Inspected the bees on Sunday and started the 2ndtreatment of Apigard just two more weeks to go and then that’s this first treatment over for the bees. I have monitored the Varroa drop by removing a tray at the at the bottom of the hive and up to now the drop of Varroa has been reasonably low and it will be interesting to what the drop will be for the remaining two weeks.
The bees have been collecting bright orange pollen over the past week and I now think they are foraging on a family of plants Scabious and is good for bees and butterflies, its a wide ranging family and my best description is a small daisy like flower of many forms that will grow on verges and meadows so perhaps Hounslow Heath, the golf course, Hounslow Community Farm and perhaps Heathrow along with many small patches of land that are in the range of the bees.
Although I have been feeding small amounts of syrup to the bees over the past two weeks they have now started to build up stores in the BB and a noticeable change from the last inspection when the first Apigard treatment started and again I think this is due to the Scabious in flower and also perhaps due to the Apigard the queen has reduced her laying and the bees have less young bees to feed so are able to build up the stores.
The bees are in good shape and are filling the BB I have to decide now if I over winter them with just the BB or with an extra super of stores but this will be syrup a sugar and water mix as extra stores.
Bee Fact
The bees will forage up to 2 mile radius from the hive and will have a good understanding of the area within that 2 miles.
