The Farming Today bees in living colour!

The Farming Today bees are on holiday in Derbyshire. Fran and Clive (our beekeeping mentor) took them up to the moors one rainy night. They're on a farm feeding off the heather. We're hoping, all being well, this well produce a crop of very rich tasting honey. They've been away a few weeks now and we miss them.

Clive's been a crucial part of this project, not just because he's been there to guide us through the process of beekeeping but also because he's an interviewer's dream - relaxed, clear, funny and able to get across what he's saying simply. And he's dedicated to his cause - to ensure the future of the honey bee. Fran and I went to see him recently at the apiary where the Farming Today bees normally live because he wanted to take us through treatments for varroa.

These are the parasitic mites capable of destroying whole colonies if not treated - and viewed as the biggest threat to honey bee populations. He showed us two chemical treatments which kill off the mites - one in a gel and the other on sticky strips, both of which are put in the hives and which the bees transfer around. But he also showed us a treatment using a more common substance - icing sugar. Once covered in it the bees groom themselves - and groom off the mite which is also said to have difficulty clinging to an iced bee. It was an unusual site to have dusty white bees swarming around us as we treated each frame.

Clive was keen to emphasise to us the importance of using all three of these methods. There are concerns about bees developing resistance to varroa treatments and by using a variety of methods we can help avoid this.

• The video was made by the Farming Today team and features Farming Today bloggers Charlotte Smith, Chris Impey and Fran Barnes.
• Previous posts about the Farming Today bees from the Radio 4 blog.