A Christmas Present From The Bees

It’s the middle of winter – but that hasn’t stopped the bees from my aggressive hive taking an opportunity to give me a sting – their Christmas present to me!

We moved two hives to an out-apiary on Christmas day. I couldn’t find the instructions for the hive strap, and after several attempts whereby the strap ended up in knots, we decided to free style it. The first hive was moved without incident but the second one, the crown board slid 1cm and the bees were out immediately.  We donned bee suits and carried on. It was only when I was removing tape from the entrance that a couple of bees stung me through bee suit plus trousers.

I will use oxalic acid tomorrow and a couple of weeks ago I replaced the entrance narrower but with the entrance at the top so that dead bees don’t block the entrance. I fed the bees 20Kg/hive In September/October so I hope this will get them through the Winter. The hives seemed heavy enough and the colonies are all alive and well at present.

Update 27/12/2014: I trickled oxalic acid into all 4 hives. All hives had bees and plenty of stores.

Wondering what to do with the bees in December and January? Read the Ultimate Beekeeping Calendar.