Sussex Beekeeping: A Promising Spring Awakening and Hopeful Buzz for the Season Ahead
The Spring report on The Grain Store’s bee community, with news of growth, resilience, and a few hard truths from our on-site beekeeper and local apiculturist, Manek Dubash.
Spring has sprung, and the bees are on the wing! You will have noticed that the flowers are out, dandelions and blackthorn for example, and so have the bees. It’s now warm enough, mostly, for them to venture out and start collecting nectar to feed the growing brood. And the brood has grown. From nearly nothing just a few weeks ago, the queens are showing just what they can do, having built up to eight or nine seams of bees.
It’s all very encouraging. There is though some bad news to impart. From four hives at the start of winter, we have lost two. Talking to other beekeepers, this winter has for a number of reasons been particularly difficult for the bees.
One of the lost colonies simply vanished, not sure where or why, although it’s possible it’s related to the relentless wasp attacks to which it was subjected in autumn, which will have made the colony want to abscond. To do so in winter though is unusual, and I fear they have probably not survived in the wild.
The other dead-out simply resulted in a pile of dead bees at the bottom of the hive. It’s a very depressing sight but it does happen, quite possibly due to a varroa overload, although they were treated and were not showing signs of stress.
The other major change, which happened last summer, was that the hives were moved from just next to the car park, where they caused a little disruption from time to time, up the far end of the property, beyond the shepherd’s hut. They fully installed and happy there, and will be less disturbed, and disturbing.
All that said, the remaining colonies are looking well and healthy and I have high hopes for them. What’s more, they’ve been joined by a couple of small hives—known as nucs—all of which should build up to make a very tidy pot of honey, come the late summer.
Next update will be in the summer, when I hope to report on a burgeoning number of bees and hives.
- Manek Dubash, Beekeeper
