Hive check

One of the jobs for today was to do a check on the four hives we have at our apiary in Whickham, in a firend's back garden. Three of the hives were fine though two are messed up inside because of the way we set them up last year. We made the mistake of giving the bees an empty space in the hive which they promptly filled with wild comb. There's nothing much we can to to sort this out but we added queen excluders and supers to these three. The fourth is a bit weaker and is a possible candidate to merge with the weak hive we have in Sunniside. We will monitor it for a few more weeks and then take a decision.

We had to sort out supers and frames to add to the hives and in the process decided to clear out some old frames we got in the supers we bought at auction in April. They are pictured above and they will be burnt at some point on the incinerator. We spotted wax moth on some of them so we don't want to introduce that to our own hives. The supers will not be burnt but will be used by us - but only after we have used a blow otrch on them to kill any unwanted bugs.

Meanwhile, I am delighted to report that the strongest hive at our apiary in Sunniside is close to filling with honey the super we put on two weeks ago. It is not yet capped but that will not be something the bees will put off for much longer. After the disaster of last year, I have been amazed at the speed at which this hive, formed from one of last year's swarms, has produced so much honey so quickly.