Tag Archives: hive

Busy, Busy, Busy…..Again

It’s that time of year again, where everything needs doing now, and I find out all of the things that I didn’t get done over the Winter. Having not posted for about three weeks, there is also a log jam of things to write about, but rather than try and catch up with everthing in one post, I’ll explain why I’ve not been keeping up with the blog bits here, and then try and put the other stuff into shorter posts, by category.

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Bees and Willow

I always relax a little when my willow starts to flower, as it marks the beginning of decent quantities of nectar and pollen for my bees. I have quite a few varieties of willow, and the first to flower here is Salix daphnoides, the violet willow. Not only does it flower early, but the shoots are the colour of damsons, and with the same ‘bloom’.  Last year, my willow didn’t start to produce until much later in the month, probably because we had bad weather quite late. The two links here are to articles that I wrote at the time. Busy Bees. Willow Pollen.

This year, I noticed that there were a few catkins that had started to change from white to yellow two days ago, but no sign of any bees. The picture below shows the first of the catkins as it changes.

willow catkin

Willow Catkin

The silver hairs are what the catkin is like before it starts to produce, and the yellow bits are the individual flowers within the catkin. Each flower produces nectar and pollen, but do not appear to be open yet.

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February Bee Forage Plants – Part Three

Today the weather warmed up, and I was surrounded by bees foraging whilst I worked. Well, surrounded isn’t technically correct, I was between them, and their forage. I took a bit of time off to take some pictures for this post, and got one or two really good shots. I also noticed/remembered a couple more useful bee forage plants.

This post follows on from the February Bee Forage Post, and from the February Bee Forage Plants Part Two post. You might want to follow the links to the original posts first.

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Wasps and Robbing update

Hi All

Well this is week three of my sentry duty, knelt in front a nucleus for most of the day. Two weeks ago I was in despair, and considering quitting keeping bees. Now, even though the nucleus still might not make it, I’m able to see some positive aspects to my task, in particular, I’m able to see much more of the daily routine of the hive, and am learning much more about the bees, and also wasps.

Most people wouldn’t have been so stubborn as to spend their whole day so preoccupied, and even if they wanted to, most couldn’t spare the time, including me, but I’ve started now, and I’ll see where it takes me.

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Swarms, Swarms, and more Swarms

It’s been hectic here, but then it always is at this time of year. I’ve now housed six swarms from three of our hives. Five have gone into Warre hives, and one went into a National, as I had no more Warre floors, or roofs available. I have two more hives that are yet to swarm, as they have built up poorly. One is definitely queen right, as I opened up the hive to check, and saw her. I need to check the other. I no longer open the hives, unless it’s vital, but the last hive does not seem right, and I don’t have an alternative.

I’ve got some pictures of one of the swarms going into a Warre hive, well NOT going into a Warre hive actually, although more of that later, and also pictures of bees in a Warre hive, taken through an observation window.

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