New House.

Hi All, We have moved house, which involved moving the top bar in a van fro 4 hours, we were worried before we started, but we had no disasters, no comb breaks, a few lost bees at the old home, but the new bees have settled in grand.  Had a check of them last week, and a wee bit of chalk brood, not much honey, but lots of brood comb.  I fed them with some sugar syrup and we will see how we go from there.  Bees are very active and we have a massive shrub here that they love, although the gardening police want to crop it. 

I don't know what this bush is but my girls and the local bumbles love it. 

On the left is my top bar and Queen Kylie is on her second year, but we have still not had a surplus of honey.  I bought a polystyrene hive this year so I could move a Queen cell in there to double my hives, but as yet, although I have had a few play cells, I have had no real swarm threats.  So polystyrene  hive is an elaborate bait hive at present. 

Buffy and Rhoda are loving the new garden, I am letting them free range as often as I can and I move their run weekly so they always have fresh grass and a new dust bath.   

Mr T made a new run for them, but it is a bit hefty.  ideally, I would like it on wheels with an additional door. But it does keep them in, unlike our other attempts. 

I bought an incubator the other day and some 'fertile' eggs, but I don't think they have been fertile, I may have to get some new eggs.  But the plan is to get more chickens one way or another, which will involve the necessity  for a new pen. So thought I would have a go at building my own. 

Stage One, an old bed frame. 

I decided to go for a triangular shape. Will let you know how I progress. 

Ode to my Puppy and Stokes Bay

I am trying to soak in Stokes Bay before we move to Lincolnshire. The views are awesome, and I am sure Bandit will miss his walks on the beach. 

 Beautiful boy. 

Who is winning Hide and Seek on the beach?

He is, but can Mr T count to 10? mmmmm not so sure. 

Spinnaker is awesome, whenever I am lost its on the skyline somewhere to get my bearings. 

Hive Inspection 1 June 2012

The inspection on 1 Jun 2012 went well.  I was determined to check out the Hive before the street parties commenced for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. After the glorious weather we have been having and after reading Mikes blog about the amount of swarms he has been collecting, it seemed wise to ensure they would not be swarming this long weekend. 

I was pleased to see lots of healthy brood and very little sign of the chalk brood, although we did have to rush the last couple of frames as the neighbours child had come out to play in his sand pit.  JP and I thought we had better get the lid on quick to prevent an incident. 

One of my emergency hair clips in view here, the bees dont seem to mind them.  I have seen you tube accounts of people removing the clips, but once the bees have built comb around them, seems like an extra upset for the bees.  I did add another one on this inspection, the girls had started cross combing one of the new combs at one end, so I snapped it off and started it on a new frame. Although, no pics as we were on stealth mode due to the afore mentioned child. 

 This bar is being filled with honey, and before the end of summer, it will be mine, all mine!!!!

 You can see this clip is well embedded in the structure, to remove it would only weaken the comb.

 You can barely see this brown clip in the middle, the give away is the green wire. So with all this instability of the comb on top bars in mind, and I love my top bar as it is.  But I am moving to Lincolnshire soon and I am concerned that a really big bump may bring all the combs crashing down.  I have invested in a polythene National Hive and I will split the hive with an artificial swarm into the new hive.

 Lots of drone cells on this one, next time I am in, I may break this of as a Varroa check/treatment.

 We didn't see Queen Kylie on this inspection, but I did move the bees and really inspect the combs as I was shown on the Defra Inspection last week. 

 We did find some play Queen cups, on the first sweep we left them, hoping to see Queen Kylie fit and doing her stuff, we did see evidence of tiny larva and eggs, implying that she was about and busy, so before I closed the hive, I nipped them off, I don't think they were charged.

  On this one we saw a bee emerging from its cell for the first time. The next time I inspect, I will do it by video so I can record these moments.

This comb has lots of eggs, and it was the top left of this one that I clipped on with a hair comb as it was cut of due to the cross combing.  

 Is it just me, or is the bee at the bottom left in the gap forming a ducks beak?  Now I see the duck, I cant see anything else.

Bees, Flowers and Neighbours

The bees have lodged with me for over a year so far, and the only time I am aware that they have stung is during and an hour or so after an inspection.  

My roses are on the bees route, this variety has an open bloom so they can reach the centre easily.  My neighbour swears that a plum tree that he has had for years has never bore as much fruit as it is showing this year due to the girls working on it. 

This flower border Campanula cochleariifolia is on our dog walking route and we regularly see the girls visiting the blooms. 

This bush Olearia x haastii or daisy bush is in our garden and I don't remember it being so full of blossom last year.  

My girls visit my flowers, but mostly they just politely zip up and over my fence to who knows where coming back loaded up with their spoils for the Hive.   Above and below Pansies and a Clematis. 

Bees are not just for Honey, do not underestimate the wondrous work they do to our gardens and crops.

My Pet Worms - Vermicomposting

Since I got the chickens, I began composting.  I have 2 bins, a heap and several smaller wormeries to break down the chicken poop. Bin 1 has the fresh bedding and fresh chicken manure which is too acidic for worms,  I layer this with veggie peelings and paper shreddings.

  The second bin is packed full of the same ingredients but month down the line and loads of red wigglers (Eisenia fetida), they thrive in this bin which is a plastic bin with holes drilled in to allow liquid to seep and air to get in.  I turn the bin contents once a fortnight just to give the worms some air and break up any big clumps.  The third stage is the heap in the garden, I try and collect as many worms and worm eggs as I can and return them to  the bin, but I let the compost acclimatise in the heap before using in the garden. Collecting the worms and eggs is a bit of a challenge.  Sometimes I leave the compost in a trub for a couple of weeks before I use it just to allow time for the eggs to hatch and try and rescue as many worms as I can. Although they are thriving and multiplying well.

The other wormeries I have are just for fun, layers of basins in various stages of decomposition.

Inspection 19 May 2012

Guard Bees on Duty. 

Clematis

Wow, long time no sun.  I had a flying whiz through the hive last week with Mr T and cleared out some more mummies, Queen Kylie showed herself briefly. We have had a better weather week this week and its a different Hive, lots of new young bees have managed to come through and not as much chalk brood. 

They don't seem to mind the hair comb in the middle, but after all, they are girls.   

Looks like lots of healthy brood in there, hopefully they will be able to recover from the chalkbrood.

 I put the apiguard up on top 3 weeks ago, they seemed to start on it, then ignored it.  I think I will take it out next week. You can see the devastation we caused last year with the green wire holding up the combs.  We have had a lot more success this year.  No major disasters but...............we are moving to Lincolnshire soon and will have the move the hive in toto.  Still not too sure how we are going to do this.

JP thought he saw Queen Kylie on this one. I missed her. 

When I first started beekeeping, I planned on keeping meticulous records, I numbered all my top bars and had them all in order. The best plans......at least I have these pics to compare year by year. 

No parking spaces available on this one. 

Getting near the end.  Nothing major found, no Queen cells, bit of cross combing, but going in every week has made all the difference. 

This comb is about 3 weeks old.  It was the new one I put in on the advice of Mike. 

A few mummies, but nothing compared to what has been in previously.   

And a wee peek through the wind to check all is well. 

Bandit enjoying the sun, long may it last.