From A to Bee (23 page)

  'Any white sugar is fine, brown sugar gives them dysentery.'

  Oh my God, what have I done? Dysentery, or serious diarrhoea as it is probably better known, is colony threatening so I had made a major mistake. I had fed them brown sugar as I didn't have anything else in the house. I checked the label of the packets that I had used and found out that it was actually 'light brown muscovado' sugar. This meant that at some ungodly hour of the morning I was beginning to fret about whether light brown sugar would be worse than dark brown sugar. I can tell you I have never before sat down and considered this argument but the difference between these two sugars kept me from sleeping particularly well.

  I woke up this morning and came to the conclusion that I had to reply to Adam first before I did anything and so I left the feeder on and emailed Adam for confirmation. A little later, just as Jo and I got into the car to go to my mum and dad's he emailed back and basically stated that light brown was just as bad.

  So, on the way to my parents' house, Jo jumped out at the supermarket and got some more sugar for me. In she went to Sainsbury's and came out with two rather heavy-looking bags and I instantly felt a lot better knowing that I could now get it all sorted.

  Sadly, as I write this it is too late as we arrived home a lot later than we thought – too late to go out there and open it all up to remove the feeder. I am sitting here worrying that these poor bees have not got the right feed, but I plan to wake up nice and early and sort it all out. Here's hoping that they do all right tonight and I haven't done any lasting damage.

  I started my beekeeping career knowing I am someone who learns from my mistakes and these last two days have lived up to that theory. A lack of preparation has meant I have seriously messed up again and I am feeling very guilty and slightly annoyed at myself. Usually I am the person that suffers and not a hive full of bees. It is not fair and is unacceptable on my part.

I got up early this morning to sort out the mess from yesterday and walked into the kitchen with the bags from Sainsbury's. They were full of sugar, thankfully, but when I pulled it out of the bag I realised that Jo had bought unrefined golden caster sugar, which was not exactly white and so I am again concerned. I take full responsibility here as I wasn't particularly specific and just said, do not get brown sugar. I never realised just how many different types of sugar there were. Although I know that white, granulated sugar is best I have decided to take a chance as it was only a little off-white and so I think it will all be OK.

  As I did a few nights ago, I melted the sugar into warm water and, after letting this cool, transferred it up to the hive. I had a quick peek outside the hive and they all looked like they were flying around again, which was good news. I hadn't killed them all then. I went into the Man Shed and lit the smoker and then headed out to the hive to change the syrup.

  I felt a little bit better after doing that but I still had a nagging suspicion that something wasn't right. I felt it was an apt time to call upon the oracle once more and popped Adam a quick email. Sure enough, about half an hour later my suspicions were confirmed on my way into work – golden sugar was just as bad. For Christ's sake!

  Therefore my day involved getting some white sugar and then rushing back from work to deal with the same issue once more. It didn't help that tonight Jo and I were going out for dinner, having organised a babysitter for the evening. Before I could do anything I had to rather subtly suggest that I had to melt down some sugar and feed it to the bees… again. I cannot say it was a passion-killer but I will say that I got a rather 'I cannot believe you are doing this' type look.

  Anyway, with the feed safely in place we rushed off to dinner with me feeling a little bit relieved, though still quite guilty, that the situation had now been resolved in the short term; I only hoped it would have no lasting effect on the bees, though I'm not actually sure what to look out for. I certainly shan't be thinking about sugar in the same way ever again.

Crazy, isn't it, how time flies? I cannot believe it is the third of June already. Today I got up early to check on the bees, to make sure they were alive and, ultimately, that they were still there. Apparently a swarm of bees is still likely to swarm again if they don't find the new location suitable. Fortunately they were still there and a quick look at the hive entrance showed them to be more active than normal, probably due to the fantastic morning we were having already. The sunrise was beautiful.

  Anyway the astonishing news today was that I may not actually have Nefertiti, the queen I was told to look after by Suzy's daughter, Laura. I may have Cleopatra, who was the mated queen she received in the nucleus she had purchased six weeks previous before they swarmed. I am pleased about the possibility of a more memorable and easy to pronounce name! This was due to a bit of guesswork on the part of Richard, the swarm-catcher, who, when inspecting the bees she had left, discovered a virgin queen in her colony.

  This therefore could be interesting as my colony could get going a lot faster – she was a prolific layer, hence why Suzy's colony kept swarming. That would be nice as I originally feared that Nefertiti would have to go out and get mated. So fingers crossed as more bees means more workers, which should mean an increased chance of a jar of honey this year.

  Although I've left it rather late in the season, if Cleopatra produces as rumoured, I could still be in with a chance.

I went up to the beehive today and had a quick look outside. There they were, flying in and out happily – amazing really, and slightly mesmerising. They seem so content to just keep on going in and out, in and out, it is quite therapeutic to watch. The great news is that I saw several bees flying into the hive with huge great pollen sacs attached to their back legs. In short it means the hive is content and is going about its duties. Great news. It also means that I haven't killed them off with the brown sugar. Happy days.

The bees seem pretty hungry, I have to say. In only twenty-four hours they have been through 1.5 litres of sugar syrup. That seems a lot to me but this is quite normal and still a good sign, as is flying with pollen sacs, and apparently I just have to keep feeding them. Therefore I gave them another 2 litres this morning. It will be interesting to see how quickly they get through that.

  One event today made me realise I have a long way to go. I went up to the allotment for a couple of minutes to see how they were getting on; it must have been about midday and so I knew they would be a little bit busier than during my morning visits.

  There I was standing there in my shorts and T-shirt – it was a beautiful day, the warmest this year so far – and I was just watching them fly in and out. There was a lot of activity and yet again there were a few flying in with pollen sacs, which again was reassuring.

  Every time I have approached the hive I have wondered just how close you should get before you should consider wearing a bee suit. I have come to the conclusion that if you are just watching them you should be OK, and I have also taken the decision not to wear a suit when adding more sugar syrup as there is no direct contact with the bees.

  Today I had a small warning and I think I need to be a little more careful. I was there watching them, about three feet from the hive entrance. It was relatively peaceful until one particular bee decided to fly at me. It is quite disconcerting when this happens, purely because of the sound. Usually it is said that bees buzz at a tone equivalent to a middle C and you can tell when they are a little bit touchy as the tone changes. This little bee stopped about eighteen inches from my nose and just hovered there for a bit pitching at slightly over middle C as if sussing me out. I still wasn't too concerned but this all changed when it decided I was a threat and flew directly at me.

  It was similar to those cartoons when a wasp rears up before then flying straight at the victim. Its speed caught me off guard a little and made me stumble backwards over the loose ground of my allotment. For some reason I also instinctively swiped at the bee with my right hand while trying to stay balanced with the left. I wasn't very successful and this small bee, probably no more than 5 millimetres in length, floored a rather tall human being.

  It didn't stop there and made a beeline (literally) for my head. I immediately jumped up and started running as I heard her go at me for a second and then a third time; my arms were both pumping and wildly flailing as I tried to run away from what I now know to be a guard bee. Their job is to guard the entrance of the hive, which this one was obviously doing very well. It was quite scary, though it must have been quite funny to look at from a distance.

  Suffice to say, I learned my lesson but felt a little bit of a wimp having not faced up to a duel with a bee. I hardly even stood my ground. So we all know who the boss is now!