I'm still feeding the bees. It may be rather late to be doing that, but I know I'm not the only beekeeper in my association not to have finished. Today, while I was at it, I switched the hives back from the solid wooden floors they had for the duration of their anti-varroa gel treatment back on to metal mesh ones.
I changed to mesh floors a few years ago as an additional step against the varroa mite, the idea being that any mites that drop off the bees fall through the floor and are permanently lost from the hive. The jury still seems to be out on whether it is a good idea to use them through the winter. Some beekeepers maintain that they make the hive too cold, others that damp rather than cold is the enemy of over-wintering bee colonies, and the fact that water can't collect on a mesh floor is a plus in the winter months. My bees went through the past two years on mesh and seemed fine, despite some steep drops in overnight temperature this February, and a long cold winter the previous year. I had noticed condensation build up inside some colonies in previous winters, so I'm trying again this year with the mesh.
I fitted the mouse guards at the same time. Mice find the inside of a beehive a very cosy place to shelter during the cold months, but bees do not feel equally positive about mice. They hate the smell, and will not use comb that mice have crawled over. Mice pee constantly, by the way. They have surprisingly small skulls and can creep through very tiny holes, including the standard entrance of a beehive even when reduced to its smallest size. To stop them coming in during the winter I fit metal strips over the bottom of the front of the hives including the entrance, that have holes drilled in them just large enough for a bee to crawl through. These are an upgrade from my previous defence, which was to stick small pieces of galvanised mesh along the top of the door to narrow its size, using drawing pins.
The metal strips are quite chunky, and drawing pins would be inadequate to hold them, so the only solution seemed to be to use screws. I bought them loose at last year's county beekeeping conference, and they didn't come with any instructions, but I can't think how else to attach them to the beehives. The Systems Administrator lent me an electric screwdriver and found me a supply of short screws. I rapidly discovered I was going to need washers as well, since the bee sized holes in the strip were larger than the screw heads, and the strip simply fell off as soon as I let go. I must have needed washers last year as well, but had forgotten. That's the trouble with doing something once a year, like trying to bake an edible Christmas cake in the Aga. By the time the need comes round again you can't remember the lessons of last time.
It is not very easy to screw a metal strip across the door of a beehive, while trying to avoid squashing any bees, and while the bees investigate you. The beehives sit on low stands with the entrance only about 30cm above ground level, so you have to work crouching down, or else leaning over, which makes my glasses slide down my nose so that I can't see. A friend ties elastic to his and takes it around the back of his head to stop them doing that, and I might have to try likewise. It sounds hopelessly geeky, but I'm afraid beekeeping is, even if the papers have talked it up as being trendy in recent years. An additional complication is that bees are defensive about the door to their hive, and notoriously not keen on the sound of machinery which might include electric screwdrivers, so you really do need to wear gloves, which makes it difficult to handle the screws, let alone the washers.
It is also difficult to set a laden brood box down on a beehive floor without squashing some bees. You need both hands to lift the box, which is bulky and heavy, but then need a third hand to brush bees out of the way. I could have asked the SA to help, I suppose, but didn't. The SA has helped in the past with swarms, and in building hive parts, but partially dismantling brood boxes in a way that could provoke an unpleasant reaction from the bees isn't really something the SA has volunteered for. I felt bad about the squashed bees, though, both from their point of view as individuals, and because it is a waste of good bees, and because the smell alerts the others that danger is afoot and potentially makes the entire apiary harder to handle.
The first colony I tackled were very good about the whole procedure, particularly since I'd managed to reposition the hive on its mesh floor on the stand in such a way that the landing board of the stand was blocking the entrance to the beehive. Having got the mouse guard on, after a struggle, I stood back to watch if the bees were using the entrance OK, and discovered that they couldn't get in or out of the hive at all, so I had to remove the guard, reposition the hive, and refit the guard. I had a colony a while back which produced a high proportion of golden bees, and was sorry to lose it when they swarmed and the new queen failed, so was pleased to see today that this hive is also producing golden bees. I don't know if it really makes a difference, but they are very pretty, and seem nice to handle. They were still bringing in a lot of pollen, mostly bright orange but I saw a few carrying dark red loads on their hind legs.
The second colony didn't seem too fussed, and I didn't make the same mistake with their entrance, mainly because the stand was better designed. However, one bee did manage to sting my wrist through the cuff of my beekeeping glove, which hurt, and subsequently swelled. Then the smoker went out. The third colony were on the alert before I ever touched the hive, guard bees standing outside the entrance with their bottoms pointed warningly in the air, having presumably smelt the mayhem from the other hives (though thinking about it they were a bit crabby the last time I opened them). They came rushing out when I lifted the box, so I'm glad I'd bothered to relight the smoker, but then they weren't too bad, and I didn't take any more direct hits. The final colony was small and no trouble. They were building up nicely, but swarmed very late in the summer taking themselves back to square one, then had a late outbreak of chalkbrood which they'd been clear of earlier in the year. It was an awful season for bees.
All I have to do now is keep giving them syrup until they don't want any more, and put wire netting around them in case of woodpecker attack. They'll keep foraging on warm days, while there is anything to feed on, but the season is winding down for both of us.
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