Budding Cottage

I got these before my major sting reaction!

(Above – the day after the sting in the hair on the scalp!) Bee allergy One of the main things that happened over the last couple of years; was that I got a double sting in the scalp in Autumn 2012 when the bees were defensive and the winter bees were probably carrying a good […]

The  history of this apiary is varied.  It all started with two hives from Worcestershire, which were distinctly feisty bees.  They were joined by some bees who swarmed into the orchard (which has lovely low branched trees ideal for collecting swarms from). Anyway, in 2012 it all kicked off, with the hives constantly throwing swarms […]

Hive 5 When the LAN group visited, hive 3 had been about to swarm; so we took several frames of brood and stores from it, including two nice queen cells; and then created hive 5. Today on inspection the bees were building up nicely from the nuc of bees taken from hive 3 before it […]

Hive 4 In May when the LAN group visited, we looked very closely at the hive.  It had been not building up in the way that I had expected.  In addition the bees seemed too quiet – so our friend the retired bee inspector had a closer look. The hive was suffering from the result […]

Hive 3 This is becoming a bit of a tower hive. It was visited by the LAN group when it was due to swarm; so we took an artificial swarm from it (into hive 5) and knocked down some queen cells leaving two of the best behind.  However that was a few weeks ago, and […]

Hive 2 I am strangely fond of this hive of bees.  It faces the gate as I come into the apiary and they always seem busy, catching the sunlight early. In May I found the queen and popped her into the brood box (after overwintering on a brood and a half).  I then left them […]

Hive 1 – original  hive I think the bees have swarmed. The hive is just packed full of drones. I could’nt move for drones. There is no uncapped brood or BIAS but the cells are polished up ready indicating that someone is around and expected to start work soon. There are a couple of torn […]

It is now entering into summer 2014 and I realise that it is almost 3 years since I last blogged about the bees. Where did the time go? Certainly the bees have keep on going, and I will try to back track to fill in some of the gaps.  Looking back, the hives have increased […]