Bizzzzzy Buzzzy and Active

This evening we went to put some more of the syrup in for the bees. Normally there are one or two bees in the cone of the feeder. Tonight it was jammed with them. The entrance to the hive was very busy too. Today has been much warmer and after a couple of warmer days it looks as though our busy bees needed to blow off some steam. When we opened the lid of the hive the buzzing was much more pronounced than i've heard it in the evenings. Cue worried mother behaviour!

I rang Alex our bee keeping guru because I was a bit worried about the level of activity. Now for those of you who like visual stimuli Alex is best imagined as a younger better looking Carlos Ray Norris-Known as Chuck to his enemies. Of course Alex is very nice and not a red neck at all but just so you have a picture in your minds 

But without the grey at the temples, smaller ears and none of the surgical work round the eyes.....Actually he doesn't look like this at all...and he wears a bee suit.

Anyway. Alex was very helpful and thought that the bees were just hungry and looking forward to tonight's gift of thyme flavoured sugar water and a bit warm. So we've arranged that he'll come and supervise me doing a hive inspection on Thursday or Friday. This means I have a couple of days to read up on Chalk brood, Wax moth, Varroa and a host of other potential dangers to my hive which I almost certainly won't find but will worry about till then.

Having a new hive for the first time is a bit like having a new baby for the first time. You dont know which way is up, you really can't tell what's normal. If it's quiet you worry that it's died. If it's making lots of noise you think you have done something wrong and you constantly worry that it may have some unmentionable disease and someone will take it away from you despite all apparent evidence to the contrary.

Varroa mite is a bit like head lice in that you always assume that if you keep your child clean and nit bust regularly they wont get them. However inevitably the day comes when your beloved infant butts heads with another child who kindly shares their own visitors and then its off to the chemist for something to get rid of them.

Varroa mite is a parasite that lives on the bees, most of the time it doesn't do too much damage but if a hive becomes over run it can severely impact the health of the colony. If mites are sealed in with new brood they feed on the larva and can kill it. If a bee has too many it can become weakened and distressed by the loss of blood and the irritation. It's worth remembering that bees are about 2.5cm long Varroa mite are about 1-1.8mm long which means that if you imagine a bee the size of a person the person would have mites about the size of a medium seaside crab sucking their blood. This is particularly unpleasant and so we are keen to minimise the effect on the hive. 

Karina treated the hive before it was taken to Tollerton for it's 3 mile holiday and Alex put a sachet of organic Varroa treatment in last Thursday when we did a quick inspection. This week we will check for general health of the girls and see whether we need to consider a stronger treatment. 

I very much want my bees to survive the winter. They are already an important part of our lives, so I'm really hoping we find them all well and that i'm worrying for nothing. I suppose, given that older boy has decamped to university this could, of course, be transference (for all you psychoanalysts out there) but having said that the boy has short hair and it's a good 8 years since i've seen him scratching his head!

Night All

xx