Even at this apparently early stage of the season, it is probably prudent to think ahead to autumn and winter preparations, despite the recent fine weather and the bees’ insistence on swarming. But first, a quick look back at the summer.
The weather has been favourable for queen matings, unlike last year when lengthy wet periods resulted in many a late-season supercedure, and queens going drone layer (d.l.q) over winter. Anything mated mid-season this year should be viable until at least mid-2021, and hopefully beyond.
The early showing of balsam proved to be something of a false dawn: nectar was visible, but the bees simply weren’t interested for the first fortnight. Beekeepers with far more sensitive noses than mine reported that it wasn’t giving off its characteristic pungent odour, but when it started to do so, the bees began to work it, and continue to do so, although not with the same fervour as in previous years.
And now, in mid-August, there are numerous reports of swarms being lost, and found. The bees are clearly hoping the good weather will continue long enough for both the stayers and the fliers to mate and build up sufficiently in time for winter, and that leads us neatly into the subject of winter prep.
Whilst I readily admit that the bees know more about beekeeping than most of us, late swarms should not be universally accepted as a “great gift”. Larger swarms may get through the winter, but need to be heavily fed, and at this time of year should ideally be given clean drawn comb in preference to foundation. If the weather changes, foundation may not be properly drawn.
The bees that don’t leave with the swarm – those that stay at home with a queen cell – face a different problem. Many hives have already begun “the slaughter of the drones”, and so decent matings become increasingly unlikely. Even with the most optimistic timings, such late matings will result in no significant brood until early/mid-September, by which time the colony will have decreased significantly due to normal die-off. Time for some serious uniting!
As I’ve noted in previous articles, larger colonies with newer queens are more likely to survive winter than anything else. Members might want to identify queens that were well mated mid-summer this year, with a proven laying pattern, and unite around these colonies. Be cautious about any queens mated late in the season, as they are more likely to run out of semen and go d.l.q. Remove (i.e. squash!) the unwanted queen from the poorer half of the unite and after about 20 minutes place the brood box on top of the “good queen” half, the two boxes separated by a sheet of newspaper (Yorkshire Evening Post for choice!), with a few small holes made in it to assist pheromone circulation. The unite should be complete after a day or so, the paper chewed away and the two halves acting as one colony. Reorganize the two sets of frames into a sensible pattern and you’ll have increased its chances of overwintering successfully.
Colonies should go into winter with 40-45lbs of stores – either honey or syrup. A national brood box frames holds 5lbs, super frames 2.5lbs, so a simple calculation reveals why many beekeepers overwinter using a broodbox and a super, minus the queen excluder. Ventilation, too, is an important consideration, though too strong a draught blowing through the hive is damaging. Gentle ventilation, good: hives wrapped in plastic and lagged with old jumpers (seen it!), bad.
Varroa is still the biggest threat to the health of our bees and an autumn treatment really is a must.
I’ve been experimenting with oxalic acid in sublimation again this season: every colony has had a monthly squirt since April. The results are quite encouraging, but once the late summer honey is off, they’ll get something different – probably Apiguard – which has a different active ingredient. Treatments need to be rotated to reduce the chances of resistance building up against any one product.
Feed up to the required weight, unite around young, well-mated queens, treat for varroa, allow gentle ventilation and strap down good, weather-proof hives against the winter gales and all should be ok. Fingers crossed!
Alan Johnston
