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Foundation is a layer of wax which is placed in a frame. It is printed with hexagonal cell guides. The bees build their comb from it into the spaces between the frames. As far as I know nearly everyone who uses framed hives uses foundation.

Foundation should encourage a more regular comb shape and get the bees to build the comb sooner than they might in an empty cavity. Cell width can be forced by printing the hexagons at different sizes. There's been some discussion about what the 'correct' width should be and the advantages of different sizes. I'm not going to discuss that here. The crucial advantage for harvesting beekeepers is that wired comb is supported and won't burst when spun in a radial extractor.

Foundation is produced from beeswax gathered from many hives. It's been shown that chemical contaminants (ie treatments for Varroa etc) are spread readily from foundation around the hive (citation needed). Since my hives are treatment free I wanted to exclude chemicals which could leach from foundation. I also want the bees to make comb which suits their needs.

I decided not to use foundation. The main reason was to find out whether, and how, it would work.

Bees are said to 'prefer' a sharp edge to build from. I modified my frames by nailing in 2 wide lolly sticks where the foundation would be fixed at the top of the frame (see image). The modification is very simple and requires no woodworking besides basic nailing.

The results seem good, although the sample size is very small. I've only done this for the brood area in 2 hives. The first (Hive D) is very vigorous and produced excellent, straight combs. The second (Hive B) was a much smaller nest, shaped like a ball. The outer edges of the comb bulged to form a sphere and so each layer was progressively distorted. Hive C was inconclusive because they didn't build into a cavity in the same way.

I've used these frames in Hive A in supers with good success. I've spun foundation-less and extracted honey without bursting the comb. The precaution is to spin gently on each side before spinning at full speed. This nearly doubles the time spent spinning each comb, and so it is unlikely to work for high volume extraction. I use a tangential extractor. I haven't tried this in a radial extractor.

I will continue to use frames without foundation. I'd call my experience a success even allowing for the small sample size.

The National Bee Unit has notified that the Asian Hornet has been found in the UK. The nest was discovered in the Tetbury area of Gloucestershire. The nest has now been destroyed.

The Asian Hornet is said to attack honey bee colonies. In any case, non native species can cause severe disruption to the local ecology.

There is also a general press release about this on the Gov.UK website.

Non native species, habitat loss and other factors are cited as causes for the Yellow Faced Bee from Hawaii being listed as endangered. Several species of Hawaiian plants depend on the bees for pollination and may also become extinct if the bees are lost.

The late swarm which I caught at the end of July has settled in. It appears to be vigorous and there were many bees flying today. I noticed that they were darker and smaller than I remember from the collection.

It may have been the overcast day which made them look darker. I may be mis-remembering. Seven weeks have passed since I caught the swarm so it's possible that these are new brood.

I'm hoping that these are not just near descendants of Buckfast bees. There are plenty of those around, and it would be nice to find hardy bees with a bit more genetic diversity. The ideal would be to find a strain which is Varroa tolerant.

The photo in this post also shows the block of propolis which the bees built over part of the doorway. Like D Hive they really love slapping a bit of propolis about the place.

EDIT 2/10/2016 - These aren't dark bees. They're just bees on an overcast day. It was a bright day today.

I seem to have taken a break since the end of August. Today I sorted looked in on the bees.

They won't have been swarming so late in the season so there won't have been much doing (I think) besides a nectar flow from the Ivy. If they fill their stores with Ivy honey it won't be terrible (except that  Ivy sets hard).

I have some eke's (low rise boxes usually used to house feeders). I've stapled some hessian into them and filled the cavity with straw. I wanted sawdust but it wasn't available. These are supposed to insulate the roof of each hive.

I took a look at the out apiary and hefted the hives. Hive D is feeling heavy. I put one an eke on top, hoping that it will be the last time I disturb them until spring.

Hive C is feeling heavy too, but Hive B is light. I'll feed them, but I'm unsure whether this colony will ever be successful. The queen (which I saw some months ago) looked beautiful. It would be ideal to swap this colony from Hive E, which was another feral which I took at the end of July. Hive E looks vigorous and ready to survive the winter already.

Back at home I looked in on Hive E. I'd given them the empty boxes after the honey harvest to clean up. It was done. The insulating eke is on and (I hope) they're also ready for winter.

There's been quite a bit of talk in my bee group about the importance of warm hives. There are some reasonable arguments. I haven't found an academic article to back up this view yet, but that may come in time.

The honey bee rears brood at 35C-36C. When the hive is cooler than that the nurse bees will warm the brood with their abdomens. This thermo-regulation assists the developing brood, presumably by enabling enzymatic reactions. Varroa are said to favour cooler brood conditions, but I have no evidence to offer for this.

What can be said is that an over-wintering colony requires stores to keep warm. Warmer hives will use less volume of stores and so be less likely to starve in the spring.

I offer 4 innovations to address the winter insulation issue:

1 An insulated roof

This is an idea borrowed from the Warre hives. I've taken a Nationa eke (dimensions 460mm x 460mm x 70mm) and stapled hessian to the inside so that it forms a pouch which sits on the frame tops. The cavity in the eke is filled with straw or sawdust. This sits on an optional queen excluder to ensure the bee space at the top. I hope that this insulation will reduce heat loss from the hive roof.

2. An extra wooden skin

Warre owners frequently comment about the thicker walls relative to the National box. My idea is to add external insulation using wood.

Take any thick plank - a scaffold board would be ideal. Cut it so that it forms a square jacket around the hive. Now drill through the ends and bolt through (images to follow when I get round to making this). Tighten it all up and... you have a thick walled hive.

3. A cardboard skin

As for the wooden skin, but using corrugated cardboard. The outer would have to be coated to make it waterproof. I suspect that Linseed Oil would do, but I haven't tried this.

4. A cylinder hive using National box

This is a relatively simple construction but needs a more complete blog post.

My aim is to try 1, 2 and 4 this winter. I'll only be trying this on 1 hive for each idea so I'll only be able to comment on aspects of construction, weathering, cost etc.

E Hive, the swarm from Barton, has been in a Nucleus box for nearly a month. That was too long so today I put them into a full hive.

I hadn't meant for it to take so long but they were getting on fine. There were plenty of bees; they were foraging; they had brood. Also, I didn't have a serviceable box. I glued; I hammered; I rearranged other hives. Now they have a National Brood, floor with Varroa screen, roof and an innovation.

I came back some time after the move of frames into the new box. There was a suspicious cluster of bees still in the nucleus box. Was there a Queen in the cluster? I couldn't tell. I opened up the main box and gave a hefty bang on the nuc. Most of the bees went in.

I suspect that the Queen had run off the combs whilst trying to hide. She doesn't like being in the light and so usually hides. I suspect that, when the last frame was moved over, she stayed. I hope that she's now in the hive. We'll see how they settle in.

The Regional Bee Inspector visited my out-apiary today.

We went through all 3 hives and checked all the brood. There were occasional dead brood which had advanced DWV - evidence of varoosis - but thankfully there were no other diseases. Best of all, the colonies are clear of AFB.

The major threats to honey bees from pests in the UK are varroa and AFB. We await the arrival of the Asian Hornet and Small Hive Beetle. The Asian Hornet is in France, and has been found in Guernsey but has so far not come been found on the mainland. Small Hive Beetle originates in Africa and has spread to several countries including USA. There was a small outbreak in Italy which, it's hoped, has been contained.

There was a thunderstorm as we left my out apiary. We'd hoped to inspect my home hives but it hasn't happened. Next year...

A bee protects by using its' sting. A bee keeper protects by using a bee suit. I'm trying to improve my protection.

Small colonies are relatively easy to deal with. There are fewer boxes and fewer flying bees to defend the hive. Bigger hives are open for longer and they have more of the mature, defensive bees.

Stings are generally not a problem. I've had some bad reactions - particularly when I was stung on the nose - but they usually just itch. The bad reactions happen when the sting doesn't hit the fleshy bits. I suspect that the worst reactions happen when the venom gets into my lymphatic system. My white blood cells react and there's swelling. I'm lucky not to be sensitised to stings. Some people react very badly.

Assuming that the suit is sound (no holes) and properly put on (zip up around the hood!) then that ought to work. It's advisable to wear a layer underneath too.

The problems (for me) have been at my ankles, hands and wrists. The bees go mad for my ankles. Wellington boots or spats are needed for ankles. Without these I used plastic bags as a (desperate) solution today. Marigold gloves covered with latex medical gloves work for hands. Rubber bands seal the cuffs of the gloves. I think that there are even gauntlet marigold gloves which I might look for. The gauntlet leather gloves have proven too clumsy; too difficult to clean and not sufficient to protect from an angry colony.

All of this covering makes me sweaty. I'm boil in the bag. I poured sweat out of the marigolds; there were beads of sweat on my body when I took the suit off.

Paul showed me his suit. It has a layer which looks like a string vest all over. It keeps the bees a sufficient distance from his skin whilst allowing ventilation. Quite a bit more expensive but effective. How much is it worth to avoid stings?

Everyone seems to feed their bees - even most of the low intervention bee keepers. I'm not convinced.

Bee keepers feed their bees for several reasons:

1. to advance their brood production in spring
2. to help the bees through hungry gaps during summer
3. to ensure that the bees have adequate stores to survive the winter
4. to compensate the bees for honey harvested in autumn (see 3)

I've read that I've spring feeding is ineffective (citation needed; I think it may have been Guide to Bees and Honey by Ted Hooper).

Feeding as a compensation for harvests is understandable but could conceivably reduce the nutritional quality of the honey. I have no evidence to offer to support this but it is my concern. I wonder also what proportion of the harvested honey will have come from bought sugars.

A colony will balance of brood production against foraging. Brood must be fed and kept warm. Expanding brood too quickly in spring will exhaust stores and tie up foragers keeping brood warm. If the nectar flow stalls there could be starvation. Slow expansion of the brood in spring will leave relatively few foragers when nectar flow is strong.

Feeding to ensure the continuation of the colony seems to do more than the vicissitudes of the environment. It risks changing the behaviour of the bees. My concern is that it supports colonies which over-produce brood. Feeding leads to more feeding.

3 of my 5 colonies are definitely from feral stock. I reluctantly decided to feed honey to B, C and D earlier this year during the June hungry gap. They were new colonies so felt it was justified.

With some reluctance I  have started feeding them for Autumn (for the same reason). I hope that I'll have the resolve not to do this in their second year.

I just checked the nucleus which has the new swarm inside. Brood is present, so they're queen right. They've been busy collecting stores.

I hope to put them into a full sized brood box and then feed. I hope that they'll survive the winter that way.

My out-apiary is windy. It's up on a building and almost unshielded from the wind. The consequence is that returning bees get blown around when trying to land. The wind blows from the side, causing bees from Hives C and D to be blown across the fronts of their neighbours. I suppose that this increases the possibility of drift. I haven't seen it happening.

It's almost comical when I sit downwind of the 3 hives. I periodically get covered in a cloud of bees.

Host parasite relationships can end in one of only three ways: extinction for either or in a balance between the two. The most likely outcome is surely to find a balance.

Varroa Destructor is an introduced pest to the Western Honey Bee (Apis Mellifera). The bee does not have strongly expressed resistance to mite. The most advantageous position for the mite is to be in balance with its host. Varroa rely entirely on the Honey Bee for their complete lifecycle. There's no point in exterminating yourself by killing your host. When will that resistance emerge? There are reports that it is starting around Oxfordshire already.

Honey Bee resistance could emerge through hygienic behaviours include grooming or removal of infected brood, or through immunity to the diseases which the mite carries and exacerbates. I don't know of any other ways, but there may be more.

In Swindon, a local beekeeper reports that his bees are ejecting infected brood and biting mites. None of my hives have collapsed, despite strongly expressed Varoosis diseases early in the season (DWV and at least one of the paralysing viruses). Evidence of those diseases stopped after May this year. Mite fall in Hive A had been alarmingly high. The fall of mites was much lower over summer, but that's probably due to them being within brood. It will be interesting to see whether mite fall rises into the Autumn.

I will comment on my own hives and pass on any credible reports of resistance in my area.

Paul visited my out apiary. I needed an experienced view of what was going on. He has Warre hives and so was interested in the site and the hives.

The inspection went well until near the end.

Hive B was still small but there was fresh brood, showing that their supersedure had been successful. They had formed a neat sphere of comb, more obvious because it was foundationless. They'll go into winter with sufficient stores but in need of insulation.

Hive D was busy. 16 sides with brood on them in various states. Quite a bit of store. Probably fine for the winter but they'll need an Autumn glut to balance things.

Hive C was where things went awry. The commercial box is at the bottom. They haven't built any comb in it. The deep box and super now have brood in unexpected places. There doesn't seem to be much order to it. I wonder whether they've become honey bound and the Queen has laid where she can.

The bees in Hive C didn't like us poking through several layers of hive. They got upset and mobbed us. Paul's suit protected him but I was stung on the wrists and ankles. After a while of this I lost my nerve and ran away. Paul said that he'd never seen anyone pursued by a cloud of bees. The angriest followed me for maybe 30 metres until I went inside. Two other non-beekeepers were also stung. One was at ground level 5 stories down. It was not my best work.

We discussed several changes:

• Marigold gloves with disposable nitrile gloves over. He reckons that the bees can't pump their venom through both.
• Spats or wellies to cover ankles
• Inspections only when necessary. They only attacked after we'd been rifling through the hive for a while. Paul suggests that this is a learned behaviour rather than a defensive instinct.
• A wind break for inspections might reduce the disruption to the hive smell. A manipulation cloth would also reduce the effect of wind. A table will keep the bees off the ground and away from ankles. A table will also prevent the queen escaping from under the hive.

The best news is that none of the hives have AFB. All are Queen right. Two are very busy and all look healthy.

I was called today to collect a late swarm from Barton. The woman who called me says that it is the 5th swarm this season to leave a nearby feral colony.

The feral colony is living in an air brick in a house about 30m from the apple tree where the swarm was clustered. The swarm emerged on Friday. Today is Tuesday. She'd expected them to disperse but there they were.

Collection was simple. Shake them from a branch at head height into a nucleus box. Leave for 5-10 minutes. Thank everyone and remove.

Back home things are more complicated. I don't have a place for this hive. I'm wondering about AFB. They may swarmed too late to survive the winter - especially in a nucleus box. Plenty of room for error.

The likelihood of AFB seems low. They've been out of the hive for over 4 days so they should be very hungry by now. There were reports of AFB in the area in spring but not since. I'm hoping that things are ok.

The site should be ok. They're in a partially glazed and derelict greenhouse at the moment. It's sheltered, which is probably its only advantage. Shelter, feeding and insulation will all be necessary to help them through winter - assuming that I do help them.

There's a honey flow on. All the hives in my out-apiary have stores now and there's a lot of activity. The bees are noticeably better tempered.

The roaring that I heard recently was probably the bees fanning, to cool the hive and evaporate excess water from the honey. I knocked on the side of A Hive this morning (the one which roared); they revved for a moment and then calmed down. Not queenless, just busy.

C and D Hives both have brood. I had a better look at C because it was easier to handle. Brood in various states on at least 10 sides of comb. These are Commercial depth frames but not completely covered in comb.

I'd put a deep super (ie a standard brood box) on C hive which the queen has evidently moved into. This is not great management. I saw patches of a few dozen larvae, honey-bound by stores. I'm sure that they'll work it out.

The worrying news is that B Hive is queenless. Their supersedure appears to have failed. They have stores which surround empty cells. I suppose that they'll get robbed by and then drift into either of the more successful hives.

There are times when I'm scared of the bees.

Two of my hives contain very large colonies and, this season, they've been unhappy when I've looked inside. They've also been unhappy when I've watched from over 2 metres away - a bee will investigate and then attack. This is new behaviour from my home hive and fear is a new feeling for me.

The defensive behaviour of Hive A might be due to the time of year but I suspect that they've replaced their Queen. Her temperament should be the same as before but she may have mated with a drone with a more defensive temperament.

The colony in Hive C was feral so I'm not surprised that they're defensive. They have the unpleasant habit of following for up to 20 metres. I've had to go indoors and stand in the dark to get the bees off me.

What to do about fear? In time I will overcome it In the meantime, fear makes good observation difficult. I hurry and make mistakes. I get forgetful and sometimes clumsy. That can make things worse. I need better technique and better tolerance. I'll look at getting more training and hopefully share inspections with a more experienced bee keeper.