This has been one of the worst, if not the worst, beekeeping Aprils I’ve known. As I write, on the 25th, it has rained every day bar one since the 4th of the month. The rape has been in flower now for three weeks, but because of the weather the bees have been unable to work it. Three hives have had supers on for ten days now, with nothing to show for it. The other colonies, which came through the winter severely weakened, have failed to build up because of the cold. Rain and warm and the queens can continue to lay: rain and cold and everything stops. I can see this being a year with no spring honey whatsoever.

We have been enjoying some incredible weather and both myself and the bees have been revelling in it.

The Cherry Plum behind the wood shed flowered beautifully, but because of the lovely flying weather it was all over and done with in two days.

All the hives have had their spring clean, which involved a clean floor, brood box and crown board. All the frames were scraped down so they could be easily moved. This is not the bees idea of good housekeeping but let’s face it, we have to live together, them and me.

The final score was three lost due to death of queen; two all dead and one with a laying worker which I shook out. So we are down to seven hives, three of which are building well. The other four are very weak and only have one frame of brood. By now I would expect bees on six frames at least. I think the dysentery is a clue to their demise but having treated with Fumidil that leaves corn-syrup feed as the likely culprit. I will revert to sugar solution again next winter to see if that gets me a return to zero winter losses.

I have no compound microscope at present so cannot analyse samples from the deceased colonies.

On a happier note, the sallow and stone-fruit are now in flower and the pollen is pouring in.

8th March: The acetic acid brood boxes were opened for airing. All hives are flying today after having been confined for a very cold week. Today was  sunny and warm but not quite warm enough to take a look inside tempting though it was. All the crocuses are lying dead on the lawn. That’s the problem with numerous bees and two lovely areas of these beautiful early flowers. Once they are pollinated they just keel over.

The 16th was a lovely spring day and all except 1 and 2 were flying enthusiastically; so much so that I had to remove the netting which was hampering them a great deal.  I also took the opportunity to heft them all (all OK) and to put varroa trays in for another natural-drop count.

Worried about 1 and 2.  Could the two weeks of very cold weather have caused their demise?

18th February: hives 1 and 2 are definitely lifeless so must be sealed and removed asap in order to prevent spread of any disease.

19th February: 1 and 2 were removed from the apiary and opened. Neither of them had more than a pint of dead bees and both were broodless. Hive 1 had a last-minute emergency queen cell hatched and a virgin queen amongst the dead. The brood boxes have been cleaned out and sealed up with acetic acid sponges for a week. Other parts have all been scorched with the blowlamp.

Oh boy what a difference; earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone.  It is now more important to check the netting as the woodpeckers are unable to peck the ground for ant-nests.

Open floors now make it less important to immediately clear entrances of snow to prevent suffocation.  They also help to almost eliminate condensation which is the major winter enemy.

Oxalic Acid treatment was done right at the end of 2011 and varroa drop counts were done through the first three weeks until they reached a satisfactorily low level. Regular checks were done on the hive netting but as the weather was so clement there was little likelihood of green woodpecker damage. Hives were hefted to check the amount of winter feed remaining. A mild winter is not always a good thing. Yes, you get a good spring build-up but your oxalic acid treatment can’t deal with the sealed brood and in the warmer weather more winter stores are consumed.