The Student becomes the Master

Last year I managed to interest my dad in the way of the bees.
Having kindly produced some new warré boxes for me I sent my dad back with a top bar bait hive to try out on the roof of his shed. lo and behold within a few days some bees turned up. These bees were passed on to a natural beekeeper in his area (250 miles to my apiary was a little too far).
This year he decided to knock himself up some warré boxes and put them on the roof of his shed to try his luck again. Following weeks of telephone conversations asking me about entrance sizes, lure types and amounts, the direction the hive should face and updates on "interest" from honey bees in the area this happened.

They moved in last monday just after my parents returned home from a weekend visit to me in Yorkshire. They look to be the same bee strain he caught last year so may well be from the same apiary and from the look of things almost certainly a prime swarm. It is still a little early for swarms in my area so I am in all honesty a little jealous. He is currently trying to decide how much management he would like to perform. He is considering running this as more of conservation hive but for the time being is just enjoying watching them fly.

Laying Workers: The Why, How, and Now what!

I have tinkering with this post on and off now for some months and cannot get it right. It just seems very meanderng and inconcise. Perhaps it's the "man-flu" speaking but I had enough of it. You can deal with it now.
From time to time a beekeeper will be faced with the question of whether or not a hive is queenless and ultimately do you have a laying worker. It can be difficult to tell the difference between a laying worker and a drone laying queen but generally your options are the same. Often these concerns are as a result of the colony swarming but occasionally a colony can suffer from "queen failure" or the queen can be lost or injured during an inspection (naughty beekeeper!).
When triggered by swarming, if you haven't seen the swarm leave hopefully you have at least seen queen cells. Sadly, even the most beautiful of queen cells can end in tragedy with the queen not returning or bad weather affecting mating. In the short term you will notice an increase in stores of honey and pollen as the bees with no/less brood to look after turn their attentions to foraging. You may well panic in this period as the amount of drone brood appears to increase, it probably hasn't. It could simply be due to the longer period of time it takes for any drones laid by the old queen to emerge. After all the worker brood has emerged there may well still be drone brood waiting around appearing as though it has increased because you notice it more.
Do not be in a rush! The quickest you can expect to have a laying queen from the point the swarm leaves is two weeks.
It can certainly take longer and if you keep disturbing them it is not helpful. Two week inspections should be sufficient.
Obviously the best test of whether a queen is present is to see her. However, not all of us have a good queen eye and often young queens are a little thinner and harder to spot. The next best thing is eggs. Occassionally, a new queen may lay more than one egg per cell to start with but she soons gets the hang of things. Many eggs laid haphazardly and even in cells containing pollen is a good sign of a laying worker.


The multiple eggs per cell seen when laying worker(s) are present.

Laying workers will also lay their eggs to the sides of a cell instead of in the bottom middle as their abdomens are shorter. This isn't always obvious to the new beeks eye so don't rely on it.
If you don't see the multiple eggs then often the way the capped brood is arranged can offer a clue.

Drone laying queen brood pattern. Domed brood in worker cell.

Again, laying workers are haphazard leaving large patches. Drone laying Queens give a better pattern but the cappings will be domed as in drone brood but laid in worker cells.
When queenless the bees do behave and sound very differently to how things are with a queen about. Over time working with bees with even realising it you will have developed an ear for the tone of a working hive. You probably won't even realise you know what it should sound like until it sounds....wrong! Rather than the many toned buzzing of a hive on task the buzz becomes low and monotonous. The bees themselves appear listless and easily provoked to sting.
Now what!
Well it really depends on the type of beekeeping you aspire to.
If you have laying workers that needs sorting first. There are two ways I know of to "deal" with laying workers. Fast and dirty, or slow and surely.
F&D
I have not done this but many swear by it. Shake out all the bees 100yds or so away from the hive. The idea is laying workers (having never left the hive) will not know their way back. Any foragers will be able to return since they recognise the area. Do this at a busy time of the day so the laying workers will be challenged should they attempt to enter another hive. Then try a queen fix below.
 S&S It is important to note that laying workers are NOT the result of absence of a queen, but the absence of brood. A subtle difference I know, but an important one. If a colony shows signs of laying workers weekly brood transfers from another hive... assuming you have one... will over time suppress the laying workers. Three or four weeks should see the colony building queen cups with the best of them.

New queen:
This is a relatively quick fix.... if you have spare queen. The queen will have to be properly introduced because even when queenless the colony will kill off a poorly introduced queen. If you have laying workers you must deal with them first as they will also kill a queen.
Combine:
If the colony is queenless you combine it with another... assuming you have one. This could be done with a newspaper combine for vertical hives, or using icing sugar to coat the introduced combs and bees in a kTBH.
Brood transfer:
Transfering young uncapped brood ...assuming you have some... will allow the colony raise a new queen. Take care they don't produce too many and swarm.

By the this time you may have noticed two things:
1 - Transfering young brood into the colony from another will fix the problem of laying workers AND queenlessness. It will even help you post swarm. Adding brood can stimulate a new well-mated queen to lay, and provides the colony with opportunities to replace her if poorly mated. It also stops you from having to bite your fingernails trying decide what, if anything, is wrong.
2 - If you only have one colony you're stuffed. The curse of the new beekeeper is that at a time when you need the most resource and have the least experience the reality is opposite. So, join forums, find mentors and seek out supportive associations.
There is always the option with your to allow 'nature to take its course'. I can certainly get on board with that philosophy and at times have applied. All I will say is that be wary of generating unnatural circumstances and leaving nature to sort it out. Sometimes she'll be able to sort it out on her own but don't count on it. Make sure for any manipulation you perform on your hive you are clear on:
a) What you want/expect to achieve (over and above not doing it).
b) You have considered what might happen if it doesn't work.
c) You have fall back plan and know what you want to do and how to do it.



Freebees

Well in the UK it is approaching that time of year when colonies may swarm. This starts in earnest in April and can continue until the end of July. In my area June is the month where it all happens. Swarms are the natural reproductive unit of a colony and are ready, willing, and able to develop a new colony. I will not discuss here the biology of a swarm only how to catch them!
Every year there is post after post of different forums about how to catch yourself a swarm so I thought I would save my keyboard the wear and tear and put it in one place.
Swarm trap or bait hive.
A minor distinction but for me a bait hive is a small hive that can function as such. A swarm trap will give the swarm a temporary location but quickly needs moving to a hive. Any move you make of a swarm prior to brood being present may lead to them absconding. Where possible I recommend using a bait hive. If you have empty hives it is all worth baiting them for swarms just in case.

 

Flower pot bait hive on the roof of Brinscall hall.

Warré style - two warré boxes with the bars not in the bottom box. I recommend a flat roof for ease of movement. You must be sure the floor, boxes, and roof stay together so clips and/or reliable hive straps are a must.
National style - a single brood box is sufficent again with a simple roof and all components well secured.
TBH style - This is much easier equipment wise as any container that will recieve approx. 8-12 topbars can be a perfectly good bait hive. I have made these from polystyrene shipping boxes and plant pots. The fact that the top bars can be removed and placed in a hive with the bees in-situ is very handy. I would say that it doesn't take much longer to make a bait hive that works well as a nucleus hive for splits, transport, or mating. Do NOT forget if you intend to leave the bees in there for more than a week to have a follower board or spacer bar so you can still manipulate the bars.

15 bar Topbar bait hive/nuc made from old shipping pallets.

So to the matter at hand, the attracting of a swarm of bees. I will list below, categorised of course, elements which increase your chances of catching a swarm. Ultimately if there are more swarms than containers to house them then you'll will them is nearly anything.
Size
20-40 litres in volume. This is two warré boxes, one national or langstroth brood, 8-12 bars kTBH. Prime swarms will want more space than cast swarms. I have had a cast swarm enter a single warré box (~18 l) that wasn't even nailed together properly.
Placement
I believe 2 metres from the ground is ideal in a location where there is a supply or nectar, water, and propolis. In reality a height you can comfortably reach is MUCH more sensible. It is useful having the bait hive higher eg shed roof, but more so that no one can inadvertently walk into the bees flight path. You will need to have the permission of the land owner and prepare to loose the odd piece of equipment to thieves. I would also suggest it isn't to far from a road. If you think the bait hive it heavy now wait until it's full of unsettled bees!
Entrance
The bees do not care what shape their entrance is. Through experimentation I have found a single entrance with 1 inch diameter works very well. Anything bigger becomes difficult to defend, anything smaller inconvenient. If you wish then you can fit a mesh floor so the bees don't overheat in transport but this must be covered over to attract a swarm in. The darker the better, oddly damp doesn't bother them. The entrance should face south or southest (ish). It is not essential for direction but make sure there isn't a strong wind blowing into the entrance.
Attractant
There are lots of commercially available swarms attractant but they really aren't that necessary. If the box has had bees in before ie coated with propolis etc and smells of bees then this is enough for then. Other things that help are a piece of old brood comb (the darker the better) and a few drops of lemon grass oil (LGO) at the entrance. Use sparingly as too much LGO can put them off. Two drops once every two weeks in more then enough. You can also put some on cotton wool in a zip lock plastic bag left bearly open inside the hive. It is not as good as old brood comb and propolis but as a new beekeeper you won't have that. It that case rub the inside walls of the hive with beeswax too.
Now just wait...... if you can take a look during the day then it is fun to see scout bee interest increasing. If not then a sharp knock in the evening or checking its weight will tell you if you have new tenants. Do not open it until you're sure they have moved in. If you disturb scout bees they're unlikely to return.
If you're lucky enough to see the swarm arrive it is very exciting. Finding bees already there is a close second. It's something like a cross between catching a fish and opening a present. Best of luck!

Accidental Warré Update

Over a bank holiday weekend where Yorkshire hosted an amazing first Tour de Yorkshire bike race (woo... go Wiggins), my daughter got scarlet fever, and I failed to get anything done other than eat and drink. I did get the chance to visit the bees on a small respite from the rain.

So last year in June a tiny caste swarm moved into an old box in my apiary. The box is deralict with the side not meeting properly and more hole than the proverbial sieve. This swarm was very small and although it managed to just about fill the box did nothing more that year. They refused to grow into the a box below deciding instead to stay put. I at least gave them a decent quilt and roof and offered them my best wishes. Against all odds they managed to make it through (an albeit mild) Yorkshire winter which managed to be the downfall of larger colonies. This a brief video of them:

Good work little bees!

When wondering what to do with wax

Any natural beekeeper practising a crush and strain approach to honey harvest,  any who have removed warped combs, or just downsized for winter by removing empty comb, will at some point find themselves with something of an abundance of wax.

Annoyingly, when I was starting out last year wax was something I coveted only slightly less than bees. Wax enabled me to weatherproof my hive (by mixing with linseed oil), to rub around the inside of the hive to make a more attractive home to the bees, to
embed upon the comb guides to aid in straight comb. All of this I could buy but what I wanted more than anything was some old comb to include in bait hives.  Old brood comb above all other things (including queen pheromone) is most successful in attracting a swarm.

Looking back on this shortage is a little odd now I have wax coming out of my ears (apologies a poorly chosen euphemism *yuck*). I harvested a relatively modest amount of wax this year in reducing the hives for winter (about 15 combs in all).

First I tried just melting it all in a saucepan of water. I do not suggest using your best saucepans! Anything you use to prepare wax should be something that you never want to use again for anything else... ever.. I also used a camping stove so as not to ruin the range cooker. Once melted pour the contents through a sieve (that you never want to use again for anything else) or some cheese cloth. Anything that will filter out the particulates.

For a few combs this works just fine. As the wax cools it floats to the top with any remaining rubbish on the bottom. Bigger projects however require bigger thinking.
If working with wax is something you're interested in there are plenty of plans on the Internet for wax extraction in solar and steam (using wallpaper steamers) extractors. Here is my home-made attempt at a steam wax extractor using a packing box and a wallpaper stripper. It worked surprisingly well and cost nothing beyond what I already had.

Next year I intend to build an extraction hive I can put the combs in and attach the steamer to. Once you have your wax it's fun time. I am by no means an expert like Judy Earl (as reported on Emily Scott's blog) but have really enjoyed tinkering.

My first wax product attempt was a basic lip balm.
1 tablespoon of wax
4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil (so it would be green).
1 teaspoon of honey
5 drops of peppermint oil.

It was a little experiment using things i already had. I mixed them together in and old (but cleaned out) sauce jar in a saucepan of water on the hob. I was quite pleased with the outcome, as were many of my work colleagues who got a free gift the next day. My wife however was ridiculously excited. The next day I came home to an ebay bill for the following products.

Six different essential oils, cocoa butter, jars of different sizes, borax (tut tut), three different carrier oils (?), a kindle book of bee products. Beekeeping has thus far failed to interest my wife in any way. The making of home-made cosmetics however...that she could get on board with.

Next up. My wife wanted to make a body butter (I don't really know what this is). We found a recipe, pinterest appears to be a huge resource for this, and set to work. The recipe called for water and borax to be added. As a biochemist I recognise water as a possible source of bacterial contamination and borax as something you use to scrub your steps. The borax is probably to emulsify the oil and water allowing them to mix. I wasn't too happy with this so thought of a different way. So was born the 'Lavender and Vodka Body Butter'. I am told it works well, though for what I am still unsure :)

Taking this another step I thought a lighter lip balm could be approached the same way. Behold the resulting Sloe gin lip balm.

This is:
1 tablespoon wax
3 tablespoons oil (in this case white grape oil but olive is fine)
1 tablespoon sloe gin.
This mix requires whisking as it cools (I used 2x bamboo skews). This made 4x 5ml pots and apparently is more of a lip gloss! Who knew!

We have also managed to make a sleep balm, containing oils from lavender, chamomile, valerian, bergamot, and orange.

To be honest whilst making it the smell was so powerful as to be nausea inducing. The following day when the mists had cleared and the wax had set the smell was much more pleasant.

For a beekeeper the winter is a time of fretting and carpentry. Both could well be aided by some well worked wax.

Don't Warré Steve

(Title dedication: Julie of Happy hour at the top bar hive).
As I hinted in my last post they has been some change in my warré circumstances.

My own warré remains consistent.  They are still just within one box but show good activity even with the ailing weather. So what has changed?... August Cottage has some lodgers!

BACKGROUND
Steve is a natural beekeeper based in York who I met as we were both starting out last year. Him with a warré, me with a kTBH. Unfortunately
his hived swarm was robbed out quite quickly and didn't make it. This year, through the biobees forum, Steve was the lucky recipient of bees from Barbara, who is an extremely experienced kTBH keeper who has been treatment free for varroa for more than 5 years. Newly (and beautifully) built warré in hand Steve collected his bees. All went well until 6 weeks later the bees swarmed again. A classic case of false floor syndrome perhaps. So the swarm's swarm was hastily housed in the spare box and one Steve had to hand.

Fast forward to today and Steve is in the throws of a house move with no where to put the hives.  This is where I ride in on my white charger to save the day. Since there is plenty of room where I keep my bees I am keeping an eye on his hives until after Christmas.  By that time Steve is hoping to have orgainsed an  allotment in which to site the hives.

The reswarming has left the both colonies a little on the small side going into the back end of the year. On a positive note the hives are certainly well built. The wood is two inches thick with generous windows so you can keep an eye on things.  Not sure I would want to lift them when full of honey but I'm sure the bees will appreciate it during a Yorkshire winter.

Change of weather, Change of fortune

I have been keeping an eye on the hives of late but not messing about with them too much. The weather is flowing inevitability towards autumn and with the shortening of the days comes the slowing down of the hives.

I can no longer inspect (open inspection) the hives after work in the evening. It is just a little too cold for my conscience to allow. That only leaves me with weekends to open them up, and the weather in Yorkshire is.... unreliable.

Formally Phoebee
This hive swarmed whilst I was on holiday and I have been waiting for signs of a laying queen. Whenever I have tried to inspect this usually placid colony has been extremely reactionary. A change in temperament like this was not a good sign but I hoped for the best. The activity in this hive however has continued to drop off. I managed to fully inspect the hive this weekend and things really don't look good. There was the crack of propolys on opening, a further sign of the march towards winter. Once open the bees gave me no trouble and appeared listless. There were bands on honey at the top of 22 combs and I removed any empty to reduce the hive to a more manageable size for them.

I have never been a whiz at queen spotting but this hive's queen (and her daughters) are particularly hard to spot. Their markings have all been VERY similar to the workers and are all quite skinny.  Still I looked hard and found not a monarch.

The brood pattern was spotty and very bumpy suggesting drones.  Whether this is a drone laying queen or a laying worker at this stage I think it is unimportant.

You get an idea of how they feel from this comb really. Queen cup anyone? I fear I may have to shake these bees out in front of another hive one evening so they can find a new queenright home. It is just too late in the year for a brood transfer.

Boudica's bees
It might not be summer anymore but someone forgot to tell these girls. On sunday it was grey and overcast with a little mist in the air. Boudica's hive was as busy Heathrow on a bank holiday.

Opening up I notice there were still a few squatters in residence. I am afraid I had to well and truly block their route of entry this time as I will be putting the insulation board in later this week.

is that one pulling out a pin?

On opening the hive I noticed the propolys was still very soft and sticky. The colony is obviously having no trouble maintaining a good temperature. The bees were still festooning in places suggesting comb building is still underway. There is still a solid brood pattern and fresh eggs.

I removed the remainder of the comb from the brewery bees. You can see in the picture below how they chewed down the comb to expose the larvae. This reduced the hive to 18 bars. Not all of the bars are fully built out so they should have plenty of space for the rest of autumn but not too much to keep warm in winter.

All in all I am really pleased with this colony.  After the shaky start we had we are getting on well and the bees are doing well.

I ended up with quite a bit of empty comb from both hives. Any good empty comb I placed behind the follower boards to help out next year. I only removed the comb that was very old, wonky or had high drone cell content.

My wife has a fancy to make lip balm but we shall see! Next update on Warré hives in a few days...yes... I said hive's'!