What's going on with the bees ?

They've made some honey, those colonies that did well last year have been awful this time and the useless ones last year have been brilliant in 2008. Worker bees are all female, which probably explains why they've been so contrary.

Once again there has been a lot of swarming by some colonies but this year I haven't managed to catch them.

Breeding new Queens is proving difficult, I've read the instructions on what to do but the bees haven't, so they keep doing it wrong. They're not called bees for nothing are they ?

I am in the process of setting up a nuc. ( a small colony of bees ) for a new beekeeper, it's nice to help someone get started in an important and satisfying hobby.

People sometimes ask if our bees have 'that disease' they normally mean Varroa mites.

All honey bees in the UK have this problem. The mite lays its eggs on bee larvae and when these hatch they feed on the young bees, making them weak and deformed.

Worst of all the mite is becoming resistant to the treatments we've used. So we now use sneaky methods to reduce their numbers, like sprinkling the bees with icing sugar. The bees groom themselves and in doing so knock the mites off. We've put a mesh floor on the hive so the mites fall out and can't get back. The icing sugar of course is not harmful to the bees as for them it's food.

This is what mites look like on drone larvae.

Ambleside Sports is held on the last Thursday in July at Rydal, a brilliant days entertainment !

Pic. by and & in memory of Peggie Tams.

Details of the airshow can be found at

www.windermere-rotary.org.uk

The Vale of Rydal Sheepdog trials take place in August, go along and see how intelligent sheep are.

Grasmere Sports are also in August, this has got to be worth a visit

if only to see the wrestlers. !!