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Penrith Beekeepers’ Outdoor Meeting 23 May 2010
Liz Skelton is a new beekeeper who acquired her first colony last year, so it was courageous of her to open her apiary to inspection by the nineteen members who turned up. The weather was warm (low twenties), sunny and calm – a lovely day for inspecting colonies. The hives are in a walled enclosure adjacent to the garden, and the shelter provided seems to suit the bees very well.
Liz’s colony was inspected by Seasonal Inspector Stewart Beattie four weeks ago, and it was so strong he advised her to artificially swarm it straight away. The first colony we opened was the one containing the ‘swarm’ with the original queen. This was in excellent condition, full of bees and great slabs of sealed brood, and with about one and a half filled supers on top. This should continue to store large quantities of honey for as long as the current nectar flow continues, but needs a close eye kept on it for possible swarming preparations.
The second colony was the residue of the original colony. This also contained plenty of bees, but the new queen, which would be about two weeks old, had not yet started laying, so we quickly looked through to see if we could spot her – we couldn’t – then closed up.
About a week before this inspection a second swarm emerged from this residue colony, headed by a virgin queen, which Liz captured and put into a third hive. Unfortunately she did not have sufficient frames to fill this, and no dummy frames, so the bees had built wild comb in preference to building out the foundation she had provided, and had filled it with the sugar syrup she had fed to them. We removed the wild comb and a helpful member offered to call round tomorrow with some dummy frames to fill up the vacant space. Being a very small colony, this might be better built up in a nucleus hive, but as anyone new to beekeeping will know it is not possible to have all required equipment to hand just as needed.
Liz’s talents fortunately extend to the table, so afterwards we enjoyed a lovely tea in the warm sunshine in her garden. If only all apiary meetings were blessed with such beautiful weather!
 Liz Skelton is a new beekeeper who acquired her first colony last year, so it was courageous of her to open her apiary to inspection by the nineteen members who turned up.
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19 members troop to the apiary
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The weather was warm (low twenties), sunny and calm – a lovely day for inspecting colonies. The hives are in a walled enclosure adjacent to the garden, and the shelter provided seems to suit the bees very well.
Liz’s colony was inspected by Seasonal Inspector Stewart Beattie four weeks ago,and it was so strong he advised her to artificially swarm it straight away.
Fellow member Andy Burne, who had supplied Liz with the original colony helped out by manipulating the frames.
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'full of bees and great slabs of sealed brood'
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The first colony we opened was the one containing the ‘swarm’ with the original queen. This was in excellent condition, full of bees and great slabs of sealed brood, and with about one and a half filled supers on top. This should continue to store large quantities of honey for as long as the current nectar flow continues, but needs a close eye kept on it for possible swarming preparations.
The second colony was the residue of the original colony.
This also contained plenty of bees, but the new queen, which would be about two weeks old, had not yet started laying, so we quickly looked through to see if we could spot her – we couldn’t – then closed up. About a week before this inspection a second swarm emerged from this residue colony, headed by a virgin queen, which Liz captured and put into a third hive. Unfortunately she did not have sufficient frames to fill this, and no dummy frames, so the bees had built wild comb in preference to building out the foundation she had provided, and had filled it with the sugar syrup she had fed to them. We removed the wild comb and a helpful member offered to call round tomorrow with some dummy frames to fill up the vacant space. Being a very small colony, this might be better built up in a nucleus hive, but as anyone new to beekeeping will know it is not possible to have all required equipment to hand just as needed.
Plastic queen excluder in position
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A fantastic picnic tea was enjoyed afterwards
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Liz’s talents fortunately extend to the table, so afterwards we enjoyed a lovely tea in the warm sunshine in her garden.
If only all apiary meetings were blessed with such beautiful weather!
Our host, Liz Skelton
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