As the Met Office announces we are officially entering autumn so the bees know they have to start preparing for winter. The beekeepers role is to make sure the hive is healthy. There are a number of issues – Varroa mites, European Foul Brood and American Foul Brood. The latter two are unusual and I wouldn’t know what to look for however Varroa Mites are common in most hives. As you can see from the photo they are extremely small but they weaken the bees and affect their development.
To treat the bees and kill the mites is quite straightforward. Strips containing formic acid are laid on the top of the brood box and you can see from the photo the strips sit across the top of the frames below the queen excluder. I opened the hive on a cooler afternoon so I wasn’t surrounded by bees on this occasion. I have to leave the strips on for 7 days before I undertake my next inspection. Next time I will add some sugar solution to start to feed the bees in readiness for winter. During the summer the workers are foraging all day and as a consequence only live six weeks however over winter they stop foraging as the number of flowers decreases and it becomes cooler. They spend their days in the hive keeping the queen warm; this lack of activity means they can live for several months. The simple lesson here is that if you want to live longer do nothing…
