Honey bees get ready for winter.

As we enter September autumn is fast upon us. All the fields have now been harvested and Sue and I are spending most of our time picking and processing.



It's certainly autumn time for the bees as they gather in less and less pollen and nectar has run out. They begin to rely on what they have stored during the summer to get them through the long dark months ahead.
Sue has applied the varroa treatment which means it is time to stop taking honey and to start feeding the bees extra. In fact she decided to leave them the honey they had already collected rather than take one last harvest.
It has been a poor year for honey harvest. Some years are better than others and that is just the way of the world. Some people take all the bees' produce and just keep topping the bees up with sugar, but we prefer to keep things more natural. Most of the bees which are out and about now will die before winter takes hold. It is the young brood which will form the nucleus to get through till next spring, so better that these are reared on the most natural food possible.
Hopefully we can take strong colonies into the winter.

An extra hive has appeared on our land, on the edge of the woodland down by the sheep paddocks. For we responded to a beekeeper's request for somewhere to keep a few colonies. We are keen to share our smallholding with as many people as possible and this is a small start.
I have already started to meet the new bees in the garden - they are very docile, long-bodied and dark.