Our two garden top bar bee hives (Warre) have pulled through the winter; this is without chemical assistance and on their own stores, well almost.
The North Warre bee hive I have fed as they did run low on honey stores at the start of April and they are now the slight weaker colony. The South Warre beehive just seems to be going from strength to strength.
Both beehives / colonies have Varroa as expected. It does not seem to be affecting the South beehive, but in theory this situation will not last; these colonies are only your standard bee mix and not the favoured black bee in our area.
Therefore, I am planning a “shook swarm” in a few weeks time when we have greater flower diversity which will assist the bees in their new comb building. This process leaves the Varroa mite in the old comb so we start the summer with the lowest count, helping the bees to build up a healthy colony strength.
I have also today just added an additional box for the South Warre beehive as this colony is very strong and I am sure they are not far from requiring more space.
Any questions or comments most welcomed.
Best regards,
David
