Welcome to the second edition of Worcestershire beekeeper, Jas Payne’s monthly column. Take a fascinating glimpse into the beautiful, industrious and vital role of bees in nature and experience life as an apiarist.
We’ve certainly seen plenty of rain this month, but between downpours the sun has warmed the air, meaning that my bees have been able to venture out most days to gather pollen from spring bulbs like snowdrop and crocus, and from catkins on nearby hazel and alder trees.
Honeybees carry pollen in ‘pollen baskets’ on their back legs. Pollen baskets aren’t really baskets at all, but a series of hairs called ‘corbiculae’ that trap the pollen grains together. They can carry up to a third of their body weight in pollen – quite amazing really. Male bees – called drones – don’t have these hairs, so if you see a bee with a full load of pollen you can impress your friends by telling them it’s definitely a ‘she’.
During February and March the colony size in each hive is increasing rapidly, but the supply of honey that the bees stored away last summer can start running low, so each time I visit my hives I ‘heft’ them – tilting them up slightly from the back to gauge their weight. It’s an imprecise science, but it helps me to identify the lightest hives so that I can give them a slab of fondant if necessary. The fondant (just like that used to ice a cake, but without any additives or preservatives) gives the bees a ready source of energy until the weather is consistently above 12°C and flowers are producing nectar again. There’s nothing worse than losing a colony to starvation now when they’ve made it all the way through the long autumn and winter.
I’m always asked about the best way to help bees, and at this time of year a few spring bulbs in a pot on a doorstep or windowsill would be greatly appreciated by honeybees, bumblebees and solitary bees. Placed in a sunny spot, it won’t take a bee long to find them, and you get to enjoy the flowers, and watch close up while the bees go about their work.
Join me again next month as preparations get underway to open the hives for the first time this year.
Written by Jas Payne
You can read Jas’ beekeeping column in the Bromsgrove Standard on the last Friday of every month.
It will also be released here online.
