Although the bees have been flying now for quite some weeks, the weather has not really been warm enough to open the hives until now. Opening the hives when it is cold is not just bad for the bees, the beekeeper is quite likely to meet with some angry ladies. This week, though, was warm… Continue reading First hive inspection of the year
Tag: bees
Spring has sprung
After what seems an age of thoroughly miserable winter weather, spring appears to have arrived, not just according to the calendar, but with the appearance of a little good weather. With the warmth and a brief respite from the seemingly endless rains, the bees have been flying. Indeed, one of our shrubs was positively humming… Continue reading Spring has sprung
Another colony of bees lost
Today we were continuing to prepare the bees for winter. We had one colony, started earlier in the year, that was still building up; another that was looking good for the winter, having put quite a bit of stores away, although not producing any surplus for us; and the long deep hive, which had packed… Continue reading Another colony of bees lost
A big surprise in the hive
Today we checked on the bees in the long deep hive. Whilst they had built up a huge colony, we were nonetheless a little concerned about how much stores they had put away, as last year they ate through them very quickly before winter had properly set in and needed additional feed to survive. We… Continue reading A big surprise in the hive
Getting the bees ready for winter
The season is long here in a sheltered pocket near the south coast, much longer than in other parts of the country. Our bees are still putting honey away, the heather is still in flower, although it emerged rather early this year, and the ivy and other late season plants are yet to open. It… Continue reading Getting the bees ready for winter
First honey harvest of the year
Following a quick inspection of the conventional hives, which are doing fine, although not yet producing any surplus honey, we moved on to take our first honey from the long deep hive. This is a rather odd looking hive of my dad’s design, but similar to others of its kind. It takes deep frames, and… Continue reading First honey harvest of the year
A new colony of bees
After losing a queen a couple of weeks ago, last week we requeened one of the hives with a new Italian queen, having first removed all of the queen cells. This week, we carefully inspected this hive for the first time since introducing her. Thankfully, she appears to have been accepted and has already started… Continue reading A new colony of bees
The flighty queen has flown
Today’s hive inspection was generally encouraging, with three large colonies in excellent health. All hives sported frames with large areas of clean white brood, and good amounts of stores are being laid down. The gold bees in the long deep hive show no signs of swarming, despite becoming a very large colony with an astonishing… Continue reading The flighty queen has flown
Hive inspection finds an unusually flighty queen
Today was time to go through all of the bee hives, a job that needs doing ideally once per week at this time of year. We currently have four colonies: one long deep hive which we started with a virgin Italian gold queen, who was likely mated with the Buckfast bees that we kept at… Continue reading Hive inspection finds an unusually flighty queen