Spring Beekeeping News from Liveryman Bob Maurer, Chairman of the National Honey Show and our Master very busy with his bees.
After a long winter it’s a joy to see the bees flying. There’s a holly tree in my garden and you can hear the bees working it from quite a distance. Colonies are building in size and already there have been swarms in my area. Not my bees I’m glad to say! We have had some cold spells recently and that can catch out growing bee colonies. If it’s too cold to fly, bees will eat their stores as long as they have some. A beekeeper’s job is to make sure they do.
I’ve also had to rescue a number of queen bumble bees who have chilled to the point their flight muscles won’t work. If you find one crawling and not flying, pop a glass over her, slide a piece of card under the glass and put her somewhere warm for 10 minutes. A windowsill in the sun or over a radiator. As soon as she’s warmed up she will start flying against the glass and you can let her go in the knowledge that you have likely saved an entire colony. A queen bumble bee starts her colony from scratch and does all the work until her first batch of brood emerges to help her. There are probably larvae somewhere waiting for mum to come home!
Liveryman Bob Maurer, Chairman of the National Honey Show
