Apiary Diary—Midsummer 2022
Updated: Jul 22, 2022
Developments earlier in the year
It was a difficult start to the year, as a number of hives didn’t survive into the new season. There seem to have been issues for other beekeepers in the area, also. Colonies were possibly affected by the absence of a ‘proper’ winter, and being active longer, some may have used up their winter stores early. Meanwhile predators such as wasps were hungry and active later into the autumn, and this may have compounded problems.
Swarm activity
We have been rebuilding colonies well, and have used ‘bait hives’ to attract several swarms (from our own bees or from elsewhere); we have also collected a number of swarms in Oxford and its surrounding villages.
The first swarm (from Botley Meadow itself), was unusual. Normally swarms settle above ground level (on a post or bush, for example) before moving to their new home. This one, however, was reported to be on the grass (close to where dog walkers pass by), and it may have lost its queen whilst in transit, and then have become ‘confused’. I encouraged it into a box overnight, and retrieved it the next morning, and it did indeed appear to be queenless. After a couple of attempts, in the following weeks, to help it raise a new queen (with ‘donated’ egg cells from another hive), the bees seemed to be having none of it. Queens emerged, but they did not succeed in mating, or perhaps did not return from their mating flight. So, the colony has now been united with a stronger one that had meanwhile moved into an empty hive (since without a fertilised laying queen, a colony cannot produce the essential worker bees it needs to survive, and will normally die out within weeks).
The most recent addition, the 'Chiselhampton' swarm', collected from the garden of the Coach and Horses Inn in that Oxfordshire village, was more straightforward, being positioned nicely on a bush. The bees seemed keen to be offered a new home, and dutifully walked into the swarm box once they could sense the queen was there. This strong prime swarm now occupies the top bar hive in the Apiary.
Less conventional, however, was the swarm collected in June from the Eden Drive allotments in Headington. This was reported as a ‘swarm in a gooseberry bush’, in the middle of an allotment bed. But on collecting it, it transpired that the swarm must have set up residence, as it had built up a certain amount of comb and a store of food. We needed to conserve this as much as possible, and then transfer the bees and comb to their new home at a nearby friend's apiary (which had lost all of its bees over the winter).
Normally bees only cluster outside when they are resting while in transit between their old home (such as a beehive) and their new home (a hollow tree, for example), so it was unusual to find a colony that had settled ‘outdoors’ and open to the elements, albeit in a prickly bush! Unusual, but not unheard of…
Community engagement and Blenheim Palace connections
Sometimes members of the public call Botley Meadow Bees, convinced that they have a swarm of honey bees in their house/ garage/ garden compost heap etc. Usually it is not—they turn out to be other kinds of bees (bumblebees, miner, mason bees etc), and in a cent case a wasp nest in someone’s bathroom extract fan outlet!
Oxfordshire Beekeepers Association at Blenheim Palace
In June, we joined colleagues from the Oxfordshire Beekeepers Association (OBKA) on its educational stand at the Blenheim Palace Flower Show, where we had a couple of demonstration hives (with windows onto the bees’ activities). It was fantastic to meet so many enthusiastic members of the public, of all ages, and from all over the UK and overseas. It did a good job in inspiring folk to think more about the wonders of bees, as well as the perils bees face in our modern world and the need for conservation measures.
Oxfordshire Natural Beekeeping Group
The previous day we had been to a meeting of the Oxfordshire Natural Beekeeping Group in a wonderful garden apiary just outside Burford. Amid the beautiful gardens were an amazing array of different hives, including a traditional skep, horizontal top bar hives, and raised octagonal hives. It was a real treat and learning experience for all the natural beeks who came! Some of us met for the first time Filipe Salbany (who has recently spoken in the media about the wild bees discovered in the grounds of Blenheim Palace).
Mark, Botley Meadow Bees, July 2022