Local college takes to beekeeping

Vanessa and mentor Pete search for the queen on the rooftop of Basingstoke College of Technology

Right on Vita’s doorstep, a college has taken to beekeeping.

On a rooftop less a few hundred metres from Vita’s HQ, Basingstoke College of Technology has installed two hives. We went to visit them this week.

Sited just a few weeks ago, the nucleii colonies are growing fast and one is already confident enough to be producing queen cells. With a mentor from Basingstoke Beekeepers, the five-strong college team is enthusiastic and attracting the interest of different departments in the college.

They’ve chosen as their apiary site the rooftop of the engineering department. It is nicely sheltered and they have erected fine mesh netting to make sure the bees fly outwards over the town and not backwards into the air conditioning machinery where maintenance men might otherwise find all-to-quick fixes for any problems.

Up on the roof. BCOT beekeepers Lauren, Tim and Vanessa with Pete (left) of the local beekeeping association. Casual observers can watch the bees safely from this side of the mesh.

The bees, headed up by Carniolan queens are beautifully tempered and reputed to do well except in rather hot climates– no worries there then!

The big question now is will the colonies grow large enough to bring in honey before the nectar flow stops. The first supers were added today and there’s plenty of good forage around, so here’s hoping!

Since this could well be a year when varroa thrives, the bees were treated early with Apistan and will receive Apiguard treatments in preparation for winter.

We will keep you informed of progress and so will they on Twitter @bcotbuzz and Facebook.

Eager new beeks. Three of the five-strong team: Tim, Lauren and Vanessa.