Friday night I eventually collected a cast from near Borough High Street. It was stressful rushing there straight after work through heavy traffic. Looking around they must have come from a hive on a nearby high roof, but I couldn't see the hive. I wonder if the neighbours know there are hives there? I have been thinking about the negative publicity following the swarm on Regents Street last week too. So whose bees were they? Understandably there has been no admission of responsibility.
Saturday I delivered the bees to the recycling company. They were soooooooo happy! I was pleased that they had taken my advice to mark the hives and to move them away from the boundary fence to reduce the risk of theft and vandalism. I learned that a nearby park is planning to adopt natural beekeeping, lead by some beginners. I am quite fed up about this as it means my bees will be much for vulnerable to disease and also I am likley to get the blame when their bees swarm. I feel like disgruntled of Southwark.
Sunday I went through the bees at the wasteground with one of the students. It was very hot, and she said she didn't feel well. We had a break and a cold drink then started again. Suddenly there was a loud crash and she was on the ground with bees all over her. She'd passed out and grabbed the National to steady herself and pulled it over.
I think she and the bees were all Ok in the end, but it makes you think. At least she was in her suit with the veil up, so got no stings. I went to the allotment to go through those bees in the afternoon. Like the wasteground bees they were rather honey bound. The flow is on big time again and they are running out of space to store nectar. I have put on more supers, but am waiting for foundation to arrive from Hastings, so had to improvise some of the boxes and put in starter strips of foundation about 2cm long that I secured with melted wax. I wrote 'unwired' on top of each frame so that I don't make the mistake of putting them in the extractor.
One of my bee buddies is upset because his neighbour has asked him to move his hives out of his garden. The neighbour has never been stung, by his own admnission, but he says the presence of the bees is spoiling his garden for him and that he is worrying all the time about his daughter. My feeling is that it will not end well. My buddy plans to start clipping his queens in order to reduce the risk of swarms still further.
It is now slow going examining the brood boxes because there are so many bees and most hives now have 3+ heavy supers on them.
I got up a 6am again this morning to finish off looking at the rest of the hives. I don't know if I imagined it, but the hives do smell of lime flowers.
My fingers are stained yellow and my back hurts and I feel that I have spent nearly all this weekend beekeeping. It looks like I will have to extract and consider selling some bees soon.
Saturday I delivered the bees to the recycling company. They were soooooooo happy! I was pleased that they had taken my advice to mark the hives and to move them away from the boundary fence to reduce the risk of theft and vandalism. I learned that a nearby park is planning to adopt natural beekeeping, lead by some beginners. I am quite fed up about this as it means my bees will be much for vulnerable to disease and also I am likley to get the blame when their bees swarm. I feel like disgruntled of Southwark.
Sunday I went through the bees at the wasteground with one of the students. It was very hot, and she said she didn't feel well. We had a break and a cold drink then started again. Suddenly there was a loud crash and she was on the ground with bees all over her. She'd passed out and grabbed the National to steady herself and pulled it over.
I think she and the bees were all Ok in the end, but it makes you think. At least she was in her suit with the veil up, so got no stings. I went to the allotment to go through those bees in the afternoon. Like the wasteground bees they were rather honey bound. The flow is on big time again and they are running out of space to store nectar. I have put on more supers, but am waiting for foundation to arrive from Hastings, so had to improvise some of the boxes and put in starter strips of foundation about 2cm long that I secured with melted wax. I wrote 'unwired' on top of each frame so that I don't make the mistake of putting them in the extractor.One of my bee buddies is upset because his neighbour has asked him to move his hives out of his garden. The neighbour has never been stung, by his own admnission, but he says the presence of the bees is spoiling his garden for him and that he is worrying all the time about his daughter. My feeling is that it will not end well. My buddy plans to start clipping his queens in order to reduce the risk of swarms still further.
It is now slow going examining the brood boxes because there are so many bees and most hives now have 3+ heavy supers on them.
I got up a 6am again this morning to finish off looking at the rest of the hives. I don't know if I imagined it, but the hives do smell of lime flowers.
My fingers are stained yellow and my back hurts and I feel that I have spent nearly all this weekend beekeeping. It looks like I will have to extract and consider selling some bees soon.
