What beehive to use?

Most of my work from April to July is controlling the swarming of my bees. I would normally have got on top of it by now, I think the late spring has had a knock on effect. Colonies have taken longer than normal to build up their populations and swarming often occurs when the colony population first reaches it's peak.

As I have said in previous posts, it seems that some beekeepers around me are not controlling their swarming bees. So far this year I have had 18 swarms though some have been small 'after swarms' or 'casts'. Most of them took up residence in empty bait hives that I keep in most of my apiaries without any effort from me, as they prefer to set up home where bees have lived before.

I have managed to collect some whilst they have been clustered - they often do this near the hive they have left and again near their preselected new site - but some find it difficult to find an appropriate home.

I was employed last week to remove a colony established in a stud wall inside a rotting shed. (I cursed that I hadn't taken my camera with me) The cavity in the wall was only 2 inches but 3 feet wide and 4 feet tall and was completely filled with one enormous comb!

The bees had obviously been there for over a year and are sadly heavily infested with varroa. The comb was cut out and temporarily tied into empty British National frames and hived on the spot. I picked up the hive the next evening and the following day gave me the opportunity to stock a Top Bar hive that has been waiting for tenants. This is a new way of managing bees for me and one I look forward to experimenting with. The Top Bar hive is an ideal way to start beekeeping requiring less outlay than is required for other 'commercial' hives and is considered to be an altogether more sustainable beekeeping option. The wild comb was tied to the top bar until the bees do their own job of securing the comb to the bar when I'll remove it.

Cornish Heather

This is a learning curve. Just starting a blog page and linking it to this site has been a saga. At least the answers are there to be had if you can find them and you've got the time. Anyway the blogger help group is good.
http://groups.google.com/group/blogger-help
It seems that everybody else has more spare time to do this sort of thing than me. Or perhaps I'm just slow at this stuff.
The foul weather today ( and on and off for the last week, it's been more like Autumn, I really do hope we're not on for a rerun of last year's summer) has allowed me to catch up with things online. I've only had broadband for the last few months and it's brilliant, everything is now so accessible. It's still a novelty.
I did manage to catch up with hive inspections yesterday though it wasn't really a day for bees with fresh to strong winds and showers. It is amazing to see them catch up with lost time when the sun briefly makes an appearance.
The heather is starting to show but has a way to go yet. The rain today will do them lots of good. I hope the weather is better for the bees when it's in full flower, though this bumble bee was making the most of it, pictured on Cross Leaved Heath, Erica tetralix.
The other photo shows a good comparison between Purple or Bell Heather, Erica cinerea, which is the species that is quite widespread throughout the U.K. and our strictly local Cornish or Lizard Heath, Erica vagans.
We also have besides these, Cilate Heath, Erica ciliaris and Ling or Common Heather, Calluna vulgaris. These all contribute to our Cornish Heather Honey, a real treat. The diversity of wildflowers in Cornwall and across the Lizard peninsula in particular is a joy at this time of year.

Swarms

Yet more incoming swarms. The wet and windy weather doesn't stop them. This is a huge swarm on a fence post at ground level and took an age to encourage into a hive. I'm in the middle of trying to remove an established colony out of a roof. Without resorting to deconstructing the house or killing the bees, it's a long process taking 6-8 weeks. Sadly few people are willing to pay for this service and so the bees pay the price as they die often within a year or so from unmanaged disease. In this instance the process will become the basis of a future article.

Swarm Control

A busy fortnight. The main honey flow has started and I've had to make sure all the hives have enough space. Other hives that have had their swarming controlled have had to be checked to make sure new queens are laying.