October 2023

What to say about October..? ‘Wet’ is one word that springs to mind! Kent, like a few other places, has been hit really hard by the floods this month so we have been really lucky that our apiary is all ok and the hives are still in sound condition. It is still very wet underfoot however.

With the wet weather, we have a lot of very damp undergrowth. This will need trimming back but shouldn’t be too much of a difficult job now that the bees are starting to cluster and we are seeing less activity from them outside the hives. In addition, at this time of year going into winter, we should see less growth and so the apiary should stay under control somewhat.

We are still feeding syrup at this time of year, despite the weather cooling. We have found that the bees are clustering high enough up so far that having syrup on is still the quickest way for them to feed and use the food.
For later, we have fondant ready to go for when the temperatures really drop.

Next jobs will be to get all the hives strapped up. We have two already with straps on, but one just has bricks on the roof. With all this bad weather, the last thing we need are toppled over hives! Another job which we always look forward to with great anticipation is clearing out the bee shed. Not really, but it always needs a good clean and tidy by this time of year!

March 2024

We are pleased to report that the bees have survived the winter and all three hives are showing signs

of building up numbers of new bees. With the unpredictable weather that we have been experiencing further packs of fondant have been given to the bees to help see them through to the spring when they will be foraging for their own food.

At the moment we have not been able to do a complete hive inspection because of the low temperature but as soon as we get 15 degrees celcius we can make a start on renewing the brood and super frames and adding some supers to the top of the hive for honey storage.