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A nucleus colony takes a while to build up to full strength. However, it still
follows the same yearly cycle as a full size colony and you should therefore
treat it in the same way. The first year is all about learning about how
your bees work and putting into practice the techniques you have read
about in beekeeping books and seen on your beekeeping course!
Starting with a nucleus colony in April, May or June
If you receive your nucleus colony in April or May, there is still a chance
that it will try to swarm in June or July. It may have been ideal weather
conditions, a prolific queen and of course your expert nurturing that has
helped the bees build up rapidly, run out of space and start a queen cell. The
crucial thing to look out for are queen cells. If you miss just one queen cell,
then the next thing you know is that your bees have swarmed. Therefore
it’s important to check for queen cells throughout June and July.
If you do find one or more queen cells, despite giving the bees plenty
of space, then it is safest to artificially swarm your bees. Divide them
following the instructions on
Page 42
.
If your bees aren’t building queen cells but are busy raising brood, storing
pollen and making honey then you should keep adding brood frames
until the bees are using at least nine frames. Once they have drawn out
the wax foundation into comb on all 9 frames, you can then add a super.
The first super should go over the first set of brood frames. The bees
may initially be uninterested if the queen excluder is on as this a bit of
an obstacle for them. If after a week they haven’t started drawing out
the wax foundation in the supers then take the queen excluders off and
they should go up. Don’t forget to put the excluders back on at the
next inspection.
Throughout July and August, you can should be going through your
bees once a week and familiarising yourself with them. Using the record
book that comes with the Beehaus, you can keep track of how the colony
changes week to week. You will become more confident at spotting the
queen, recognising different parts of the comb, and getting a feel for
what a good, healthy colony of bees is like. This is really important and
don’t worry that you are not ‘doing something’. You may make several
visits to your bees where all you do is look and learn. You can also go on
holiday in August without having to check your bees. Before you go just
make sure that they have plenty of space for storing honey.
Towards the end of August, you can harvest any honey that the bees have
stored in the supers and make an estimate of how much they have stored
in the brood frames. They should over winter on 9 frames with between
20-30kg of capped honey. If there is less, then you will need to feed them
sugar syrup and there is information on how to do this on
Page 36
.
Once you have taken off any honey that you are keeping for yourself, the
other little job is to check the number of varroa mites in the colony. To
do this put the inspection tray underneath and look at it 3-5 days later.
The average daily mite drop should be less than 33 in August and 20 in
September. If your count is near this number or more then you should
treat your bees. There is more information on how to do this in the health
section on
Page 46
.
Starting with a nucleus colony in July, August or September
If you decided to start beekeeping in the summer then you should
concentrate on helping the colony build up to a good size before
the autumn.
Your bees won’t be likely to swarm, the queen should still be laying a good
amount of eggs so you should see brood in all stages on the combs.
You should feed your bees with sugar syrup to help them draw out the
comb on the new brood frames that you add. You should aim to have
bees on at least 6 frames by winter. It’s unlikely you will be able to harvest
any honey this year, instead you will probably need to feed the bees in
September to ensure they have 20-30kgs of capped stores for the winter.
You should do a varroa inspection in August. Place the inspection tray
under the Beehaus for 3-5 days then remove it and count the natural
mite drop. If it’s more than 33 in August you should treat the bees using
Apiguard or similar, for more information see
Page 46
Even though you may not be able to harvest any honey this year, the
advantage of getting your bees in the summer is that you will have your
bees ready for a full season next year.
The nucleus colony in the first year
Once you have filled your Beehaus with a colony of bees, you will need to
inspect it regularly to make sure that the bees are beehaving themselves.
Spending time lifting each frame out and surveying the bees at work,
spotting young bees just hatching and workers stuffing pollen into cells is
the best part of being a beekeeper.
A nucleus of bees consists mainly of young nurse bees, who look after
the brood, so you probably won’t see many bees flying in and out of the
entrance for the first couple of weeks.
A week or so after you transferred the bees you can have another look
to see what progress they are making and t,o check that the queen has
established herself and is laying eggs. A good hint to see if the queen
is laying without even opening the hive is to watch what the bees are
bringing in to the Beehaus. If they are bringing in lots of pollen then it’s
a good sign that the queen has been laying as the pollen is required by
the bees to make the bee milk that they feed the larvae.
When is the best time to inspect your bees?
The best time to inspect is in the middle of a still, sunny, warm day when
all the flying bees are out foraging. The temperature must be over 16
o
C
(60
o
F) otherwise the brood can get cold and die. Ideally there should be
only a little wind. Before the Beehaus is opened, make sure you have
cleared the area around it so you can easily get access to all of the parts.
You should avoid opening the hive if it is raining so the bees don’t get
wet. However if it is unavoidable you can inspect your bees under the
protection of an umbrella.
What do bees like?
Consideration is key for a successful relationship with your bees, as such
it’s good to bear in mind the following things that bees like before you
open the hive:
• Warm still weather with a minimum temperature of 15
o
C.
• A good supply of nectar and pollen.
• A young, healthy and productive queen.
• Deliberate calm movements by the beekeeper.
• Smooth, light coloured beesuit that their feet don’t get
tangled up in.
If all the above are ticked and your bees are still aggressive towards you,
then you probably have a queen who is bad tempered and the only way
to change the character of the colony is to change the queen.
Things that bees definitely don’t like are:
• Thundery weather.
• Cold damp weather under 15
o
C.
• Sudden movements by the beekeeper, which the bees associate with
attacking behaviour.
• Vibrations, such as dropping something on the hive.
• Being rolled against each other or the edge of the hive when a
frame is being lifted out.
• Being squashed.
• The absence of a queen, a damaged queen or an old failing queen.
How long should an inspection take?
Typically, inspecting one colony takes around 30 mins to 1 hour. You can
quite easily spend longer as you find yourself lost in the magical world of
bees but it’s important not to keep the hive open longer than necessary
and you are more likely to make the bees grumpy if you do.
Although it’s tempting to look every night when you get home from
work, it’s better not to disturb the bees more often than once a week
unless absolutely necessary.
How to inspect your honey bees
