Budding Cottage

The construction continues as I build up a supply of supers and brood boxes for emergencies and to be more set up for next year. Dad has built from scratch a national hive, and painted it white.  It now has pride of place in the field awaiting any possible swarms for next year.  In the […]

So, Hives B and C….the two swarms that are so different. Hive B has for some time worried me because it had the varroa problem and was so slow to develop.  The queen was lovely and placid and the bees nice, if fidgety, but they did not thrive.  So a course of thymol should have […]

It has been two weeks since I managed to catch up with the girls – so time to check what they had been up to. First good news in the Pagden hive (Hive D) – there is brood and looks like a queen is in place and laying.  What a relief. They are busy filling […]

Before I leave Mr C in charge of the apiary for a week, time for a quick check of stores and space, among other things, principally to be relatively content that the little devils will have plenty to do and lots of space to do it in. We seem to be entering July, and according […]

There has also been lots of thinking and discussion around Hive G, the one with the more aggressive bees, but this week a complete surprise – I went in during mid morning, when the main forage force was out, and it was nice and sunny.  I deliberately minimised disturbance, just peeking at how they were […]