Started feeding the bees and lesson learnt.

Fondant block placed into the hive

So over the weekend I removed all the supers and the queen excluders. I have applied the next dose of the varroa treatment and place a 12.5 Kg block of fondant on each hive. I have enough to apply two does on each hive and if  I need more then I will start feeding syrup.

Fondant block in less than a minute

I was down at the orchard on Saturday and checked on the bees I can see capped brood and eggs in all the hives. The weather has been generally warm but the mornings and nights are getting colder. The last dose of varroa treatment will be applied this coming weekend.

When I put the fondant into the hives, which was a straight forward task i noted that within minutes I could see that the bees had started clustering around it and had immediately started to consume it, and bring it down..

The suppers that I removed did have some honey in them but not large amounts so its probably the right time to start feeding the bees. So I took the supers home and the plan was to place them in the garage.This is when I learnt a lesson. I place the empty equipment next to the garage door and opened the garage door and I was distracted by friends coming to visit. I didn't return to the garage for about 45 minutes. When I got to the garage what should I find to my horror, all the suppers were covered in thousands of bees, some had even gone into the garage where I keep my spare suppers, and extra hive and my nuc box and the fondant, it was like a large swarm had descended onto the equipment.

My smoker, which many bees found interesting

I closed the door to the garage, which meant inside the garage its reasonable dark and we have a side door which lets in light. The bees had gathered around the window and when I open the door the majority went out. I did the same again about minutes later and all the remaining bees came out.

I started then to deal with the suppers I had to literally remove each frame from the supers one at time brush off the bees and then take the frame away. Then the actual super itself. It took a while but was a learning experience. The bees, I'm not sure who's bees they could have been were very docile and a pleasure to handle. When I managed to remove the suppers I fund that the small quantities of honey that were still in the frames had all been removed and the supers were completely dry. The bees had even uncapped and removed some of the crystallised honey that was remaining in a couple of the frames.

The bees remained for am hour or so or more, I didn't received a single sting in fact, I sow the bees fighting each other for the honey and found a number of dead bees on the floor. The bees were even trying to remove any extra wax that they found lying on the floor from capping etc.

I learnt a lesson this week, don't leave equipment out and about, after use, it far to dangerous. Its a good thing my neighbours didn't the masses of bees that had gathered on the suppers, they may have truly had a shock.

I didn't managed to get around all the trees this weekend. I was hoping to but its was a busy weekend.

Sutton Honey Show

Some of the Exhibits at the Sutton Coldfield Honey show

 I had never entered a honey show however all that changed this week. I went and deposited at first two jars of granulated honey. I then realised that I could enter a couple more categories so I rushed home and grabbed another jar and entered another category. I have entered the novice class  and the granulated honey categories. The honey show was held at the Belfry golf course a very nice location for the show. Not sure how many members of the public attended, but it wasn't that published from what I saw.

Next year I may enter a picture for the best photo entry and perhaps a couple of candles for a candle class and hopefully a couple of jars of honey depending on the harvest next year. The pictures show my honey with those that they are completing with.

I also applied the next dose of varroa treatment at the hives in the orchard. This means that all the hives at the orchard have been treated for varroa this year. From later this week I will start feeding the bees to get them though the winter even though they are still bringing in nectar and pollen. The plan is to put the mouse guards in place in a couple of weeks. I have seen lots of capped brood in the hive but no eggs.

Bees clearing the wax of honey

I took some of the excess honey comb out of the hive this week and as you can see from the pictures a couple of bees followed me or perhaps they followed the scent of the wax and the honey and then cleaned out some of the comb. This weekend the weather was lovely, it was hot and it felt as if it were the middle of summer not the start of autumn. The bees were lovely to handle not a single sting and when I was taking the picture I had removed my gloves and face mask. The bees were very friendly to handle, and a pleasure. This year what with the bad weather, and poor conditions they have been a lot grumpier.

I have a cherry tree that was damaged earlier in the season so I trimmed it back and I can see new growth on the tree. Which I am very pleased with, at least I have not lost the tree, I may have lost a couple of years of growth but not the tree.

New Growth on a damaged cherry tree

The grass is yet to be cut and I can see other farmers still bailing straw etc, So I am hoping that mine will be done soon. I also found horse manure in the orchard, looks like one or more of the horses from next doors stables has managed to get in and have a wonder. I didn't see any damage to the trees though. Also some of the cherry trees leaves have started  to loosen and the leaves will probably fall off in a couple of weeks, and the leaves are beginning to change colour so autumn is fast approaching.

Conkers and more candles

Last week I said how I had enjoyed making candles, well this week I found my other silicone moulds and I started to make more. I have two other moulds one of a teddy bear sitting on a hive and the other is a bear next to a bee hive. They are nice and cute, my kids really like them and I hope others do to.

I may actually sell some perhaps nearer to Christmas and some of the others will be given away as Christmas presents. So I made six more candles this week.

More candles made my me

As the picture shows they are nice. I am not sure how many I'll be able to make. I can make more of the smaller ones obviously so I will probably will make more of them, they contain less wax. The larger ones that I made last week contain about 100grams of wax, that's a lot of wax. I gave one to my mum and she is going to test and give me feedback perhaps this week.

I have started the varroa treatment at the orchard and the three hives have all received the first does of treatment of ApiLifeVar. The other doses will be applied over the next couple of weeks.

Chicken in the woods mushroom

Over the past I have found a fungi on one of trees its a chicken in the woods mushroom that can been eaten, it about 10 feet of the ground so its pretty high up and in truth I won't be collecting it. In past I have eaten one a couple of years ago now, while in Belgium. From what I remember its tastes nice, I had it in am omelette and the one on the tree is big enough to make several omelets.

Apples in the orchard

I have found more pears on the trees and I may be making the same mistake again by letting them ripen and will pick them next week. They are still small lets hope them ripen and are ready for picking next week.

Lots of spiders about I took a couple of pictures. Some of them are pretty big. My hand was tangled in a web over the weekend and I had the contents of the web all stuck all over my hand. Hence the interest.

I picked a couple of apples which I took home, havn't tried them let.

Me having at rest at Conkers

I visited conkers this week. Conkers was a coal mine that has been converted into a nature reserve people pay to visit it, or become members. Its very modern and well worth a visit, They have re landscaped it and put various attractions and things for people to do. like interactive exhibits I liked and assault course,my son liked the small train that gets you from one site to another it a quick ride. Lots of indoor activities for wet days in the various education buildings. They also have outdoor interactive exhibits like getting water to run down various channels and getting fountains to work. The kids enjoyed wondering around the labyrinth. They also have various hides and rest areas, which are nice. Nothing that stands that I haven't seen before but they have brought them all onto one location. Its a place that adults and children can have fun. Well worth a visit if your in the midlands check it out. http://www.visitconkers.com/

Candles and Butterfly's

Candles that I made from bees wax

I have been collecting the wax from my bee hives for a number of years and have been storing it away in old biscuit tins, used margin pots and empty ice cream cartons.

Over the years I've been planned to turn this excess and valuable wax into candles. I have even bought different moulds and wicks  from various bee keeping conferences and shows. However I had never used them. Until this week.

The candle burn't for about 12 hours

Briefly I started by melting some of the wax into a milk pan and then placing the liquid wax into a silicone mould into which I had placed the wick. I may give a more detailed guide in the future as I am still experimenting with different techniques.

I made 2 more over the for the next couple of days. Each candle was slightly different. The first was a nice and easy the second had a little pollen and honey in the mixture and the third using wax that was a little older.

So I had made 3 candles the first of which I have kept and the second I lit; it burnt for about 12 hours the pollen burnt and should be considered dangerous. The third I gave to my brother and his wife and they tested it. They found that after a couple of hours most of the candle wax had melted and the remaining candle would have continued burning. Similar experience to me.

I need to look into this, as it was a very enjoyable experience and would recommend it to other bee keepers with a surplus of wax. I have locate some of the other moulds that I have bought and will be trying them out too soon.

Down at the orchard all is well, however the pears that were still on tress have now disappeared. Some one, probably not birds has nabbed them, which is disappointed as even I didn't get a chance to try them. When I last looked at them I was tempted to pick them but thought I would wait a couple of days for them to ripen a little further. I should have picked them then and let them ripen at home.

Butterfly in the Orchard

Lots of butterfly's down at the orchard I have no idea the varieties and its something I should look into. I tried to capture them on film however it proved difficult trying to get into position to be able to get a good picture even with the zoom at max on the camera.

I still have some apples and the missing pears made me pick a couple and get them home. The grass still hasn't been cut.

Extraction of honey

Last week I took the honey from the orchard it wasn't loads and I left some in the hive I also took lots of wax. This year taking the supers from the hives was easy work the weather on the day was nice and I was able to check on the bees.

Its been a very strange year for me as a bee keeper. I havn't been able to get into the hives and check on the bees as I have done on previous years and in truth my weekly inspections just haven't happened. This has been inpart because of the weather, time constrains and my general tardiness.

However checking  on the bees on the day that I removed the suppers was great, the bees were very friendly and joyous to work with with. I normally extract twice a year once in April/May as many of the fields around the orchard have Rape Seed planted which is pretty when in bloom with its yellow flowers  however the honey crystlises quickly. I hadn't extracted that honey when I should have and much of the honey has crystalised in the honey comb and I wasn't able to get it out of the comb itself, instead I have given it back to the bees. What I have extracted though is lovely, one of the nicest and tastes honeys the bees have produced ever from the orchard. Im not sure if its because some of the honey would have been from a hive that was in my garden previously the hive was moved to the orchard and unfortunately won't be coming back to the house.

I used some new extraction processes which didn't work as well as expected however we also didn't make the usual mess. I borrowed the extractor from my friend but in future I may use the association facilities.

Down at the orchard all seems well I have checked on the trees, some of the leaves from the pear trees have started to turn red, I presume for the autum. The grass is still very long the farmer hasn't cut and baled it yet. I have apples and pears in trees in some trees.

So little fruit.

Fruit eaten by birds

While walking through the orchard this week I collected some plums and apples. I have stated previously that this years fruit harvest is smaller than previous years and it seems its going to be very much smaller. I collected  some plums, and noted the I still have some apples and a couple of pears on the trees way fewer plums that previous years and a disappointing year also for apples.

Honey Bee examining an eaten apple

However lots of the apples that I do have, have been pecked and and damaged by birds some have also been completed eaten. The pictures show this well.

I have also included pictures of some of the pears. The pears are still relatively small and some I have seen are a slightly deformed. Some of them do look lovely and I'm looking forward to being able to pick them.

Apple pecked by birds

In previous years I have had little success with pears however this year they are doing better. I still have a small harvest of pears but it will be better than in previous years. Again like most people I put it down to the weather.

Pears still growing

Different variety of pears

I am planning on extracting honey this week which also means that I will start applying the fondant that I have bought and I still have to order in the varroa treatment. I am borrowing an extractor from a fellow bee keeper. I can't be sure how much honey I will get this year but after meeting some other bee keepers this week I have heard that it is a poor harvest in my area, in the Midlands.I also didn't extract earlier in the year so some of the honey may have crystallised in the comb, we shall see and I'll let you know.

Still have plums and apples

Apple in the orchard

I was in the orchard last weekend with the kids and my wife. Apples are looking good, as are the plums. I tried both. The plums were delicious and will be picking some next week for a crumble and to give some away to friends and family. The apples still need some time, to mature and the birds have started to enjoying them. They seem to be pecking them and have damaged some but at least they are being enjoyed.It makes the apples look unsightly, as once they have been pecked the insides start to go brown just like a apples that had been cut open and left.

The three pictures show the cherry trees who's leaves have gone brown and the leaves are falling off.   They still have buds and I hope that they will recover for next year.I do have some doubts though. 

The kids had fun chasing butterfly's and looking for grass hoppers. My daughter was the first to find a grass hopper but she was a little scared to catch one.

My Daughter messing about in the orchard

I took pictures of various butterfly's and this was the best one. I have seen lots of moths also in the orchard. I must admit that lots of the apples are misshaped and have dark marks on them. They are 100% organic and I would like to make cider from some of them. The image at the start of the entry was of one of the better ones. I have a number of varieties that are growing not all have done well this year. I would have to admit that fruit wise this year has been a very negative year. I have fruit but not in the quantities of previous years.I can only blame the weather over the year. The dry start and then huge quantities of rain.