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Looking back on bee-related articles that I’ve written during the summer months, it’s no surprise to me that they all deal with similar themes: honey, queen bees, and swarms. This year is no different in that the work is the same as ever; we are marking new queens (blue this year), checking that the foraging bees are bringing in plenty of varied pollen for the ever-increasing amounts of brood, and dealing with swarms. We have been pro-active with our swarm control methods this season, especially with the colonies we are raising in Dadant hives – read on to find out about the bees in the Warré hives! It seems to us that there are more swarms around this year, or perhaps the general public is more aware of them, as we and other beekeepers have been contacted a lot more than usual with requests for help where unwanted bees are concerned. Sadly, we haven’t been called to any ‘easy’ swarm captures. Instead the calls are usually from homeowners wh

Here we are, then; the clocks have gone forward and I am reminded of an old rhyme from my school days: “Spring is sprung, the grass is riz, I wonder where the lawnmower iz?!” However, this month, as beekeepers, we have more important things to do than cut the grass. Hopefully the temperatures are now consistently high enough for us to open the hives and carry out the first inspections of the year. We did everything we could do to help prepare our colonies for the winter, and so now we are looking forward to finding that it was all worth the effort and our bees are fighting fit, ready to face the challenges ahead. Recent years have seen greater colony losses over the winter due to environmental problems, so if our bees survive then we can be sure they are of good genetic stock. As you might remember from last month’s issue, all we could do was to protect them from cold and damp, ensure there were enough bees to keep the colony warm, provide them with a healthy laying