Bees, wasps and Ivy honey - winter time for beekeepers

There is great demand for good-quality Irish honey. More and more people are seeking out beekeepers in order to secure the genuine article. Some want it for its quality, while others seek it for health benefits. There is a great variety of wild plants still in this country, which the bee visits. This variety provides nectars, oils and pollens to the honey, which add to its flavour and bouquet.

The ivy flowers in October and November, providing a mass of flowers which supply the bees with nectar and pollen. Bees work these flowers as if there was no tomorrow. This may come as a surprise to some, since many regard the ivy with disdain. I suppose one can empathise with this, especially when it takes over at every chance. However, for us beekeepers, it is a lifesaver, in so far as it provides some extra winter stores in the beehive.

One drawback to ivy honey in the beehive is that it crystallises as hard as flint over time. Bees will dilute it and use it in winter and spring.

Should they accumulate large quantities of it, as they did in the autumn of 2014, it can lead to many of the brood frames being clogged with it, creating problems the following spring by reducing the space for the queen to lay eggs. The colony cannot expand as long as this scenario prevails. Beekeepers end up taking the frames out and replacing them with frames containing wax sheets.

This year, the wasps were about in overpowering numbers. They have their part to play in nature, but not when it comes to overcoming the bees in the beehive, relieving them of their hard-earned winter stores. It becomes a task to keep them at bay. They have a great knack of dodging from side to side, driving the guard bees crazy I’m sure, and then pushing through the entrance past the bees and, of course, heading straight for the larder.

Once a hive is overpowered by wasps, it is finished unless the beekeeper spots the problem in time and moves the hive to a different apiary.

Closing the hive entrance to about half an inch or less will give the guard bees a chance to defend the hive and its stores. Despite being a pest to my hives, I never destroy a wasps’ nest unless it is over a door and causing a nuisance. While saying this, they can usually be left in such cases for the duration of the summer without any problem.

It is only in the autumn that there are large numbers and so likely to cause problems. How often has one walked in and out of sheds or other places and not notice the wasps coming and going about their business? They don’t bother you and you don’t bother them. Once the late autumn comes, the wasps will die off, leaving only their queens to survive the winter and emerge again in the spring to start off anew. Most likely you may find these queen wasps in your curtain folds next spring.

So, as beekeepers, we try to protect our bees while letting nature have its way with the wasps.