Saturday 13 April 2013

Time for some spring cleaning

I don't think I was alone in being super S*U*P*E*R happy that the temperature nudged into double figures this weekend.  Becky's bees were flying, indeed they've been busy pretty much any time the temperature noses above 8'c ...they were positively frantic at 11'c today.....the entrance got a bit congested at times...

 

I really didn't know what to expect to find on opening this hive....

In December it did look as though there were quite a few bees in the hive ...they were generating enough heat to melt the snow...


And when I'd last seen them back in October they were taking advantage of the extra space the eke had given them whilst I was treating for Varroa mites to build some bracing bees wax...

 

But six months is a long time in bee keeping... it was really any body's guess what these girls had been up to. First signs were good ..they'd found the fondant I'd put in to boost supplies of honey...


But boy-oh-boy had they been busy making honey comb, I really didn't need to peek to far into the hive to see it all...


Do you want to see more?


There really wasn't anything else for it .....as much as they would hate me for doing it a thorough spring clean needed to be the order of the day...


Every single inch of the excess comb needed to be scraped off the top of the frames... otherwise the hive just wouldn't go back together properly.  And I have plans for this hive.... its going to get a lot bigger.

Becky is clearly a very prolific queen,she and her girls are going to need a lot of space..so its time for a "double brood" box.  I want this colony to expand to fill twice the normal capacity of hive, because after all, surely a lot of bees will give me a lot of honey?

And there are all these girls from the underside of the lid to get in there now...

 

...and then I can clean up the rest of that misplaced bees wax....

See it all fits together beautifully smartly!


Now after all that spring cleaning its got to be time for a cuppa for the bee keeper whilst the girls get used ot their new double storey home.

1 comment:

  1. Goodness they have been so busy..... looking forward to candles!!!!!

    ReplyDelete

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