If you’ve ever wondered why some
of the Design team academics wander around campus in chemical warfare suits often
turn up to lectures with swollen ankles it’s because they have taken up the art
of Apiculture better known as Beekeeping.
After a busy and productive year
it is now the time to put the bees to bed for the winter. The year has been an
exciting one for us, we started the year with two colonies and have ended it
with three. Our two original colonies now have new queens which will,
hopefully, see us through the next season. Our third colony is just getting
established and will, with care, develop over the next year.
This was our first full year with
the bees and it’s been a steep learning curve. One of our hives was without a
queen for a while meaning the colony developed a bit of an attitude, after more
than a few stings and the occasional race to the safety of our cars they
eventually settled down and rewarded us with a good crop of honey.
We keep our bees at the campus
Apiary in polystyrene hives which provide extra insulation in the winter, this
also helps the colony get up and running earlier in the spring. All the hives
have had their seasonal dose of Apiguard which is used to control Varroa mites
that can weaken the colony over winter. They are also being fed sugar syrup and
fondant icing as an extra source of food in case their stores run out. This
should see them safely through what looks like it could be a cold winter before
they start foraging for food again in the new year.
For more information on the
current plight of the UK’s bees we would recommend Dave Goulson’s books ‘A Buzz
in the Meadow’ and ‘A Sting in the Tale’ or his blog at
http://splash.sussex.ac.uk/blog/for/dg229Richard Romang, Lecturer in Landscape Architecture at WUC
No comments:
Post a Comment