The apiary is looking neat and tidy again as winter descends on Shugborough and the bees settle in waiting for spring 2021.
Once the season was over with the bees treated and fed it was time to finally catch up with the other jobs that needed doing at the apiaries.
There was the grass and weeds to cut back, the willow to be coppiced, boxes for scorching, good frames to be put back into clean boxes separated with newspaper to prevent wax moth, smokers, queen excluders and crown boards for cleaning
and wax to be melted and filtered. So just a couple of jobs to do then!
Before 
After
Late October and over three weekends socially distancing teams of 6 members each made short work of all the cutting, strimming, coppicing, cleaning
and tidying.
Howard cut down the willow and a deal was done with the National Trust where we traded willow sticks for heavy duty mowing thanks to Caroline.
Chris and Alan masterminded the whole operation and we now have a tidy apiary indeed, including storage sheds with repaired roofs and floors.
A big thank you to all the club members who volunteered to come along and do the maintenance work, thank you, well done.
Trevor – Apiary Coordinator