my lucky escape

[john t]

last week i introduced an imported queen into a weak failing colony,after removing the drone laying queen- this was my only hive,

on the Monday it was vandalized by kids throwing rocks, so i moved the remaining two frames of bees into a small nuc, and moved the now empty hive the other side of my hedge,the hive was sited on a river bank

on the friday i was in the garage preparing to move the small colony from the nuc into an observation hive when a tree fell without any notice, i would have been standing at the side of the nuc 5 mins later

be careful where you site your hives

dose anyone in the Andover area know where i can get hold of a colony or nuc of bees

 

[sean-a]

Wow, looks like you missed a bullet there.

 

[john t]

yes after the event, it made me think how lucky i had been

 

[madasafish]

yes after the event, it made me think how lucky i had been

Do you pick lottery numbers as well?

 

[john t]

Do you pick lottery numbers as well?

i think i had used up my luck allowance for quite a while

 

[Wilfred Pickles]

Good grief! Risky business this bee juggling lark.
I hope that you can recover your season from this John.

 

[john t]

Good grief! Risky business this bee juggling lark.
I hope that you can recover your season from this John.

the few bees that were left (about a mug full) are now in an observation hive, i think they are q- and so not really worth sending for a new queen,
i have set up some bait boxes so fingers crossed,
there dosent seem to be much availability from the local bee farmers the 2018 nucs all taken

 

[justsmith]

Well i hope your luck holds out with the swarms in the next few weeks.

 

[Millet]

I think you have been lucky on two occasions one it never hit you on the barnet and two you have yourself a bit of fire wood..

 

[john t]

swarm boxes are now sited , and half of the tree chopped ready to split and stack , will keep me going for a year or two im sure

 

[Stedic]

So you had a drone laying queen, a vandalised hive AND nearly got splatter by a tree and this lot call you lucky!?

Beekeepers really are glass half full types, aren't they?

 

[john t]

So you had a drone laying queen, a vandalised hive AND nearly got splatter by a tree and this lot call you lucky!?

Beekeepers really are glass half full types, aren't they?

its a strange world, all that happened last week and i feel very lucky,

lessons learned
1, dont have your hives in public view
2, risk assess your hives location if possible

3, if it all goes wrong - keep smiling