Happy New Year!!!- January Beekeeping Maintenance Tips.

What a wet start to the year! But let's not dwell on that. Time to have a quick peek at your hives to see they are still weather/water tight. Last night there were gail force winds and this could blow hive roofs off. So a quick apiary site inspection is in order.

Hive Food?

We always give each of our beehives a Christmas gift of a block of honey/sugar fondant. This we do the week of Christmas (hope the bees don't open it till Christmas)! It's a little thank you for all their hard work for the past year and also a safeguard in case a colony is short of food supplies. Better safe than sorry. If they don't need it they will just leave it along. Never feed sugar syrup during the winter. Liquid sugar is far too difficult for bees to metabolise in cold temperatures and can lead to bee tummy upsets and dysentery.

Hive Entrance?

Check the hive entrance for any blockage. The naturally high mortality rate among bees in the autumn can mean with so many bees dying within the hive, the house bees find it difficult to clear them all out. This build up can create a complete blockage of the hive entrance. Your bees can suffocate or water vapour build up occurs and invites mould and unhygienic conditions to spread within the hive. It's just not bee cosy!

Hive Secure?

Vandals are the prime reason to keep your hives 'out of sight-out of mind' At this time of year your hive will be very visual as hedges and trees die back exposing the once well hidden beehive. So now is the time to disguise your beehive. Camouflage it as best you can. In many of our out apiaries we have two sets of beehives, a- Summer Hives, painted white, b-Winter Hives, stained cedar brown. So in the winter not only are our hives less visual, but the stain allows the wood to breath and reduces water vapour build up within the wood and inside the hive.

Those were just a few January Beekeeping Maintenance Tips. BTW- Don't open your hive for an inspection in the winter. Any major disturbance to a hive now until spring can be very detrimental to bee colony health. So keep animals well away. Try not to bump, knock of jolt a hive. Do not attempt to move a beehive during winter. The bees will use their energy to break their winter cluster to find out what is going on. This unnecessarily uses up their food stores and their limited remaining life span.

If you like us-please nominate us for London's Best Food Shop awards!

The Hive Honey Shop has been nominated by readers of LONDON Magazine for the 2011 London's Best Food Shop awards. So if you like what we do then please support us with a quick nomination click of the button! Its takes just 3 seconds and you will help support our little local shop!

Go to : http://www.thelondonmagazine.co.uk/London-Villages/London-Directory/Londons-best-food-shops-our-readers-recommend.html

click on the: Nominate your favourite shops for The London Magazine’s Great Little Shop Awards

Nominate

In return you are given the chance to win a Rodial Beauty Bag worth £300!

Good Luck and Thanks!

From The Hive staff and our bees!

The Hive Honey Shop Win 2011 Best Regional Honey Award!

Last night The Hive Honey Shop were awarded one of the top honey awards, the Regional Honey Award at the London Honey Show. Entries from all the London regions were entered and The Hive scooped the top prize.

James, our veteran bee expert, was there to accept the award, a beautiful silver plated honey dipper. The event has hosted at the prestigious Lancaster London Hotel W2, organised by Jo Hemesley, corporate Senior Sales Manager for the Lancaster London.

James said,' It was a brilliant show with lots to see and do. The atmosphere was alive with excitement and bee talk. everyone had a great time. We at The Hive Honey Shop are delighted to be awarded the Best Regional Honey Award for our local Clapham SW London Honey. It was a difficult competition with entries from all the regions, North, South, East and West London. We are very proud of our London bees and the amazing nectars they gather from the vast parks and gardens. We are looking forward to taking part in the London Honey Show next year"

1st Annual London Honey Show at the Lancaster London Hotel.

Ever wondered why London Honey is so great? Want to meet London Beekeepers and learn how you can keep bees yourself? Well wonder no more, its here! Bring your friends and family- Free entry for all!

The London Honey Show with the support of the London Beekeepers Association will take place at the Lancaster London Hotel in the Westbourne Suite on the 10^th October 2011. Opens 6pm-9pm. The Address is: Lancaster Hotel, Lancaster Terrace, London, W2 2TY

This will be the first year for the London Honey Show – the aim of the show is to welcome beekeepers and member of the public to the event for a bee related evening.

There will be 4 guest speakers and a wide selection of exhibitors. The evening will end with prizes being awarded for the winning honey in each of the categories and the ‘crowning’ of the London Beekeeper of the year.

For more information click this link to the host of the event the Lancaster London Hotel.

http://www.londonbees.com/london-honey-show/

APPLE FEST AT THE HIVE HONEY SHOP

Just out yesterday picking apples in the sunshine! Wow what a great day! Picked another 10 apple varieties from the 80 we have. Can't describe the feeling of biting into a rare apple, say a Pitmasons Pineapple, tiny apple that tastes like a pear/pineapple. Then a strawberry/loganberry taste of the Bloody Ploughman and on and on...

The apple trees were planted as a food source for the bees on site. Now 15 years later the fruit is amazing. Of course the apple blossom pollen and honey is fantastic too.

The Hive DIY Tip- how to avoid damaging foundation during frame making.

If you are anything like me I despair when I slightly tear a perfectly good piece of foundation while making up brood frames. Once you tear or badly distort the foundation your bees will avoid this area when drawing out the cells. This will result in either holes or distorted areas on the finished face of the comb. These holes in time can hide queen cells or the queen and will in a short time need to be replaced.

Tips to help!

1) When nailing together your frames don't line up the bottom bars exactly to the outer edge of the side bars. Leave a slight gap, resulting in making the inner dimensions of the frame slightly wider. This will allow your wax foundation sheets to slide more easily within the grooves of the side bars when fitting.

2) Put your foundation sheets in the fridge prior to fitting them in the frames. This will make the wax sheets more rigid and they will slide/handle more easily when fitting them in the frames. Avoid a warm room as your wax foundation will sag and rip more easily when handling each wax sheet.

Hope that helps- let me know if it works for you or any DIY tips you found useful!

all the best

Chris

Question Came In- Ventilation while feeding bees!

Dear James,

I have a question that I would appreciate your advice on.

Following the collection of the nuc from you 5 weeks ago, I have been regularly feeding the colony with syrup by way of a frame feeder. Now that I have a Ashforth feeder, I note that by using this type of feeder the roof ventilation will be shut off. Is this correct or is there an alternative means of providing ventilation at the roof? There is a supply of air at floor level by means of the varroa floor. The bees appear to be collecting and returning with pollen (various colours) from foraging flights, there are also stores of pollen within the frames.

In addition, whilst cleaning the removable floor I disturbed two caterpillars which appeared to have cocooned themselves in debris which have fallen through the hive floor. I attach a couple of photos from which I hope you will be able to identify and advise.

I appreciate this may be an imposition on my part, but any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards,

Mark

Answer:

There is more than enough airflow in a beehive. The roof vents come into play during the long wet winter months allowing condensation to escape and not build up within the hive. The fact that you have an open mesh varroa floor means you have ample air flow.

The photo of the caterpillars are in fact Wax Moth Larva- a very destructive pest to beekeeping. A moth lays her eggs in the wax debris and the eggs hatch, feed on the decaying hive litter, grow in numbers and eat through the wax combs and wooden frames, making a mess of your hive. The cocoon is the remaining open shell from an emerged moth.

So to avoid a wax moth invasion, clean the hive floor regularly and remove any wax moth larva from your hive. Protect your stored equipment by sealing supers with drawn comb in plastic sacks and use acetic acid ( 1/4 cup) on a piece of carpet placed on top of the stored supers/brood boxes. Seal the bag. Careful not to inhale the fumes, do it outdoors. Then in the spring air the equipment for 24 hours before placing them on a hive full of bees.

Hope that helps. Keep an eye out for our next article about buying equipment safely and the pit falls to avoid!