The Hive

Yippee. It is a warmish (16°), very sunny day and the ladies are out and about for the first time since autumn. Hazel is flowering and a few last winter cherries have some blossom. I just love it when they reappear every year and I just wish that they understood my congratulations.

Hi, Jef, I would go along with what Brian said, and perhaps add that many professional keepers either use briefly a flame, or caustic soda to clean.sterilize their hives.

Jef Groby has just joined. he has found some old hives that need a a bit of spring cleaning and needs advice on how to start. Is there anybody living near Cahors where he is to begin with?

My two penny worth is as follows:

Clean the hives top to bottom. Use a damp cloth or sponge on the wood. If you feel that the outside needs any kind of treatment or painting then you have to find either that does not harm insects. I never really bother myself. Anyway, you might consider treating with a bit of fungicide. If you do, then leave the roof off and inverted and the brood box/supers to air. Fumigation is another possibility. Carefully clean all the frames, especially getting any traces of old wax off and away. Use a paint scraper if necessary. If the wires are still in, remember exactly how they are, then get rid of them.

You will need to think about 'supplies'. I use some bought here and others order from the UK, the latter mainly for things I cannot find here. I use Thornes but web search beekeeping supplies and you will find a selection - just compare prices. However, the type of hive you have is your essential bit of knowledge before buying anything.

Priorities are foundation (the wax base sheets), the wire, and bear in mind the brood box and suppers are different for the foundations. You will need some basic tools, such as a stainless steel hive tool and a smoker. I have never bothered with other tools since I usually have decorating or woodworking tools and the like that do other jobs. Then there is your person protection. Suits are most popular now but I have a jacket with hat and veil and gloves. I don't always use them all but came a cropper last summer in bare legs and arms when they all became 'moody' and instead of walking about on my arms and hands they started attacking.

It is not that long until weather improves and the first bees will start to appear, not long after that swarms appear. So put the word out once you see bees out and about, otherwise you will have to buy colonies. People are usually happy to get rid of swarms so it works quite well instead of buying in. The risk is that you might get a colony that has lost its queen or with a queen who is sterile, swarms also decide to move on occasionally. I lost one last year but kept others, so worth a try. However, if you are not used to handling bees it will help to have somebody who knows to help. I was lucky in that I began with a county association in England where the person who taught us was fantastic. At the same time I know several people who have bought a couple of books or look at websites and started alone.

Now for others to improve on that, but I think you have the basics there.

Welcome to all new beefolk. Hi, Brian!!

Not quiet time here, we have to build 200 hives plus pollen traps by april!!, OH is at the saw non-stop, when not doing deliveries!!

Last year, we lost no colonies, thankfully, but we had a good bit of split-swarming going on.

Hopefully our girls come out of wintering happy, and healthy.

I hope 2013 is a kind year to bees all round, because it certainly isn't getting any easier for them.

I think we have had a couple of new members since the end of October. It is bee keeping quiet time, so let's at least say welcome to the new people.

For my part, I hope 2013 is better than last year. No honey, colonies dying off (probably sterile queens), Asian hornets and weather knocking hives askew. That'll do, best forgotten. At least, to start this year right, fingers crossed, I topped up their food last week as forecasts told us of the impending nasty weather. The colonies looked small but I got a good buzz out of them and so I am hoping that in a few weeks it will be warm enough for them to venture out and the first spring flowers will start. There is already hazel and winter cherry around, so even if it goes mild very soon there is a little for them.

I hope you can all report back good news this year and let's all hope in the best tradition of Winnie the Pooh, that there is plenty of lovely honey to harvest and the lovely little working ladies have a good summer too!

If you have enough borage, let it rot in a sealed ontained and the black smelly liquid it produces is probably the best non commercial fertiliser available. In fact, it is grown for that reason commercially. Tomatoes thrive on it.

Thanks, Zoe & Brian. My son, Simon, who's visiting at the moment, suggests echinacea too; he says you can make tea with it and it's good for your immune system.

I used to make tea with fennel and Lane's blackcurrant some years back; very refreshing, so - OK - echinacea and fennel - and a nice cuppa - and leave the wasps to get on with it - and I'm sure there's something useful one can do with borage...

Bronze fennel and borage are my favourites, if you can live with all the nice little solitary wasps that appear aggressive but actual scoff up the ones you don't want and les gendarmes, the little red and black firebugs who are actual harmless for most plants.

Hi guys, thanks for the info. If you have any ideas what a person can grow in their garden/potager that will help our friendly insects and hinder the unfriendly ones, do let us all know. Myself, I have about 600m² spare that I could use to plant something: clover, wild flowers, whatever works. Open to ideas.

Cheers!

I'm like Zoe on the petitions, too many too keep track but I have a close association with a couple of them so perhaps I should be schtumm. Anyway, there was a UK (I think, but English anyway) bee petition a couple of years ago along exactly the same lines.

People have no idea about the real situation and the importance of bees and other insects. It is, it seems, illegal for a member of the public to erdaicate bees but agriculture has free licence to kill anything amongts their precious crops. They no long depend on bees either because some of the crop plants are 'self-fertilisinfg' for the main product and seed stocks that require insects grow elsewhere. Those plants are not much use for much but producing some kind of oil or whatever anyway, food value zilch.

I am reluctant to even splat wasps any longer. Without them we would have no figs here, they fertilise them whilst feed in what eventually become the figs we eat. They also eat lots of microscopic insects that are not necessarily our greatest friends, given they eat foliage with us not appearing to find what does that much damage...

The big Asian invaders, another story. Since they arrived in Bordeaux a handful of years ago they have spread to well over a third of France, and folk, the best news yet is that they are crossing borders into neighbouring countries and eventually a short hop across the Straits of Dover will be a cakewalk if they do not act on legislation and really enforce eradication. This year I am clearly stuck between two or more nests and they are devastating my stock. No matter what I do, try any recommended method, they persist. Now them we can go for!

here's a fine little vid. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-fXYR9FTfM

Them be wasps, Kent.

for the petition, I guess you could share the actual petition page with a translate plugin. I disabled my translate pop up, but if you click this, then do "translate", and then get the new URL, it should copy in english.

http://www.pollinis.org/petitions/petition_neonicotinoides.php

The video is the important bit, though, as many people don't see the relationship between their food, and the humble honeybee.

I've plenty of vids like that, I'll go snoop among them for a short and to the ponit number. There are also countless petitions on avaaz, change.org, care2, and so on. I find it a pity to dissipate the efforts of people with numerous petitions, but, hey, that's like, they keep making them, and I keep signing them.

Does anyone know of an English version of this campaign as most of my contacts don't speak french?

http://www.pollinis.org/petitions/video_pesticides.html

OK, the Sun came out, which helps the camera, and the (?) wasps (?) decided it was just the weather for jam, so I have snaps. I've merged 3 into 1.

I think they're just boring old wasps. I just don't know about underground nests(?)

Still, they leave me alone and, as long as they do, I'm inclined to leave them alone.

What say the experts?![](upload://lFpRgsd8Joux2d3OlN8ml9ipoNQ.png)

I've just wasted half an hour trying to get a snap of some little stripey fellas on my potager - and failed: they're too quick and the camera's not good enough. I tried to entice them to settle with some left-over quince jam but they weren't interested. So, description: they look like wasps and they live in a hole in the ground. That is, as far as I can tell, they look just like wasps. They aren't in the least bit aggressive, in fact, they take no notice of me whatsoever - although I am considerate enough to drive around them with the lawn mower.

I just would like to know what they are..?

Thankfully our local hunters are not "thugs with guns".. no loud nissan patrols,ripping through the forest with mounted spotlights.... no shooting close to peoples' homes, and no walking about without the breech open.
I've not seen any items about it yet.(the hornets), but, I agree, nests need to be wiped out. how we achieve that, is another story.

Aha, but it seems immediate eradication of nests is preferable this time. Dare I say twats with shotguns needing to practice running... Old story, but always funny.

That is good news, I love the locally hunted sanglier saussicon. lol. I'm just afraid the "compulsory controls" will mean pesticides, or more regulation of the beekeeper. The govt should just stay out of peoples' business sometimes.

GOOD NEWS. Yesterday the government officially announced Asian hornets a controllable (compulsory controls that is) pest. In the same announcement sangliers, for those who enjoy wild boar. Official pest, not just for hunters any more.

Also, try this. When i need keepers in a certain area, I just go yellow pages, and type apiculture, and the area, or apiculteur.

http://www.larucheduquercy.fr/