Spring Awakening

The Bee by: Arthur Guiterman (1871-1943) 
 Little chemic-artisan,
 Doing work no other can, 
 Deep in dewy nectaries, Petal-walled refectories-- 
 Apple-blossom, columbine, 
 Rose and lily, all are thine, 
 Yet, though oft thy weight they bear, 
 Dost thou know how they are fair? 
 Thine are sun and Summer breeze-- 
 Hast thou aught of joy in these? 
 Pollen-yellow dumbledore, 
 Leave thy clovers tumbled o'er! 
 What's a lily? What's a rose? 
 Down the golden lane he goes, 
 Drowsing forth a prosy song, 
 "Honey! Honey!" all day long, 
 Wasting life's diviner sweet, 
 Hiving food for drones to eat. 
 Oh, thou silly, silly bee! 
 Idle here and learn of me!

Its been a while since I have posted on here, but I am glad to say that all three of my small colonies have survived the winter and are doing well, all out and about even on a rainy day like today has been. There is a lot of activity and I can see plenty of pollen coming in. No idling here! There has been plenty of blossom around during April, with the brambles, cherry blossom, plum trees, apple trees, blackcurrants and various other trees in the neighbourhood in full blossom, so there has been plenty for the bees to do. I hope the nectar flow this year is better than last year, but the weather hasn't been too promising so far. I also had a couple of visitors today, who are local people planning on keeping bees in top bar hives, and we talked bees and about meeting up to talk and support each other, and I have started a yahoo group for local networking and to organise get togethers etc. And thus South Wales Natural Beekeepers is born!

Into the Winter

We have had a few mild and sunny days and the bees have been flying whenever it is warm enough, although there are no flowers out. In the winter months the bees go on cleansing flights to empty their bowels whenever there is a mild enough day. There has been activity from all three hives, so far so good, but being still concerned that with the late swarming and the poor nectar flow last year, that none of the colonies have had a chance to build up adequate stores for the winter, I purchased a 12 kilo pack of fondant and put a 2 1/2 kilo slab in each hive on top of the topbars. Hopefully this will see them through the colder weather that is yet to come.
Another concern I have is that on inspection of the hives at the end of the year, I saw some small caterpillar type things on the comb, which may be wax moth larvae.

Wax moth can be quite destructive in bee hives, particularly if the colony is weak. A strong colony can generally deal with them. I have found some lovely videos on Youtube of bees dealing with wax worms

More information on wax worms and dealing with them can be found at Beesource Beekeeping, not that I intend to use any of the chemical treatments discussed there.

A comment on the Youtube video states that wax moths are enemies to bees, but also enemies to varroa, but no further information is given about this. I am very keen to find out more about it though, and will post on here anything I am able to find out. I do feel that Mother nature knows best, and left to their own devices a balance will be found.
Another video by the same person shows bees dealing with varroa