Flatters
House Bee
- Joined
- Jul 2, 2010
- Messages
- 298
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- Wigan, Lancs, UK
- Hive Type
- National
- Number of Hives
- 7 National
An interesting day today; I volunteered myself and my two beekeeping sons (Luke 17 and Patrick 14) to display an observation hive at Mesnes Park (pronounced Mains) and yet again they make me so proud. They love the bees with Luke looking after the colonies at home and Patrick looking after the colonies at my mother’s which is our out apiary.
They were brilliant, explaining things to children and adults and doing it with authority and authenticity. There was the standard questions on “are they not wasps?” and “Do they not sting you?” etc
Did not have any honey to sell due to us only being in our second year, but the organiser wants us back next year so we may have done OK this year.
After we returned the bees back to the club we got a call from one of my sisters. She is looking after my youngest, Maeve (10) and they spotted a swarm at a cricket club her sons play at. We go straight over there and see the swarm, so I go and see an official to see if we can take them away… “
“They’re wasps mate, we have called a pest controller. They flew over in a mass and settled over there.”
“No, they are bees; English Black Honey Bees”
“No they are wasps!”
“No I promise you they are bees, firstly, wasps don’t swarm and secondly I looked at them.”
He called off the pest controller and we collected them. They are now in a Nuc and being fed. They were a reasonable size. Double What you can see in the first photo. The skep was fantastic (thanks to Martin Buckle who taught me how to make it.).
We are in a Himalayan Balsam area so I am optimistic about this swarm. They will be looked after or I will have to answer to my sister. (She was fascinated by how we collected the swarm, so they had better survive!)
They were brilliant, explaining things to children and adults and doing it with authority and authenticity. There was the standard questions on “are they not wasps?” and “Do they not sting you?” etc
Did not have any honey to sell due to us only being in our second year, but the organiser wants us back next year so we may have done OK this year.
After we returned the bees back to the club we got a call from one of my sisters. She is looking after my youngest, Maeve (10) and they spotted a swarm at a cricket club her sons play at. We go straight over there and see the swarm, so I go and see an official to see if we can take them away… “
“They’re wasps mate, we have called a pest controller. They flew over in a mass and settled over there.”
“No, they are bees; English Black Honey Bees”
“No they are wasps!”
“No I promise you they are bees, firstly, wasps don’t swarm and secondly I looked at them.”
He called off the pest controller and we collected them. They are now in a Nuc and being fed. They were a reasonable size. Double What you can see in the first photo. The skep was fantastic (thanks to Martin Buckle who taught me how to make it.).
We are in a Himalayan Balsam area so I am optimistic about this swarm. They will be looked after or I will have to answer to my sister. (She was fascinated by how we collected the swarm, so they had better survive!)
