Well, this month has been a tricky one! We have seen the worst weather May could possibly have brought us – wet, cold and wind. Not spring-like at all. It has been the worst May we have seen in many, many years. Most of the colonies are much further behind than they would normally have been at this time of year. Despite farmers here still growing oil seed rape close by, the bees have been short on stores and we have reluctantly had to feed them to prevent them from starving.

We have still managed to take off some nucs however, for customers across the UK, although not in the usual numbers for this time of year, as of course, our priority is the welfare of the bees. You can see here a frame with lots of emergency queen cells. After we take nucs off it is imperative that we go through the hives soon after to stop the colony from creating lots of these cells and swarming or casting off with virgin queens. The weather has been so bad that we have struggled to do this as effectively as we normally would, but fingers crossed June is an easier month for us.

With the drastic change in temperature right at the end of the month, we were met with swarms that came out on the very first sign of good weather, despite not showing the normal signs of wanting to swarm. Fingers crossed we caught them all, but inevitably some get away. Better weather has meant more foraging, and the bees have been very busy collecting nectar for the colony. We know this because as the frames are taken from the hive to be looked at, the nectar drips from the comb. We do our best to avoid dripping too much as we know how precious it is to the bees at the moment. The other thing that they have been busy collecting is pollen. This is extremely important for the rearing of bee brood because it is basically pure protein and therefore essential to their growth. As you can see here, there is a nice variety of colours, meaning they are beginning to forage on a number of different plants.

Looking at the forecast, the sunny days are set to continue up here in Lincolnshire and we really hope they do!