I checked my hives at Lytchett Matravers today, and all is well. As with my other sites, and due to the "June gap" the bees have been using the honey as there is insufficient forage for them at the moment. One hive, into which I placed a virgin Queen on the 8th June, has come … Continue reading Good News at Last
No smoke without fuel
I went to check on two of my out apiaries today, upon arrival at the first site, I went to light my smoker......... Ah! I had forgotten to bring any smoker fuel - oops! Good job my bees are docile, so I carried out my inspections without smoke. One of the hives, which I found … Continue reading No smoke without fuel
The Queen is dead!
Not what you want to find while carrying out hive inspections - a dead queen, and one of this years too! Luckily I raise my own queens, so am able to replace her easily enough, but it is always sad to find a dead queen. I spent the morning marking new virgin queens, and then … Continue reading The Queen is dead!
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
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
Quick look inside
My weather station gives today's temperature as 14°, so I decided to take the first look in the back garden hives of the season - This is almost three weeks later than last year. The false widow spiders had taken up residence in the roof above the insulation, and were most peeved at being evicted. … Continue reading Quick look inside
First Inspection
Just done the first inspection of the year on my hives - Wow! Plenty of brood at all stages, capped honey and plenty of pollen. Stacks of bees too, which is good. The frames on on hive are pretty full - the brood box weighed a ton, so I've put a super on. No queen … Continue reading First Inspection