At the end of my garden, in the orchard, under the dappled shade of the trees, are two beautifully made cedar bee hives.
Jim has clearly not read my hive rules.
As I’ve told you before, I have a bee-mate called Jim, who keeps his hives in my garden. I’m helping him with his colonies until I feel confident enough to buy my own. My duck egg blue empty hive still sits directly outside the front door. A better burglar deterrent than poor old Suggs the chocolate Labrador (featured as a bear in my last blog).
Just in case you need to know about the animals and insects that live we me, that’ll be Suggs the Labrador, Princess Lily Loobrush the Lilac Colourpoint British Shorthair very expensive gorgeous cat, Pikey the feral cat, about 60,000 of Jim’s bees and probably about 20,000 of Pikey’s fleas and ear mites.
But, back to my hive rules…..
1) All hives must be brightly coloured with water soluble paint. We’ve started with Fiona’s duck egg blue kitchen paint.
2) All hives must have at least three cartoon bees painted on the side. I have been practicing and am ready to do the real thing.
3) Rather than numbering the hives, all hives must have a name which includes two z’s together. So far we have thought of Buzz, Fizz, Bizzy and Pizza Hive – any ideas?
4) All queen bees simply must have a name taken from a worthwhile regal woman. Ideas include Madonna, Queenie from Blackadder, Cleopatra, Maggie, etc. My first queen will be called Princess Fiona after aforesaid owner of duck egg blue paint as well as the ogre in Shrek (don’t tell her if you know her!)
5) All hives have to be sited on one of Neil’s doors to keep them stable and stop their legs rotting (the hives not the bees)
All this helps identify each individual hive so that I will be able to record any changes in activity in my weekly report. That’ll be something to write about in itself!
Anyway, on a bee educational front, this week is Nosema checking week – a single celled parasitic protozoon that lives in the mid gut of our honey bees and can wipe out a whole colony whilst they are overwintering, First take your 30 bees, put them in a plastic box and put them in the freezer. This humanely kills the bees overnight. I guess you know when they are dead by the fact your freezer has ceased to buzz, could be an electrical fault though. Next, mash up your bees and have a look under your microscope, at x400. I will let you know what to look for when I’ve done the class – or you could take a look in Ted Hooper’s Guide to Bees & Honey
And, the really good news is that a beekeeper from Swindon called Ron Hoskins, has discovered a superbee, a breed of the insect that seems to be able to protect itself from the Varroa mite – he’s going to start breeding from his colony – so there’s hope for us and the bees yet!
Jim has clearly not read my hive rules.
As I’ve told you before, I have a bee-mate called Jim, who keeps his hives in my garden. I’m helping him with his colonies until I feel confident enough to buy my own. My duck egg blue empty hive still sits directly outside the front door. A better burglar deterrent than poor old Suggs the chocolate Labrador (featured as a bear in my last blog).
Just in case you need to know about the animals and insects that live we me, that’ll be Suggs the Labrador, Princess Lily Loobrush the Lilac Colourpoint British Shorthair very expensive gorgeous cat, Pikey the feral cat, about 60,000 of Jim’s bees and probably about 20,000 of Pikey’s fleas and ear mites.
But, back to my hive rules…..
1) All hives must be brightly coloured with water soluble paint. We’ve started with Fiona’s duck egg blue kitchen paint.
2) All hives must have at least three cartoon bees painted on the side. I have been practicing and am ready to do the real thing.
3) Rather than numbering the hives, all hives must have a name which includes two z’s together. So far we have thought of Buzz, Fizz, Bizzy and Pizza Hive – any ideas?
4) All queen bees simply must have a name taken from a worthwhile regal woman. Ideas include Madonna, Queenie from Blackadder, Cleopatra, Maggie, etc. My first queen will be called Princess Fiona after aforesaid owner of duck egg blue paint as well as the ogre in Shrek (don’t tell her if you know her!)
5) All hives have to be sited on one of Neil’s doors to keep them stable and stop their legs rotting (the hives not the bees)
All this helps identify each individual hive so that I will be able to record any changes in activity in my weekly report. That’ll be something to write about in itself!
Anyway, on a bee educational front, this week is Nosema checking week – a single celled parasitic protozoon that lives in the mid gut of our honey bees and can wipe out a whole colony whilst they are overwintering, First take your 30 bees, put them in a plastic box and put them in the freezer. This humanely kills the bees overnight. I guess you know when they are dead by the fact your freezer has ceased to buzz, could be an electrical fault though. Next, mash up your bees and have a look under your microscope, at x400. I will let you know what to look for when I’ve done the class – or you could take a look in Ted Hooper’s Guide to Bees & Honey
And, the really good news is that a beekeeper from Swindon called Ron Hoskins, has discovered a superbee, a breed of the insect that seems to be able to protect itself from the Varroa mite – he’s going to start breeding from his colony – so there’s hope for us and the bees yet!
