The continuing dismal summer has left many colonies in poor condition. The picture is very mixed across the district, with colonies on some sites looking quite prosperous and those at other sites almost at the point of starvation. Colonies that swarmed at the right time have built up, but those that picked the wrong time may be in some trouble.

It is now very important that we get our stocks into good condition so that they have plenty of young bees for winter.

• Firstly, after removing any crop, it is essential to treat early to reduce the varroa load - and that means treating in August so that bees produced from now on are 'clean'. If you leave it until later, you will have many damaged young bees that will not survive until next spring. If you see bees with shrivelled wings then you have a very serious problem. This has been covered in the February 2002 newsletter.
• Make sure that the colony is headed by a good queen. If she is laying any drone amongst the worker brood then she will probably be a drone-layer next spring and the colony will be a write-off, so either requeen the colony (September is probably best) or kill her and unite the colony to a good one.
• Colonies that have a good queen will almost certainly have thrown out their drones by now, so if you see drones being allowed into a colony then it is very likely that the queen is failing.
• Ensure that colonies have plenty of food and feed early if necessary - but do inspect your brood for AFB and EFB before feeding. Queens will stop laying early if there is no food - leaving you with very old bees for the winter.
• When you are extracting, think about our honey show. Have a look at your crop before extracting and keep any particularly good frames or honey for the show. It has been said many times that much potentially prize-winning honey is often mixed in with the rest of the crop during extraction.
• This looks like being a very bad wasp year. Close down entrances and put out traps where they are a problem. It is incredible how quickly wasps can decimate a weak colony.