Laurence Edwards shows how rain makes two hive tasks easier: feeding colonies with 2:1 syrup reduces robbing and wasps, and moving nucs is safer because bees stay inside. Rain washes away spills and lets you work any time of day without bees attacking.
It's Wales, it's August, and it is raining. Today I'm going to show you how to do beekeeping in the rain. Hi, I'm Laurence Edwards from Black Mountain Honey. Welcome to another episode of No Nonsense Beekeeping. I've not got the camera out today, we are well and truly on the GoPro because it is pouring it down. I'm going to show you though what you can do in terms of beekeeping in the rain because A lot of stuff you can't do, and there's no way that I'm going to be opening up colonies and doing inspections when the weather's like this. It is just way too wet. But there's 2 big things that I always do whenever it's raining, especially at this time of year when we get into August. Don't let the rain put you off. There's things that need to be done, and there's things that are even better to do when it's raining outside. So the first thing to do is go and feed your colonies. It's really, really quick to get your feeders set up, and the benefit of doing it when it's raining is all the bees are there and they'll take advantage of that syrup really, really quick. They'll bring it down, it keeps the queen laying, builds the colony's strength. But the most important thing, and the reason to do it when it's raining, is that in August, if you spill syrup all over the place, you're just going to attract robbing bees, you're going to attract wasps. By doing it in the rain, there's no wasps out, They're not silly enough to be out in this. There's no bees out either. They're not going to get caught out robbing. And then if you do spill any of the syrup, obviously the rain just washes it away. So it's very, very minimal risk. So for the time taken just to quickly whip off the roof, stick a crown board on, stick a feeder on, fill it up with syrup, I can take that for my colonies. And that's what I'm going to do today. The second one is transporting colonies to a different apiary, or even if there's a real long spell of rain on the way, Moving them in the same apiary. So I'm not going to move them in the same apiary today, but I'm coming up here, I'm going to move some colonies. It just makes it so much easier moving colonies. Normally this time of year you need to wait until 9:30, 10 o'clock at night until the last of the flying bees have gone before you go and transport them to the new apiary. When it's this rainy, there is no bees out, so you are safe just to go and pick up the colonies, plug a bit of grass in the front, Go and take them to a new apiary, and you can just do it at any point throughout the day. So that's what I'm going to show you in this video. I'm going to do both of those things. I'm going to go and collect some nucs that I need to move from this apiary to another apiary. I'm just going to strap them up, stick a bit of grass in the entrance, get down to the new apiary, and then I'll feed them, give them a nice glug of syrup. Feeding all my nucs at this time of the year, because when it is raining like this in August, the nucs can starve really, really quickly. You do need to stay on top of it. But don't let the weather put you off. If you need to feed, if you need to move nucs, you need to move colonies, these are all things that not only you can kind of get away with doing in the rain, actually works out a lot better doing it in the rain. So I'm soaking wet, I'm gonna go and get onto the colonies and I'm gonna move them to the new apiary and I'm gonna get them fed. So these are the nucs that I'm gonna move. You can see hardly any movement at that entrance there at all. A couple of bees just popped out there to say hello and they are going straight back in. They are having none of it. There's no activity at the entrances. It makes it so, so easy to get them ready for transport. So all I do, stick a nice bit of grass in the entrance like that. That's it, that's that one sealed up. Get this one sealed up as well. I genuinely can't believe how bad the weather is at the moment. It's been like this for about a week and it's just not stopped raining. I've not even had a chance to get my honey crop off yet, so the bees, they are tucked up in their beehives eating my honey crop for the season. Absolute nightmare. I need to get out, I need it to stop raining, and I need to get that honey crop as soon as possible. But I'm trying to be positive, I'm trying to make good use of it. Let's get these nucs moved, get them to the new apiary, and I'll get it set up and get them fed. Right, we made it to the new apiary site and it is just hammering it down still, so I'm gonna quickly get the bees out. Get them all set up, then I'll show you how to get them fed. So there we go, successfully moved the colonies in the rain. It is so much easier than doing that in the evening, and it's just a better use of my time when it's pouring down with rain. I want to get out, I want to do something, I want to do something meaningful and useful, and I always need to move colonies around. It's a really good thing to do— move your colonies in the rain. Takes 2 seconds. Next thing now, I'm gonna get them fed, and feeding them in the rain It is the biggest one. It takes ages going around feeding the nucs, and when it's raining you need to feed them more anyway. So make use of the time. I'm gonna get them fed, and then any of these drips are gonna wash away any spills, boost the nucs, gets them fed, and avoids robbing at the same time. So all I'm doing here, getting the feed out. I've got some leftover syrup, 2 to 1. Just gonna give them a glug of that. Same on this side as well. A little bit of spillage there, but it's all inside the hive, no problem at all. And you can see straight away the bees are coming up to feed. So there we go. When it's raining, don't just sit inside and watch YouTube videos, although it's good to do that as well. Get outside, feed your bees, move them around, get some useful stuff done. So I hope you enjoyed the video. I'm gonna get inside and dry up now. As always, please hit the subscribe button, please hit the bell so you're notified of every video, and I'll see you next time. Bye.
