure.

Labels

Received the proofs of the labels today. While they are not quite what I expected, I think they look good enough as a first batch. Am giving nothing away though prior to the sale of the first 20 jars on the 21st September at the school's Autumn Fayre.

Wasp trap

The current tally is as follows:
Boddingtons: 3 wasps
Beck's: 0 wasps
Cheap strawberry jam with water: 1 wasp

There are plenty of wasps about - what'll lure them into the trap? Am open to suggestions. Web has no brighter ideas than those already tried.
Someone suggested a Stella. Might give that a go on Monday. Perhaps I have discerning wasps...

Educational video

This is the video the children took. What I love about it, it captures the moment I loved best of the whole hive inspection: when I had put the hive back together and was about to put the roof on you could hear the contented buzz of all the bees resonating through the hive: an awesome sound, captured on video by a pure luck.

Winter stores

The children all came back to school today, on a gloriously sunny day. Winter stores sounds slightly out-of-place, but with the foraging force decreasing, it is time to check how much the bees have stored up for the cold season. Originally I wanted to inspect the Moon hive tomorrow, but as the forecast for Friday was rain non-stop, I decided to do it today. Once again it was no difficulty finding volunteers: the bees are as popular as ever with the pupils. So the three pupils and I all kitted up in the burning sun.

I've talked a lot about the advantages of beekeeping in a school environment - and they are many. But today I discovered a disadvantage. A beesuit is hot. Handling the bees in a way that will not antagonise or squash them requires care and concentration, which produces heat. In summer I regularly sweat so that it drips through the veil (sorry if that is slightly unsavoury) and a hive inspection can turn a light blue shirt dark blue. Having to teach after having just done a hive inspection, as happened today, is not comfortable.

But back to the Moon.

The super was still busy with activity and the bees haven't cleared out their honey stores from there yet. Will have to force them to soon. Quite how I do that is anyone's guess. Hopefully taking all frames out and leaving them with only one at a time will induce them to store in the brood chamber. Because there is space still in the brood chamber.

Showing two capped honey cells to a pupil

Anyway, opened the brood box and decidedly fewer bees were in there, so the colony does seem to be cutting back. In fact I could find no eggs or larvae (should I worry about that?), although there was still some capped brood. Didn't see the queen either.

A much quieter hive

We did see plenty of honey stores, though and some wasps trying to nab some honey.

Propolis, propolis, propolis and some bees

The pupils were hugely interested in all that was going on and asked lots of questions. One girl kept trying to get a bee to land on her hand, but none would play ball. The children wanted to know about drones and what they do (influenced by modern warfare, they originally thought the drones were the guard bees) as well as how long the bees live and how they spend their days. It was a shame we didn't see the queen. They would have loved that. I did tell them though that she had clipped wings and they couldn't quite fathom how you do that with an insect. Although I know how, I'm not sure I could do it.

Another drawback (if that): I asked one pupil to keep a tally of the food stores on the frames. Apart from not getting the numbers right, his scrawlings are not easy to decipher. In such cases always blame the teacher - so I guess my instructions should have been clearer.

Who can decipher this? And make it add up to 10 frames?

What I did gather, though, is that the Moon has quite a lot of stores, but on most frames still space to store more. After I have solved the super problem I will start feeding them, although it sounds slightly unseasonal in this unseasonal Indian summer.
In fact the bees are still busy collecting pollen and, I assume, nectar.

Lots of activity at the entrance to the Moon

In the star I changed the medication, so they received their second dose of Apiguard. Hive much more quiet. Am worried about the Star. Might have to put the two colonies together over winter.

Didn't get stung once, though there were wasps in the area and air (more about the wasp trap later), which is good.

But let's end on a positive: I let the children take the photos and they did that really well. Inadvertently they even made a video, which is actually quite fun and fascinating to watch.

Baptism with B

After today I feel even more like a beekeeper, although I haven't controlled a single swarm yet. Somehow, every beekeeper I come across, who's written an article or held a talk, always has a photo of him (invariably a he, testimony to the slighter brain of males) with a swollen lip where a bee stung him. These are used as cautionary tales, but I always feel with a certain sense of pride at having been tough enough to survive such an ordeal.

Well....

Not a wasp's favourite

Perhaps better

Today, in my bid to find out what kind of beer the wasps will go for (there were of course none in the trap when I checked the next day; wasps don't seem to relish la bonne maman marmelade watered down) I checked the trap again, after having filled it with Boddingtons the day before.

A wasp unsure where to go, although it's not far

Even then, I had the feeling the wasps were making fun of me, as they were everywhere except by the surely sweet-smelling ale. Today, despite there being a large number of wasps flitting around the hives, only three had ventured into the traps to their doom. So, school kitchens being cornucopia (though not usually filled with alcohol), I nabbed a Beck's to see whether the wasps preferred that.
I don't know yet.

What I do know, though, is that as I was watching the wasps, willing them to fly into the trap, a bee left the Star at terrific speed, collided with my face, just above the lip, and stung.

Consequently, I am now sporting a very unmasculine semi-trout-pout, but have the requisite photo for any future beekeeping sessions.

Fortifications

This is the time of year when the queen should start laying less, the number of bees in the colony shrinks and they no longer can collect much honey. So, the perfect time for unwanted intruders and marauders to damage the bees. There have been a number of wasps around and they obviously mean no good whatsoever. So, in an attempt to help the bees protect themselves, I have set up a wasp trap.

The basic trap design

The trap in place by the hives

It's a very simple, but ingenious design: you cut off the top of a 2 litre PET soft drink bottle and turn it upside down so you have a funnel going in, but only a small hole, counter-funnelled, to get out - far too challenging for the average wasp brain (even newts, who are surely higher creatures on the evolutionary scale, fail this basic feat of escapology). To entice the wasps in (and sweeten their death, I suppose), you put jam and water at the bottom of the bottle. This should attract wasps, but not bees. We'll see what the trap holds when next I look.
Probably nothing...

The other measure I took was to install mouse-guards over the hive entrances. With the onset of winter (which we are still far away from, I know), mice start looking for cosy holes, and bee hives seem to be just the ticket. These metal guards prevent the mice entering. As an added bonus, they also make the colony easier to guard, so the bees should give any potential wasp marauders a good stinging run for her money.

Mouse-guard in place