It had all been going so well – with every hive alive and some pretty strong. Then, on the afternoon of our AGM, the farmer on whose land I have some hives phoned to say that one hive had been “squashed” by Storm Doris. Storm Doris was labelled a “weather bomb” by the Met Office.
It was very kind of him to let me know, if rather heart-breaking news. But luckily it turned out that the forty-foot tree that had crashed down had just grazed the hive. Knocking it over, yes, but the bees as they often do, survived the shock and the separation of supers and brood box. However, a sad footnote to the apparent happy ending. A quick inspection revealed a couple of small drones in the colony and evidence of a drone-laying queen.
Colin Hall