The glorious sweet scent of heather honey greets me on opening our front door now. I’ve harvested the last honey super this week. It’s not official but autumn arrived here 2 days ago with the equinox. It’s still sunny, but last night the temperature dropped way down low. It was 0 degrees Celsius at 7am rising to 8 a few hours later, then sticking at 11 for the rest of the day. Brrr! The swallows left abruptly with summer a few days ago. Last year they stayed on till 30th September.
Combs to Clean.
With several boxes of comb to fumigate with 80% acetic acid from https://www.bonnymans.co.uk/, I got out my protective gear and all the kit that I needed to keep the boxes airtight during the week-long fumigation process. Don’t buy glacial acetic acid 100% because, as the name suggests, it is solid and can combust when you heat it for dilution to 80% strength. I use Bonnymans because they deliver to the door.
Why Bother?
Well, if you reuse frames and move them around your colonies you want to be sure that they are not infected with nasties. Acetic acid (ethanoic), used correctly, effectively destroys wax moth larvae and adults, chalk brood and nosema fungal spores, and European foulbrood in wax and frames.
Precautions.
Like several chemicals used in beekeeping, acetic acid at this strength can be harmful to us. It is a corrosive substance and can damage our skin, eyes and lungs so I wear a mask, eye protection and gloves. If there are any metal part on boxes grease them generously with Vaseline first. Acetic acid can destroy concrete so I’ve placed mine on a wooden pallet. There is always a chance that plastic or polystyrene can be damaged too but my Paynes, Maisiemore and Swienty products, and plastic sheeting survived the process. Actually the sheeting is not strictly mine; I “borrowed” it from Linton’s garage!
I used 150 ml acetic acid 80% per box pouring it on a fabric pad on top of a polythene square so it wouldn’t drip out. These were placed on top of the frames like sandwiches and wrapped in green plastic sheeting. After a week, I unwrapped them and aired them for another week before storing in the bee shed. The place was redolent of a chip shop for a few days but I feel confident about starting the new season with clean combs. You do have to scrape the frames and remove wax, propolis and other debris from the woodwork first. For further information check out Bee Base http://www.nationalbeeunit.com/index.cfm?pageid=167
A couple of weekends ago, when I was away teaching in Fife my observant son Kimball noticed that the bees were stressed trying to get back into the hive before an impending rain shower. I knew that the entrance was crowded sometimes but I took action after this alert. There was a strong scent of geranium around the entrance when I got home. This odour was from the nasonov glands of bees who were calling home their nest mates using chemical signalling. So, I changed the entrance, and, while I was at it, I placed a full super of spring honey underneath the brood box for overwintering stores. I harvested a super of heather honey from them at the same time. They had been up in the woods again where the forest has been clear-felled but replanted recently. In a couple of years the heather will be overshadowed and I shall have to take the bees to the moors for heather. I will roughen the sides of the wasp deterrent entrance and try it again next season.
Connie was quick to notice the super under the brood box when we did the round of the 9 colonies on Tuesday observing the entrances. ” I thought that the super went on top of the brood box” says Connie. I explained that they would cope fine with stores underneath and that the queen would most likely lay in the brood box rather than the shallow one now which will make things easier for us in spring. I will roughen the surface of the old entrance. In the wild, bees will fly to a small knot hole in a tree but they can get purchase on bark if they come home all at once in a hurry.
Fondant in Abundance.
A colony newly transferred from a nuc box is building up and needing help with stores so I give them more fondant. An average colony needs between 45-60 lbs of stores to get through winter. It is the vital fuel required to generate heat as the winter cluster contracts as the temperature drops. Bee wing muscles are isometrically contracted to create heat but this cannot happen without carbohydrates.
I’ve placed the bags over the brood nest on top of a queen excluder so that the fondant doesn’t drip down on the bees. Like honey, it is hygroscopic and absorbs water so can become less solid over time. I’ve insulated the top and its all contained in the shallow eke covered with crown board and roof.
The Last Harvest of 2020.
Because Calluna vulgaris, or ling heather, is thixotropic and a gel until stirred, I had to agitate each cell on the comb by hand with this traditional tool before placing the frames in the extractor. The honey remains in a moveable form for around 10-15 minutes and so I was able to extract it in the tangential extractor.
With a little help from Kimball, I’ve worked out how to weigh each jar empty then fill it with the required volume of honey.
Apiary Visitors.
My friend Max from Dunnet Head in Caithness has seen hedgehogs eating dead bees around the family’s bee hives. I’ve long suspected hedgehogs have been doing the same thing here but have never actually seen them. I spotted what I’m sure is hedgehog faeces on the back lawn. What do you think, Max/anyone else? I’ve certainly encouraged hedgehogs by creating a pile of dead branches and garden vegetation in a corner near the hedge under trees. I’ve seen one juvenile once scurrying across the lawn, and I thought I heard one snuffling underneath the bedroom window one night.
Beekeeping Education.
By the way, like Carol Gunn from Caithness (see previous guest blog) and many other beekeepers, Max and his mum Sarah have travelled hundreds of miles over the last couple of years to attend The Healthy BEES courses that Tony Harris and I have been teaching for three and a half years. https://www.moraybeekeepers.co.uk/courses/the-healthy-bees-project-courses/
Despite covid-19 restrictions we’ve been able to keep going, and have two last courses in Fort William and Dumfries before the grant runs out at the end of the year. Max is now in S1 at Thurso High School and his beekeeping knowledge is way ahead of many adult beekeepers.
Look out for sloes as the first frosts enhance the flavour, and I’ll share a recipe for sloe gin next week.
I love the picture of the bees eating round the fondant in the Maisemore feeder. Round tables are democratic 🙂 . On July 7th, a ‘cowpat’ swarm wended its way up into a double brood Maisemore nuc (2×6 frames) that I placed over it. Up on a stand, at the same spot that they chose, they are thriving. I will now pop out and give them some fondant like you have shown us. It is suddenly autumnal here in the Rhins of Galloway too. Thank you for that Ann. xx
Nice to hear about your bees, Margaret Anne. Thanks for sharing the swarm story.
Hello Ann
Doing things for the first time sometimes has unforeseen consequences! I fumigated my boxes and frames for a week, then took the covers off to ventilate them. The next morning, a few dozen early riser bees had found the towers – and no doubt were taking the good news back to the colony. I had to close them up again. And no, the supers weren’t ‘wet’.
Stunning picture of the bees at the fondant in the nuc feeder. Peter Edwards wrote about drilling holes in the feeder to give access to fondant from below. Like you (I think), I just leave the centre cover off. It might be a different situation if feeding was necessary in cold weather.
Thanks as always for your posts.
Hello Archie, thank you for commenting and sharing your funny story. The bees are a hoot and clearly don’t mind the smell of vinegar. They happily collect “water” from open air latrines in Asia as well!!
Hi there, thanks for this important post, where can I purchase absorpent pads for fumigation purposes?
Hello Bee Man Bunty, thank you for your comment and question. Some people use rolls of cotton wool but I don’t buy anything special as I always have lots of rags like old towels, and I cut them up which works well for me. So long as you have enough padding when you pour on the acetic acid and it doesn’t drip through to the floor. You can put a bit of plastic down first.
Hi Ann,
Thanks for your reply and advice.
Archie I prized up the two tall partitions of the Maisemore nuc syrup feeder with a big wooden fork, then put the fondant in like Ann.
Thank you, Margaret Anne, for explaining that you have to remove the partitions on the feeder for fondant feeding.
Yes, you’re right. Lid AND partitions out.
Hello Ann. I will be interested in hearing next Spring about the state of the colony that is living in the hive in which the full honey super sits beneath the cluster at the start of the cold season. This because I am not sure how easy it is for a cluster to move downward over winter to stay in contact with honey. Your set up is an experiment!
Hello Tom. This does go against what we know about the winter cluster, but it works. Several years, ago the touring speaker (speaker arranged by the SBA to visit several Scottish associations over a week in autumn) recommended it. I tried it a few years ago and thought I would try it again this year for colonies not on double brood boxes. When I tried it before the shallow box underneath the brood box was empty and the colony was above it in spring. Perhaps it will not work for a small colony, or one that becomes weak and prone to isolation starvation! I have only ever done this to strong colonies.
Hello again, Ann.
I’ve been following a discussion on this recently. The question of where the cluster would go and where it would end up was part of it. There was also a feeling that a full super, as opposed to the scraps of comb which were unsuitable for honey extracting, would take some defending by the bees, not least from wasps in autumn. (As, you say, Ann, you have always done this with a strong colony.)
Also with the former (a full super), the beekeeper is doing something for the bees, whereas with the latter, the main idea is to get the bees to do something for the beekeeper in cleaning up the combs ready for the next season!
There are so many possibilities and opinions in beekeeping, Archie. I always keep entrances fairly small to small all year round as wasps/robber bees can decimate a colony fairly rapidly. I wouldn’t have thought that the position of the shallow box of stores would influence wasp attacks given that the brood box contains stores too. For me, it boils down to keeping healthy bees with low levels of varroa and chalkbrood, and plenty of their own stores for winter. And of course, enough bees in the hive to form an efficient winter cluster. Due to the swarming propensity of Carniolan bees, the over wintering queen is usually only one to 2 seasons old. In 16 years of beekeeping between 3-10 colonies in the Scottish Highlands, I have only ever lost one colony over winter due to a drone laying queen.
Thank you Ann for your helpful advice and tips, its such a help. What a lovely surprise for us seeing your article about the hedgehog, Max could hardly contain himself reading your story and is very pleased to see himself with you in the photograph. we are very sad the weekend bee education trips will be ending soon but hope to keep up with various talks, webinars and any forthcoming events where we can maybe catch up. Sarah
Thank you for including me in your blog it was really interesting seeing me from your point of view the tips about the care of combs in the winter we need to get some of the acetic acid i didn’t know about the fumigating process or had just forgotten.
hope to see you soon
from Max
Thank you, Sarah and Max, for replying. I’m sure that some other form of beekeeping education will materialise. Who knows that perhaps Tony will come back across the channel for more weekend courses! Max did you think that my photo was of hedgehog droppings? are they any like that in your garden? I suppose I should look at them more closely under the dissecting microscope to see if they contain bee parts. A project for another day perhaps.