Just checked all the bees. The weather has been really cold over the last few weeks so I'm a bit late in checking the bees and treating them from Varroa.
They're not doing too bad and have now been treated and fed with fondant as a winter treat so we'll see how they go.
We currently have 4 Apiaries.
'Canal Side' An apiary on a farm near the canal - where we have 40 hives. After the appalling weather of last year and the cold snap we're down to about 36 colonies here.
'River Side' An apiary on an organic egg farm. There's about 38 colonies here. They all look pretty good but it's very muddy and some of the stands and hives appear to be making their way down the slope into the ditch! I will have to get back and move the hives and reset out the apiary.
'Mountain Side' An apiary on a smallholding in the Welsh Hills. There are about 12 colonies here and they all seem Ok now. Strangely the colonies which were more protected (next to the hedge) appear very weak and so we'll have to see how they progress.
'Garden Side' An apiary in our garden containing some really gentle bees. They seem fine and I'm hopeful of breeding a few more from these bees. The original colony was a wild colony and have survived for many years without treatment so I'm hopeful that they may have some kind of innate varroa resistance, but then again I may just be kidding myself.
Next month I'll hopefully be feeding the bees with a spring feed. It's something I haven't tried before but with the last 2 summers being so bad I'll try anything once!
That's all for now. Hopefully I'll be able to keep this blog going and keep the bees going too.
All the best
Tony
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