Weather Report:
Winter is coming! Today (1st november 2019) is the first day I saw almost no activity near my hives.Hive Report:
It's about time I gave you an update on how I'm faring this year.Apiary 1:
My Simplex Nuc, now called the MC 2018 is still alive and is going into winter with only 10 frames in one box.My SS 1 2018, now called the LL 2018 is also still alive, it is going into winter with 2 boxes of 10 frames, but the bottom box is not fully drawn out.
ZP 2019: A swarm I caught in my home town, it is now on 2 boxes of simplex.
AC3 2019: A 6 framer (Zander) from a queen rearing project, one of two left from 11 larvae.
AC4 2019: A 6 framer (Zander) from a queen rearing project, the second one left.
ZIC 2019: Not actually my hive, but it's on my apiary, it's supposed to be the first hive of my friend, but he can't place it at his place. It's on 2 boxes of Warré, one on frames, one on only topbars.
Apiary 2:
SD2018: I hardly inspected these in 2019 and they are going into winter on 2 boxes of 10 frames.LL2019: A split from LL2018, is in 2 boxes Simplex, both have 10 frames.
MC2019: a split from MC2018, is in 1 box Zander, with a bad lid, it has 10 frames.
ZLL 2019: A swarm I saw come out of the LL2018, on one box of Zander that was actually supposed to be a swarm-lure.
Apiary 3:
ZS2019: A swarm on 2 boxes Simplex for overwintering, but the bottom box is empty. I also need to protect this hive further from the sheep that are on these grounds.Apiary 4:
ZPD2019: Foraged in Anzegem, but is now overwintering in Olsene on 2 boxes simplex.
ZE2019: Foraged in Anzegem, didn't build up very fast; Is now overwintering in 1 box simplex.
General thoughts:
I did not make good on my attempt to get to 15 hives this year, although I tried with the queen rearing project (I was at 20 hives at one point).
All the hives seem to have very high varroa pressure, but then again that was to be expected. Let's see how they deal with the little devils over winter.
Visiting Virelles
As a member of Mellifica, and staying close to Virelles, I wanted to visit the aqua-scope.
The aqua-scope has taken upon itself to combine tourism, education and protection of the environment. They want to keep attracting tourists whilst aiming to educate them with a minimal impact on the natural site.
This is of course not the main reason I went there.
The main reason for my visit is of course bees! Mellifica has it's mating area here and I wanted to see what it looked like.
The picture above shows the apiary and the entrance to the mating yard. The sign translates to 'The Bees, my passion in nature'. If you look closely you can see a wire close to the ground in front of the apiary shed and in front of the entrance to the mating yard. That's to keep wild boar out!
Since we're all wintered in there isn't much to see in the mating yard itself, apart from the stands you can put the mating nucs on. But when you turn your head to the right, you can see the hives in the apiary!
The temperatures were around 8°C so it's no surprise not a lot of bees are active. As you can see the hives are sent into winter on one box.
Before leaving the site I opened up a small door in the wall to find an observation hive! I didn't spot the queen, but I didn't look very closely, since I didn't want the bees to cool down to much. And I imagine her majesty isn't going to be on a frame very much during the day if humans keep opening and closing that door to let daylight fall onto the bees. I wonder wether the bees are kept there all winter? I suppose not, but if not, when will they be transfered out? And where to? And if they stay there, have they been there for multiple years? I'm inclined to think not. Hence my assumption they'll not overwinter in there.A bit further down the road (if you follow the map they give you at the entrance) a billboard with information about the new 'Black Bee House' that is being built can be found. I hope to visit the new building once it's operational (without having to pay admittance to the grounds this time)
That's all for today folks!
Bob Out
