I could almost sense today what I was going to find checking my bees; as has been the case the last few years for me, the colonies have reached their turning point: brood beginning to reduce, income and forage just ticking over and some stores beginning to appear at the edges of the brood nest. This normally signals that the active season will now dwindle in the next two months as the bees start winter preparations!
I have noticed over the last ten days or so young wasps have appeared. This could give rise to a problem in the next month or two; hives may need entrances reducing so as the bees can guard better against such ingress.
Well my bees must have been swatting up because today was textbook perfect! The weather was glorious too so has to be the best beekeeping day this year so far. The bees were more than happy for me to meddle whilst they went about doing their business and everything was just as it should be (hope I am not cursing myself here). I did tear my bee suit but the bees were not the slightest bit interested in trying to get in, but I will have a repair bill to pay; won’t spoil my day though.
Perfect weather to collect swarms !
The swarm which arrived into an empty nuc in my garden quickly took up residence and when I checked last week it was HUGE! So HUGE I transferred it the week after it arrived into an empty hive; the queen had already started laying. Today I saw the queen and the brood was fine and my uninvited guests, having been made welcome, look to have settled in. 🙂