We've now got three colonies.
The darker bees swarmed last summer, while I was away in another country. Fortunately, Mrs FG rose to the challenge. She saw them hanging from an archway in the garden and bundle them (a few times) into our old wooden hive. We swapped them onto new frames when I got back and put them next to the hive they'd come from
Both the new colony, and the old colony did really well through the summer, so we now have three, including the ones that started from the colony GWW gave us.
We've been leaving them alone through the Winter, but had to check them out this morning.
They are all in single brood box poly Langstroths, now, and every box is full of bees. We've got to give them all some more space, so it'll be frame-building for me tomorrow . . .
I've offered the first colony up for any new beekeeper to have: we don't really want three colonies, and the two darker ones seem better suited to the dark, dank North-side of the hill where we live.
FG
The darker bees swarmed last summer, while I was away in another country. Fortunately, Mrs FG rose to the challenge. She saw them hanging from an archway in the garden and bundle them (a few times) into our old wooden hive. We swapped them onto new frames when I got back and put them next to the hive they'd come from
Both the new colony, and the old colony did really well through the summer, so we now have three, including the ones that started from the colony GWW gave us.
We've been leaving them alone through the Winter, but had to check them out this morning.
They are all in single brood box poly Langstroths, now, and every box is full of bees. We've got to give them all some more space, so it'll be frame-building for me tomorrow . . .
I've offered the first colony up for any new beekeeper to have: we don't really want three colonies, and the two darker ones seem better suited to the dark, dank North-side of the hill where we live.
FG
