Bees & The Horticultural Show

If ever there was a sign that Summer is over, today's Journal entry provides the evidence that Autumn is finally here. 

Today was always going to be focused on preparing the hives for the Winter and selecting our entries for the village horticultural show, which takes place tomorrow.  Throw in the general stuff that needs to be done around the house and garden, and the probability of an early afternoon snooze was plummeting.

First job of the day was to finish installing the second curtain pole in the living room.  Within an hour I had the pole resting on its brackets, and I'm reasonably pleased with the job.  I can see 30% angling for us to order another three poles for the dining room in the very near future.

Next on my list was a wander up the orchard to check on the hives. We are approaching the end of the beekeeping season, and it is time to get the colonies in order for the coming Winter. This means that I need to ensure that they are well fed and in good health.

Hives #1 and #3 are both very similar. The queens were seen, and each hive has about four frames of brood. I gave each colony a Varroa treatment,* which will remain in the brood box for the next six weeks. I also separated the super from the brood box with a clearer board.  The bees should vacate the super overnight, and I can remove the supers from the hive tomorrow. I will then start to feed these colonies with sugar syrup.

Hive #2 seems to finally be heading in the right direction. It is now fourteen days since the queen was relocated to the upper brood box, and she now has eggs, larvae and capped brood on two frames. I added another frame of drawn comb alongside the brood nest; in the hope that the queen would expand her nest on to that frame too. A couple of strips of Apistan were inserted between the frames to treat any Varroa, and I then went on to check the lower brood box. It came as no surprise that the quantity of capped brood in that part of the hive is diminishing, as the queen has not laid there for over a fortnight.** 

I am reasonably pleased with the frame change and am looking forward to removing the lower brood box and Bailey board at next week's inspection. The hive will then be returned to a more standard configuration, and I can then start feeding colony #2 as well.

After finishing with the bees, I stayed in the orchard and attended to our Wisteria. 

We only planted it at the beginning of May, and it has grown at least three feet in height. This new growth needed to be tied in to the supporting apple tree trunk.  The plant has done really well, despite the drought, as I have conscientiously given it the dregs from the chicken's drinker every evening. It's only been a couple of pints, but it has worked wonders!

The remainder of the afternoon and early evening was spent selecting exhibits for the Autumn Horticultural Show. It amazes me how many apples, damsons and tomatoes need to be picked in order to select an entry of five or six matched specimens in perfect condition.

We'll be at it again tomorrow morning, as certain items of produce need to be as fresh as possible for showing. I must admit that I wonder why I do it. I get quite stressed about selecting the perfect entry, and quite forget that it is only a little village show. They don't even have prize money!

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* Apistan strips

** Worker brood takes twenty one days to develop from egg to adult worker bee. Hence, the Bailey Frame change has a twenty one day cycle, once the queen has been relocated to the upper brood box. At the end of twenty one days, all of the brood in the lower box will have developed and hatched, and the box and combs can be removed. The brood nest, with young at all stages of development, is now present on fresh comb in what was the upper brood box.