A fortnight ago I went down to the home place to mark queens for my father. He has 12 colonies and I managed to find and mark 8 of his queens. There was one colony of very runny bees full of brood but I couldn't find the queen even after going through the box a second time. The box had a load of brace comb as it was one frame short. When we had finished up, he noticed that the bees in this colony were running around on the front of the box like a queenless hive. I suspected that the queen ...
Hi all, I' ve been accepted into the Peace Corps and in the autumn will be heading off to central America for 2 years. I'm being encouraged to learn beekeeping, as honey would be a good way for subsistence farmers to supplement income in small villages. I've just bought a book on honey bee biology, but have no experience beekeeping. Is there anyone in or around Edinburgh that could do with an apprentice/slave labour this spring or summer? I'd be very keen to learn, and would perform ...
What a month this year / willow has been its best in years with many still giveing pollen. colony development is a bit slower as you would expect but some colonies are building strong with fresh nectar drying,good to see white wax. Someone asked the question how do you know when there bringing in nectar? good question... for me seeing bumbles trying to gain entry along with the steady hum from within,on quiet evenings you can smell the hives too, all by watching and listening, When ...
Although weather was not great yesterday, I got the chance to go through my hive. This with much trepidation as there seemed to be less activity with the ladies over the last two weeks and some odd drunken like ladies on their landing strip and some seemingly doing kamikazi like dives into the ground where they just crawled around aimlessly - thoughts of something very wrong inside?? The super still had plenty of stores in it and fresh pollen. But this super is full of spring syrup ...
I have resisted the temptation to have a peek My beekeeper mentor has kept in touch throughout and the call came yesterday to open up. Done the first inspection of the year and i am pleased to say that things are going well here. There are five frames of sealed brood, 1 drone cell some evidence of a queen cell being made and the queen was spotted. I have to say I am delighted and that despite the worst winter for years the girls have made it through. There was plenty pollen coming in and some ...
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