NATURE'S LITTLE HOUSEKEEPERS
You may remember a few blogs back - 17th July 2024, to be precise - I wrote a post called Varroa Destructor, in which I shared my near-meltdown over a hive I feared had been overwhelmed by Varroa. With help from Jack Silberrad at the National Bee Unit - nationalbeeunit.com - we seemed to get things back on track. However, despite a very low Varroa count, the bees continued to behave oddly…just as they had before.
Jack suggested that what I was seeing wasn’t cause for alarm at all. In fact, he thought the bees were strong and simply being very diligent with their housekeeping. That, he assured me, was a good thing. So, we left it there.
Fast forward to this year - as you’ll know from my March blog, The Bees Are Back in Bucks -I decided to perform a ‘shook swarm’ on the same ‘suspect hive’. A ‘shook swarm’ is one of the best ways to get bees onto fresh comb, and I was convinced it would finally resolve the mystery once and for all.
But alas… no. On inspection, the colony was displaying the same peculiar behaviour as before. Another Varroa count revealed very little…barely anything, in fact. Though of course, we must all remember that every hive has some level of Varroa, whether we like it or not.
I was at my wits’ end when I attended a talk at chalfontsbeekeepers.co.uk, which I’d rejoined as soon as I got back to Bucks, and after the meeting, I spoke with the guest speaker, Professor Clive de Bruyn. I showed him some pictures and a video of the hive in question and, quite rightly, he wasn’t prepared to make a judgement based on what he saw, but he advised me to contact the National Bee Unit - nationalbeeunit.com - again, share the video and photos with them and request a visit. My heart sank. Was this really something serious?
Soon after my contacting the NBU, Philip Spillane, the local Bee Inspector for my area, paid me a visit. Not just to check one hive, he had to inspect all of them, just to be sure there was no disease present. Thank goodness I only have three at the moment!
Hive No. 1 was the first surprise: it had queen cells. We removed all but one - only for a couple of queens to begin emerging as we worked - including one that hatched in my hand! So, we removed the queen cell we’d left in the hive and introduced the newly born queen from my palm. Boom! You might need to read that sentence twice—I barely kept up myself!
Hive No. 2, my so-called ‘non-problematic hive’, was all good - thank goodness. That said, Philip pointed out I could fit an extra frame at the back. Usually, National Hives take 11 frames, but he assured me a twelfth would fit. Eager to oblige, I dashed to my car to grab a spare frame. As I handed it to him, the bottom promptly fell off. Oops, not the best thing to happen when a bee inspector is standing beside you with a raised eyebrow. “Oooo… how did that happen?” I asked sheepishly. He sighed, looked at me, and said, “It needs nails in it in order to stay together.” Cue my embarrassed “ha-ha-ha” laugh, and Philip kindly fixed it for me. Oh, the shame!
Then we moved on to Hive No. 3—the ‘suspect colony’. The one that started this whole saga.
Philip went through it with, well, not a fine-tooth comb, but a hive tool (you get the idea). And finally, we had a diagnosis. There’s nothing wrong with the colony at all. In fact, it’s made up of hygienic bees. Hygienic Bees? Honeybees are naturally tidy little creatures, but this…this is something quite special.
A NOTE ON HYGIENIC BEES
In beekeeping, a hygienic colony refers to bees that are especially good at detecting and removing dead or diseased brood from the hive. This behaviour—uncapping affected cells and cleaning them out—is a natural way of stopping disease before it can spread. It’s as though the hive has its very own immune system, working together to stay healthy.
This clever trait comes down to genetics and is passed on by the queen. A hygienic queen produces daughters, (the worker bees), with an exceptional sense for what’s healthy and what’s not. These bees can help prevent the spread of diseases like chalkbrood or American foulbrood, (AFB), and they even slow the impact of varroa mites by removing infected brood.
In a time when honeybee colonies face so many challenges - from pests and poor weather to the loss of habitat - this kind of behaviour gives us real hope. It reminds us that sometimes, the best solutions are already found in nature. Rather than relying too heavily on treatments, we can begin to trust the bees themselves to show us the way forward.
And so, this year, I’ll be doing something new: I’m going to have a go at queen rearing, using eggs from my hygiene queen. It’s a first for me, and I’m excited.
For anyone unfamiliar with the term, queen rearing , it’s the process of encouraging a colony to raise new queens - on purpose. Normally, bees raise a new queen only when they absolutely have to, for example, when their old queen is failing, has gone missing or the colony is preparing to swarm. But beekeepers can gently steer the process by choosing eggs or very young larvae from a strong, healthy queen (i.e., in my case, my hygienic one), and giving them the right conditions to be raised as queens.
The idea is to spread good traits through future colonies…like calm temperaments, strong honey production, or in this case, exceptional hygiene. It’s a delicate process, but one I’m really keen to learn.
I’ll be sure to share updates along the way and, of course, I’ll include as many photos as I can.
Once again, the bees have shown me how much there still is to learn and how much wisdom they carry in their tiny, buzzing bodies. Here’s to a season of growth - for them and for me.
And so, to close April’s blog, I wanted to share a short video that goes hand-in-hand with a rather touching story.
When I moved back to Buckinghamshire, a lovely lady who lives nearby got in touch to ask if I could help with her with her husbands’ bees. Her husband had been a dedicated beekeeper, as well as a BBKA Trustee and Chair of the Finance Committee. Sadly, he passed away last year. You can read his obituary here: bbka.org.uk/howard-pool-remembering
She wasn’t sure whether the bees had made it through the winter, so she was surprised - and delighted - when the warm weather arrived and she saw them flying again.
She invited me over to take a look at the hive. Understandably, she wasn’t quite sure what to do with them but was reluctant to give them away, as they felt so connected to her husband. When I checked, I found they were lovely bees, though they did need to be moved onto fresh comb. I offered to help with that while she took some time to decide how she wanted to move forward.
Not long after, one of her daughters told her that she would like to take on the hive. She’d already started a beginner’s beekeeping course in her local area and planned to bring the hive home with her in October. In the meantime, I have the absolute privilege of looking after them - preparing them for the moment they’ll be passed on to their beekeeper-in-waiting.
Sally, the beekeeper’s wife, has really enjoyed being part of the process - getting to know these curious little creatures that her husband so adored. It’s been, and continues to be, a very special experience for us both.
I made this little video for her daughter to show, not only that her bees are doing well, but also that, in the meantime, her mum is enjoying looking after them with me.
And that just about wraps up April! I’m excited to see what the bees have in store for me in May - and I look forward to sharing the next chapter of this ongoing adventure. Because with honeybees, it’s always an adventure!
Thank you, as always, for reading. If you’ve enjoyed this post, do share it and feel free to follow along on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and LinkedIn for more bee-filled stories and updates.