As we are coming into the winter you cannot forget the bees. I need to go around to my apiary’s every week and check the hives. You don’t have to go in and inspect but have a look at each and every hive from the outside and see what activity is going on. Look at the bees coming and going, how many are out foraging and what are they bringing back, or is it out for a cleansing flight they are on.
On the 2nd of October, I checked my hives at Cloonart farm
This is one section with some nucs being overwintered. All the hives were busy the temperature was 13 degrees and believe it or not the bees were still bringing in some pollen and nectar.
Very active so I hefted a few of the hives and they felt fine and heavy, full of ivy honey for their winter stores. Keep an eye on your nucs and if they are light you might have to put on fondant as its getting too late for sugar syrup.
All in all, the hives were OK and the weights were on top of all the hives. We have had no bad storm yet. Last visit Aaron strimmed all around the hives in every apiary to keep teem tidy if the grass gets too high slugs can be a real problem. To counteract that, if you get strands of electrical copper wire and wrap them around the top of the legs of the hive stands, the theory is that the slugs will not cross the copper. After every storm or gale take a trip around the Apiaries just to check if anything has been blown down.