So...
The bee hives are still standing despite some pretty keen winds. A few days ago we carried out a quick winter visit on the warmest day we could find in order to add oxalic acid to each colony. The idea is to add this acid around Christmas time when there is less bee brood as part of the procedure for keeping varroa mites at a low level. It's always a bit of a sad time to see the bees in a big drowsy clump battling to keep warm, also because we know the acid not only fends of varroa but actually damages the bees too. It's considered an important step despite harming the bees a little because it does so much more damage to the mites and therefore generally a beneficial move - still a bit depressing though.
On the plus side all four colonies seem okay as far as we can tell, the hives were still pretty weighty which would indicate a reasonable amount of stores remaining however as we had to open the hives we chucked in some fondant anyway just to make sure.
We'll keep you posted.
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