Saturday 11 April 2015

Spring clean 2015

It's time for a bit of a clean up!


The bees have been in their current boxes all through last summer and have been cooped up for most of the winter.  So its time to swap them into nice clean boxes and clear out all the nasties that might have taken up residence in there with them...

No sooner had I got the roof off than this super conscientious worker decided it was time to clear out the clingfilm that had been wrapped around the fondant back in January.  So now I know exactly how much clingfilm one worker can carry out of a hive!
 
 



 

How nice of her to leave it on 'im indoors finger!

As well as the remains of bits of clingfilm there were a few of these chaps to get rid of...


I loath wax moth  grubs.  I know in the scheme of things they serve a useful purpose eating up the pupal sacs and debris in the bottom of a hive, but they have a nasty habit of destroying too much brood comb and damaging viable honey bee grubs in the process, plus they are super ugly and seem to exude grease from all the wax they eat.  Frankly they deserve to be squished.

I found some good stuff too, like this frame...


All along the  left side (its the top in real life but I held it sideways for the photo) are cells filled with fresh nectar the bees have been bringing in from all the spring flowers.  
The middle, which looks empty at first glance is actually full of eggs - if you look very carefully at the bottom edge you really can see them...look again...like lots of teeny tiny rice grains...
And the cells on the right, see  how they are bigger?  that's where the queen is laying drones, the first ones she laid, in the middle have been capped-they look a bit like bubble wrap.

She is such a good queen! Here she is with a lovely green spot on her shoulders...


and here is her sister in the hive next door...


They are the daughters of this queen who gave me the run around last summer.
So as I've decided that my apiary is only big enough for three hives, and my patience is only virtuous enough for one queen who might cause me that much grief, one of them has to be culled.

But which one?

Thankfully I've got a half spring cleaned apiary...


and a stack of beekeeping kit that needs cleaning up ...


whilst I ponder my way through that dilemma!

1 comment:

  1. Looking good Mrs W!! So very glad the girls have made it through the winter months ..... lets hope it's a great summer for them!

    ReplyDelete

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