Colony Cluster : March 2020

In this Cluster, we were joined by Senior Contributor Ron Lane and PerfectBee Ambassador Joe Bates. In over an hour of great beekeeping talk, we covered the following topics.

• Preparing and looking after bees while away for a lengthy period (1:56)
• Facing starving bees (5:17)
• Nuc equipment to have on hand (8:51)
• Disposing old frames (10:49)
• Announcing new Ambassador, Rob Ward (12:15)
• An update and questions from an Australia beekeeper (13:08)
• The use of foundation with Top Bar hives (15:14)
• The increase in interest in “Long Langstroth” hives (16:17)
• Learning from two years of loss – mites, skunks and more (19:53)
• The use of fondant (28:19)
• Assessing the loss of colonies with no or few dead bees (29:20)
• How warm need it be for bees to take cleansing flights (38:38)
• Top Bar hives, fondant and feeding supplements (39:19)
• The sudden – but perfectly normal – loss of many bees in a short period of time (47:32)
• Differences between types of bees (51:00)
• The benefits of wild swarms and feral bees (57:12)