Ian telling us to be vigilent of what could be our latest Invader, The Small Hive Beetle. Fortunately it is only a maximum of 7mm long not as big as the booklet shows. The larvae are 11mm long and are yellowy white, a bit like a catapillar.
Lighting the Smoker.
A small ammount of Methylated Spirit was used to get it started.
Looking for the Queen.
Looking for Queen Cells.
A few found.
This Hive has a weak Colony so it is being exchanged for a Hive with a Strong Colony. This way all the Flying Bees coming back will enter the Weak Colony and strengthen it up.
Marking the Queen after we found her with this years color which is Red. Unfortunatley we do not know the age of her.
Marking another Queen using yellow paint. Once again we do not know her age.
The Queen doing a runner after she was marked. Can you spot her on the edge of the frame with a yellow dot on her thorax?
The usual search for Varroa in the Drone Cells.
New type of Head Gear.
Will it catch on?
A very fine Buffet laid on by our Hostess Barbara.
