June in the Apiary

Beware of the “June Gap”. This is the time where plants stop producing the nectar and pollen in such abundance. If you are lucky enough to have strong colonies, that have not swarmed, you may have extracted a good crop of Spring Honey. However you need to be vigilant as it is at this point of the year that bees can run out of food. If the weather is poor and forage limited a large colony will get through its stores quickly. If stores are not adequate you may need to feed sugar syrup. But beware if you don't feed all your hives it may incite robbing from bees in your own apiary as well as those from other sites. 

If you split your hives earlier in the year to stop them swarming, then the new nuc you made may be short of food A supplemental feed of syrup or fondant will tide them over until they can successfully forage again. The strong colonies should survive this gap but be aware the Queen will probably reduce her laying of eggs. Close monitoring of stores in hives is critical.

Another problem has been the loss of Queens either dying when swarming, the strain just too much for them, or on a mating flight or worst of all after initially laying well in their new hive then just disappearing.  This, in all cases,  leaves very upset colonies that desperately try to find a viable egg or grubs of the right age to build an emergency Queen cell. Then along comes a carefree Beekeeper who takes the crown board off the hive and cannot understand why they have bees ‘pinging’, (technical term that!), off their veil or stinging anything  that moves.  If you find yourself facing a hive like this just add a comb of fresh eggs or if you are lucky enough,  a sealed Queen Cell .

 The next problem will be Drone Layers where Queens are ageing and fail, mate badly if at all or just die. In these cases you may end up with Queens only laying unfertilised eggs or workers developing into drone layers.

  

Make sure you have plenty of spare supers full of foundation,   ready to use  when  a good flow starts after all this rain. You can never have enough drawn deep comb ready for next season.

This is a busy time but there are only a couple more months of beekeeping activity to go, so once we have the summer honey off be prepared to treat for Varroa.  August is when varroa numbers hit their peak.  Have your Varroa slides out, cleaned and painted white with undercoat, so you can count the ‘natural fall’  to see if you need to treat a colony and then decide on the method you intend to use. Or do a sugar roll or alchohol wash to assess varroa levels. I personally treat anyway both during August and December.

Varroa management is important to, as a large colony will have an increase in mites which cause stress to the bees and they provide a weakness for viruses such as deformed wing virus.

Carry out a Varroa mite drop and calculate the number you may have in your colony. The NBU has the calculator on its website. http://www.nationalbeeunit.com/public/BeeDiseases/varroaCalculator.cfm

Treatments in the summer can be something like MAQS or a pyrethroid if you have not used one in the last 5 years.

Keeping Varroa mite numbers down at this time of year will help ensure winter bees are in top condition, with no viruses. Please take care when using treatments. Only use permitted substances , read the instructions carefully and remember to record your treatmants.

Hopefully the weather is warm and the bees are working well.

The colonies that have not swarmed will be preparing for the nectar flow next month.

If there is a good nectar flow it will be a good time to change frames of old comb in the brood nest as the bees will have the energy to draw wax.

Bees can still swarm in June so weekly inspections are still important.

This month we hold our first apiary visit. Numbers are limited due to Covid restrictions so book a place early by contacting the secretary.