An Inspector calls

Kirsty holding one of my shallow drone trapping frames

 
Yesterday's highlight at the apiary was a visit from regional bee inspector Kirsty Sutherland.  The Scottish government is surveying the state of health of Scotland's bees and, as I'm registered on Beebase, I was asked to take part.  Of course I agreed to help out in any small way I could.

You'll have to take my word for it that the beekeeper pictured is in fact Kirsty as the only picture I took of her without her veil on turned out blurred.  Sorry Kirsty!

A full brood box

A little smoke to calm them

We had a fair old natter about all things beekeeping and Kirsty gave my bees a clean bill of health.  In order to double check I have to send a little floor insert complete with the debris which naturally falls from the brood nest to SASA in Edinburgh.  Fingers crossed that's ok as well.

And last but not least I got my SBA module certificates through the post recently.  I thought a picture might be in order to provide evidence that I actually passed them!

        

Proof that I passed!

 I mentioned that I was going to embark on some queen rearing and last week I made a start. On Thursday I set up a queenright cellraiser.  And on Friday I grafted 20 larvae from my chosen breeder queen into some Jenter plastic queen cups.  Below you can see the results.  The bees fed and nurtured 12 of the larvae before sealing the cells over on Tuesday for the queens to pupate.  They're due to hatch next Tuesday into Wednesday and on this coming Sunday I will make up some mating nucs with 300ml of bees to receive the sealed cells.  The queens will hatch and mate from the nucs. Once they are in lay and can be assessed they can be given to a larger nuc and built up for overwintering.  Next summer they will hopefully be in full production and getting me some/lots of honey!  First things first though we need this weather to improve to allow the virgin queens to get out on their mating flights and give some of my drones a chance to fulfil their fatal purpose in life.

Sealed queen cells, bees clustering on some of the bottom ones

Swarm-a-licious

The sound of a swarm settling is very distinctive.  A little bit like a cross between a Tornado jet taking off and a lawn mower - if you turned the volume down a bit.  Well, something like that anyway.

Now, as I'm such a super-duper expert beekeeper (tongue firmly in cheek) I try not to lose any swarms from my hives.  For the non-beekeeper the reason why losing a swarm is bad is that the hive they came from is extremely depleted in bee numbers and it will be quite some time before they can gather any honey for you again.

So arriving back home this morning from a trip to Elgin and the alpacas at Ballindalloch I was most surprised to be greeted by the above mentioned sound coming from our large cherry tree.  I had been into the hives on Monday with no sign of any queen cells (a sign that they may swarm) so I was slightly taken aback.  Never mind , they may not be from one of my hives and I was really keen to capture them as it's not something you get a chance to do very often around here.

The only trouble was they were twenty feet up and the branch was attached to the tree about fifteen feet up.  Too high for me to brave the chainsaw.  A bit of quick thinking and I duck taped my pruning saw to a very long pole (the one I use to clean snow off the polytunnel in the winter). 

I placed my large white sheet on the ground under the swarm and went to work with the saw.  Luckily when the saw got to the critical point the branch broke but not all the way through thus sparing the bees a huge clatter on to the ground.  A fair sized cluster landed on the sheet and on top of them went my skep.

I say skep but they are expensive beasties (about £60) so I had another brainwave a couple of months ago and cut the bottom off an old laundry basket. I sealed the cut with a multitude of strips of the old faithful duck tape!

I must have got lucky and caught the queen in the skep as it wasn't long before the bees were heading into the skep and fanning to get their mates to follow them.

Bees flying in

Note the lovely silver duck tape!

The sticks are holding the skep up to let the bees in

Bees fanning to attract the others in

I let them settle for a couple of hours in the skep before I gathered the cloth up under it and moved them over the their new hive.  They were then unceremoniously dumped inside where I hope they'll be very happy!

Ben Harden method of Queen rearing

Well at long last the weather is on the turn and summer seems to be on its way.  The forecast is predicting days of up to 23C this week when last week we had a day of 4C with snow showers!

And it's at times like these that the progressive beekeeper's mind turns to queen rearing.  For the uninitiated this usually consists of a very high tower block-like hive and tricking the bees into thinking they don't have a queen thus prompting them to try to make a new queen or preferably 20 of them!

The new queens can be distributed to new colonies or used to replace ageing queens in existing colonies.

The method I'll be using this summer is one very well suited to the small scale amateur beekeeping and was developed by Irish beekeeper Ben Harden.

The details of it can be found on the legendary and much missed Dave Cushman's site

Ben Harden method of queen rearing

I'm hoping to document the process here and at long last upload some photos to accompany the entries.

Watch this space!

Passed my Exams!

Today I finally got the news I'd been waiting a couple of months for.  I sat Modules 1 and 2 of the SBA syllabus in March and now I've been told that I got a Pass with Distinction in Module 1 and a Pass with Credit for Module 2.  I swotted much harder for them than most of my Uni exams and I'm so glad it paid off.  I was sweating buckets especially about Module 2 but it seems I needn't have bothered.

Onwards and upwards now! Next on the hit list is Module 3 with is diseases and pests of the honeybee.

Beekeeping exams today

It  might surprise you to learn that within beekeeping there is a full and comprehensive  learning programme from the basic to the comprehensive.

Last summer I successfully completed the basic programme run by the Scottish Beekeepers Association and I was determined to keep up the good work and embark on their more detailed modular exam syllabus.

Today was my first exam day.  I studied reasonably hard (for me) since I applied for the exams in January and today would be the test if it had been worth it.  I would be sitting modules 1 and 2 (Honeybee Management and Honeybee Products and Forage).  The sort of stuff I had to learn was eg the constituent parts of floral nectar, how to manage bees for heather honey prodcution and many, many other things in great detail.  It was a challenge to my poor brain it must be said!

Anyway, I completed the 2 x 1.5 hour papers at a fellow beekeeper's house this morning and I await with extreme trepidation my results.  It felt like it went ok althought I forgot to include a smoker as part of the basic equipment required by a new beekeeper!  Doh!

Fingers crossed....

(oh and here's a link to the syllabus if you're interested)

SBA exam syllabus

A new blog,actually

Despite appearances to the contrary, this is actually the first entry in my new blog (the others have been imported from my previous incarnation scottishbeeblog).  I was collaborating with another beekeeper on that blog but let's just say we had "creative differences" and I decided to strike out on my own.

I maintain the Moray Beekeepers blog as well but I'm intending to keep this blog for my own personal take on beekeeping.  In fact I'll be posting exactly what I want, when I want and I won't have to worry about anyone else.  Freedom is a wonderful thing!

Anyway.....the bees are getting off to a roaring start this Spring.  All hives are choc a bloc with bees and I think they've been glad of the mild winter we've had  - unlike the horrors of the last two winters with vast amounts of snow and extremely low temperatures.  A quick look on warm-ish days in the last week has confirmed that they all have plentiful stores.

No need to add extra feed or pollen supplements here as I'm not trying to build them up for an early nectar flow from say Oilseed Rape.  And there'll be vast amounts of pollen for them once the willows get going.  I want bee numbers to peak for the clover in mid-summer and if I take any splits I want them to be at their peak for the heather in August.  So as long as they have enough stores just now I'm happy to just let them get on with it.  Minimal intervention is a good thing at this time of year.

Hopefully I'll keep my posts well illustrated with photos so I hope you'll forgive my text-only first entry!

Nosema Ceranae found in Scotland

Not the best news to be honest.  Here's the story according to the Press Association....



"An outbreak of a disease that affects honey bees has been confirmed in Scotland for the first time.

Three samples of bees sent to experts at Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA) for analysis have tested positive for Nosema ceranae.

It is a microsporidial disease affecting honey bees which may cause a dwindling of the bee colony.

Nosema ceranae is related to the microsporidial disease, Nosema apis, which causes dysentery in honey bees and is linked to spring losses in Scottish colonies.

Although Nosema ceranae has been linked to colony collapse in Spain and some Mediterranean countries, so far it has not caused as many problems in Northern Europe.

And although it is a serious disease it is not a notifiable disease under the Bee Diseases and Pests Control (Scotland) Order 2007.

The cases identified are from three regions of Scotland, indicating that the disease is not confined to one area.

A total of 57 samples of adult bees were submitted to the SASA laboratory between March 2010 and July 2011, and 14 of these tested positive for Nosema and were subject to extra molecular testing. Of these, 10 samples tested positive for Nosema apis, three tested positive for Nosema ceranae and one sample failed to produce a positive result for either disease.

The disease already appears to be widespread in Europe, with many cases recorded in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, SASA said.

The Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute said there are no risks to public health and no implications for the quality and safety of honey, and beekeepers should replace and sterilise their frames to prevent the build-up of Nosema spores within the colony."

Thymol Autumn feed

Beekeeping Forum - View Single Post - What to do about Nosema?.

Above is a link to a recipe for something which beekeepers will find very useful at this time of year. Every Autumn I add this emulsified thymol solution to my syrup. It's alleged to have a beneficial effect on Nosema but I can't really say yea or nay to that.

If you're using large rapid feeders such as Ashforths it does have one really useful effect in that it prevents the feed from fermenting and forming a mouldy scum on the surface whilst the bees are taking it down over a period of time. Any beneficial medicinal additional effects are purely incidental to me but I'll take them if they're going!

For the last week (since taking the honey off) my kitchen has been reeking of the stuff but I quite like the smell! Others may not! Please also note that you shouldn't use this additive in Spring or Summer feeds as it will taint your honey.

Introducing......

Hi readers. My name is Gerry Thompson and I'm a beekeeper living here in the north of Scotland. I decided to set this blog up as a chronicle of all things beekeeping from a uniquely Scottish perspective. Something which it appears to me is sadly lacking from the world of blogging - until now!

I live on the banks of the Spey in the heart of whisky country. In fact there are 3 distilleries within a mile of my house!

I've been keeping bees since 2004 and I now have 7 colonies. I'm hoping to build up to around 20 colonies over the next year or two. I find the whole process of beekeeping and the bees themselves endlessly fascinating. It's really one of those activites that you can keep learning about for however long you do it. I feel that in my 8 years I've barely scratched the surface! I have recently completed the SBA Basic Beemaster certificate (with distinction no less!) and I plan to pursue the rest of the SBA (Scottish Beekeepers Assoc) curriculum with the hope that eventually I'll gain the title of Expert Beemaster.

Hope you enjoy what I've got to say and maybe learn a little about beekeeping along the way.