The double-whammy

Posted by Beekeeper on Nov 7, 2010 in Asian Hornets, Hive problems | 8 comments

This is the photo that ruined my weekend – the sort of sight that strikes fear into any beekeepers heart.

Not only are the bees being picked off as they leave or return to the hive by the huge Asian hornets and torn limb from limb, but this one also has a varroa mite – you can see the mite falling off the bee (the brown blob between the bee’s legs) as the hornet gets to work.

The bees fight back

Posted by Beekeeper on Nov 1, 2010 in Asian Hornets, Bee behaviour, Hive problems, Hornets | 1 comment

Asian hornets are still preying on our bees, settling on the landing board and waiting for one to leave or picking off the guard bees who come out to defend the hive – the hornets tap along the landing board to encourage the bees to stick their heads out of the hive, no doubt frustrated that the hornet guards are keeping them out. Many of the bees are too slow to escape as the cooler weather has settled in and as it’s late in the season, the Asian hornets are the new queens getting ready to overwinter – huge beasts, several times the size of the bees.

Asian Hornet nest

Posted by Jon on Aug 10, 2010 in Asian Hornets, Hive problems, Hornets | 4 comments

This weekend I kitted up to get rid of an Asian Hornet’s nest down in the Charente. As I’m sure everyone knows, these are the unwelcome hornets that attack our lovely hives, preying on our bees and their honey. In Asia, the Asian bees have evolved mobbing behaviour to deal with the hornets, but their European counterparts have yet to evolve an effective strategy and are therefore very much threatened by this invasive species.

Aarrggh! We’re losing a colony…

Posted by Jon on Jul 16, 2010 in Hive problems | 7 comments

Whilst our other colonies are loving the sunshine and making the most of the ample nectar flow around, one of our colonies has been causing us concern. The big, healthy colonies rumble in this weather with the bees coming and going, and the others fanning to keep the hive cool, but this little one barely manages a murmur. Watching the entrance has revealed that fewer and fewer bees are entering and leaving so we bit the bullet last night and had a look inside.

Keeping hives cool

Posted by Jon on Jun 30, 2010 in Beekeeping, Hive management, Hive problems | 1 comment

We’ve hit a patch of warm weather with the thermometer hitting 35°C so we’re thinking about how to help our bees keep cool – the less energy they spend keeping cool, the more honey they can make! Bee colonies have lots of strategies to keep the temperature in the hive regulated – these range from sending bees out of the hive foraging, workers fanning the comb with their wings and dispersing water droplets through the hive, and an increase in water foraging.

Wax Moths

Posted by Jon on Jun 30, 2010 in Beekeeping, Hive problems | 0 comments

I opened one of our hives earlier this year to find that the colony had disappeared leaving behind discoloured comb which I put to one side to do something with once I had had a chance to look at it more closely. This was a few months ago now, and it has been on my mind recently to destroy the frames so yesterday, I went to have a look.