Saturday 7 March 2015

Let the season commence....

I've got a new bee suit and I'm determined to use it!!


The temperature hit 14'c a little after noon so the bees were out flying and it seemed the perfect opportunity to get into each hive and check that the queens had made it through the winter and are starting to get laying.

For me, there is also the additional job of clearing out all the remaining brace comb from my school girl error at the end of last year.

So.....no time like the present -  get on and scrape, chip and scoop all that excess brace comb off the top of the brood frames...


nearly gone....




It didn't take too long till I had a trough full of honey comb...


probably because I had some help from 'im indoors....


We had a visit from a Queen bumble,not my best picture ...but you kind of get the scale of her in comparison to the worker honey bees behind...


I remember reading somewhere that bumblebees are never more than 45 minutes away from starvation, being limited by the size of their stomach.  So I figure we can share some of this honey with her. (Isn't she magnificent?)



I've left the trough of honeycomb in the sunshine in the hope that every bee in the area comes and helps itself.  Then I'll be able to make something interesting from the comb.

oh - nearly forgot - yes it looks like all four of my queens have made it through the winter.  Actually only saw two of them but there are eggs and capped brood in all four hives, so I reckon the other two ran away and hid whilst I spring cleaned!

3 comments:

  1. Will you be making candles? Love the bumble!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Emily bee, probably not i'm actually hoping the wax cleans up well enough to make some handcream and possibly soap too..... Watch this space for me experimenting!

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