BYE-BYE GIRLS AND THANK YOU...
October, another month gone in the buzz of a wing. The days are getting shorter, the temperature is beginning to drop and the leaves on the trees are abounding in colour as they bid their picturesque farewell. The honey bees begin their final preparations for the winter months that lay ahead. The drones have now all gone, the queens start to lay less and less and the population of the hive gradually starts to decrease. Any eggs laid now will be the bees that will take their queens through to spring. The honey bees live for six weeks throughout the the spring and summer but during the autumn and winter they will live for about five months. Walk past the Ivy on a warm autumnal day and it will be humming with the sound of the forager bees as they feast on the final wealth of nectar and pollen provided by life’s unending cycle which is so dependent on our wonderful honeybees.
The mouse guards are on the entrances to the hives. The mice love a beehive in the winter. It’s warm as toast and filled with honey. A perfect safe haven to set up home in during the cold months ahead. If the bees are in a cluster, a mouse can sometimes scurry past them without being noticed and co-exist for quite some time as they’re not after the bees, they’re after their honey! If discovered though, the bees will sting it to death and wrap it up in propolis until they can get it out of the hive. You can imagine the mess they can create, not to mention the smell of urine, so best protect the bees and, of course, the mice!
With all the preparations the honeybees have been doing there’s been little for me to do, except keep an eye on them. It’s been mild, so checking the weight of the hive has been important. Each hive should weigh about 45/50lb. The milder the weather the longer they are out foraging, so the more stores they’re using up. Removing the Apivar, (polymer strips that are used to treat Varroa mites), gave me my final opportunity to see them and say my last minute goodbyes. It seemed an appropriate time to cover the hives in thermal casing. Some people line the lids with a thermal insert, I prefer the casing as it has the added benefit of protecting the hives from woodpeckers and I’ve strapped them down as a hefty badger can easily push a hive over in anticipation of it’s delicious contents not to mention strong winds.
Meanwhile I’ve been busy with my talks, creating a buzz about the honeybees! At one of the talks I was asked to judge a Scone baking competition. Well, I didn’t need a lot of persuading! I was also present at the first year celebration of a beautiful shop in Hereford called Hey Honey - https://www.heyhoney.org.uk/ - Visit the link and see for yourself all the wonderful honey bee related gifts you can buy there - including Betsie Valentine! All perfect presents for Christmas and beyond…
And so to The 2021 National Honey Show. There wasn’t a 2020 Honey Show due to Covid, and I have to say that the atmosphere was amazing. Admittedly there were less stalls there, because of Covid, i.e., problems for people coming from abroad, but those of us who could attend, had much more space to display our goods and it made for an altogether safer environment. I had wanted to be able to launch the sequel to Betsie Valentine And The Honeybees, but sadly that couldn’t happen as it’s still with the printer! Nonetheless there was a lot of interest in it and lots of email addresses left to be notified of it’s arrival!
All the entries of the colouring competition were, honestly, brilliant. Of course there had to be a winner and, trust me, it was a really difficult decision. However, after much deliberation and help from a couple of friends who are artists the winner is Lilliana - Aged 7 -
Here is her wonderful picture… and she will be receiving a signed copy , by the artist, Tegan Sharrard - https://www.tegan-art.co.uk/, of the queen bee, from the book.
And so it is… I come to the end of my beekeeping year. There will still be a couple of things to do. Check on their stores and top them up if necessary with fondant icing. Check to make sure the entrances aren’t blocked with either dead bees or snow. Clean off the Varroa boards.
I will miss the girls. Although I sometimes moan about them, more often than not because of their unpredictability… the hardest part of the year now is waiting to see them in the spring…
I won’t be doing my blog now until the early spring when the year begins again and I hope, once more you will join me in 2022 as each year brings its own challenges. Honey bees are, after all, wild creatures which we now farm. Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year.
I’ll leave you with this wonderful quote about the honeybees by William Shakespeare.
“…for so work the honeybees, creatures that by a rule in nature teach.”
We really all can learn so much from the honeybees…