A winter visit to the Beehaus

The Beehaus in the afternoon winter sun

I know the blog has been lacking in posts recently but the main reason is that the bees just aren't doing very much at the moment. Well, they are but they just aren't flying out to do it. I won't go over what they do in the winter months (not hibernating) as I did a post about it last year, which you can read here. So, the reason for my visit last weekend was to carry out a varroa treatment with oxalic acid and to give the bees their Christmas present of a slab of fondant. 

Slab of fondant and the Oxalic acid treatment

At this time of year the bees should be clustering so the plan was to raise the roof quickly and syringe 5ml of oxalic acid in the gaps between the frames. I did get a bit of a fright when I lifted the roof as the bees were close to the top of the frames, which I didn't expect. Then again, it has been rather mild lately.

Far from clustering down inside the hive, the bees were on top of the frames

By the end of the oxalic acid application more bees had come to the top. I didn't want to disturb them any longer so quickly closed up and placed the fondant over the hole in the cover board.

The slab of fondant placed over the hole in the cover board

I actually want the weather to get colder so that I can move the bees into my new garden. I moved house two months ago and the plan is to put the Beehaus at the end of the garden. I haven't relocated them as yet because I don't want any bees flying out in the mild weather and not having a house to fly back into. But I think either way, I'll move them in a few weekends time. I'm really excited to have the bees at home.