President’s Ramblings – October 2025

I’m writing this the day the clocks go back, A dismal rainy day at the end of October. There’s not a lot going on at this time of the beekeeping season. The bees are all fed for the winter, Varroa treatment long since finished. After what has been a poor honey crop for most beekeepers, all we can do is look forward to the spring and hope that next year is a better year.

Spare a thought for a Greek beekeeper that I read about recently. A few years ago he lost nearly all his hives in a devastating flood, but doggedly he started again and built up his colonies. Due to the unusually long hot dry summer, the honey crop is down to about 30% of the norm, on top of which imported honey is being sold as local honey and undercutting the local beekeepers. He can no longer make enough profit to stay in business. It would appear that cheap imported honey is a problem elsewhere and not just in this country.

Another news item I came across last month concerned nourishment of developing brood. In times of a dearth of pollen, larvae are not properly nourished and the colony fails to expand. I’ve noticed this with some colonies in the past. The article explained how researchers had developed an artificial food supplement which contained all the necessary nutrients to ensure proper development. A beekeeper who had been involved with the research thought that this food supplement would reduce the number of colonies he lost over winter. He may have been right, but he went on to explain that his colonies were strong in January and in February, but then collapsed in March, and this was due to poor nourishment the previous year. I would love to know what his Varroa treatment was, because what he described was exactly what we noticed 25 years ago. Then it was recommended to treat for Varroa with Apistan or Bayverol in September. These treatments were very effective, killing 99% of all mites (until the mites later became resistant to the treatment). Many colonies survived the winter only to collapse in March. Inspections of the dead colonies showed no signs of Varroa. What was happening was the mites were being killed very effectively, but the bees being raised in September were either killed or at least weakened by the Varroa, to the extent that there weren’t sufficient healthy bees to survive through until March. From that time onwards I always advocated treating for Varroa early – preferably late August or early September. This early treatment is always difficult to achieve particularly if the bees are foraging on the heather or Himalayan Balsam. Whatever way you choose to do your Varroa treatment it is important to ensure the mite population is at a very low level at the time the winter bees are being raised in September.

All our bees are tucked up for the winter: I hope that they all have mouse guards on or entrances small enough to keep out the mice. If you’ve left a super on for whatever reason I would like to think that you have removed the queen excluder. We’ve got more winter storms ahead so hives need strapping down. Nothing else to do really except keep fingers crossed that they all come through the winter.

That’s it for now
Geoff Critchley