1st meeting after the holidays - we chatted about how the summer had been for those with hives - apparently the general thought is that it's a poor yielding year, with most French bee-keepers only averaging between 3 to 5 kg of honey per hive, but several of my fellow students had done better with some getting over 15kg - so maybe the best description is that it's been mixed !
We kitted up, and checked the hives - on those that still had top boxes, we put "chasse abeilles" between the body of the hive and the top box. this is a cover with a sort of one way exit which allows the bees to move from the top box to the hive, but they can't travel the other way - so overnight all the bees should leave the top box, and the next day the honey can be collected, and the top box removed, without having to worry about clearing any bees out.
In each of the hives which had already had their top boxes removed, we put in 2 strips to treat Varoe mites, either side of the brood frames. These will be left in place for about 12 weeks.
We also discussed when to supplement the bees diet - the recommendation is to feed them sugar in a top feeder tray if there is bad weather during the summer when the bees can't forage for nectar, in particular if there is still any chance of collecting honey late. Whereas when the top box has been removed syrup should be used, in small doses, which they will either eat, or store in the body of the hive. If you give them syrup earlier, there is a risk they will try to store some, and it could be mixed with honey, resulting in the honey being poor quality, a mix of real honey and sugar syrup.
At home Marc has attached hooks to hold the body of the hive onto the base, and a method to fasten a strip which can either close the hive , or reduce the entrance size - to prevent Asian hornets getting in from August into Autumn. Today I've painted the hive with special bee friendly paint, which actually looks more like a silver metallic stain.