And so to what else has been happening......well I mentioned the 2 new paynes polys. I'm intrigued as to how they do. I intend to resurrect my old WBC to see which hives do best over winter....do polys win out, does the double wall of the wbc work better or will a well insulated National beat them all....all to think about in the Autumn.
Anyway, the supers on hives 1 to 4 seems to have kept the bees happy. Unlike some of the country who seems to be in the midst of a big flow, this area has been slower to respond, even though OSR is less than half a mile away, I hope the swarm control methods today will maintain my colony strength for ths May flow which is, in a good year, a banker.
I also swapped a large triple hive stand for a new one I made as I feel they all need some tlc, legs bowing, wood warping, its only a matter of time before they give way, and doing a swap out little and often over this summer will pay dividends I'm sure.
I'll post some photos of the style of stand I favour later.
But back to things collapsing. Oh My Lordy. There I was merrily looking through my best colony, 4 supers stacked on an upturned roof, all on a supposedly solid stack of wooden sleepers and ....CRASH....the whole lot went over. Supers asunder, frames everywhere, and as I cried Oh No, I realised the impact had pushed 3 of the supers askew and they needed hasty banging back together and squaring up with a hefty thump from my hive tool. I was quite cross with myself, never in 25 years have I ever allowed something like that to happen. The poor bees I think wondered what had happended. They were very calm considering, clinging onto the combs. Luckily very few crushed and no honey lost. Still, a lesson learnt....
Back home, an evening will be spent making some more frames as I suspect there will be a need to split more colonies later in May.
Anyway, the supers on hives 1 to 4 seems to have kept the bees happy. Unlike some of the country who seems to be in the midst of a big flow, this area has been slower to respond, even though OSR is less than half a mile away, I hope the swarm control methods today will maintain my colony strength for ths May flow which is, in a good year, a banker.
I also swapped a large triple hive stand for a new one I made as I feel they all need some tlc, legs bowing, wood warping, its only a matter of time before they give way, and doing a swap out little and often over this summer will pay dividends I'm sure.
I'll post some photos of the style of stand I favour later.
But back to things collapsing. Oh My Lordy. There I was merrily looking through my best colony, 4 supers stacked on an upturned roof, all on a supposedly solid stack of wooden sleepers and ....CRASH....the whole lot went over. Supers asunder, frames everywhere, and as I cried Oh No, I realised the impact had pushed 3 of the supers askew and they needed hasty banging back together and squaring up with a hefty thump from my hive tool. I was quite cross with myself, never in 25 years have I ever allowed something like that to happen. The poor bees I think wondered what had happended. They were very calm considering, clinging onto the combs. Luckily very few crushed and no honey lost. Still, a lesson learnt....
Back home, an evening will be spent making some more frames as I suspect there will be a need to split more colonies later in May.
