I did the first proper inspection of the year today, checking all the hives in my garden. All were lovely and strong, plenty of bees and brood, but one was a bit low on stores, so I will have to keep my eye on that one. I moved the overwintered nucs into hives for them … Continue reading Start of a new season
The good, the bad and the ugly
A mixed day today, with more dead queens found and some missing in action. Over the last few weeks I've lost ten queens, some of last years overwintered queens, and some of this years new queens - this tends to get me down. I now have several hives queen less, which will hit my honey … Continue reading The good, the bad and the ugly
Artificial Swarm
On inspecting the hives in my garden today, I found one of them had two soon to be sealed queen cells. This means the hive was very close to swarming, so remedial action was required. To prevent the bees from swarming, which they would do once the queen cells are capped, I carried out an … Continue reading Artificial Swarm
New out-apiary
I set up a new out-apiary at Lytchett Minster today, I think I melted into my suit it was so warm. The bees were so placid it was amazing, despite having been closed up for almost a day, transported in a car and then moved from nucs into hives - they seem to have a … Continue reading New out-apiary
Handle with care
I purchased a lot of new hives in the winter sales, probably more than I should have (like you do) and decided that splits and swarms would not get me all the bees I needed, so I had to splash out £540 on three over wintered nucs which were delivered today. You can bet your … Continue reading Handle with care
It was worth it
I did a full inspection (first of the season) at home today. Putting the 1:1 feed and pollen patties on 10 days ago has paid off - the increase in brood is amazing. When I put the feed on, there was about half a frame of brood in the hives, today there are 7 frames … Continue reading It was worth it