THE Farming pages this week welcome the first of what we intend will be a regular report on bee keeping in North Devon.

It comes from Jack Mummery of the North Devon Beekeepers Association and will take readers through the seasons for the bee population. This week Jack describes how the hives are behaving this winter.

This is the first of what I hope will be regular seasonal information articles about what honey bees and beekeepers get up to during the year.

During the winter honey bees are usually tucked up warm and dry in their hives in a compact cluster keeping each other warm.

There should be plenty of stores comprising honey and pollen for them to eat. This winter has been exceptionally mild, which has encouraged the bees to be active, with the queen laying probably late into December when she would normally stop laying in November.

The Queen will usually resume laying in late January. There is a real risk that the colony might have eaten a lot of their stores in the mild weather so the beekeeper has to be vigilant and feed them candy or fondant if they need it.

The period between mid-December and mid-January is an ideal time to treat the bees with a solution of syrup and oxalic acid to kill varroa, the problematic parasite which debilitates the colony if it goes untreated.

A period as cold as possible is required when the bees will be in a tight cluster allowing the acid to do its work effectively. Varroa destructor is a parasite of Asian honey bees that has moved to other honey bees and spread worldwide.

It was first discovered in the UK at Torquay in 1992 and quickly spread to all parts of the UK. The mite feeds on bee larval haemolymph (blood), debilitating the adult bee and reducing its resistance to viruses.

Varroa is a continuous problem for beekeeping and it needs to be treated in a variety of ways.

The holy grail of beekeeping is to produce bees that are naturally "hygienic", that is, they mutilate and remove mites from each other before they do any harm.

Devon Beekeepers' Association, Northern Branch, is running a beginner course for eight weeks starting February 17. For information about the course contact: Jack Mummery at jackmummery @mypostoffice.co.uk

My next feature will be in April when I will talk about spring behaviour of the honey bee.