Ok. New beginnings - not sure if that is grammatically correct. However,we are back to bee keeping after 20 or so years (those halcyon times of fields of bean, Borage and hardly any varroa - those were the days!)
Cant believe we actually bought some bees this time. I remember seeing and capturing our first swarm all those years ago (in a wicker Alibaba laundry basket) and the fearful looks of our (long suffering) neighbours.
I have to say at this point in our defence that we have a large garden and the bees are well away from prying eyes. We have an added bonus of being situated next to acres of (wet, ancient) woodland. Err, and of course miles of Oilseed Rape!
Re our new bees - We collected our (rather expensive) bees in a travelling box last June (steady drive with air con on). They were fed on arrival and transferred a day later to a spanking new (rather expensive) national hive.
Last year our (pampered) bees were duly fed, treated with Apigard and Oxalic Acid (sounds awful!) at the appropriate time last year and we have joined a local bee keeping group (and have a mentor). We are doing all we can to get things right this time. It seems to have paid (being the operative word!) off, we now have a strong healthy colony!
Today, we have lots of bees, working on drawn out super, and yes we have some honey, be it uncapped.
Our little dears have turned out to be quite mild tempered
(of course all this could change in the blink of an eye) , over wintered well and appear to be good foragers.
I am sure we still have much to learn and things wont always be plain sailing....good night blog
Cant believe we actually bought some bees this time. I remember seeing and capturing our first swarm all those years ago (in a wicker Alibaba laundry basket) and the fearful looks of our (long suffering) neighbours.
I have to say at this point in our defence that we have a large garden and the bees are well away from prying eyes. We have an added bonus of being situated next to acres of (wet, ancient) woodland. Err, and of course miles of Oilseed Rape!
Re our new bees - We collected our (rather expensive) bees in a travelling box last June (steady drive with air con on). They were fed on arrival and transferred a day later to a spanking new (rather expensive) national hive.
Last year our (pampered) bees were duly fed, treated with Apigard and Oxalic Acid (sounds awful!) at the appropriate time last year and we have joined a local bee keeping group (and have a mentor). We are doing all we can to get things right this time. It seems to have paid (being the operative word!) off, we now have a strong healthy colony!
Today, we have lots of bees, working on drawn out super, and yes we have some honey, be it uncapped.
Our little dears have turned out to be quite mild tempered
(of course all this could change in the blink of an eye) , over wintered well and appear to be good foragers.I am sure we still have much to learn and things wont always be plain sailing....good night blog
