Another interesting week. I contacted one of the beeks from Beverley who had welcomed me to the forums a few weeks ago and drove over to see him for a cup of tea and a chat. It was great to see his hives had a stream of bees going in and out. Spent a couple of hours of pleasant conversation and will no doubt repeat the process.
I also made contact with a beekeeper with some 14 x 12 nucs of bees for sale and am driving over Monday night to have a look. Planning on coming back with one if they are good and price is right. I have made up a fixed eke to convert my wbc brood box to 14 x 12 just need some more frames and wax now.
Went to the BABKA apiary practical session this afternoon and learned that there had been EFB discovered in a hive not far from Selby. We all took extra disease precautions dipping and washing footwear, equipment, gloves atc before approaching the hives.
We inspected the hives looking out for signs of EFB with fortunately none found. A dispersed cloud of bees could be seen over the next field when we arrived at the hives. The first hive looked well and had brood in all stages plus a few play cups. I was able to spot the unmarked queen.
The second hive which had been split last week also looked good but the third had no eggs or queen and a number of queen cells. We knocked all down except two. We will see what happens over the next visit.
It looks as though the cloud of bees might have been the tail end of a swarm from the last hive.
I also made contact with a beekeeper with some 14 x 12 nucs of bees for sale and am driving over Monday night to have a look. Planning on coming back with one if they are good and price is right. I have made up a fixed eke to convert my wbc brood box to 14 x 12 just need some more frames and wax now.
Went to the BABKA apiary practical session this afternoon and learned that there had been EFB discovered in a hive not far from Selby. We all took extra disease precautions dipping and washing footwear, equipment, gloves atc before approaching the hives.
We inspected the hives looking out for signs of EFB with fortunately none found. A dispersed cloud of bees could be seen over the next field when we arrived at the hives. The first hive looked well and had brood in all stages plus a few play cups. I was able to spot the unmarked queen.
The second hive which had been split last week also looked good but the third had no eggs or queen and a number of queen cells. We knocked all down except two. We will see what happens over the next visit.
It looks as though the cloud of bees might have been the tail end of a swarm from the last hive.
