Session 5 - Saturday 8th May (Slab Castle Apiary or in your / your tutor’s apiary )

• Inspecting the colony. Handling bees
• Activity at entrance.
• Attitude to opening and inspecting hives.
• Use of the smoker.
• Bee space.
• Comb: Worker cells Drone cells
• 3 castes: Queen, Workers,
• Stores: Nectar, Capped honey,
• Appearance of healthy brood and cappings
• Eggs, and Larvae (open brood)
• Sealed worker brood. Sealed drone brood
• Common early season brood problems.
• Chilled brood? Chalk brood?      Bald brood?        Wax moth?
• Colony organisation (brood nest development, location of pollen & honey stores, etc.)
• Division of labour – Examples of worker tasks / activities in the hive
• Cleaning & polishing cells
• Wax making & comb building.
• Storing nectar & pollen.
• Exchanging food.
• Feeding larvae.
• Feeding the queen.
• Resting
• Guarding
• Foraging
• Dance communications.
• Queen egg laying.