Just Hanging Out

Bee pictures are going to be thin on the ground for the winter months, so here's a bit of fun. The colonies are getting their annual Varroa treatment. This requires a bigger-than-normal space above the brood frames in which to put the shallow tray of gel that is the medication. The recommended way to do this is to use an 'eke' - a great middle-English word meaning a shallow rectangular frame of wood, placed between the brood box and the top of the hive to raise it a little. I don't have an eke, so I use a 'box' that would normally be full of frames, but is empty

At the same time as the treatment, we are feeding the bees with syrup to make sure they have stocks for the winter. Just as nature abhors a vacuum, bees abhor an empty space. What's more, bees with a plentiful supply of nectar or syrup love to create wax comb. I have, therefore, fulfilled every required condition (along with warm weather) to fill the empty box with 'wild comb', which they are cheerfully doing

I half-expected this would be happening, so I removed the top (technically the 'crown board') quite carefully. What I did not anticipate was the number of bees hanging from its underside, and from one another. Somewhere in there, there are also lobes of comb they have made, but a lot if them are simply swinging from the rafters. A large number fell off while I was manoeuvring the phone out of my pocket for the shot

The camera is pointing up towards the sky. I'm holding the crown board horizontally above it (with one hand!) Sunlight is coming through the feed-hole in the board. The syrup feeder was above the hole, but of course I removed it first. It looks like a mad melée but in fact there was not much movement; they were calm, placid and amiable. I shook them all off after taking the picture, but there was not a fountain of alarmed flying bees, as I thought there might be; they just walked into the colony and got on with life, playing it cool

As well as building down from above, they are building up from below. Since the medication is the aromatic from thyme, pehaps we can have thyme-scented candles for Xmas