Spring Time and Winter Losses

Quick entry as we're into spring. On the 20th March Google told us it was Vernal Equinox. That's the first day of Spring. Sort of. If you use the Astronomical Calendar 20th of March is the first day of Spring, but if you use the Meteorological Calendar it started on 1st March. The Astronomical Calendar is based upon the angle of the Earth relative to it's orbit of the sun whereas the Meteorological Calendar is based upon the weather -yep there's clues in the names I know. Today whichever calendar you prefer to use we're definitely in Spring.

Toby sat on a hive

Going into Winter I had 6 colonies, unfortunately one didn't make it through. Well actually they did make it through to early March but seem to have died off during March despite having plenty of food. It's been a strange month with the weather being a car crash mish mash of tshirt weather one day and freezing the next. Last week I'd listened to the hives with a stethoscope and noticed no noise from one hive. After waiting for a warm day I had a look inside and was disappointed to find no bees responding to the intrusion. I had a quick look through the frames and found that although there was still plenty of food stores in the hive the bees had perished clustered away from it. I think this had been my smallest colony going into winter and the cold snap in March seems to have thrown them. They'ed even started rearing brood at some point. This is the second colony I've lost to Winter in 5 years. For a beginner beekeeper that's pretty good but it's still quite annoying. It's still too cold to be inspecting colonies but after hefting the hives (lifting the side to check the weight) I decided to give two of them some fondant to gnaw on.

Other bees have been flying too. Yesterday I spotted a large Bumble Bee foraging the flowers. I don't know what type of Bumble Bee she was but given the timing and her size she had to be a Queen -it's too early for Workers and Drones.

Queen Bumble out foraging

Frog activity is usually a good sign things are warming up too. Last week I took a female frog off Toby the Cat and noticed she seemed rather plump, I figured she was probably heavy with eggs and this week the presence of frogspawn in the ponds at home and my out apiary was clear evidence the amorous amphibians had deemed it warm enough to do rude things in public. They don't always get it right though and they've spawned before freezing spells in the past, fingers crossed they got it right this time.

Frogspawn is appearing

Some March days my bees have been flying and I'd already spotted some bringing in pollen which suggests they were raising brood. They've also been seen gathering water from a couple of locations. Today there was a few heading to a neighbours waterlogged trough (a galvanised planter with no drainage hole) and apparently sucking up water from the mud. Probably far safer than using the currently frog infested ponds.

Gathering water from a trough of mud.

This makes me think that perhaps instead of making a regular pond or water feature maybe an artificial boggy area may be a better as a water source for them. Just a hole in the ground, lined with pond liner, backfilled with lose soil and waterlogged. It's an idea I'll possibly revisit later in the year. Speaking of mud..

Ground Beetle Larva
-some sort of Carabidae

I met a Ground Beetle Larva the other day. It's not really bee related but I liked the photo. These things are pretty useful for gardeners as they eat slugs so if you find one best to leave it alone to protect your plants, potatoes or whatever. Not all larvae are predators but you don't need a degree in entomology to figure out which ones are useful, those large jaws are a dead giveaway that this is a predator.

You can't milk a chicken

One of the problems with the Internet today is disinformation can be spread very quickly especially if it appeals to a lot of people and once accepted by the public consciousness it's very hard to counter with facts and hard evidence no matter how much you present. At the moment 'Cannabis Honey' is causing a big stir on the net. A French chap claims to be making it and his video has gone viral, however whatever he thinks he's doing he's definitely not making honey from cannabis, and in this post I'll tell you why..

First off honey is made from bee gathered nectar (or honeydew) but cannabis is a wind pollinated plant so the flowers have no nectaries to produce nectar. Trying to get nectar from cannabis would be like trying to milk a chicken.

On Facebook someone pulled the fella up on the lack of nectar and he responded that they're actually making propolis from cannabis resin which he thinks infuses the honey. Bees certainly can make propolis from cannabis plants however as THC and CBD aren't water soluble you could smear it on the comb yourself and you're still not going to infuse any honey with it. And that's ignoring the fact bees don't routinely slather propolis over the honey cells anyway.

Looking on his Facebook profile, page and Instagram account there's a lot of close up pictures and some videos of bees on cannabis plants and on his plants and they're certainly doing something, but bearing in mind he's saying they're gathering propolis it's very strange that none of the bees are actually carrying propolis. It's easy to see if a bee is carrying propolis as they pack it into the long hairs on their back legs making it look like they have motorcycle panniers. On the beekeeping forum a few people have suggested the bees are actually collecting honey that's been put on the plants or maybe being fed syrup with a cannabis extract already in it. Given the plants don't make nectar and the bees aren't actually carrying resin or pollen I'm inclined to go with those theories too.

Things get even more suspicious when you look at his photos of honey comb. Below is a photo of some regular honey comb from my bees in which the bees, inserted in the lower left is a photo of the cannabis honey comb.

Spot the difference

Notice how clean the wax on the regular comb is? No red or brown propolis on there. Also the stored nectar is uniform in the same liquid state, no crystals visible. Looking at the insert you can see a green flecked liquid with the crystals in it adhering to the edges of the cells. This isn't normal, it's also not propolis, probably worth noting cannabis trichomes are clear or amber anyway. To me this looks exactly like sugar syrup containing ground plant matter possibly pollen has been paint brushed directly onto the comb. The way it's gathered on the outer edges certainly gives it a painted on appearance and the broken cell wall in the bottom left and widened cell in the top right would also suggest this comb has been subjected to some rough manhandling. On extraction this stuff will probably come out with the honey giving you a crop of honey adulterated with sugar and added pollen or other plant matter. It's the equivalent of adding frothed milk to your coffee then claiming you've trained a cow to produce lattes.

My hypothesis seems to be supported by a picture of a spoonful of his set honey posted on his Instagram and  Facebook. Ignoring the fact it's full of bubbles (use a honey stirrer..) there are tiny dark particles of something in it which I expect will be pollen or bits of finely ground leaves he's added. His claim that the honey is somehow infused with pot propolis simply doesn't bear scrutiny.

So, to summarise: You can't make cannabis from honey and you can't trust everything on the Internet no matter how upbeat the video, or many likes, shares or reposts it has -but don't just take this post from a blog as fact do some research yourself, the info on botany and bees isn't hard to find and at worst you could always buy a book or two.

Whilst I wouldn't recommend it myself if you really want to make cannabis infused honey a quick Google search will tell you how. It's a simple two step process and requires a jar of liquid honey, not a box of bees.

Vintage Makery Do II - Advertisement!

Following the success of the Vintage Makery Do in November last year Vintage Cafe on Chants Av (or Chanterlands Avenue if you're from out of town) have organised another one. Also at St Ninian's Church, Chants Ave, Hull, on Saturday 7th May, 2016, from 13:00 to 15:00.
 

 The Vintage Makery Do is BACK and bigger than ever! 

 A wide selection of local crafters under one roof loving all things handmade. 20p on the door for Hull Animal Welfare or a tin of food for Hull's homeless. Craft,a cuppa, and charity- whats not to love?!

 (I borrowed this bit from the Facebook page - click on it to go there!)

As before it's raising money for Hull Animal Welfare and contributions for the homeless. I think it's going to be in a bigger room this time so you can expect to see a few more stalls than last time too. Save the date!