In a message dated 06/11/2008 02:57:15 GMT Standard Time,  
[log in to unmask] writes:

More  
important than that, what is the state of Bee-L  beekeepers' bees in  
Britain?



Patchy.
 
This week I extracted over 90lbs of honey from a single hive (a CDB) that I  
artificially swarmed earlier in the year. Her daughter in the hive alongside 
has  done reasonably well but not so as to produce a harvestable surplus. The 
other 2  hives in that apiary are putting on weight and might survive the 
winter but I  wasn't able to take any honey.
 
I went into last winter with 18 hives and came out with 7. Usually I  don't 
lose more than the odd one or two, if any. I am now up to 19, but,  the year 
having been spent re-building, there is a very small honey crop.   I don't put 
my losses down to CCD as I haven't seen any hives with the symptoms  ascribed 
to CCD for several years.  I first came across it about 10 years  ago.
 
 The weather this year has been upside down.  Cold when they  should have 
been out pollinating early fruits blossom (so I had very few pears  and plums 
this year and am scouring the hedgerows to find enough sloes for  sloe gin). We 
then had a burst of good weather promoting lots of swarms and a  heavy apple 
crop. Summer didn't happen - it rained instead.  They simply  weren't able to 
forage when the main crop is usually gathered and many colonies  shut down brood 
rearing for weeks at a time. (This may be a Amm trait as I am  led to believe 
that they are more responsive to adverse weather then Aml). A  colleague 
reported that hives he noticed were awash with varroa mites before the  break in 
brood rearing had comparatively few afterwards.  Currently they  are foraging 
busily on the ivy (Hedera helix) at an ambient temperature of about  48F.
 
Chris

****************************************************
* General Information About BEE-L is available at: *
* http://www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/default.htm   *
****************************************************