2024 Cliffe Castle Bee Blog #5 Luckily the weather held this morning, as Anthony, our newest team member, and I completed the inspection of the Observation Hive bees. Ruby is still present and strutting her stuff, now laying across five frames and we found one containing some sealed drone brood, so things in the colony are hotting-up! It was a good job we did check today, as the amount of food stores on the frames was limited and the syrup feeder was empty. Took a re-fill back later. All looking good. Anthony captured the orderly queue lining up in the tunnel to get back indoors once the h ..read more

2024 Cliffe Castle Bee Blog #8 On 12 May, Mike and I went back to check for any new queen cells raised by the bees since 6 May in the (now queen-less), Observation Hive. We found 8 in total, but not all were suitable to keep. We chose the best, open, cell so that we could be sure it contained a larva with lots of Royal Jelly for food. We removed all the others. Now it is time for the bees to continue to feed and tend this royal baby until the cell is sealed. Inside the cell she will then spin a cocoon in which she changes into an adult queen. The cell can be seen on the outer middle frame of ..read more

2024 Cliffe Castle Bee Blog #7 Mike and I found charged, but damaged, queen cells on the bottom of one frame and some cells on other frames of the Observation Hive this morning. This is a clear message that the bees are preparing to swarm. “Charged” queen cells have a small larva lying in a pool of white royal jelly at the bottom of a long wax cell that the house bees make to raise a new queen. To deal with this we had had to do a quick 'split', in other words move our red Queen Ruby out of the hive and into a nucleus box to travel to our association apiary. This is a simple way to prevent t ..read more

2024 Cliffe Castle Bee Blog #6 Steve and I checked the bees at the Observation Hive this morning and found them developing apace. We now have seven laid frames of worker brood and plenty of drone brood, in the expected locations. A couple of empty queen cups were found on one frame. Queen Ruby was present and seemed quite unfazed by our inspection, but stores were limited and last week's jar of syrup was empty, so I went back later with another. Think it's time to begin some swarm prevention measures next week and we will remove a grubby frame with some open stores on it, to add a frame of ..read more

2024 Cliffe Castle Bee Blog #4 Given the weather forecast, we decided to give the Observation Hive bees a break today. They have space for Queen Ruby to lay, stores and no need to be disturbed by in wind speeds of 40mph+. I'm sure they'll thank us ..read more

2024 Cliffe Castle Bee Blog #3 Mike and I completed the first check on the Cliffe Castle colony on Monday 8 April. Not the best of days, cool and overcast when we started the task – of course, a few hours later it was sunny and warm! All is going well. The bees have settled into their new home nicely. We saw our red queen and her four frames of brood. There is still plenty of space for her to lay and signs of some nectar and pollen on the frames. The park is a great source of different forage (flowers, trees and shrubs) for the older bees to collect the nectar and pollen that the colony nee ..read more

2024 Cliffe Castle Bee Blog #2 Ruby Wax and her daughters have returned to the Cliffe Castle Observation Hive for the new season, just in time for the Easter weekend. I transferred the bees on their frames from the winter hive, at our ABKA apiary, to a double poly nucleus box for their journey on Wednesday 27 March in the evening. Early on Thursday morning, Steve and I collected them and took them back to Cliffe Castle and placed them safely in the Observation Hive. In the video below, you can see Julie taking a quick peek at the colony, the week before they were due to move. There are four fr ..read more

2024 Cliffe Castle Bee Blog #1 As the days get longer, the birdsong louder and the sun feels ever warmer when it escapes the clouds, our Cliffe Castle bees are becoming more active in their hive. At our Airedale Association Apiary they have survived the winter and will soon be ready to return to their summer home at the Museum - as near to the school Easter holidays as the weather allows. Here’s a quick of their progress this year so far: 3 January The bees had almost polished off the block of fondant* we gave them in November and needed more. 27 January Still a little fondant left - they wer ..read more

2023 Cliffe Castle Bee Blog #23 Last night, 4 September, at 8pm Steve and I transferred the Cliffe Castle colony with their red queen from the Observation Hive into a double poly nuc travelling box for their journey to the ABKA Apiary, for the winter. We are most grateful that museum staff member Andy, was kind enough to come into work so late, enabling us to collect the bees. It was a very warm evening and quite light, so I’m afraid some bees were still flying and couldn’t be gathered up with the rest, but we did our best. By the time we got the colony to the apiary site, it was too dark to t ..read more

Cliffe Castle Bee Blog #21 2023 Today’s inspection by Steve and myself clearly demonstrated the relationship between food availability and the queen’s rate of lay. We now have five frames containing eggs, larvae, and sealed brood, with traces of nectar glistening on most combs. Our valiant red queen was keen to show off her agility, balancing precariously on the woodwork of the last but one frame to be returned to the hive after the inspection. She has started to lay on one of the outer frames now, so if you are visiting the museum this week, you may well spot her. This week our Beekeeper by t ..read more