Still too cold for full inspections, but out checking the hives today (under the current movement restrictions we are allowed to check bees as they are livestock, while still maintaining social distancing). Most of the colonies are getting very low on stores but have made it through the winter. We gave them some top up sugar to tide them over. Roll on spring and the spring flowers. Unfortunately one colony hadn’t made it.
Thing of making some beeswax wraps and need a pure beeswax block (£1). Or perhaps a few pure beeswax candles (£3 each) for Xmas? Available from my door, made of pure beeswax from Church Crookham bees.
A home owner contacted Fleet Beekeeper Association to say they just moved in to a house locally and found a beehive on the garage roof and could we help! (Clearly missed by the surveyor!). To be fair it had been covered in a blanket of Japanese vine so very hard to spot. Over two weekends, with fellow association beekeepers, we were able to prepare the colony for removable. With the help of a scaffold tower and lots of gaffa tape to seal holes in the hive, we moved the large colony to a beekeepers garden.
This week there was a credible report of an Asian Hornet in Farnham. This is obviously very close to us and concerning news for Beekeepers.
If a sighting is confirmed, experts from the National Bee Unit (NBU) and the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) will work quickly to find and destroy any active nests in the area.
For more info on why this is a worry please see www.gov.uk/government/news/asian-hornet-uk-sightings-in-2018
Well that was popular....thank you to all those who bought a jar (or more!), the summer honey crop is now all sold. I still have plenty of 1oz beeswax bars (useful for making wax wraps for example) and candles for sale.