We arrived back at the house in good time and rolled up outside Steve's gate. In no time we were standing in the same place I had been not even twelve hours earlier. Jeff and I first had to move a honking great piece of limestone into position to provide a solid base for the hive to stand on. I wanted to give this hive a good foundation. Who knows if I would ever move it again, and so I wanted to give it the right start.
With Jeff and I both puffing loudly, we managed to manoeuvre the limestone into position and the stage was set; it was time for the hive. We positioned the hive stand and then the hive on top. It looked wonderful. There is nothing nicer, in my humble opinion, than seeing a beehive in an orchard. I wasn't sure about bringing my freezer box of a hive in here as it might not look as good, but this hive was spot on. I couldn't help but smile.
It just left me to open them up and welcome them to their new home. I was excited, perhaps overly so and because I had given Jeff the bee suit, I opened up the entrance block and just ran as fast as I could back to the car without looking back. It was perhaps a tad dramatic but I didn't want to take any chances given the way the bees had reacted last time.
I knew that very shortly I would be back up to take a look inside. In fact, thinking about it I will probably leave them a bit and open it up for the first time in a few days when the bee inspector comes around. Here I am, about four months into my career as a beekeeper and I am about to be inspected: scary stuff.
SEPTEMBER 22
The inspector, Alan, arrived. I very carefully peered out of the window as he walked up the path. I couldn't believe it. There I was yesterday scouring the web for a photo of an American drill sergeant to add to the text of my blog and here was one walking down the path toward the house. He had the heavy boots on and the hat was an exact match. That was where the comparisons stopped, but I had a good giggle at the hat.
As I opened the door, he was immediately friendly and helpful, putting me at ease as he explained what was about to happen. Alan wanted to crack on and so we headed straight up to the Beehaus as it was closest. I didn't really know what to expect from this inspection but he immediately got stuck in looking around for any varroa – there was barely anything, which is a relief – and all the signs from the hive were good. He did suggest I remove a couple of frames from the hive as they hadn't been drawn out yet. This would allow the bees to concentrate on building up stores rather than wasting energy building up frames. In a flash it was over; this inspection seemed a lot more straightforward than I thought.
We went to my National hive in its new position. Not having seen it since I ran away late on Sunday night, I was quite eager to see it again. Fortunately it looked quite good in its new location and all looked well… Until we looked inside.
The last time I fully checked the hive was September 5 and all looked well. Going through the hive today it was immediately apparent that there was a queen cell a few frames in, but it was now empty! This could mean only one thing: that there was a new queen somewhere, and according to Alan it was most likely a supersedure, where the bees decide they want a new queen but, having produced one, don't swarm. It was quite likely here as the number of bees in the hive was not noticeably different, and these events usually occur later on in the season.
We carried on and I was lucky enough to spot the queen, but she was definitely not the same queen. She looked a little bit smaller than Cleopatra – apparently characteristic of a virgin or new queen, and so I felt quite pleased (and reassured) that I had seen her.
There were at least another couple of queen cells in the hive as well, but all had been opened, meaning other queens had emerged or the bees had destroyed the cells themselves. This would have meant there would have been an almighty queen battle in the hive. Queens are only able to sting other queens and so this is what would have happened until the best queen won and only one remained. Alternatively the bees could have been happy with the queen that had emerged and decided to rid the hive of the other queen cells. Therefore something has certainly been going on since September 5! Typical that it was just in time for the bee inspector to see it all happen as I feel that it has made me look a little bit inexperienced. It may be that I missed one of these cells in their early stages before I moved the hives back from the heather. Queen cells take twenty days from the moment the bees decide they want to raise a new queen to when she hatches out. Alan was very nice about it and did say that in a busy hive they are easy to miss, even for experienced beekeepers.
All in all I received some great advice from Alan and it was well worth the visit as it was actually really good fun and I feel that I have learned an awful lot. Aside from Richard who was simply filming me, Alan is the only other person who has been there with me while I have checked the hive and it was nice to have the company, even if I did feel a little daunted at times. Alan did mention that it is time to start feeding the bees which I must get prepared for and buy the right sugar this time. This will ensure they have enough stores to call upon over winter and Alan believes that the Beehaus needs a lot for the bees to survive. On the other hand however, he says that the National has plenty of stores available, obviously a good sign!