Well we’re getting to the end of 2020....not a moment too soon I hear you cry. We officially enter Autumn this week and while the weather seems set fair for a few days looking ahead the temperatures are starting to fall and overnight temperatures are certainly dropping. This’ll mean the bees take that little bit longer to get going and that little bit longer to evaporate any excess water from their ivy haul. And it looks like it’s going to be a good ivy year too.
Yesterday I fed and treated 23 colonies at the home paddock apiary and they were all extremely active and strong too. Such a shame our beekeeping season is so short really as you get the feeling if it was warmer or even mid summer the bees would be pulling in a fantastic surplus right now. However, egg laying is diminishing and while one NUC needed a second story as they were simply bursting out of their 6 frames, the rest will just have to survive the winter on what they have.
The broken hand continues to mend - I like to think my increased volume of dairy is helping with calcium overload. The hardest thing is keeping up to date with the physio therapy exercises designed to maintain movement.
Admittedly, I slightly over did it yesterday as I also topped the paddock (photos below) cropping the meter long grasses back to be raked off and hopefully spread the wildflower seeds about a bit.
I’ve got some yellow rattle on order as it apparently out competes and devours cooch grass.
The final part of the day was spent filling up cans of syrup with thymol / hive alive / syrup only for the final blast of feeding around the apiaries. I’ve still got some honey to take off in a couple and am busy bottling as demand remains strong.
Winter is coming!
Yesterday I fed and treated 23 colonies at the home paddock apiary and they were all extremely active and strong too. Such a shame our beekeeping season is so short really as you get the feeling if it was warmer or even mid summer the bees would be pulling in a fantastic surplus right now. However, egg laying is diminishing and while one NUC needed a second story as they were simply bursting out of their 6 frames, the rest will just have to survive the winter on what they have.
The broken hand continues to mend - I like to think my increased volume of dairy is helping with calcium overload. The hardest thing is keeping up to date with the physio therapy exercises designed to maintain movement.
Admittedly, I slightly over did it yesterday as I also topped the paddock (photos below) cropping the meter long grasses back to be raked off and hopefully spread the wildflower seeds about a bit.
I’ve got some yellow rattle on order as it apparently out competes and devours cooch grass.
The final part of the day was spent filling up cans of syrup with thymol / hive alive / syrup only for the final blast of feeding around the apiaries. I’ve still got some honey to take off in a couple and am busy bottling as demand remains strong.
Winter is coming!
