The English Armchair Abroad

Buzzing Brits

When we first came to France my sister lived an hour north of us and as the road to the ferry port when directly past her front door I used to see her quite regularly.  Sadly, she and her family moved to Ireland and thanks to a new motorway we no longer had any need to take the "old" road.  Which is a shame because driving through La Sarthe is particularly beautiful at this time of year.

Last night I received a telephone call from someone who had a problem with a swarm of bees that had decided his attic was the most perfect des res for bees.  Or more particularly between the roof and the plaster board.  Could I try and help?  Well, of course I'll do anything to get more honey bees and off I went this morning all prepared.  I knew they would be inaccessible and I was going to leave a bait hive in his garden.  This is a small nucleus hive with frames inside but also a little closed tube of pheromone - dead sexy and irresistible to bees!

 Long story short - they weren't honey bees at all but (I think) carpenter bees and of no use to me.  It's always a risk that people mix up different types of bees;  sometimes (as in this case) they just don't know or realise there's a difference...a bee's a bee's a bee;  and sometimes they just hope you'll get rid of whatever it is for them anyway (which I won't!) as it saves them the cost of calling out the pompiers.  He asked me what a honey bee looked like and as I find it very difficult to put that sort of thing into words I suggested we look around his garden as they would be sure to be out collecting nector - except in his lovely big garden he only had about three plants and they weren't the bees' favourites.  Oh well;  I can't live without flowers in the garden but I guess it takes all sorts.

But I wasn't too miffed at the wasted journey.  He lived just off the road which I used to take to my sister and just passed the most beautiful part - a sort of wooded valley.  The sun was shining, the birds were singing and all was good with the world!

Green Bloggers

Today I went up to the bees for their weekly inspection and as last week I'd noticed the dreaded varroa count was on the rise I decided to try a sugar-shake treatment.  Many varroa mites are resistant to the chemical treatments and this is a treatment that is chemical free (well, my sugar is not organic but it's the best I could do). 

Basically you sieve about 250 grams of icing sugar into a container and then you shake this over each side of each frame of bees, giving them a really good coating.  Two things then happen:  the bees start to clean each other and the varroa mites are dropped off (through an open mesh floor onto a tray) and secondly the mites sucker-type feet are clogged up with sugar dust and they can't use them for suckering.  Before I did the treatment I put some clean paper in the trays and I will go up later to see how many mites dropped. 

Looking around beekeepers forums and websites there are opposing points of view on this treatment.  I don't think there is any doubt that it helps but the question is asked:  does it stress the bees?  Well, judging by mine today I would say a guarded "only a bit".  We had absolutely no problems with the first five frames.  Then unfortunately we banged one by accident and of course the bees don't like that!  The remaining five frames were a bit of a game but overall the bees were tolerant of what we were doing. 

Depending on how many varroa fall I will have to decide whether or not to do another treatment in about two weeks time.  I would prefer not to disturb the bees so much again during the high season but equally if I have to I will - it's got to be a better solution than putting chemical strips in just before they start bringing in honey to the supers.

In the great scheme of things that is not a huge green gesture but we are just starting here and are doing our best.  In the meantime I've been looking around other green blogs and thought I would give you a short list. 

Number one on my list is Green Me - I like her straightforward down to earth approach to green living.

Number two is Greedy Green - her blog (in February) about the Wonder Wash machine really appealed to me.  I WANT ONE!

Number three is Environmentastic!  - started by environmentalist Caleb Hartley this blog focuses on green products, green politics and how we can help ourselves to make this a better, greener world.

Finally we have The EcoChic - a thirty-something mother working hard to be as green as possible.

I hope you like some of these and if you have any other green favourites please leave me a comment.

Good News Part Two

It is obviously a weekend for good news.  This morning the weather was hot and sunny and as the forecast is for rain later in the week (despite the hatching chicks I managed to catch the forecast!) my son and I went up to inspect the bees. 

This time of year is the beginning of the swarm season and we are advised to look out for queen cells being built.  This is the first sign of a hive getting ready to swarm.  To be honest I wasn't too worried as our previous visit had shown relatively few bees and only a small area of brood (cells with eggs or larvae in them).  However, we were more than pleasantly surprised.  The queen has obviously been busy!  The frames were all covered by bees packing in nectar and pollen and there was a good covering of brood on six of the ten frames.

As a result we decided to put on a super - this is another level (like a multi-story car park) in which the bees put any surplus honey...ie honey we can take for US!  It may be a little early but the Oil Seed Rape is still in flower and the weather is now much warmer although still unsettled.  It would be wonderful to think that by the end of the year we might have our very own honey.

Buzzing Bees...

Yesterday, M and I went to the local Rucher Ecole (Beekeepers' Association meeting).  As we left the hail came down so hard that we nearly turned back but as it was in a new place we decided to go anyway so that we'd at least know the way for next time!  The weather really did play rough.  We arrived in sunshine;  five minutes later more hail came down for 20 minutes.  Then it stopped raining but was SO cold that we were told we would go to the hives but wouldn't be able to open them up.  This was OK as there is plenty of other things to learn and anyway, part of the point of the association is meeting and talking to other Beekeepers.  We got down to the hives (45 of them) and two minutes later the sun came out and we were all boiling hot!  We got into our bee suits and had two hours looking into the association's hives.

During the last spell of good weather (and how long ago it feels now!) I had had a look at our remaining hive and was alarmed to see that there was very little brood (this is the area where the queen lays her eggs) and there were no stores at all.  Having lost one hive I was very worried that this one would also be lost to starvation. 

However, yesterday I was relieved to see that the hives we visited were more or less in the same state.  This year has had spells of hot weather but April has been cold.  As a result the bees haven't been able to get out of the hives enough to forage for food and the queen has slowed down her egg laying. 

I know that there are lots of would-be English (or Anglophone) beekeepers in France but I also know that very few go to the Rucher Ecole in their area because they are worried they don't speak enough French.  Well, that is a problem but only a small one.  The French beekeepers are as keen as beeks the world over to help new beekeepers and are only too happy to take the time to explain - and there is nearly always someone who speaks a "leetle beet of Eengleesh".

In the meantime there's a really handy beekeeping blog: WV Beekeeper - Cass Cohenour  He has excellent photos to explain his work.  Go and have a look.

And of course if anyone in the Anjou area wants to come with me to the next Rucher Ecole I will be happy to take them along and act as interpretor as best I can.

Bees - Follow up

The sun was shining this morning, the wind had calmed down and the chill was out of the air so hubby and I went up to find out once and for all what was going on.  I want to thank Jen from  The Domestik Goddess  for her comment on my previous bee post  and her subsequent advice and help when I emailed her.  The kindness of strangers takes on a new meaning in the blogging world.

We took the opportunity to open both hives and the good news is that the queen is definitely in the strong hive - we found her - and there was evidence in the form of easily visible larvae that she is laying.  There were very little honey stores - the bees store honey in the frames and consume it as they need - but the fondant icing which I put there earlier in the winter has hardly been touched.  We know they are out flying and bringing in lots of pollen and the Oil Seed Rape crops are flowering in our area.  It isn't time yet to put on a super - a super is a second box with smaller frames which goes on top of the main brood box and this is where the bees put the surplus honey; in other words OUR honey! - but it seems, at least, that all is well.

The bad news, albeit not unexpected, is that the second hive is definitely no more.  It had plenty of bees from the first hive in there "robbing" whatever was left in the way of stores and honey and I can only say they've done a remarkably good job of emptying it out.  So we left it open and will go up later to collect the hive and the frames - we tried to brush the bees off but there always more to take their place so we decided to leave them to it.  Our consolation, and it's not much, is that the colony that died was the very aggressive colony so at least we no longer have that to contend with.  The remaining bees are so docile you can stroke them!

Our concern now is why did that colony die?  It has always been the weaker of the two and I am fairly sure that the problems started with my beginner's clumsiness.  I suspect that it just never recovered.  If that's the case then we can learn from our lesson and move on.  If, however, it was because of disease then the worry is that the remaining hive will be diseased also.  I don't think there is anything we can do other than wait and see.

Bees - dead or alive

I am now totally confused.  I have two hives in our garden and since the end of last season I have been concerned about one of them, frankly believing it would not survive the winter into this spring.  We are new to beekeeping and so inexperience was bound to play a part in the destiny of this poor colony.

Still, it was still very much alive on Friday morning.  I had a quick peak under the crown board and bees were definitely there.  They have stores in their frames and in addition I had put a candy feed in there for them.

Saturday was a lovely sunny day with lots of wind.  The bees from the strong colony were out collecting but as usual the weak colony were doing nothing visible outside the hive.



This is the strong hive - I'm not the best photographer in the world and bees have a habit of moving just as the shutter goes down.  Still, if you look carefully you can just see a couple of yellow sacks of pollen being taken into the hive.

That was at 10am.  At 12 noon I went up there again and what a difference.  Bees were EVERYWHERE and all over both hives.  By some quirk the strong colony are yellow bees and the weak one has black bees (don't ask, I'm not sure!).  It was the yellow bees I could see and a fair few dead black bees lying on the ground.  I came to the conclusion the hive was being robbed of its honey.  This usually happens when the colony is unable to protect it through weakness or ill health.  I wasn't totally surprised but as I was on my own I couldn't open up the hive to see what was going on inside.  With so many dead black bees lying on the ground I came to the conclusion that the poor things hadn't made it and the colony was dead.

This morning I went up to the hives again.  A wet morning I thought I would open up the "dead" hive and take it back to the barn to clean it up.  Luckily I opened it up carefully (I hadn't bothered to put my veil on - oh how stupid can I be?) as it was full of bees buzzing happily!  Unfortunately I had to close it up quickly and didn't get a good enough look to see the colour of the bees.

Now I have a a whole host of questions.  Are the black bees dead or alive?  If they are dead who is in the hive?  Did the strong colony perhaps swarm and are now happily rearranging the furniture?  That would, I believe, be unusual.  If the rain ever eases up I will go back there today with my keen-eyed son and take another proper look.  I will keep you posted but if my typing is erratic you'll know the bees have had the last, stinging, laugh.

Varroa

I have just spent a fascinating three hours in a class room full of beekeepers at all stages - those who have been doing it for years, those hoping to start this year and others like me who started last year and have so much more to learn.  We were unable to go to Rucher Ecole last year as the dates always coincided with family coming to stay and so I was determined that this year we would do better - well, we can't really do worse than last year!  I must admit that I was just a little worried about the language - my French is good but the vocabulary surrounding beekeeping is not something I am used to talking about in French!  As it happened I needn't have worried.

Today covered three topics:  setting up your hive, varroa and the annual beekeeping schedule (which starts curiously enough in September when you effectively put them to bed for the winter, but still.)

Varroa is a nasty little mite that has the ability to reduce your colonies to zilch in a fairly short period of time.  It's a parasite that feeds off the blood of both the larvae and the bee, weakening and deforming it.  The bee is therefore able to work less effectively and consequently brings less into the hive for the young bees to eat.  The weaker the colony is, the more susceptible to disease it becomes until finally it can no longer survive and dies.  All colonies have varroa (there's a sweeping statement but it's 99% true!) and the survival of the colony rests in the control of the parasite - if you only have a few in the hive (say, less than 50) you'll probably be ok. 


You can see the nasty little bloodsuckers very clearly on the larvae in this picture

I learnt today that varroa are just like nits;  they can transfer from one bee to another even whilst the bees are pollinating the flowers.  So if you are lucky enough to have a varroa free colony there's a good chance your bees will pick it up anyway when they pollinate in areas where there are bees from other colonies.

There are several treatments available and our Beekeeping Association emphasised the importance of treating every year without fail:  prevention (in this case of it developing into a bad infestation) is definitely better than cure.  They have also done tests in France that show that if every single hive in one area is treated at the same time then the results are much more efficient.  Unfortunately, not all beekeepers treat their bees believing perhaps that the problem is small so what's the point or perhaps simply because they just don't want to put chemicals into their hives.

As Varroa has been a problem in Europe for a relatively short period of time (I think it's about 20 years) it's the older beekeepers who seem to be more attentive to the problem.  They have seen their apiaries devastated by Varroasis (the disease from the Varroa mite) and their honey production suffer accordingly.  They have seen the development of this problem from its early years and know that if something isn't done quickly there will be very few bees left. 

The next Rucher Ecole is at the end of March when we visit the school's apiary for the spring visit.  I'm hoping to open mine up before then to get an idea of what has been going on.

Back to work????

Oh dear, it's already Wednesday and all I have to show for it is five hours in the workroom!  Still, the chair is now ready to be stitched - tomorrow will get that under way.  Yesterday I got distracted by the bee frames. 

We became beekeepers last year - a really bad year to start with all that rain! - and I would really like to expand from two to five hives this year.  I manage to find some secondhand hives which I've cleaned up but I decided to replace all the frames in the body (where the bees live and put honey - for them) and the supers (where they put any extra honey - for us).  Getting frames ready involves threading wire through them and then melting a sheet of wax onto the wires.  On the picture below you can see the bees beginning to work up the wax foundation into something they can store honey in.  Now my wonderful husband is going to try and make a contraption that will heat up the wires to let the wax melt.  Last year we used the car battery and a Heath Robinson set up involving a couple of planks of wood on the wheelbarrow and a cold barn.  Oh, and a lot of swearing!  I'm hoping this time it will be a little more straightforward!

I don't need the frames until March but I suspect if we don't get it done now it will be left until I need them in a panic and it will be back to the Renault 5 set up!

We "discovered" the idea of beekeeping at a local agricultural fair.  It's a fair that shows how it "used to be done" - so horses pulling the plough, men instead of combine harvesters and so on.  They had an exhibition area and there we found the bee man.  Our son then was only 11and he was fascinated by the see-through hive and of course the bee-man, who is about 70, was thrilled to see young blood taking an interest and really took the time to talk to him and explain things.  And that's how we got started.  When the bees finally arrived late last May we were filled with trepidation.  But they had obviously been warned about nervous beekeepers and were remarkably calm around these buzzing human beings.

Since then we've discovered the wonder of how a bee colony works and is organised.   We've learnt to stay calm and move slowly when we open the hives up to inspect that all is well.  We've started to notice their moods - and react accordingly!  But we know there is still plenty to learn.

In the summer we love watching the bees in the garden and grow flowers and vegetables according to their needs as well as ours.  In fact we are about to plant some hedges and have asked the supplier specifically for bee-friendly hedging!

If anyone is interested in finding out more about the the subject I have a couple of books listed in my bookstore.