With Easter only a couple of weeks away, it's hard to believe that it's been snowing most of today here in this part of Devon. The temperature outside is still in single figures with a wind chill of -5oC today and the 14 day weather forecast offers no sign of warmer weather. With the long drawn out wintry weather, there's a need to feed our colonies of honey bees, or at least monitor them weekly to check they have adequate stores.
With the majority of the country laying under a blanket of snow, it was inevitable that the beast from the east would finally reach us in Devon with Storm Emma due to arrive later from the west. With the weather conditions as they are, the car keys were left hanging up and the woolly hat and gloves donned for a trudge in the snow over to the apiary to check the hives.
Once a week during the winter months I like to take a walk to the apiary to check all is well. Having prepared my three colonies for winter, even though beekeepers are no longer opening up their hives, we still need to check that the entrances are clear and no damage to any of the hives. We've had our fair share of rain and strong winds lately, so it a pleasure to stroll out this morning with the sun shining to check on the bees.
I’m often asked if honey bees hibernate during winter. The simple answer to that is no! However, what they do is even more fascinating than hibernating.
Last year I decided that to have a better understanding of my honey bees, it would be useful to sit the British Beekeepers' Association exams and undertook a correspondence course with two of my beekeeper friends in preparation of taking Module 1: Honey Bee Management later in the year. Cathy and Imogen have been keeping bees longer than me, so I had a steeper learning curve having only two beekeeping seasons under my belt. So how did it go?
It's been a long day and it's now time to put my feet up this evening knowing that I've changed some minds! Yes, I managed to change the minds of four people who were adamant they didn't like honey. Having a taster pot to try of honey that's made right on your doorstep was a massive mind changer for them. Not only did they taste, but they also bought honey for themselves and as Christmas presents for their friends.
Today it was off to my very first Christmas craft fair in Newton Poppleford with my little pots of honey beautifully presented in their little organza bags. It's taken quite a while to put these all together but when they were finally on the table, they looked absolutely amazing - even if I say so myself!
There's nothing quite like pouring liquid gold into a jar... honey produced from your own colony of bees. The girls have exceeded themselves again this year beating last year's honey crop of 72lb, which is pretty good going given I only took up beekeeping at the beginning of 2016. This honey is all from my original colony which, by the time the main nectar flow in July begins, is very large colony and has a strong foraging force that literally work themselves to death bringing back their bounty.
It's that time of year, when the clocks have fallen back and the nights are beginning to draw in and it begins to feel like winter is almost upon us. The days have a definite nip in the air and so the bees themselves will be starting to hunker down themselves as they start to cluster for warmth inside their hives.
At this time of year, as a beekeeper, we can start putting our feet up - well at the apiary itself - as there's plenty of work to be done in getting the equipment ready for next season.
So what's to be done to get the bees through winter?
With what looks like the summer coming to an end, excess honey extracted from the girls and a pile of bee equipment cluttering up the house, it was time to take it all outside and start cleaning it ready to store away until needed next spring.