Winter feeding, reconfiguring the hives, a hornet visit and a bee doing a Glasgow kiss on my mic.
00:02
Welcome back to a Beekeepers Diary podcast. We are two thirds of the way through September and I've come to set my hives up for winter. Amazingly, there are still swallows ahead. You can hear them calling.
00:22
Especially when there's a red kite around, they like to have a little shout about it.
00:28
It's nice to see them still here. Is this the last visit? I'm always banging on about them aren't I? think I'm obsessed. Right back to the bees. So this was a messy sort of bee-wise. The super, the box of honey that has been on top of the hive. dear. Hoods up. Oh dear. I'm getting a visit.
00:58
No thank you.
01:03
Yes, so the super that I had on top of the hive I've had to put on the bottom is quite disturbing for the bees. So you take that box off the top, then you separate the whole brood from the floor, put that to one side, put the super on the floor and then put the brood on top of the super.
01:29
and take a queen excluder off that was separating the two as now that becomes one full sort of box and a half for the bees to have for the winter. And then on top of that I put a feeder. It's like a box that you pour the syrup into and it's got a tiny gap so the bees can drink but not go for a swim. Here's the idea. To save drowning your bees.
01:58
So on both hives I've done that which they flipping hate. You can imagine someone rearranging your house. It's not the most fun so I've rearranged the house, put feeders on top and fed my first bit of syrup. One litre of water to 600 and something millilitres.
02:27
of no, all the way around, one litre of water, 600 and something grams of sugar which in old money used to be a two to one ratio of pints and pounds. still the same ratio I believe. I was at my beekeeping society the other day and they told me that when I said it was a two to one ratio I was very out of touch but I think it's the same ratio just in modern conversions.
02:57
It doesn't, it's not two litres of water to one kilo of sugar.
03:07
It used to be two pounds of sugar to one pint but in modern conversions it's that one litre to 600 and something grams of sugar. Anyway, so I've done that. Future dancing here just to clarify because I got myself in a muddle. Thick syrup for autumn feeding is one kilo of sugar to 630 mils of water. One kilo of sugar to 630 mils of water.
03:36
In old money, 2 pounds of sugar to one point. Signing off. And I've added some Hive Alive, a little mixture to it that prevents the sugar from getting mouldy in the feeder and has a few vitamins and the like. To give the bees a little boost, I've got my varroa treatment on and gone through
04:04
the hives to see where we're at. Brood wise because I was a bit worried last week. Hello Bee. No, it's attacking the microphone. Could you not do that please? It's not helpful. Doesn't like the microphone.
04:27
This headbutt in the microphone. Back it in.
04:37
Who are you? gonna let this be headbutt the microphone while I'm holding it. Yeah so I've been through the brood and things are looking much better in hive one. About five frames of brood laid up and getting capped so that's looking better. Not quite as much in hive two but...
05:04
there is eggs. I saw the queen in hive two, not in hive one, but there's eggs in both. So activity is happening and hopefully they're expanding. So I'm less worried than I was last week. Still not great. I mean, there's a massive amount of bees in the box still, but obviously they're going to die off. So I need them to get going with their brood, but it's looking better than last week, which is good.
05:30
Yeah, so we've set up for winter, we can start our feeding, we've got our varroa treatment going, we've got brewed. So yeah, things are not looking too bad. I saw my first European Hornet down here of the year. One hawked in front of hive two, grabbed a bee and they fell to the ground in a tussle of life and death. They were wriggling around for a while and the bee got away.
05:58
pleased to say and the hornet zoomed off in a huff and I've not seen it since so maybe it got a few, maybe the bee got a few bites in.
06:10
and they didn't have it a bit. More kicks and punches. So yeah, all good. Even though it's September, still getting sweaty doing these visits, lifting boxes up and going through the frames. If you're a beginner beekeeper, be aware.
06:36
When you start beekeeping, you're going to spend all summer sweating in your bee suit in some of the autumn.
06:45
hear that beat, it's been a nuisance. Leave me alone.
06:51
worked. Right I'll leave you to it and I'll catch you next time.