Weather: Cloudy, threatening rain
Stings: One.
Image via WikipediaA post covering two visits because I forgot to write up the last visit before this one. I was convinced I had, but anyhoo.
Last time it was a quickish look to remove the supers and see how the rest of the colony was doing. I took along a trolley to move the super as it was very heavy. The colony is also at the bottom end of an allotment that is on the edge of a hill. Getting to it involves a winding path through a wood so the trolley made it much easier. I'm not sure how much honey I'll get out of it - a few pounds per frame so about 30 jars I'd guess. I'll try to extract in the next couple of weeks or the honey will be starting to crystallise.
The rest of the colony looks fine. Plenty of stores laid down to help them through the winter.
I also looked at the sheet beneath the mesh floor to see what the mite drop was like. Not bad. I counted about 15 of the little buggers which, according to the counter on BeeBase, means they need treating soonish.
The second visit was very quick as the weather was changing and rain was imminent. I opened them up, had a quick look, put on an eke and laid down some apiguard. It needs to be on for two weeks then replaced with a fresh batch so they are all ready for winter. I hope we have another hard winter as that will really help the bees. One thing I forgot to do was put on the entrance guard to help them fight off honey thieves. While I was there I saw a wasp nip in and I know there are loads of wasp nests around so they will need some help. When I took off the plastic sheet beneath the mesh floor there were lots of wasp body parts lying on it so they are obviously trying hard to get at it. I also did another mite count and saw about the same number.
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