Combined hives – 2 weeks on

Posted by Jon on Jul 3, 2010 in Beekeeping, Hive management | 0 comments

I’ve been watching the hive entrance of the new hive I created by combining two poor colonies a couple of weeks ago and have been pleased with the amount of activity I’ve seen. One colony had no queen but was large in numbers and the other had had a healthy queen but very few workers so I hoped the combination would lead to a healthy colony.

Much as I don’t like disturbing our bees, it was time for an inspection

Bees and Water

Posted by Jon on May 28, 2010 in Beekeeping | 0 comments

With summer on the way (hopefully!) it’s time to think about water sources. Bees need easy access to clean water near their hives to survive – it has three vital functions:

Bee swarm, the first at home this year!

Posted by Jon on May 23, 2010 in Equipment, Swarms & Nests, Wildlife | 0 comments

At last! Our busy hives that have looked as though they were ready to split for a couple of weeks now, took advantage of the great weather yesterday and one split. At about 4.30pm there was a loud hum just behind where my wife was reading her book in the garden and the sky darkened! A quick shutting of all the windows followed to prevent the scouts finding the spare prepared frames/cadres in the bedroom and we were ready to watch where they settled.

Bees swarming