Weather: Almost cloudless, hot
Temperature: 23C
Stings: None
Wildlife: Three squirrels.
A quick visit this weekend to soothe my fears. I was worried that my bees had swarmed because a friend who lives close to my bees had a cluster of bees on a tree in their garden. Were they my bees, I wondered? I didn't think they were because my queen is in her first year, they had lots of space and there was relatively little competition around for the pollen and nectar. But at the back of my mind is the nagging thought that bees like to confound their human helpers and I wasn't sure if they really did have enough space.
So I went down to check on them and they are fine. If they were my bees that swarmed they are doing a very good job of hiding it. The hive was thick with them and loads were flying in and out, too. I took the chance to put on the porter bee escape to clear them out of the super full of honey.
I also did a bit of maintenance on the frames I've got in storage and I'll put some of those on the hive this week so they have a full brood box to fill. There are a few undrawn combs so hopefully they will draw all of those out and that'll mean I'm well set for next year. The weather has been very good these last few days and I think that has helped the bees a lot.
Monday, 23 July 2012
Thursday, 19 July 2012
Tidying up
Weather: Cloudy, windy, threatening rain
Temperature: 20C
Stings: None
Wildlife: Frogs, parrots, woodpeckers. No squirrels.
Pretty much just a check-up today to see how the bees were doing. When I turned up I thought the bees must have swarmed as there were so few of them flying. Bugger, I thought. It's getting very late in the season to recover if that is the case.
Thankfully, it wasn't the case. It was very windy and cold and the bees were huddled in the bottom brood box and in the upper super and brood box. They are doing fine. I only had a quick look as the weather was changeable again and that makes them very grumpy. Plus, I didn't want them to get wet if it did start raining.
The super is now pretty much full of honey and almost all of it capped. Its pretty heavy. I'll clean up my porter bee escapes and start the process of clearing the bees from that maybe as soon as this weekend. I want them to start laying down stores in the brood frames and that is certainly starting to happen. Not much yet, but they are starting.
Note to self - make sure the bee escapes are the right way round so you don't trap the bees upstairs like you did last year. Gah. So, I'm fairly happy with them at the moment.
The work to clear the allotment is going well, too. I'm using the mattock to dig up the brambles and bigger clumps of grass and once they are completely clear I'll use a weed-suppressing fabric to keep the growth under control.
Temperature: 20C
Stings: None
Wildlife: Frogs, parrots, woodpeckers. No squirrels.
Pretty much just a check-up today to see how the bees were doing. When I turned up I thought the bees must have swarmed as there were so few of them flying. Bugger, I thought. It's getting very late in the season to recover if that is the case.
Thankfully, it wasn't the case. It was very windy and cold and the bees were huddled in the bottom brood box and in the upper super and brood box. They are doing fine. I only had a quick look as the weather was changeable again and that makes them very grumpy. Plus, I didn't want them to get wet if it did start raining.
The super is now pretty much full of honey and almost all of it capped. Its pretty heavy. I'll clean up my porter bee escapes and start the process of clearing the bees from that maybe as soon as this weekend. I want them to start laying down stores in the brood frames and that is certainly starting to happen. Not much yet, but they are starting.
Note to self - make sure the bee escapes are the right way round so you don't trap the bees upstairs like you did last year. Gah. So, I'm fairly happy with them at the moment.
The work to clear the allotment is going well, too. I'm using the mattock to dig up the brambles and bigger clumps of grass and once they are completely clear I'll use a weed-suppressing fabric to keep the growth under control.
Thursday, 12 July 2012
Damp wings
Weather: Cloudy, thundery, threatening rain
Temperature: 18C
Stings: 3
Wildlife: Squirrels, frogs, woodpeckers
Note to self: do not attempt to manipulate the bees when thunder is threatening. I kind of knew that already as my first ever visit to see some bees was in stormy weather and it did not end well. I got stung just under my eye. And I've stuck with it, despite that. Hmm
Anyway, I spent the first 30 minutes of my visit tidying up the allotment plot. Cutting back grass and digging out old brambles. I'm making good progress on that and the place is starting to look (relatively) cultivated.
Anyhoo, I moved over to near the hive where lots of long grass had grown up and started to pull that out. What I didn't realise at the time was that the rain earlier in the day, and the damp leaves everywhere, meant lots of bees were having trouble flying. So they were clambering around in the grass and undergrowth near the hive. As I dragged up the grass one dropped into my glove and stung me on the back of the left hand. Then one stung me on the left wrist and then one on the right shoulder.
At this point I walked away as other bees were starting to buzz around me and one was trying to sting me through my right glove. I decided I'd had enough of being stung so stopped doing the gardening. I put on my gloves and veil to look inside the hive. I opened up the top and had a look just as thunder rumbled overhead and it began to rain. So I gave up and went home. Just as well as it lashed down soon after and alternated between bright sun and heavy rain all day.
From what I saw, it looks like they are healthy enough. They have space and the bees have found the frames up top. I'll have a closer look next week (weather permitting) and might swap the boxes around so they come to the brood frames first. The honey super is pretty much full already.
Temperature: 18C
Stings: 3
Wildlife: Squirrels, frogs, woodpeckers
Note to self: do not attempt to manipulate the bees when thunder is threatening. I kind of knew that already as my first ever visit to see some bees was in stormy weather and it did not end well. I got stung just under my eye. And I've stuck with it, despite that. Hmm
Anyway, I spent the first 30 minutes of my visit tidying up the allotment plot. Cutting back grass and digging out old brambles. I'm making good progress on that and the place is starting to look (relatively) cultivated.
Anyhoo, I moved over to near the hive where lots of long grass had grown up and started to pull that out. What I didn't realise at the time was that the rain earlier in the day, and the damp leaves everywhere, meant lots of bees were having trouble flying. So they were clambering around in the grass and undergrowth near the hive. As I dragged up the grass one dropped into my glove and stung me on the back of the left hand. Then one stung me on the left wrist and then one on the right shoulder.
At this point I walked away as other bees were starting to buzz around me and one was trying to sting me through my right glove. I decided I'd had enough of being stung so stopped doing the gardening. I put on my gloves and veil to look inside the hive. I opened up the top and had a look just as thunder rumbled overhead and it began to rain. So I gave up and went home. Just as well as it lashed down soon after and alternated between bright sun and heavy rain all day.
From what I saw, it looks like they are healthy enough. They have space and the bees have found the frames up top. I'll have a closer look next week (weather permitting) and might swap the boxes around so they come to the brood frames first. The honey super is pretty much full already.
Monday, 9 July 2012
Go with the flow
Weather: Cloudy, threatening rain
Temperature: 18C
Stings: None
Rain stopped me visiting on Wednesday so I dropped in on Saturday to do the quick tasks I'd set myself for this week.
I think I'm going to have to take a more scorched earth policy to tidying up the plot. I've only left it for a week or so and already lots of the grass and undergrowth is growing back. If the weather is good this week, and maybe even if it is not, then I'll have a good go at it and try to clear a lot of it up. I think I need to lay down sheets that stunt the weeds so they don't come up again.
The main flow is now well and truly on. The bees have filled one super and that's all I want to take from them so now I'm going to concentrate on them building up stores. To that end I swapped out one of the brood frames and put it with some others in an upper brood box. The one downstairs is undrawn so hopefully they'll get that made up and start filling it with honey ready for the winter. I'm going to get some more brood frames so I can get them started on those and really build up the frames. I'm conscious that I regularly don't have enough so need to get a few in the bank. Of course, it could go horribly wrong and I might end up with just a few half drawn frames if I've misjudged the timings.
If it goes well, and I'm right about my estimate that the flow has been delayed a bit they could be very well set for the winter. I also put the extra frames in because I wanted to give them a bit more room. That approach has its dangers as with too much room they tend to do the jobs that are in front of them rather than the ones I want them to do.
Temperature: 18C
Stings: None
Rain stopped me visiting on Wednesday so I dropped in on Saturday to do the quick tasks I'd set myself for this week.
I think I'm going to have to take a more scorched earth policy to tidying up the plot. I've only left it for a week or so and already lots of the grass and undergrowth is growing back. If the weather is good this week, and maybe even if it is not, then I'll have a good go at it and try to clear a lot of it up. I think I need to lay down sheets that stunt the weeds so they don't come up again.
The main flow is now well and truly on. The bees have filled one super and that's all I want to take from them so now I'm going to concentrate on them building up stores. To that end I swapped out one of the brood frames and put it with some others in an upper brood box. The one downstairs is undrawn so hopefully they'll get that made up and start filling it with honey ready for the winter. I'm going to get some more brood frames so I can get them started on those and really build up the frames. I'm conscious that I regularly don't have enough so need to get a few in the bank. Of course, it could go horribly wrong and I might end up with just a few half drawn frames if I've misjudged the timings.
If it goes well, and I'm right about my estimate that the flow has been delayed a bit they could be very well set for the winter. I also put the extra frames in because I wanted to give them a bit more room. That approach has its dangers as with too much room they tend to do the jobs that are in front of them rather than the ones I want them to do.
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