I had a visit from the National Bee Unit today, two bee inspectors and 3 auditors (why are there always more bean counters?). The auditors were checking that the bee inspectors carried out their work as per ISO standard, and that they were using and filling in the correct paperwork. The National Bee Unit (NBU) … Continue reading An Inspector (or 5!) came calling…
Rain stopped play
I took a chance on the weather today, as the forecast said 38% chance of rain, and took a new hive out to one of my out apiaries and was going to inspect the rest of the hives at 2 sites. I got the new hive set in place with no problem, and inspected the … Continue reading Rain stopped play
Looking good
I inspected all my garden hives and nucs today, and merged some of the mating nucs to make larger colonies for over-wintering. I have to say, I am very happy with the queens I have produced this year, they have all come on really strong, have lovely brood patterns and are very calm. I got … Continue reading Looking good
Autumn Jobs
By now, most beekeepers will have finished the harvesting of the honey, unless they get a second honey flow from plants such as balsam and heather. The Ivy will start to flower soon, and provide more nectar, but it is a very bitter honey and many don't take it but instead leave it for the … Continue reading Autumn Jobs
Queens All Doing Well
I inspected all the hives and nucs in my garden apiary today, all looking good I'm happy to say. The queens from my own queen rearing programme are all doing very well, with nice solid, healthy looking brood pattern. I also introduced 2 new virgin queens into nucs, hopefully they'll be out on their mating … Continue reading Queens All Doing Well
Good all round
I inspected the hives at my out apiaries today, all in good order and the new queens are laying well. I found a new queen in one of the hives at Friars Green and marked her. One of the new queens that I placed into a hive two weeks ago is laying up a storm, … Continue reading Good all round
Wet Supers & Jars of Honey
I went around 9 hives today, carrying out inspections and placing wet supers back on the hives for the bees to clean, and hopefully refill with honey. A wet super is the term used for a super full of frames that have had the honey extracted from them, and have remnants of the honey still … Continue reading Wet Supers & Jars of Honey
Another Busy Few Days
I've had a couple of busy days again, nipping round all my apiaries to put clearer boards on hives so that I could remove some honey supers. I took supers off from two sites today, and put the clearer boards on at a third. I will be taking the supers off from the third site … Continue reading Another Busy Few Days
Heavy Flow
We have had a week now where the temperatures are 30°C or so. This has sent the bees into overdrive, with lots of Blackberries and white clover to forage on, and they are filling supers really fast. https://youtu.be/-tq2tX5aJXI Almost all my hives have 3 supers on now, and 2 of those are virtually all capped … Continue reading Heavy Flow
Mixed news in the garden apiary
Another hot and sunny day today here in Dorset, what better weather to be messing about in a bee suit moving heavy hives around - said with tongue firmly in cheek. I inspected the 11 colonies in my garden apiary this morning, with mixed results. Some of the new virgin queen introduced to nucs have … Continue reading Mixed news in the garden apiary