Tag Archives: pollen

February Bee Forage Plants

On Tuesday and Wednesday my bees were out forageing, which was great to see, so I thought that it might be nice to summarise what bee forage plants they’re making use of at the moment. I also though that I’d add a few growing tips, and add some thoughts about how the plants fit into a permaculture design, or planting scheme.

Bee on Winter Honeysuckle

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Bees and Wasps Robbing Hives

Hi All

It’s been about five weeks since my last post, and it’s all down to bees. Initially the time was being spent on good stuff, like collecting swarms, and so on, but for the last two weeks, it’s all been defensive duties, trying to prevent strong hives and wasps from destroying the smaller colonies. At the moment I’ve got a short respite from my ‘sentry’ duties, as the rain is keeping the bees inside, and wasp activity is pretty low, but as soon as the rain stops I’ll be back outside.

Some of the problems are a result of some of my beekeeping decisions, but others have been outside of my control.

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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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Catching Up with Work

Forgive me for it has been nearly two weeks since my last post, and I find myself with very little exciting Smallholding stuff to update you on, but quite a bit of the more mundane work. For much of the past week I have been distracted from the real work that needs to be done, by family matters, and Transition Town Horncastle work.

We had visitors for the whole weekend, from Friday through to Monday, and I was not able to do as much work as I needed to. On Sunday, I spent all of the morning feeding the flames for my Pizza oven, followed by eating and drinking for the rest of the day. Great fun, with my two daughters, along with husbands, eight Grandchildren, a sister in law, and a mother in law. We made pizza, bread, and rhubarb crumble. The oven needs more insulation, but this will have to wait a few weeks.

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