5th August. .

5th August. We were supposed to be treating the bees for varoa mite today, but Mike had forgotten his book to record who had it done, so its put back to next week.  So we checked through, I found my queen, and there were lots of babies in various stages of growth.  Johns hive was ok, and we left the feeders full of sugar water.  The idea with feeding them is to make them breed more babies, and these bees will last 6 months through the winter, against 6 weeks in the summer. They will then produce the next generation in the spring.  So they need lots of food to get them through the winter, and young bees too.  The owner of one of the hives was away, so we found a feeder and put it on the crown board of her brood box.  The bees had been running around on the crown board, and when the feeder went on they all made a bee line for it, so they must have been hungry.5th August. We were supposed to be treating the bees for varoa mite today, but Mike had forgotten his book to record who had it done, so its put back to next week.  So we checked through, I found my queen, and there were lots of babies in various stages of growth.  Johns hive was ok, and we left the feeders full of sugar water.  The idea with feeding them is to make them breed more babies, and these bees will last 6 months through the winter, against 6 weeks in the summer. They will then produce the next generation in the spring.  So they need lots of food to get them through the winter, and young bees too.  The owner of one of the hives was away, so we found a feeder and put it on the crown board of her brood box.  The bees had been running around on the crown board, and when the feeder went on they all made a bee line for it, so they must have been hungry

29th July

We both went to check the bees tonight.  The doctor had rung to say she was trying to find out what to do next, and  I went with John to look at my girls.   I was a bit nervous of checking them, but they were a lot calmer, and we looked through quickly so’s not annoy them.  The queen cell had hatched, so perhaps they are calm because they have a calmer queen.

22nd July

I didn’t go be keeping tonight under doctors orders.  My neck, nose and hand  had swollen up, and I went to the doctor.  She said she’d get a blood test, and not to go to the apiary, so John went to check everything , and found a queen in both brood boxes,  and  new queen cells, so it looks like both queens will be replaced.  Hopefully mine will be nice and peaceful, and Johns will be more proactive, and build is hive up.

15th July

Well, it had to happen eventually, but I got stung four times today!   My bees are feisty, one stung me on the leg and one got into my bee suit and stung me on the throat and nose.  Then when I headed to the car to take a couple of minutes out I got stung on the hand.  Vicious things! 
I know how the one got inside my suit, so I'll block that up, but its un nerving.
My hive is thriving, and Johns though small is also doing ok.  We wont get any honey this year, but  we've plenty of babies, and next year hopefully we'll have had a good start.  I might look into getting a calmer queen bee for my hive, that would settle them down and make them calmer.

9th July

IVE GOT MY OWN BEES!  Ive been given the brood box that was abandoned.  Its full of fiesty bees and lovely larvae, so Im well pleased.  Johns box is doing well and has babies, so his bee population will grow well.  The season is over by September when we have to feed them up with 30lb of food so they make it through what ever the winter throws at them.  A good day. :)

1st July

I was away this Friday, and John went down and finally we had eggs laid, so we have a queen!  Such good news.  The second hive was doing well, and he was advised not to feed them because they had lots of food!  Amazing what a difference a week can make.

24th June.

It rained again! I went up with sugar water to put in the feeder I bought last Tuesday.  We were able to have a quick look through and I made 2 new frames to put in to give them more space.  We didn’t see any larvae. L  Then I looked in the abandoned box, and that was a different story, lots of rather cross bees at being disturbed, and lots of larvae.  They didn’t have much food, so I borrowed a feeder, and put some of the food in from Johns hive.  They also had a new frame to go with the one I put in last week. I’ll go back on Tuesday and put food in both hives. 

17th June

It rained this evening, so we couldn’t open the hives and see what was going on.

We were shown how honey is taken from a frame, and answers were given and answered.

I had to put more sugar water in, so I took the lid off, and the sugar had solidified and they were trying to eat it through the holes in the lid.  I took that and knocked out the sugar, and filled the jar and put it back.  The bees were sitting around the top waiting to eat, and I put the lid back on.

I’m going to buy a proper feeder for them because I can put more food in at a time.

10th June

The sugar water put in the top of the brood box was almost gone.  There was a layer in the bottom of the jar, which had solidified.  We searched through the box, but couldnt find a queen, though the frame they'd put in last week was doing the right things, and the larvae was in various stages of growth.  There were two queen cells, so hopefully one of those will become ruler of our brood box.  The man in charge said the bees needed more food, so I scrounged some sugar and water from Kathy who had just fed hers, and refilled the jam jar and put it back.  This time we blocked the second hole in the coverboard.               One of the other hives hasnt had its owner around since we started, so I'd look after that one on until the bloke returns.  These bees are much more plentiful, and we found the queen, so it will be very interesting comparing the two hives.  Everyone else's hives are doing well, and we made a frame to go in the various boxes.  My frame went into the new hive because those bees are going to start expanding their territory soon.   Im going to go down and check the food on Wednesday, and top it up if neccessary.

2nd June

Went to the apiary to see what had happened during the week.  Despite the queen being released from the cage there was no sign of her, and not larvae.  So Mike put a frame of larvae from another hive into the middle of our brood box, and suggested we put a jam jar full of sugar and water for them to eat as their supplies are low.  We closed the box back up again and watched as the other hives were opened and hundreds of bees and their larvae revealed.  We found the queen in one box.
The next day we went back with a jam jar of liquid sugar, the lid puntured lots of times, and put it upside down on the top board, over the holes for the bees to access and we put the lid back on.  Fingers crossed for next week.


              

27th May

We went to the apiary to day to meet our bees for the first time.  They had been given out last week when we were on holiday and checked by the group.  So we lifted the lid on the smaller storage box, and there they were climbing over each other and filling comb with honey and nectar

The problem was no larvae and no queen bee!  We went through the 6 frames and so did the expert and we couldn’t find her, so Mike our main teacher and bee breeder found a new queen for us. She was put in a tiny wire cage sealed in with something like fondant icing and put between the centre frames .  The drones will eat the sugar and let her out, and by then she will have bonded with the others and will mate with them and hopefully stay in the brood box.  Mike said there had been a queen and lots more bees in there, but she has gone out and taken some of the bees with her. So fingers crossed there will be more bees and larvae in there next Friday when we look.