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Rainy Days and Lost Swarms

24/08/2017 By The Seasonal Table Leave a Comment

Rainy Days and Lost Swarms -- Smoking the honeybees | https://theseasonaltable.co.uk/smallholding/rainy-days-lost-swarms/

The beekeeping year started out so well. Our two hives had overwintered successfully and powered through spring with neat frames of brood, plentiful pollen stores, and lots of straw-coloured honey. We artificially swarmed one of the hives in June and proudly increased our apiary size by half. To our absolute joy, several swarms landed in our orchard and we managed to catch and settle two of them; one in a new hive, one in a nucleus, adding them to the apiary as well (you can read about that here). We felt like the luckiest beekeepers in Somerset. But then things took a downward turn.

A month of on and off rainy, mizzly weather set in and seemed always to fall on the only days we had free to check the bees. Unable to open the hives in the downpours without incurring the wrath of the colonies, our regular inspections fell off schedule. When the sunshine finally came, we lifted the hive lids to find a series of disappointments.

The two scavenged swarms had swarmed again, leaving a handful of stragglers behind with no brood and no replacement queen. They must have taken off soon after we caught them, as there were no signs that they had begun to set up a permanent home. Perhaps they had a better location in mind for their new hives and we had just been an unwelcome interception to their journey.

Rainy Days and Lost Swarms -- Inspecting the bee hive | https://theseasonaltable.co.uk/smallholding/rainy-days-lost-swarms/

In the next hive along, we expected to find our favourite golden queen and her offspring. She had led a swarm into our orchard the year before and the colony had turned out to be both prolific and good tempered. We had tried to suppress her fondness for moving house by tricking her with the artificial swarm earlier in the year, but after a quick look through the frames it was clear it hadn’t worked. She had swarmed anyway. A heavy blow.

We had left the other half of the above colony in a separate hive with a single, knobbly queen cell on one of the frames. As part of the artificial swarm process, we had selected the best looking one to keep. And, to prevent other queens hatching and taking off with smaller swarms, we destroyed all the others with a swift flick of the hive tool. We had intentionally left the hive undisturbed for a few weeks to give the new queen a chance to hatch, mate and start laying but, when the time came to inspect, we could see no sign of her. When we reached the frame with the chosen queen cell, the reason why became clear. The cell was a dud and hadn’t hatched. There were, however, signs of new royalty in the hive in the form of a hatched emergency queen cell. We hopefully scoured the frames for the new scrub queen, or a frame full of eggs to show she was there and laying, but again found only bad news. A determined little worker bee had stepped up to the role instead, clumsily filling the honeycomb with her own unfertilised eggs, two or three to a cell, off-centre or dribbling down the cell sides. The replacement queen must have swarmed too, taking a smaller trickle of worker bees with her; or perhaps she was killed by the colony, who may well have mistaken the laying worker for a suitable queen replacement and felt they didn’t need another.

Rainy Days and Lost Swarms -- Honeybees | https://theseasonaltable.co.uk/smallholding/rainy-days-lost-swarms/

In our original and final hive there was some good news at last. Our reliable caramel-coloured queen was as productive as ever. We spotted her busily working her way across a frame and filling it up with eggs, while her workers stored pollen in the gaps, and honey in the frame corners and supers above. As the colony is doing well, we swapped one of their brood frames with one from the old golden queen’s hive. Bee numbers in that hive are still fairly high, so by giving them a frame of eggs, they will have a chance to create a new queen. It’s a bit of a long shot at this time of year, but we have nothing to lose.

So, we have one colony at least. We will leave the couple of filled honey supers with the bees, to give them the best chance of getting through the winter and coming out strong on the other side. For us, that means there will be no honey harvest this year. We have enough jars leftover from previous years to keep us going, but it’s disheartening none the less. Here’s hoping we’ll have more luck next year.

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Filed Under: Smallholding Tagged With: bees, hive inspection, honeybee, swarm

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Rhubarb soda in the orchard. Our quick recipe for Rhubarb soda in the orchard. Our quick recipe for this sparkling spring thirst quencher is in the latest issue of the very lovely @simplethingsmag along with a few of our other favourite April-time recipes if you fancy a read. It’s also up on the magazine’s blog (link in our stories). Wishing you all a very happy (hopefully rhubarb-soda-ry) last day of the Easter weekend.
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#rhubarb #rhubarbrecipes #vegetablepatch #seasonspoetry #smallholding #countrysidelife #organicgardening #seasonalsimplicity #homestead #homesteading #selfsufficiency  #organic #countryliving #thegoodlife #spring #smallholdinguk #homestead #rurallife
The vegetable patch clouded by the mist that desce The vegetable patch clouded by the mist that descends so often at this time of year. Though many of the raised beds are empty now, there are a few winter crops to collect: various wonky brassicas, carrots, winter salad leaves, leeks and chard. Hopefully enough to keep us going until spring.
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#vegetablepatch #seasonspoetry #seasonalshift #smallholding #countrysidelife #organicgardening #seasonalsimplicity #homestead #homesteading #selfsufficiency  #organic #countryliving #thegoodlife #winter #smallholdinguk #homestead #rurallife
Stockings hung by the cosy glow of the fire and en Stockings hung by the cosy glow of the fire and enough wood stacked up to keep the flames going through to Christmas Day. Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas!
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#handmadchristmas #firewood #woodisgood #christmasdecorations #christmasinthecountry #christmasdecor #naturalchristmas #seasonspoetry #seasonalshift #smallholding #countrysidelife #organicgardening #seasonalsimplicity #selfsufficiency  #organic #countryliving #thegoodlife #winter #smallholdinguk #homestead #rurallife
For our first Christmas on the smallholding, we cu For our first Christmas on the smallholding, we cut a handful of lime-green and red willow stems from the shrubs that grow at the waterlogged edges of the stream and twisted them into a rustic wreath. It has decorated our front door every December since, its bright colours now faded to plum and ochre, fresh seasonal foliage tucked amongst the tangle of twigs. Our favourite adornments include a base of waxy evergreen leaves like holly (with berries), sprays of conifer with tiny pinecones clinging to their tips, and twists of ivy; we add extra texture with dried seed heads (silvery sea holly is our usual choice)and foraged pinecones; plus flashes of festive colour from late rosehips and short stems of pyracantha berries. Hanging the wreath on the front door, exposed to the winter air and occasional rain, keeps the foliage looking fresh, so it lasts happily until twelfth night.
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#handmadchristmas #christmaswreath #christmasdecorations #christmasinthecountry #christmasdecor #naturalchristmas #seasonspoetry #seasonalshift #smallholding #countrysidelife #organicgardening #seasonalsimplicity #selfsufficiency  #organic #countryliving #thegoodlife #winter #smallholdinguk #homestead #rurallife
A couple of homemade decorations for the Christmas A couple of homemade decorations for the Christmas table: candles and garlands. 
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We make very simple garlands from garden twine, foraged pinecones (collected back in the summer), and walnuts (gathered in autumn from our neighbour’s tree) painted silver and gold, to hang from the ceiling corners and twirl along the centre of the dining table.
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And we drill a few holes in some chunks of wood from the log store to make rustic holders for a hotchpotch of beeswax candles. They bring a cosy, honey-scented glow to the table.
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#handmadchristmas #christmasdecorations #christmasinthecountry #christmasdecor #naturalchristmas #seasonspoetry #seasonalshift #smallholding #countrysidelife #organicgardening #seasonalsimplicity #selfsufficiency  #organic #countryliving #thegoodlife #winter #smallholdinguk #homestead #rurallife
Holly and ivy are fantastic festive fodder for our Holly and ivy are fantastic festive fodder for our sheep during the winter months when the grass growth is little. We often gather small branches of the soft holly leaves that grow higher up the trees (where they are usually out of reach of hungry animals and don’t feel the need to prickle up) and pull up tangles of deep green ivy from an overgrown bank for the flock to munch as a fresh treat alongside their daily ration of hay.
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This pic was taken for our latest feature in the Christmas issue of the wonderful @simplethingsmag. It’s out now if you fancy a read. 
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#shetlandsheep #seasonspoetry #seasonalshift #smallholding #countrysidelife #organicgardening #seasonalsimplicity #selfsufficiency  #organic #countryliving #thegoodlife #winter #smallholdinguk #homestead #rurallife
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