Apiary disaster. Part 2.

I decided to split the disaster post as it was getting rather long. So here goes with the next instalment!

After some thought I decided that leaving my damaged hive in the apiary was not an option. The brood box was damaged and sodden. The roof even more so and all the frames were also soaking wet. This year has been a good year for swarms and I am totally out of most spare equipment. I also knew that without food the bees had no hope of surviving.

Moving a hive at this time of year is a logistical nightmare. The track to the apiary is long and grassed. It has a hardcore covering in most places but is deep, with grass growing in the middle. I usually take the car down with one tyre on the middle part and one on the field edge. This year the fields have had sugar beet growing in them and the vehicles that harvest that make a lot of mess and damage to the track. Later in the winter the farmer will hopefully lay more hard core but for now they are flooded in places with thick mud and deep furrows, especially at the bends. Getting my car down to the apiary is impossible, especially with all the extra recent rain.

After much thought I decided a wheelbarrow was the only answer. Now, as hubB is not home until after dark the job of helping fell to Miss C. Initially like all teenagers she was less than impressed ‘what if someone I know sees me?’ and even worse than that ‘what if my friends see me?’. My concerns were a bit different ‘what if I’m not strong enough to lift it into the barrow’ and ‘what if it’s to far to push it, especially in mud’

We decided to do the deed first thing on the Tuesday. I was losing sleep over the blooming things and having been rained off on the Monday the job needed doing, before the stress killed me. Miss C goes roller skating at 10am so we had to start early. We had to time our journey to be early enough to get her back in time to socialise but not so early that she might be seen by any teenager, either a local one or one passing on a school bus who would undoubtably tell everyone she knew.

At 8am it was a miserable day. The forecast was good but the reality was a dull grey mizzle. We donned our raincoats and boots and set off. Now I never wear Wellington boots as I can’t walk in them but as the damp crept up my jeans legs I began to wish I could. The rain started as we were 3/4 of the way there so with gritted teeth we trundled on.

Arriving in the apiary we were able to unstrap the hive, wrap it in a big sheet, restrap it and lift it into the barrow without disturbing a single bee. We had already realised that we couldn’t leave the empty hive stand there as it would make a perfect battering ram if the vandals returned so we loaded that on top of the hive and strapped everything down tightly.

The hive was heavy and the walk back was long. Miss C earned her keep with the help she gave, taking her turn to push without any complaints but by the time we got back into the village we were both worn out.

Being so damaged the hive was not secure and although the sheet kept the bees fairly contained, by the time we got back to the street a couple had appeared and were wandering around the outside of it. Miss C used this as a perfect excuse to walk 4 large paces behind me, claiming this had nothing to do with being seen in public with me or my bees. It was with more than relief that we were able to walk down our own driveway. I stopped at this point to take the above photo, having forgotten to take my phone with me in all the excitement to get the job done. It was also at this point that Miss C made a mad rush for the house yelling that she had to shower and do her hair before her real life could begin.

Having cleared a space the day before I took the bees down the garden. I had decided to keep the bees in the Polytunnel. I knew it wouldn’t be ideal but was working on the idea that they will be dry and slightly warmer than outside. I needed to move them onto new frames and brood box and as I didn’t have a spare roof I had to leave them without one for a couple of days while I dried and repaired the one they had.

Luckily I had some old but dry brood frames I was able to give them. Their own had already started going mouldy and falling to pieces. It was at this point that I saw the Queen, as she is fairly new and a prolific layer this was a very lucky break.

A fortnight later they are still in the tunnel. They have a brood box of clean frames, a super with a number of half filled frames and a large block of fondant. I am also feeding them honey both outside the hive and in the main entrance.

I can do no more for them. It is not ideal. The main issue is their inability to see the Polytunnel sides which they bump into regularly, and the copious amounts of waste they are covering everything in. Yes bees poo as this fleece hanging in the roof shows. In the open you hardly notice but inside it is worse than I realised.

I hope the slightly warmer conditions of the tunnel with give them time to store more food and perhaps avoid starvation if they do go into torpor. Only time will tell.

Apiary disaster, part 1

My biggest beekeeping worry happened last month. On one of our regular visits we found one of the hives had been vandalised.

As you know the bees are in a copse of trees just across the field from my house. Unfortunately the fields are often used for hare coursing and even on occasion dog fighting and although the farmer has a locked gate at the track entrance the perpetrators just get across the fields from other directions.

Our visit last month found the gate removed from its hinges and hanging to the ground. The fields were criss crossed with the tracks of quads and 4×4’s that had used them for racing. Arriving at the apiary we found one of the hives smashed to pieces. This picture doesn’t do it justice as I was to busy donning my suit to take it and hubB was keeping his distance.

The roof, crown board and top super had been knocked clean off by the sheer volume of rubbish and bricks thrown at the hive.The top super is where the honey is stored and seeing an opportunity all my other hives had instantly stolen any food they could. The ground was layered with the bodies of dead bees. Those killed during the vandalism but also those killed trying to defend their hive.

The main brood box although still upright had sat open to the elements for who knows how long. The weather has been awful here lately and I hadn’t visited for almost a fortnight. The floor of the hive had about an inch of water laying in it, and as it had poured with rain the night before, I expect that had fallen then.

I must admit I just didn’t know what to do and ended up wedging the roof onto the brood box and collecting up the broken woodwork. The air was full of angry bees and the situation seemed hopeless. I weighed down the lid with one of the many bricks laying around and cleared the area of as much debris as I could.

Having cycled home to collect supplies. I firstly opened the damaged hive to see what was happening. A lot of the bee activity had died down around the front as all the robbing bees had by then gone home. The hive was full of bees who instantly came out on the defensive. I took this to be a good sign as bees only defend a hive they consider worth defending. Although they still numbered in their thousands the hive was completely empty of honey and all the frames were sodden. I could do no more than give them a block of fondant and strap them down.

I then went around and strapped down all my hives. At least that way if they are knocked over again they should stay in one piece and be slightly protected.