Very cold day, too cold to go through the colonies properly, but David Ferguson notes the following:
4 colonies, few flying due to the cold weather of the last 10 days.
Fondant was put on Hives 1 and 2; it would be worth having some fondant handy at the next visit, in case hives 3 and 4 need some. Hive 1 needs an excluder.
Hive 3 was rather grumpy on the previous visit, but seemed OK on 5th May. There were some mouse droppings in Hive 3 (?), but it was noted in the hive record sheet.
All the varroa boards had nice wax cappings over them, some pollen and DF only saw a couple of varroa mites in one hive, which was noted in the record sheet. All the varroa trays were cleaned off, and all 4 hives have one in still.
Sheds: AC
New hive record sheets are in one of the sheds, in a blue plastic folder.
Beware of wasps – you may find them in the empty hives, and there were 3 small binks started in the sheds, these were removed. We should get some draught excluder to cover the edges of the doors, to try to prevent access by wasps and mice. Can anyone suggest a suitable one?
Next visit:
Draught excluder
Fondant (AC has some ready for use)
Queen excluder (and possibly super??) on hive 1
If weather good, dismantle Hive 3 and set it more securely on its base