Beekeepers have now reached the end of the honey production season. Honey crops have not been heavy but most beekeepers have managed to obtain at least enough honey to provide for their own families this winter, writes Ethel Irvine from Fermanagh Beekeepers Association.

Ethel said it has been very pleasing to hear from those who obtained their first bees this spring and who got a crop of honey in their first season.

“Because of the willingness of colonies to produce swarm cells during what has been changeable summer weather, many beekeepers have been able to increase the numbers of colonies in their apiaries. There have, however, been problems with queen cells not being viable or with queens not being able to leave the hive to mate.

At this time of year, it is unlikely that any beekeeper will have spare mated queens with which the problems can be resolved so the best thing to do is to unite the queenless colony with a queenright colony using the newspaper method. Ensure that the colony really is queenless by putting a test frame in for a few days. A test frame is a frame from another colony containing eggs and very young larvae. If there is no queen in the colony, the bees will raise queen cells on some of the eggs or larvae. These queen cells will be emergency cells and, generally, will not produce first rate queens, even earlier in the year.

In September, the likelihood of a queen emerging and getting mated is very low, due to the lower air temperatures and the lack of drones. Most colonies will have dispensed with their drones by not allowing them back into the hives when they will die of either starvation or cold. The bees realise that they have no further use for drones whose main role is mating with the queen and that, if allowed to survive, they will be a drain on stores.

“By now, all colonies should have been fed with either a strong sugar syrup (2kg sugar to 1 litre water) or one of the commercially produced liquid feeds. A rule of thumb is that, to survive the winter, a colony requires about 20kg of stores and the aim should be to supplement the stores already in the colony so that the bees have roughly this amount. It is a good idea to heft the hives once feeders have been removed so that we can compare this with the weight when we heft during the winter months to verify that bees have enough stores remaining. In addition, varroa treatment should have been applied so that the colony has plenty of healthy winter bees. The winter bee has to survive about six months whereas the summer bee lives only six weeks so it is essential that they carry no disease or weakness.

“DARD’s bee inspector has visited the county again, examining colonies for American Foul Brood. While I have heard no new reports of AFB in County Fermanagh, there have been finds in other places. We should have examined the comb in our own hives for signs of abnormality already and, if in the near future, we have occasion to open hives, we should take another look. AFB will spread very quickly when bees fly freely so we have to take responsibility for the health of our colonies.

In summary, to give bees a good chance of surviving any conditions which winter might throw at them, they must have sound, weather-proof hives, be disease free with as low a load of varroa as possible, be queen right in a colony of reasonable size and have adequate stores.

“At the moment, ‘ghost’ bees, that is, bees with their backs covered with off-white pollen, are returning to the hives, showing that they are foraging on the giant Himalayan Balsam for nectar. Reddish/orange pollen from dahlias is also being carried in the pollen baskets. These, along with pollen and nectar from other plants still in flower, ensure that queens will be encouraged to continue to lay and produce young bees. I have seen some ivy beginning to flower and soon we can expect to see the yellow pollen going into the hives and smell the distinctive ivy aroma in the apiary,” she stated.

The classes for the Intermediate Scientific course will start on Tuesday, October 13 2015, from 7.30pm to 9.30pm in Enniskillen Campus of CAFRE. The course consists of 15 sessions, seven before Christmas and eight after Christmas. The tutor will be Ethel Irvine. It is open to anyone who has been awarded the Preliminary Certificate in beekeeping. If you are interested, contact Ethel Irvine: telephone 02866324022 or email ethelirvine@btinternet.com . Further details of the course, the examination system and an application form are available on the Ulster Beekeepers Association web site, www.ubka.org The next meeting of Fermanagh Beekeepers’ Association will be held tonight(Thursday), September 24 at 8pm sharp in the Enniskillen Hotel.

The Association thanked the proprietors of the Railway Hotel for the way in which they looked after them when they met on their premises.The meeting will give everyone a chance to ask questions about any problems which they encountered during the past season or, indeed, put any other beekeeping queries which they may have, to a panel of experienced local beekeepers. Everyone will be welcome, whether a member or someone interested in preserving our bees and their habitat.