Hi, I’m Stewart Spinks and welcome to Episode 86 of my podcast, Beekeeping Short and Sweet, The bees are settling down for the long Autumn and Winter haul but here at Beekeeping HQ there’s seems to be more than ever to sort. Stay tuned for the latest update on my beekeeping journey including Trucks, Trailers and Treatments.

Finally, I’m back on my feet and moving around with some degree of ease, this recent bout of back pain and particularly Sciatica has been quite troublesome and I really feel for anyone out there who suffers from back problems on a regular basis. I’m lucky in that it seems to be every couple of years or so and at the moment it seems to hit during the quieter period of beekeeping over the Autumn and Winter months. There’s still lots to do but the timetable isn’t quite so rigid and I have been able to delay a number of jobs until I’m back on my feet. I do still have to be cautious and I get a strange numb feeling in my right foot, it’s a bit like the after-effects of being caught by stoning nettles, once the pain of the sting has gone you’re left with a tingling sensation, well that’s exactly how it feels. It’s so much better than before though so I am very grateful to be back in front of the computer and able to get back to work.

I woke to a crisp frost this morning, it was one of those misty, almost foggy mornings, a real sense of the colder days to come, which I really enjoy, we are very lucky here in the UK to still enjoy a seasonal climate, Warm Autumnal days drift into the colder conditions of Winter and through into the rush of life in Spring and on to the heat of Summer and so it goes round. We love talking about the weather, it is, of course, a national pastime but for beekeepers, it’s so much more than just another rainy day. We worry about the last time we inspected and what should happen if we miss an inspection or we sit and watch the cold, apparently lifeless hive in the middle of Winter hoping we’ve done enough to see the colonies through to Spring. I remember that sense of relief, as several bees flew out of my first few hives on cleansing flights on days when a little warm winter sunshine allows them to fly. It’s at this time of year I question if I’ve done all I can to see my colonies through Winter and into next season. The mental checklist of all the various jobs that needed to be done in order to give them the best chance possible.

This year has been somewhat challenging and I will have to adapt my routine a little but I’m sure we will get through ok. Preparations for Winter started in August. First up was the treatments for the Varroa mite. This year you will recall I used Apivar, the thin strips placed two per hive, hanging between the frames near the brood nest. The Amitraz active ingredient can give rise to the development of resistance in the Varroa so it’s important that it’s removed at the appropriate time. This happened to fall a week or so ago and I was so happy to have the help of Steph and Pete to travel around with me and clean out all of the strips. It’s not a difficult job, just remove the roof and crown board, ease the strips away from the frames, of course, they’ve been well and truly stuck down with wax and propolis but a quick flick with the hive tool releases them easily enough. Gently pull the strips out so as not to damage any bees that may be in the general area and particularly the queen because if she is damaged now there is little hope for that colony and they must be united with another. Removing the treatment strips also gives a chance to look down on the bees within and judge the size of the colonies. As ever, we have a large variation of colony sizes. I wondered how Pete actually managed to get the crown board back on with some of them such was their enormous size yet others seemed to have reduced in size to just a few seams of bees and I’m left wondering