tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3132356978923355372024-03-20T11:55:19.452+00:00Beekeeping for BeeginnersI am a new beekeeper and decided to keep an online diary of my new hobby for three reasons; firstly, and selfishly, to keep track of how things develop with my own bees; secondly, to encourage an online community (particularly within Ireland) to air and share their experiences, problems and solutions ; and lastly, with the hope to encourage others who are considering this hobby to take the plunge.Cliff Whttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13929876975838342227noreply@blogger.comBlogger35125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-313235697892335537.post-65399989874165882972011-02-20T21:31:00.002+00:002011-02-20T21:32:48.719+00:00The Bee Master<div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">Today Elva and I were very privileged. The renowned English beekeeper Mr. Clive de Bruyn, as part of his Irish speaking tour, was visiting one of the local bee associations. Luckily, it was an opportunity for all-comers from around Ireland to come and listen to his talk about his beekeeping experiences.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">As a communicator I would say that he would be hard to beat. He struck the perfect balance between common sense, humour, practical advice and an insight into the future. With over 30 years experience, he had an awful lot of information to impart and a couple of hours in his company was far too little. </span></div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">I would have to recommend that if the chance comes around and, as the ads say, if he is coming to a town near you then do your very best because you won't regret it.</span></div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">On a practical basis, my two hives from last autumn seem so far to have made it through the extremely hard winter months. It's far too early to tell for sure but bees were flying out yesterday and we took the chance to have a quick check on stores. One of the hives did have a good number of dead bees and we removed these and replaced the floor with a fresh one. It's still far too cold to do anything at all intrusive besides ensuring that the bees aren't going to starve to death. It would be such a pity to have got this far for them to run out of food at this late stage.</span></div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">The spring bulbs in the gardens now are really getting ready to burst out. Snowdrops and the early daffodils are visible in some parts. The willow buds are developing the fine hairs which precede the pollen-laden catkins which give the bees that huge protein fix. </span></div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="justify"></div>Cliff Whttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13929876975838342227noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-313235697892335537.post-20105023556796842622010-06-16T23:07:00.000+01:002010-06-16T23:07:03.620+01:00Grow Your Own - summer 2010<span style="font-family: "Verdana", sans-serif;">My excuse for the lack of blogging in recent times is due to our work on the vegetable-growing front. I've been keeping an eye on the hive but blogging about it has been very much an afterthought.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana", sans-serif;">This evening sitting at our home-made brick-built barbeque, we enjoyed some of the fruits of labours. It's still early in the season but I tasted my first ever home-grown cucumber and it was quite a surreal moment. Peas, mangetout, spinach and strawberries have all featured on our menus so far and we have potatoes, cabbage, courgette (zucchini), runner beans, cherry tomatoes & sweet corn to look forward too. Gooseberries and autumn-fruiting raspberries are starting to look like they may yield something this year. Just praying that this fair weather stays over Ireland. The polytunnel which we erected late summer '09 has been a God-send. It's quite extraordinary how quickly things grow. So far we have been lucky with pests keeping away. In fact the usual slugs and snails are absent throughout but that is probably due to the harsh winter - a great side effect.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana", sans-serif;">The layout of the tunnel is very much a mixture of vegetable/fruit groups with lots of flowering plans to attract the bees and predators. I had to remove a sunflower from inside the tunnel as it was about to go through the roof - literally!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana", sans-serif;">On the top fruit front, the apple crop on the oldest tree, 4 years old or so, looks like it may break records for this garden. I am putting that down to having 50000 honeybees in the near vicinity!</span>Cliff Whttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13929876975838342227noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-313235697892335537.post-22230934007648606612010-06-16T22:46:00.002+01:002010-06-17T09:40:30.014+01:00Swarm control to Major Tom....<span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">Since the last post (far too long), the weather here in Ireland has been great. Quite different from the last couple of years and it's all looking well.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">As predicted by all the text books, my one-year old queenright colony started to show signs of swarming. IT had survived the winter well. To head things off before they swarmed, I carried out a variety of artificial swarm by removing the old Queen along with stores and brood and placing into another prepared hive. It all went well and a few days later there were fresh eggs. To cut a long story short, the original hive swarmed a few weeks later and the new hive showed signs of queenlessness. Where did she go?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">As it happened, I managed to capture the swarm in a corner of the garden. It couldn't have been easier ~ about 12 inches off the ground! A spare nucleus box was used to home the docile, lost girls. I left them in the nuc close to where they had swarmed and I think it was this that maybe prompted them to take flight again. Fortunately, I managed to catch them again as they had settled in almost the same location as before. This time however I re-located the nuc to another position in the garden and they have stayed there contentedly since. </span><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">Yesterday, for the first time, there were eggs on one of the frames showing the new Queen had mated - what a relief! I think that I will be uniting the nuc with the split hive which had contained the old Queen.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">The original hive had a couple of Queen cells and practically no brood or eggs. It is possible that there is a virgin here lurking but I cannot be confident. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">Now to look for Major Tom....... </span>Cliff Whttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13929876975838342227noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-313235697892335537.post-61389655465899180022010-05-16T20:35:00.006+01:002010-05-18T13:02:39.031+01:00Ladies in waiting<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Yesterday was beautiful here although not as warm as it should be for this time of year. The forage available is the leftovers from the dandelion that are now going to seed (to the annoyance of the non-beekeeping population), fruit blossom and incredible yellow gorses. Early summer shrubs and flowers in the garden attract the odd interested visitor.</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Repeating the inspection methodology from last time with Elva armed and ready at my side, we discovered that the marked Queen cells from before had been elongated and their developing contents were growing inside them. My bees are definitley reading the same books that I do. Just as well because there seems to be so many different techniques for every one ambition.</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">We quickly spotted eggs throughout the hive; testimony to the Queen still be ingalive and well and that I should worry far less when it comes to beekeeping! [Do any of you fellow beekeepers constantly suffer from these misplaced feelings of doubt and paranoia? ] The lower brood frames were packed with nurse bees and yet despite their numbers, Elva's eagle eyes spotted her majesty. Elva had laser eye correction last year - her queen-spotting skills are now superhuman. </div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">AGAIN failing at colour marking, we transfered her on a brood frame along with a couple of frames of food into an adjacent nucleus box. I don't believe the Queen was really aware of the plans that we had for her. A sad moment really as she is removed permanently from her 30 or 40 thousand daughters :(</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Making up the remaining 4-frame nucleus with an empty foundation frame and 2 frames's worth of bees we closed up the nucleus and blocked off the entrance with some grass (for 48 hours). Seemingly, this blocking technique delays their re-emergence sufficiently to allow them to "re-home" themselves and adapt to the new hive. I shall see and keep my fingers crossed.</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Going back to the original hive on its original stand, I removed one of half a dozen developing Queen cells. This one in particular was far more developed and my book suggest cells close to being sealed should be removed. Not sure why you do this other than if you wanted to delay the new virgin Queen emerging which might be useful in the event of bad weather forecast. Any ideas of why this should be advised would be welcome!</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana", sans-serif;">The hive was then closed and we congratulated ourselves with high fives on having completed our first major manipulation to control swarming (hopefully) and to augment our single colony. I have to re-examine the original hive in a week or so just to check how things have developed in the interim. I expect that the bees will be a little more testy than usual. Would that be fair to say?</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana", sans-serif;">Time will tell how successful we'v<span style="font-family: "Verdana", sans-serif;">e been!</span> Aplogies for the lack of photos - I don't know how you guys manage such fantastic photos when there is so much to do. Experience I guess....</span></div>Cliff Whttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13929876975838342227noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-313235697892335537.post-14195834801885557022010-05-12T20:27:00.001+01:002010-05-12T20:36:51.154+01:00Swarm control and colony division<div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Verdana", sans-serif;">Well it's reached that time of the season when we must all be on our guards. A friend rang me last night to tell me that her bees had swarmed. Luckily their bees ended up occupying some cavity blocks underneath their hive stand so we're keeping our fingers crossed that their re-homing into a new hive will be successful.</span></div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Verdana", sans-serif;">The weather here, after having had a great March and April, has been cold and windy with frequent showers. It makes deciding when to open the hive tricky given the blistering northerlies that sweep across the adjacent field. It's the same wind bringing the volcanic ash plume from Iceland and </span><span style="font-family: "Verdana", sans-serif;">which is causing all this havoc for the controllers of European airspaces.</span></div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Verdana", sans-serif;">I digress.</span></div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Verdana", sans-serif;">I took the day as annual leave to guarantee that I could be at home when the weather was at its warmest. The bees hadn't touched the foundation sheets in the super (added a week ago) so they were removed along with the Q Excluder and resigned to the bee shed for a while longer.</span></div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Verdana", sans-serif;">I had been using a brood and a half set-up to give a strong colony. With 20 odd brood frames to do through I won't be repeating this in future. The difficulty and awkwardness of the frame manipulation outweighs the advantage of the extra space. </span></div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Verdana", sans-serif;">Within the upper shallow brood frames, I found 4 or 5 swarm cells of which 3 were occupied by eggs. I marked the topbar above the cells with drawing pins so I can return to them next time. This means I have 5 or 6 days before they're sealed which would coincide with any swarming. There was plenty of food and brood at all stages. There were a few drones about too.</span></div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Verdana", sans-serif;">Moving onto the brood chamber proper, on the very first outside frame, I found the Queen. There she was; clip-winged and looking in fine fettle. It's only the third time that I've found her and the first time when I've been alone. I spent around 15 minutes watching her as she raced around looking for empty cells. Shame I didn't have a camera handy to capture the moment as she laid that precious egg. Having had her green marking wiped away from the time we adopted her, this seemed to be the perfect time to re-establish her year registration mark. The Queen and I played "cat and mouse" as she tried to escape my pathetic and desperate attempts to confine her. My crown of thorns (a fairly lethal looking contraption) failed to stop her to my dismay. Note to self; keep a matchbox in the toolbox. At this moment, she seemed to suddenly disappear and to tell the truth I lost my cool thinking that she had fallen off or "flown off". Not sure why I think she took to the clipped wing! I returned the Queen's frame and went through the rest of the brood frame. More brood (eggs, larvae etc,) stores and drones but no signs of Queen cells. With the benefit of hindsight I should have put her in a matchbox whilst I was checking the rest of the hive. With the eggs in queen cells at this stage, I think I could have put the old Queen in a spare nucleus box with a frame of brood (without Queen cells) </span><span style="font-family: "Verdana", sans-serif;">and couple of frames of stores along with</span><span style="font-family: "Verdana", sans-serif;"> bees from a a couple of frames. </span></div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Verdana", sans-serif;">My current position is that I will re-examine the hive in 3 days to look for eggs which will tell me whether she is still in residence. If she did disappear, it should mean that the swarming instinct will be quashed. Hopefully, the current Queen cell eggs will develop. My aspiration to divide the colony may have to take a back-seat for a while if she left. </span></div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="justify"><br />
</div>Cliff Whttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13929876975838342227noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-313235697892335537.post-77343285660501359262010-04-12T10:12:00.014+01:002010-04-12T18:10:26.692+01:00Hive news and surgery tales<div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">The weather here over the last weeks has been fairly mad. Ten days ago we had snow! However this weekend was glorious with temperatures hitting around 18 or 19 degrees (celcius), I guess.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">We've had some pleasant enough spells occasionally over the spring up until now but nothing extraordinary and certainly not warm enough to risk anything. I was getting frustrated to check on what was going on in the hive although, as the saying goes, if you can't accomplish anything by opening it up, then DON'T!</span></div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">So with a still, warm day at last and other garden & home chores either completed or demoted down the list, Elva (my trusty assistant and fiancée) and I made a list of everything we thought we'd need to open the hive. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">One thing I've realised is that good planning is essential. The irony is that the comb mess that I had allowed to develop during September 2009 was down to my lack of foresight. I blogged about this at the time.</span></div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="justify"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">As far as the bees were concerned, I knew that all seemed to be in order from the amount of pollen that was being brought in. We have a large pussy willow </span><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">tree </span><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">(<i>salix caprea </i>var, I think) in the garden which yields masses of bright yellow pollen at exactly the right time of the year when brood is being reared and there's hunger for protein (from pollen). This photo was taken on a gorgeous day in March just as the silvery grey buds were shining in the morning sunshine. The buds are just in the process of opening. </span></div><div align="justify"><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwbZfVWi8Al9kh4lplfJTPUP3Yy-ma0w3F3TtriOzYCJxfor7-MJOqXiH4xL2KuUmycsUfogZGJTfU1XXahT2kc4lPex-08OB69Huy5Xzz1lfqTN4a6WZg_ErGziXYElfB-DfyteBuCsg/s1600/Pussy+willow+March7.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwbZfVWi8Al9kh4lplfJTPUP3Yy-ma0w3F3TtriOzYCJxfor7-MJOqXiH4xL2KuUmycsUfogZGJTfU1XXahT2kc4lPex-08OB69Huy5Xzz1lfqTN4a6WZg_ErGziXYElfB-DfyteBuCsg/s400/Pussy+willow+March7.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><br />
</div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">Back to the problem I had with a full brood box on top sitting over a shallow super chamber with only 5 frames. Wild comb in September had been built hanging off some of the higher up frames in the open spaces. </span></div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">The "surgery" involved lifting off the roof and, with the crownboard still in place, raising the complete brood box with frames (and bees) vertically upwards. Jeez, what a weight! Then my "hive surgeon" on her hands and knees cut out the vertical elongations of wild comb from the base of the frames and carefully placed them in a spare nucleus. With the majority of these combs tidied up, I was able to lift the brood chamber back onto a spare temporary floor. (A pair of trestles would have been helpful at this point). The air was pretty full of bees at this stage but all was calm. </span></div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">As Elva went through the cut away honeycomb for signs of her Majesty, I removed the lower shallow super exposing the floor. I had to clear away quite a few dead bees from the open-mesh floor - the undertakers must have been busy! All the time, I was hoping that the Queen would stay out of sight inside the dark recesses of the frames. There were no practical precautions that I could think of to guarantee her safety absolutely - just being watchful and praying! [</span><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">I couldn't remove the upper frames individually because of the wild comb]. </span><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">Photos were missed due to our both being occupied with lifting / cutting etc.</span></div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">At this stage, w</span><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">ith floor exposed, </span><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">we could return the brood chamber to its rightful position above the floor. </span><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">So far, so good... stay calm.....</span></div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">Next I went through the super frames sitting on a side stand. These frames were mostly stores although there were signs of the odd egg meaning that the Queen had been here within the last 2 or 3 days. Still no sign of herself so it looked more likely that she was hiding somewhere safe. </span></div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">Returning the shallow chamber onto the brood box, I decided against installing a Queen excluder at this stage. I'll return to the hive in about a week when things will have settled after the major furniture rearrangement. Unfortunately but unavoidably, a number of larvae at all stages were killed in the operation along with some eggs. Now therefore, if the Queen is alive and well, and not traumatised or killed by the surgery, I will now be in the position to carry out normal frame manipulations again. A good lesson to have learnt but one that I could have done without!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif;">The only upset during the whole episode was poor Elva getting stung through her rubber gloves. </span></div><div align="justify" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">To compensate for the lack of photos I've added a few of our spring-time flora from around our garden apiary.</span></div><div align="justify"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiraX_32cMJ_fD3QHz2taTUsowC6t30_OZiKuWNR9emlVVaYf0Q8HiW_Qr1yMvYhYouk6X5T1hwnTUdrHBSdgZaWnCJEgzEy5Y4vcYEFhNBDF7_4Bm37WRg4nW4dpa6DfalNoXzmVOlrkk/s1600/Pussy+willow+March4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiraX_32cMJ_fD3QHz2taTUsowC6t30_OZiKuWNR9emlVVaYf0Q8HiW_Qr1yMvYhYouk6X5T1hwnTUdrHBSdgZaWnCJEgzEy5Y4vcYEFhNBDF7_4Bm37WRg4nW4dpa6DfalNoXzmVOlrkk/s400/Pussy+willow+March4.JPG" width="400" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiraX_32cMJ_fD3QHz2taTUsowC6t30_OZiKuWNR9emlVVaYf0Q8HiW_Qr1yMvYhYouk6X5T1hwnTUdrHBSdgZaWnCJEgzEy5Y4vcYEFhNBDF7_4Bm37WRg4nW4dpa6DfalNoXzmVOlrkk/s1600/Pussy+willow+March4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Close-up of pussy willow before opening. This tree has been a fantastic source of pollen during March and April although it is just about over now (11/04).</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie6MTi-MQX5-zEf6ypa4ieO9_1KeySgtnH6E3k8kwIbf44DXy6mKD4n3rD3GmLzMYuUvFEgJguiONa6SlFstPTZ3Io5r8opjgXqUd_LEOjinX9hRPapwT6foz0CkbiNI9RwfgeQAd5Cvw/s1600/Snowdrops.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie6MTi-MQX5-zEf6ypa4ieO9_1KeySgtnH6E3k8kwIbf44DXy6mKD4n3rD3GmLzMYuUvFEgJguiONa6SlFstPTZ3Io5r8opjgXqUd_LEOjinX9hRPapwT6foz0CkbiNI9RwfgeQAd5Cvw/s400/Snowdrops.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> The snowdrops are now finished although they bring a friendly cheer to the garden before the daffodils arrive to herald the true start of spring. They're meant to be bee-friendly although we only have the odd clump at present.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTBPXcz-ooDGh_K2yvEz3qL9eNFy-gjyt8rYudqX2cnspCNKJ2FIWPWEbA3t95rjmuYhk-chiyHGaOXeNRi-4tqxtFWE-gWhe2b7EVj0QkHiOHglajXnlwLLRd6vjtJPl55MOxYl3iiaw/s1600/Salix+contorta+catkins.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTBPXcz-ooDGh_K2yvEz3qL9eNFy-gjyt8rYudqX2cnspCNKJ2FIWPWEbA3t95rjmuYhk-chiyHGaOXeNRi-4tqxtFWE-gWhe2b7EVj0QkHiOHglajXnlwLLRd6vjtJPl55MOxYl3iiaw/s320/Salix+contorta+catkins.JPG" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Catkins of the salix contorta tree (twisted willow).</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqDNo2RX_Kf-hPHBSoaHWXUhCP0AME1_8MVMAl7WkYkz93uliTtk0yQpnYq5AvHbN2XQg1lUfco1ZJ6NM4R2pIpaUsDAPY1OmMJZy5ypvshbNcWy1_mQ3STto-H6NX57wXr1_qUUTE5fQ/s1600/Fredster.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqDNo2RX_Kf-hPHBSoaHWXUhCP0AME1_8MVMAl7WkYkz93uliTtk0yQpnYq5AvHbN2XQg1lUfco1ZJ6NM4R2pIpaUsDAPY1OmMJZy5ypvshbNcWy1_mQ3STto-H6NX57wXr1_qUUTE5fQ/s400/Fredster.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Freddy adopting his usual pose of indifference!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghCKQCWEfhMHqU4lrxQJBmDpQNj9Kr30oO4oNXr13fdFDpdI_D1hC816h5xEL8OQ24qH9KtF9fBYFXP5Utgkm0TI5y8N0AD-veu2ZrZpEldo8e-VCP3gGAZzTBvIEbJctlZVGD7xqa9ZE/s1600/Keeping+their+distance.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghCKQCWEfhMHqU4lrxQJBmDpQNj9Kr30oO4oNXr13fdFDpdI_D1hC816h5xEL8OQ24qH9KtF9fBYFXP5Utgkm0TI5y8N0AD-veu2ZrZpEldo8e-VCP3gGAZzTBvIEbJctlZVGD7xqa9ZE/s400/Keeping+their+distance.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">When working at the hive, these guys have learned to keep their distance.</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">As things get back to normal and garden jobs are less hectic to coordinate with full-time work, I should be able to get back to some semblance of regular bee blogging!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I'm interested if anyone else has had a similar problem and how they approached it. I guess that there is argument that it would have been better to have waited longer for a time when drones were about. This would have allowed a new Queen to have been reared and mated should I have accidentally killed the current one. What do you think? I guess time will tell. </span></div></div>Cliff Whttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13929876975838342227noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-313235697892335537.post-6103951706515138772010-03-04T12:14:00.004+00:002010-03-04T12:18:42.159+00:00Himself!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCMwa4LbTBjm9eafg92_6xCmyRm5_ZDFhuRE8pmx-vZ01njiU1ri2DdKoKiKh6wYQA2ocLDYWsMhVp54OEvzuJVzS6E3fZtzNB3aeUPJpadLNRh8PBK-D5okE-n3EiTmbUMm1OHig3a2U/s1600-h/Jesse+in+tunnelJPG.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">As promised here are a couple of photos of our latest canine companion, Jesse. As you'll see, his assistance in supervising setting out the polytunnel was invaluable!</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCMwa4LbTBjm9eafg92_6xCmyRm5_ZDFhuRE8pmx-vZ01njiU1ri2DdKoKiKh6wYQA2ocLDYWsMhVp54OEvzuJVzS6E3fZtzNB3aeUPJpadLNRh8PBK-D5okE-n3EiTmbUMm1OHig3a2U/s1600-h/Jesse+in+tunnelJPG.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCMwa4LbTBjm9eafg92_6xCmyRm5_ZDFhuRE8pmx-vZ01njiU1ri2DdKoKiKh6wYQA2ocLDYWsMhVp54OEvzuJVzS6E3fZtzNB3aeUPJpadLNRh8PBK-D5okE-n3EiTmbUMm1OHig3a2U/s400/Jesse+in+tunnelJPG.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Despite his operation, his energy and enthusiasm seem to know no limit :)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGJLboRTUR5QwWMPT5YOzv3E5b0QnPZZ12zBqzsWy-DoSthzSvucOwDK9QL9pfZNSQOLesgaVefA5sk_-FwWTZMh-wM_fgMrt9I5oPd7qhNmS4YjCVDP10b-7gdEVJKlATcB-9kPsvzbE/s1600-h/Jesse.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGJLboRTUR5QwWMPT5YOzv3E5b0QnPZZ12zBqzsWy-DoSthzSvucOwDK9QL9pfZNSQOLesgaVefA5sk_-FwWTZMh-wM_fgMrt9I5oPd7qhNmS4YjCVDP10b-7gdEVJKlATcB-9kPsvzbE/s400/Jesse.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span>Cliff Whttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13929876975838342227noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-313235697892335537.post-3046655602155282112010-03-03T12:36:00.003+00:002010-03-04T11:16:39.044+00:00Spring cometh<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">After the perpetual cold winter that the majority of the northern hemisphere seems to have suffered, last weekend saw what is hopefully the first proper signs of Spring in my garden. We've been very busy over the last weeks and blogging has taken a bit of a back seat unfortunately. </div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Last Saturday, we were working out preparing the new polytunnel for the season when we heard this strange sound like a distant jet plane. It turned out that the bees had discovered the warmth of the afternoon sun and come outside to navigate their way around the place. Their loud humming was wonderful to hear. It's the first time that I'd seen them flying properly this year so it was a massive relief. I'd given them some "ambrosia" - a type of liquid sugar feed before we went on holiday in early February but only a few workers bothered to pay me any attention.</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">This will be my first full season as a beekeeper and so Saturday was my first experience of the emotion of seeing a colony making it through the winter (fingers crossed!). I hope that feeling never disappears.</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">As far as other news is concerned, I can announce that we have adopted a new canine friend in Laurel Cottage. One of Elva's friends decided that it was necessary to go abroad for work purposes and approached us if we could foster their collie dog, Jesse. We agreed to take the little fella and try to give him the kind of love that Marie and Jason had. Jesse had needed a leg amputated a few years ago and taking him half way around the world to Oz wouldn't have been fair. Anyway, Jesse is now happily living with us and the other two hairy mutts. So far, so good and there's been little upset between the three of them. I wonder how he will react to the bees! Will post some photos soon.</span></div>Cliff Whttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13929876975838342227noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-313235697892335537.post-78494838422449599532010-01-18T18:52:00.001+00:002010-01-18T19:18:35.231+00:00Lazarus bees! I have a dream....<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">When I got back from work this evening, Elva was already home and she'd had time to look around the garden in the light. As we were chatting about the kind of days we'd had, she went on to tell me how she had found some dead bees lying onto top of the hive and that had brought them in for me to look at more closely. Gee, thanks! She was telling me of her microscope etc etc. although if I'm honest I wasn't paying the most attention ever. I had seen the same bees over the weekend and had wondered why the birds don't remove the bee carcasses especially when food sources have been so scarce recently with all the frost and snow.<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Anyway, the point of the story ("at last" I hear you cry), was that an hour or so later as she was preparing our evening dinner (we take it turns in case you are wondering!!) I heard this scream from the kitchen - "Cliff!". Fearing the worst that maybe she'd scalded herself or less seriously the oven had exploded, I intrepidly went to her rescue. "Your bees are alive!", she screamed. For those of you lucky enough to know Elva personally, you will know that she is not prone to hysterics and helps me with the hive regularly. I guess it was the sheer surprise of seeing the girls come out of their "coma" that prompted the shouting. Maybe it was the heat from the kitchen that did it, who knows? It is something that I intend to research to see if I can revive some of the "previously lost" bees. The Frankenstein bees...<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Either way, besides being an amusing story (well, I thought so) it is certainly encouraging that these cold temperatures may not be so fatal as I had thought! <br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">By the way, tidings to my friends stateside on Martin Luther King day 2010!<br />
</div>Cliff Whttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13929876975838342227noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-313235697892335537.post-49033230099903067352010-01-17T21:46:00.000+00:002010-01-17T21:46:48.671+00:00It's been a while........<div align="justify"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Firstly, I have to apologise for the lack of posting recently. Although things have been quiet on the bee front as you'd expect at this time of year it doesn't mean I am sitting twiddling my fingers. </span><br />
</div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Our weather (along with that in the UK) has been described as Arctic over the last few weeks although I'm not sure how accurate that description actually is. Either way, the temperature hardly rose above freezing for about 3 weeks and with the clear night skies meant it fell to minus 10 or so. We're talking Celsius now. The cold air has now moved away for the time-being and it felt like Spring today as I got around to some long-awaited garden maintenance. I love this time of year when you can start planning those jobs that you need to do like ordering seeds and deciding where your fruit and veg are going this year. </span><br />
</div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The bees were out flying over the weekend although, to be honest, they just appeared to be coming and going so I assumed they were out on cleansing flights and bringing in fresh water. </span><br />
</div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We have our local beekeeper's lecture this week about Apimondia 2009 - the international beekeepers' conference which was held in southern France this year. The talk is being given by one of the national beekeeping celebrities who frequently appears on the radio with his tales of wildlife and beekeeping. Looking forward to it and to hear of what's happening around the hives in the county.</span><br />
</div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I got a few vouchers for a beekeeping equipment store at Christmas and I went a bit mad ordering stuff for the 2010 season. Anyway, the equipment arrived this week and I now have even more to occupy me in the evenings making up supers and frames.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> One of the new pieces of hardware was my first Top Bar hive so that's going to keep my out of trouble for a while anyway. Watch this space! TBH's still seem fairly new here so I am going to have find someone with more experience than me!</span><br />
</div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Changing the subject, it's only another few weeks left to get fully fit for our ski trip which we're really excited about. For anyone who is wondering, I won't be appearing in Vancouver at the Winter Olympics - ha ha ; ) </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
</div>Cliff Whttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13929876975838342227noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-313235697892335537.post-64509707475710863582009-12-13T18:09:00.003+00:002009-12-14T15:01:00.425+00:00Summer beekeeping course<div align="justify"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Here in Ireland we have a week in the summer dedicated to beekeeping. There are lectures, workshops, practicals and demonstrations. The week event is held at Gormanstown in County Meath, near Dublin. (The venue is usually a boarding school in term time.) It's a national event and attracts beekeepers from abroad. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I was working this year so I couldn't attend. </span><br />
<br />
<div align="justify"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Anyway, I see that at Gormanstown </span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">this year </span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">the main guest speaker is from the U.S.; Dr Dewey M. Caron, retired professor of the Univ of Delaware. </span><br />
</div><div><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I'm hoping to attend this July if work allows it. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Should be interesting to hear him speak especially given that most of the beekeeping blogs I follow originate stateside. </span><br />
</div><br />
<div align="justify"><br />
</div></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">On the bee front, there is little to report. It's been cold here and I guess </span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">there's little incentive to venture outside when you have all the food, warmth and sisterly company you need! <br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIMePmv3W_3p0p9_DZNJqe_KmvOBvw85XfBQc_FJxRfAn4mB_fdXJqkPuK8goeq3T8-6EtSaKasUZOoJL7BLF9dYBiiiJld8qfKs6KcVqiDxoSF8SXv2CjKZVxA9Hmf8bFvbyx4xaasJs/s1600-h/2009_12140002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIMePmv3W_3p0p9_DZNJqe_KmvOBvw85XfBQc_FJxRfAn4mB_fdXJqkPuK8goeq3T8-6EtSaKasUZOoJL7BLF9dYBiiiJld8qfKs6KcVqiDxoSF8SXv2CjKZVxA9Hmf8bFvbyx4xaasJs/s640/2009_12140002.JPG" /></a><br />
</div><br />
</div>Cliff Whttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13929876975838342227noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-313235697892335537.post-32756428410719512422009-11-25T11:00:00.004+00:002009-11-29T18:23:55.262+00:00Water, water everywhere!It's just a quick post as much for the record as anything. Ireland, especially the south and western parts, has been experiencing the worst weather in years and this has led to major flooding in those areas. The River Shannon, probably Ireland's most well-known river, has burst its banks in many areas including Athlone town which is about 35km from us. Fortunately, our own house is on high ground and we'll escape the flooding.<br />
<br />
A lot of Scotland and the northwestern areas of the England have been badly affected too - especially in Cockermouth in Cumbria where, about 15 years ago, I lived in a beautiful converted mill on the river. Probably much of this amazing building was submerged in these floodwaters.<br />
<br />
My heart goes out to all those poor souls whose lives have been so dramatically turned upside-down.Cliff Whttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13929876975838342227noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-313235697892335537.post-32915827249028401022009-11-09T09:54:00.000+00:002009-11-09T09:54:21.300+00:00Bees flyingOf little interest to the general public out there but I want to record the fact that in yesterday's glorious sunshine, I took the opportunity to remove the Ashworth feeder from the hive. [I hadn't been able to go near the hive for ages for one reason or another.]<br />
<br />
Plenty of bees were flying and there was even the very occasional forager bringing in ivy pollen! As you'd expect there was a massive fall in the number of bees under the cover and thankfully no sign of those cursed earwigs!<br />
<br />
That's all for bee news. <br />
<br />
On a personal note, I have to congratulate my wonderful fiancee, Elva, who completed her first 10 kilometre run on Saturday morning in the most dreadful conditions. Until 2 months ago, she'd never run anywhere. The course was along a stretch of brand new motorway about one and half hour's drive from us. The motorway is yet to be opened to traffic so don't worry there wasn't any traffic to dodge! The local school which was bypassed by the new road organised the run and would have benefitted from sponsorship and the entrant fees collected so it was a great day for everyone involved. I even bumped into one of my fellow members from the local beekeeping association who coincidentally had completed the race with his wife!Cliff Whttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13929876975838342227noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-313235697892335537.post-82251497965104259252009-11-03T15:25:00.006+00:002009-11-03T15:35:13.750+00:00Let It Be(e) 2 - ref post 30th September - thinking ahead<div style="text-align: justify;">As some of you may have read I wrote on 30th September how I had messed up and allowed a whole load of wild comb to be built below the brood box (where I had placed a super with only 5 frames). Upon lifting out brood frames during the following inspection, it became clear that the lower box was a mess. See my earlier post for photos. I've decided to leave it to Mother Nature but have just realised that come Spring 2010 all going well, I could carefully use a "cheese wire" technique to slice through the wild comb (below some of the brood frame bottom bars) without opening the hive and then I should be able to remove the upper brood frames for a proper inspection. Hopefully the Queen, by this stage, will have climbed into the upper box and I'll find her. I will then transfer the brood frames into a spare hive which I can return to the original location. As far as I can anticipate, the problem will be if the Queen makes a run for it and stays down below in amongst the wild comb which will now be fairly structureless.<br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The number of bees will be far less so that should help. I guess I could wait for three days and try to spot new eggs in the spare hive now with the transfered brood frames. What if there are no eggs?<br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">If the remaining part of the original hive were tidy I could shake out any bees but the lower part will be mainly wax without honey or stores I would expect. Are there other techniques to try? Are there other pitfalls that I could trip into that I haven't foreseen yet? (I mean in relation to this problem!) <br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I welcome your thoughts and aplogise if my writing is confusing. Anyway, sure isn't it good to keep the old beekeeping part of the brain ticking over during these colder days? Hope you're all keeping busy :)<br />
</div>Cliff Whttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13929876975838342227noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-313235697892335537.post-13703096109867692402009-10-28T10:18:00.001+00:002009-10-29T09:35:20.168+00:00SOS for BeesI have just discovered that it is Bee Aware Week which is being promoted in the UK. It was by accident that I found the website - I'm not a regular visitor to the Women's Institute! <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.thewi.org.uk/standard.aspx?id=15584">http://www.thewi.org.uk/standard.aspx?id=15584</a>Cliff Whttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13929876975838342227noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-313235697892335537.post-38341142052623878462009-10-21T16:50:00.003+01:002009-10-21T16:52:15.178+01:00Fasten your seat belts ready for landing please!<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">With the quiet times for beekeepers here, I thought I would survey your opinions on the use of landing boards in frame hives. This has been my first year and "unseasonal" to say the least but I did not purchase a landing board with the current hive set-up and there seems to have been no major difficulty but I'm curious. Any ideas y'all? <br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdED0UG4hZ69oFN9U-9H7pQfahdcFEv93xcG1ehJkrSOlnwALVclmwsl-i0VSeGs7Dxtr1s5m-trtyhaXUtfyIxrgRdynHHzLSn-ylJRKCiwxxn9rNjJMHrQIy8749uP5funxztd6XVu8/s1600-h/landing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdED0UG4hZ69oFN9U-9H7pQfahdcFEv93xcG1ehJkrSOlnwALVclmwsl-i0VSeGs7Dxtr1s5m-trtyhaXUtfyIxrgRdynHHzLSn-ylJRKCiwxxn9rNjJMHrQIy8749uP5funxztd6XVu8/s640/landing.jpg" /></a><br />
</div>Cliff Whttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13929876975838342227noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-313235697892335537.post-19332273700179339602009-10-11T20:47:00.004+01:002009-10-11T21:00:37.887+01:00Planting for beesHi folks - this weekend as our Indian Summer melts into an Indian Autumn, we put in a lot of work in the garden. Following a friend's advice, we bought a selection of daffodil bulbs (€40 for ~ 600). Not only will they bring a beautiful look to the garden and driveways throughout February, March, April, and possibly even May, they should help to provide the bees with some food in the new season when there's little else in flower. Not surprisingly, my back is aching and my hands are blistered!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKZ9QVJy3cLHeGt7J7ScXST9Ew28zBAI14TYblv-gdp657t8bZAIH4qYA5HsggqiL0fW3MfVpwoM5_YuWKxv9luILeQoUPz2-8wwd7iiBRyH85psOj2mqy54JcIGgNwrwwai9V4eFqAyw/s1600-h/P1000980.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKZ9QVJy3cLHeGt7J7ScXST9Ew28zBAI14TYblv-gdp657t8bZAIH4qYA5HsggqiL0fW3MfVpwoM5_YuWKxv9luILeQoUPz2-8wwd7iiBRyH85psOj2mqy54JcIGgNwrwwai9V4eFqAyw/s400/P1000980.JPG" /></a><br />
</div><br />
The dogs helped us decide exactly where to place the bulbs.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifzTrGrxw5AKVYzo9I3cdUXmw6hU0aqi0PveVaYYl7bo0qPpi5bIa5_-ZSbvTFu_1geiMS2Mcb8hkJIK0BTbkk6W46eUI9xWAq1JLeQ8bdgzSd20wqyDsd4u2r8rCgxd4TvQHfJFb8Tok/s1600-h/P1000983.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifzTrGrxw5AKVYzo9I3cdUXmw6hU0aqi0PveVaYYl7bo0qPpi5bIa5_-ZSbvTFu_1geiMS2Mcb8hkJIK0BTbkk6W46eUI9xWAq1JLeQ8bdgzSd20wqyDsd4u2r8rCgxd4TvQHfJFb8Tok/s400/P1000983.JPG" /></a><br />
</div><br />
It's that time of the year to clear out the old beds and we took the opportunity for a final cutting of the sweet-peas (<i>lathyrus odoratus</i>) for indoors - this year they've been amazing - I'm not sure why.<br />
<br />
Today we took the dogs on a long walk along an abandoned canal nearby. A beautiful afternoon in the fantastic autumn sunshine. Elva had her camera so we were able to record some of the vibrant-coloured berries that were on show in their full glory. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT81W3HjTc2fOvTqv1Fw1w4JtmM9DL4WzFiqe9pXyaOuX4KwhDzq-E324p3cwm9FGy5IQ5DcM7H3Q1KTBc_47sLYA4cJ5oyf_PVhD3qXp5MoGC0C2TkDbKaTtHGVkkDeE_7qaS9AoJ34E/s1600-h/P1000998.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT81W3HjTc2fOvTqv1Fw1w4JtmM9DL4WzFiqe9pXyaOuX4KwhDzq-E324p3cwm9FGy5IQ5DcM7H3Q1KTBc_47sLYA4cJ5oyf_PVhD3qXp5MoGC0C2TkDbKaTtHGVkkDeE_7qaS9AoJ34E/s400/P1000998.JPG" /></a><br />
</div><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW0cchvfGO5lKAN6nAquIisZ3hdsZcUv41tgK2CiBUeJRPO8OHRjAum1ShHVKTjce4XccOvo7Djeh7bCzt-G6dGX8W3y3LBQf6abT4edMrnzksEbz_01mJyBDjVTkCij1NARyR7fgdecg/s1600-h/P1000994.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW0cchvfGO5lKAN6nAquIisZ3hdsZcUv41tgK2CiBUeJRPO8OHRjAum1ShHVKTjce4XccOvo7Djeh7bCzt-G6dGX8W3y3LBQf6abT4edMrnzksEbz_01mJyBDjVTkCij1NARyR7fgdecg/s400/P1000994.JPG" width="300" /></a><br />
</div>The common ivy is still in flower so the bees are being spoiled with all this extra pollen.Cliff Whttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13929876975838342227noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-313235697892335537.post-68099191580734938142009-10-04T19:40:00.005+01:002009-10-06T11:36:23.806+01:00Inspection 04/10/09<div align="justify"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The weather is remaining dry which is a relief after the rainfall which we had during July and August. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I wanted to have a look at the hive after the last inspection when things looked pretty messy. Unfortunately time and the ambient air temperature didn't really allow for a thorough look.</span><br />
</div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
</div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The bees were still out and about and bringing pollen (dark vivid orange). I used a little smoke as I removed the roof, there were masses of bees below. </span><br />
</div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The bees were very well tempered so I am happy that everything is in order with the Queen and her subjects.</span><br />
</div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I added a top super with the 5 "extra" foundation-only frames just to allow the bees draw some comb if they wish (with hindsight I should have done this whilst we were away). I added the large feeder above that and gave them around 4 pints of syrup. My intention is to let take this syrup down and store it. I'll keep an eye on the upper super frames because I don't want them to store nectar, honey and certainly no brood here. </span><br />
</div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">As far as the potential mess below the brood chamber, which I wrote about in my last post, I am letting Mother Nature do her own thing for the time-being. I haven't ruled out some form of intervention altogether but, as I say, the air temperature makes it unwise. Let it be(e), I suppose.</span><br />
</div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Not much else to report as I didn't extract any of the frames inside the hive body. There were quite a lot, say 50, bee corpses lying around the outside of the hive which I imagine is typical for this time of year but worth recording for the sake of my "bee diary". </span><br />
</div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">In the past I have seen quite a few earwigs in the hive. This time when I opened the hive, I noticed one of these pesky lads having a good ol' scrap with a few bees. My money was on the bees! It made me smile to see the girls fight their corner, I have a marked dislike of earwigs especially when they're trespassing on private property! </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Lastly, perhaps slightly wastefully, I used up some excess beeswax to make some firelighters. The ones in the shops are full of chemicals and have a really nasty feel about them. It was a tiny amount, but when the molten wax is poured into cardboard eggboxes and allowed to cool, Bob's your uncle! </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I'm hoping that during this off-season I'll learn about the things that can be made using some of the hive by-products. </span><br />
</div>Cliff Whttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13929876975838342227noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-313235697892335537.post-49045359047037885592009-10-01T18:27:00.029+01:002009-10-01T20:22:10.475+01:00Fauna and flora from the Adriatic.<div align="left" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br />
</div><div align="justify" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMlZhV5db5cZKTiUjpQoImiyER9N0oIEhgRHzAPlSuGkGt7Au9TvlKqP3D59vF-VK0-Hg4PKBgIbI8R6zkRNLku5AXLbXR-wtxjir4_UR4VkRy8UV77_vYwwg_G1IJrpqsQWYAG41FkcY/s1600-h/P1000469.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMlZhV5db5cZKTiUjpQoImiyER9N0oIEhgRHzAPlSuGkGt7Au9TvlKqP3D59vF-VK0-Hg4PKBgIbI8R6zkRNLku5AXLbXR-wtxjir4_UR4VkRy8UV77_vYwwg_G1IJrpqsQWYAG41FkcY/s320/P1000469.JPG" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'm not really sure of the name of most of these species - they just caught my eye when we were wondering around in the glorious weather and admiring the landscapes.</span><br />
</div><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div align="justify"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
</div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This plant had some wasps and butterflies feeding off it in the morning sunshine on the mountain near Kotor, Montenegro - zooming in the detail is extraordinary.</span><br />
</div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
</div><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_Uh2YX1cCUfwRHZ-I9C2ZFgRNTusv2c9W_3jP8hrEvbTQLkDu_gmufusR8fQs_iCRuNt5N6c2W_HPJoFDD4lHXSWKa6Lm4tAKLEz9JF8UgKFiZZGAdWurwj8Ps2ExbkctoNBgEhed_Vg/s320/P1000567.JPG" /><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjObBVerOVg40lNe9swRL2XHelI4oCXel5gwXMpoqa0vzMOqoqjJ-y3dahIZzja2WfAb6uyCoMHM11r9U28u93X53WldqCQo8EfRgAqRzwh0M3IcEx9b31sHII0JoyjPCX_08_dQvybiy4/s400/P1000614.JPG" /><br />
</div><div align="left"><div align="left"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjObBVerOVg40lNe9swRL2XHelI4oCXel5gwXMpoqa0vzMOqoqjJ-y3dahIZzja2WfAb6uyCoMHM11r9U28u93X53WldqCQo8EfRgAqRzwh0M3IcEx9b31sHII0JoyjPCX_08_dQvybiy4/s1600-h/P1000614.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"> </a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjObBVerOVg40lNe9swRL2XHelI4oCXel5gwXMpoqa0vzMOqoqjJ-y3dahIZzja2WfAb6uyCoMHM11r9U28u93X53WldqCQo8EfRgAqRzwh0M3IcEx9b31sHII0JoyjPCX_08_dQvybiy4/s1600-h/P1000614.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"> </a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjObBVerOVg40lNe9swRL2XHelI4oCXel5gwXMpoqa0vzMOqoqjJ-y3dahIZzja2WfAb6uyCoMHM11r9U28u93X53WldqCQo8EfRgAqRzwh0M3IcEx9b31sHII0JoyjPCX_08_dQvybiy4/s1600-h/P1000614.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"> </a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjObBVerOVg40lNe9swRL2XHelI4oCXel5gwXMpoqa0vzMOqoqjJ-y3dahIZzja2WfAb6uyCoMHM11r9U28u93X53WldqCQo8EfRgAqRzwh0M3IcEx9b31sHII0JoyjPCX_08_dQvybiy4/s1600-h/P1000614.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"> </a><br />
</div></div><div align="left" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><div align="justify" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One of the plants you see frequently growing up the sides of houses and over old walls is, I think, bougainvillea with its vibrant pink-purplish flowers - amazing sight although this photo doesn't do them justice as a lot of the flowers were going to seed.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRHfM5TjgPnoytpW74l3Jzy-ZH-Q4TPvwl3MTeF7mn7_qz9JeNwFXDqWIZQ5myKqpjXmzGX8UG9uXWHQ-xwI2K0AbdQOSr9w3W62FAT4GqtjVaez3aEkzwtnxqfsPFiS5MgvhJfCp3cCI/s1600-h/Picture+248.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRHfM5TjgPnoytpW74l3Jzy-ZH-Q4TPvwl3MTeF7mn7_qz9JeNwFXDqWIZQ5myKqpjXmzGX8UG9uXWHQ-xwI2K0AbdQOSr9w3W62FAT4GqtjVaez3aEkzwtnxqfsPFiS5MgvhJfCp3cCI/s400/Picture+248.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><br />
</div><div style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br />
</div><div align="justify" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><div style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This ipomoea or Morning Glory was out in full flower - probably one of my favourite climbers.</span><br />
</div></div></div><br />
<br />
<div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left"><div style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNIvQujgsYq2Bk9qJ_khyphenhyphenIVdVhNxwV6gZ7YNiPRp1nkzJ_BYE1DkEARUPYfJC__tNAEWAvfBwLGVbJh0Qtp1b7Eu2e-sP8pGNRuqihZznKVLqQQsuPL5nkXI6V_dMdi46ENVREPV0fv9M/s1600-h/Picture+256.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNIvQujgsYq2Bk9qJ_khyphenhyphenIVdVhNxwV6gZ7YNiPRp1nkzJ_BYE1DkEARUPYfJC__tNAEWAvfBwLGVbJh0Qtp1b7Eu2e-sP8pGNRuqihZznKVLqQQsuPL5nkXI6V_dMdi46ENVREPV0fv9M/s320/Picture+256.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</div></div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
</div><div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Can anyone tell me the name of this plant? I recognise the leaf pattern from houseplants but the name escapes me. I reminds me of a cyclamen leaf??</span><br />
</div><div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4imSkEVlW6mVVAGctdTu04cuxFfLcpKzDzlOkkeKBOLx2v7D6UoWeh-vaZ4kMLUKuLFJNptakprYptglpB9bSUbvjRTbYxh71MnxQ8Hpw4Rz7kuRbuH6IlANkz4uW1N_eLZpXvmvGgcY/s1600-h/Picture+258.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4imSkEVlW6mVVAGctdTu04cuxFfLcpKzDzlOkkeKBOLx2v7D6UoWeh-vaZ4kMLUKuLFJNptakprYptglpB9bSUbvjRTbYxh71MnxQ8Hpw4Rz7kuRbuH6IlANkz4uW1N_eLZpXvmvGgcY/s400/Picture+258.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<br />
<br />
</div><div align="justify" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK5bSVZEJtfXbJmYVN1YLmsdNyyspKACWPNd58-HqR7hebCJIhLyJwglHG11Xol8gIjtQw8-JOnID88fVyl7UGHY_f8Z6HmheMrJJ4gSIZo5WRO1MrwSisO_SPb1RkLsm1Zvypo8deVf4/s1600-h/Picture+268.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK5bSVZEJtfXbJmYVN1YLmsdNyyspKACWPNd58-HqR7hebCJIhLyJwglHG11Xol8gIjtQw8-JOnID88fVyl7UGHY_f8Z6HmheMrJJ4gSIZo5WRO1MrwSisO_SPb1RkLsm1Zvypo8deVf4/s400/Picture+268.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That was short trip to the Adriatic along the Croatian and Montenegrin coastlines - thanks and please excuse the awful formatting. Once again, credit is due to Elva from whom I borrowed some of the photos! I am developing an ever-increasing respect for those accomplished nature photographers.</span><br />
</div><div align="left"><br />
</div>Cliff Whttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13929876975838342227noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-313235697892335537.post-24748736794516670392009-09-30T16:14:00.020+01:002009-10-01T07:56:53.831+01:00What busy bees but somebody forgot to show them my plans!Well we're back from holidays and the weather here has been superb during our break away. Murphy's Law - not really.<br />
<br />
Anyway, to continue from the last post, I checked on the hive this afternoon. Plenty of pollen was still coming in - things were looking good.<br />
<br />
However, and it's my own fault, when I exchanged the super to below the brood chamber, I only put in 5 frames (that was all I had available as drawn frames). Big mistake and one which I cannot justify since I had more just that they weren't drawn - what was I thinking?? Why didn't I add all the frames??<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgejXpyS7KN3ZpyIfdHWQVXtdUAbdf0hx1OsHAlfUAaplb7u2tSWmNsXt0PEvKH_tF59TeHMaoyP5xiX11vREJX6-VPH_L0zKcu4siDnnlglCjxMBwPhbI4NfYlX5lazx-WjUIC9w8Lrho/s1600-h/P1000860.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgejXpyS7KN3ZpyIfdHWQVXtdUAbdf0hx1OsHAlfUAaplb7u2tSWmNsXt0PEvKH_tF59TeHMaoyP5xiX11vREJX6-VPH_L0zKcu4siDnnlglCjxMBwPhbI4NfYlX5lazx-WjUIC9w8Lrho/s400/P1000860.JPG" /></a><br />
</div>What the girls have done, and it's completely natural, is to draw fresh comb and store nectar on the base of the brood chamber frame bottom bars. The comb added is the depth of the super.<br />
One or two had collapsed into the mesh floor with a right old mess although one that I didn't want to explore until I had considered my options. I actually think it was my poking around that precipitated the combs to collapse. Where the super frames coincide with BC frames above, all is hunky dory. A couple of the frames I took out were robust so I removed the "extra" wax comb and collected in a jar which I am leaving for them to recycle.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPCCM44UYRUk8ITpjI_ltQnMy4bkeL-XV3ZZczNcKr02tfqeEi2FVCniq14Yl0Nqdk-0MZL1okOuf5ZAvoVp8ES8Nrl7WaZXLhMPQyedLJGF18j8lI_f81o4zlYXy24pIUUoIDLGA5LMI/s1600-h/P1000864.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">The photo below shows the view looking down into the lower chamber - what a mess!<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPCCM44UYRUk8ITpjI_ltQnMy4bkeL-XV3ZZczNcKr02tfqeEi2FVCniq14Yl0Nqdk-0MZL1okOuf5ZAvoVp8ES8Nrl7WaZXLhMPQyedLJGF18j8lI_f81o4zlYXy24pIUUoIDLGA5LMI/s320/P1000864.JPG" /></a><br />
</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLc-6urTYa2q4mRQikJCDLO8GfoXX-Q100-CmrdXU3enYA67Fn4KDw3q0Ub8lWaKcq_E7tyXbSHxaHaWODbrQ8j-WJPwQVgJ-ed5wiRBdS3KH7fy1n-E5MB1zfgBLaIGBuWP2WvBguUGw/s1600-h/P1000868.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLc-6urTYa2q4mRQikJCDLO8GfoXX-Q100-CmrdXU3enYA67Fn4KDw3q0Ub8lWaKcq_E7tyXbSHxaHaWODbrQ8j-WJPwQVgJ-ed5wiRBdS3KH7fy1n-E5MB1zfgBLaIGBuWP2WvBguUGw/s320/P1000868.JPG" /></a><br />
</div><br />
<br />
My options appear to be;<br />
<br />
1) Do nothing - the bees will rebuild and recycle the honey, nectar, wax and pollen - this is obviously easier to me and will be less stressful to us all. The disadvantage of this method is that the super below could be a right old mess and come next spring, I could in trouble trying to lift out BC frames with these "comb extensions" attached.<br />
<br />
2) Dismantle the hive akin to carrying an artificial swarm but return everything to the original hive location but with cleaned up frames etc i.e. return the brood chamber frames to a spare hive but with the super frames all in place. [This would, I think need to be done in two parts - firstly swapping all the brood over and then the supers.] Could be risky given the cooler temperatures and the chance of losing the Queen. (There are masses of bees and the chance of finding the Queen and keeping her safe during the swap-over has to be factored in).<br />
<br />
3) I cannot think of a third option - all suggestions will be gratefully received although, in time-honoured beekeeping tradition, there are probably as many likely solutions as there are folk who might know.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_aR7K5fiGrzJZN0avxtcH16rO3LZqI9tGVZqAeyBnI2aorQQgm4YETo_2XEl-vUlYw4w4B4PaKUubFmm120-T3J46G66fY8eZIkRLm0ECD1h9bRhg_cy-D5wuQH_FGYSS_yWR04Tju9Y/s1600-h/P1000866.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_aR7K5fiGrzJZN0avxtcH16rO3LZqI9tGVZqAeyBnI2aorQQgm4YETo_2XEl-vUlYw4w4B4PaKUubFmm120-T3J46G66fY8eZIkRLm0ECD1h9bRhg_cy-D5wuQH_FGYSS_yWR04Tju9Y/s320/P1000866.JPG" /></a><br />
</div>The photo on the right shows a worker about to emerge from her cell.<br />
<br />
Given the above, it's such a shame following the great weather of the last 4 weeks and the girls' wonderful work ethic. There could have been great wintering potential. To be honest, I feel like I have let them down. It's my first big mistake but hopefully not irretrievable at least in terms of keeping a tidy hive.<br />
<br />
I'll be posting some photos later of some fauna and flora from the Adriatic!!Cliff Whttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13929876975838342227noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-313235697892335537.post-82210446242967510462009-09-19T17:22:00.036+01:002009-09-19T19:57:01.035+01:00It's au revoir - not goodbye.<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG-QW15Jwo0g3yVG0gCJJBNFE6yvnTz0SL0q3a1VHcp2KGFNQqYBBeyfHlag2nmL6qPfvR9DtpWHEh6VVt2gzq5FyjSgeanm95MB5X-cbh0TFtO1two1FraQYspkJDkxqpiLVpyE-V1IM/s1600-h/P1000266.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG-QW15Jwo0g3yVG0gCJJBNFE6yvnTz0SL0q3a1VHcp2KGFNQqYBBeyfHlag2nmL6qPfvR9DtpWHEh6VVt2gzq5FyjSgeanm95MB5X-cbh0TFtO1two1FraQYspkJDkxqpiLVpyE-V1IM/s1600-h/P1000266.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG-QW15Jwo0g3yVG0gCJJBNFE6yvnTz0SL0q3a1VHcp2KGFNQqYBBeyfHlag2nmL6qPfvR9DtpWHEh6VVt2gzq5FyjSgeanm95MB5X-cbh0TFtO1two1FraQYspkJDkxqpiLVpyE-V1IM/s320/P1000266.JPG" /></a><br />
</div><span style="font-size: small;">For the record, the weather continues to be fine and warm with ivy still in blossom. It has a pale greenish-yellow pollen, I think, from what I see on the bees and around the garden. There's also this vivid orange pollen still whose origin continues to escape me.</span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8P8Kuo3odtJbrD_11GhTyepVwJ4hH22EeVsFhAaEjvqGeXXLHH3zdKwnbgSXwLmC4Uldz2a9y_MtY6UGuj4yFkfpHdaTduFPcYa-eLRbiDUpnDVchvPK-3_m7x3ws9T1MfST2kPEmpjc/s1600-h/P1000257.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8P8Kuo3odtJbrD_11GhTyepVwJ4hH22EeVsFhAaEjvqGeXXLHH3zdKwnbgSXwLmC4Uldz2a9y_MtY6UGuj4yFkfpHdaTduFPcYa-eLRbiDUpnDVchvPK-3_m7x3ws9T1MfST2kPEmpjc/s320/P1000257.JPG" /></a><br />
</div><span style="font-size: small;">We are off to foreign climes tomorrow so it was the last opportunity to check on everything bee-wise and to exchange the super (c/w 5 drawn frames and some nectar) with the brood chamber. Everything went fairly smoothly with the bees adjusting to their new furniture layout quite quickly. "Jeez, I never noticed that frame there before!" "oh well" and that was that. Temperament-wise they were in great form - still no stings. The photo left shows one of the girls posing for the camera. Hardly a puff from the smoker was necessary - these girls certainly know how to behave themselves! </span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcOb3ZEzep4AhaIH6KhCodIfkHwsycbAkAuBbao4AyK4s00JBiANxZbLMNnVelbdS-_qou6Z16nC1KCSnADHNL8CuTJ7BRpi38TlwLfphMNGKejCw_F7jJQHqorohl4rwYDU609UbqhFg/s1600-h/P1000285.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcOb3ZEzep4AhaIH6KhCodIfkHwsycbAkAuBbao4AyK4s00JBiANxZbLMNnVelbdS-_qou6Z16nC1KCSnADHNL8CuTJ7BRpi38TlwLfphMNGKejCw_F7jJQHqorohl4rwYDU609UbqhFg/s320/P1000285.JPG" /></a><br />
</div><span style="font-size: small;">There was plenty of sealed and unsealed brood (see right) but I think the Queen has slowed down her laying rate but that's to be expected. There were a few eggs so she's still there, although it goes without saying almost that we didn't see her! April/May is the time to re-mark her when the colony population is far lower and she should be easier to find - fingers crossed. A few drones still roam over the frames looking slightly lost. Stored levels were looking well but given that we are going away for ten days and the weather is so unpredictable here, I added on my newly-acquired Ashforth Feeder (full hive dimensions and about the height of a super - the bees feed at one end. </span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxwYO24bBvEClhgaN1ufDhwseb3NvZVnxbq1CWUS1nW9TTngjhBsmA6lJmx-hktCqJRHIWv0Jay1OvmyNAh_d0nOCOwroPtz7fu_NVTBWqs5URF9Km_mrhwkPjsDqky35Lhx_bidgKPM8/s1600-h/P1000286.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxwYO24bBvEClhgaN1ufDhwseb3NvZVnxbq1CWUS1nW9TTngjhBsmA6lJmx-hktCqJRHIWv0Jay1OvmyNAh_d0nOCOwroPtz7fu_NVTBWqs5URF9Km_mrhwkPjsDqky35Lhx_bidgKPM8/s400/P1000286.JPG" /></a><br />
</div><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I then realised that since, I had never used this feeder before, I didn't know whether the crownboard goes above or below - bit of a Homer Simpson moment! Anyway, it's now above the feeder and that's where it's staying until we get back although I can't see that there's a major advantage either way - my logic was that it's preferable to have the syrup as near to the bees as possible and that the heat from the cluster in the winter will keep the syrup from getting too cold.</span></span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Any thoughts folks?</span> <br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I added about 4 pints of syrup which is probably more than necessary but I'd rather play safe. I replaced the "varroa board" on the open mesh floor (for better heat protection at night) while my friendly assistant and fiancée, Elva, tied up the brushwood screen along the fenceline to the north which should help protect the hive from those cold winds between December and February. </span></span><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Take care y'all my bee buddies and talk to you when we get back.</span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht207YilEpcWLaF6EzQ9MbIjKPWwfJzBKh-KHb-MLFB_zC0KSveQbxE-Vke85GvoJ8K7wm7TTauI-4wqrcoG2ZCOcAHflUp3r_iB7aBTSEvOu_6UlO8QfHXC0bBFtgrRvZ2xJdIGED0S4/s1600-h/P1000288.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht207YilEpcWLaF6EzQ9MbIjKPWwfJzBKh-KHb-MLFB_zC0KSveQbxE-Vke85GvoJ8K7wm7TTauI-4wqrcoG2ZCOcAHflUp3r_iB7aBTSEvOu_6UlO8QfHXC0bBFtgrRvZ2xJdIGED0S4/s400/P1000288.JPG" /></a><br />
</div><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">P.S this photo looks a bit scary to me.... "You Looking at Me?"</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
</span><br />
</div>Cliff Whttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13929876975838342227noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-313235697892335537.post-44928757628916862452009-09-16T20:18:00.007+01:002009-09-18T10:23:51.761+01:00Open Queen Cells or Cups<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This evening's inspection was in the slowly setting dusk after a bright warm day. I removed the super with its 5 frames which were now almost fully drawn.<br />
</span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOfWukCJcGOxaF4YQFDlh8jTETcuBPP7nlu3VpfgeFKS6CrYenbbgvXFjgyKjErhEBDWTMjHBZeM-vWEPjqqKLV6_zV-f1NnRiBmHouSpf6pYmviu7THMCxG7kHDbLApsmwH81uADCYIA/s1600-h/P1000113.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOfWukCJcGOxaF4YQFDlh8jTETcuBPP7nlu3VpfgeFKS6CrYenbbgvXFjgyKjErhEBDWTMjHBZeM-vWEPjqqKLV6_zV-f1NnRiBmHouSpf6pYmviu7THMCxG7kHDbLApsmwH81uADCYIA/s320/P1000113.JPG" /></a></span><br />
</div><span style="font-size: small;">The feeder was empty as I expected. Going through the brood frames, the first was loaded with honey. Looked good enough to eat - but I'm leaving that. </span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipH3FI2YWWicbnX6Qqyp4qZ7bSNjNjYaBhTbleR4CB61vBVL0OWT8KB32n3AhlnIRy4KabJgPtZ3d9JJIbs0VtAZ2KabDyx3ffc9xPtdXiCxXst6uZ-ZxBm1Wv6bZ8cFqAFpxHdDbf7VU/s1600-h/P1000115.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipH3FI2YWWicbnX6Qqyp4qZ7bSNjNjYaBhTbleR4CB61vBVL0OWT8KB32n3AhlnIRy4KabJgPtZ3d9JJIbs0VtAZ2KabDyx3ffc9xPtdXiCxXst6uZ-ZxBm1Wv6bZ8cFqAFpxHdDbf7VU/s320/P1000115.JPG" /></a></span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I started to notice larvae and eggs (2 or 3 days old) in open cells with plenty of sealed brood besides. What surprised me though was the presence of 3 opened Queen cells/cups across a number of frames. There were well formed - text book stuff. Altogether I found three - all open (without eggs/larvae) as shown. There was no sign of the hinged cap so I'm puzzled. Was there a swarm? Are these aborted attempts at making a Queen cell? Has my original Queen left? I didn't see her but that's not unusual! </span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">It's 11 days since I last look through the frames at which point there was no sign of these cells.</span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">There were plenty of eggs (all laid in individual cells as opposed to laying worker eggs) so I ask myself - do I need to be concerned because I saw open queen cells/cups? The laying pattern was good as you can see.</span><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIl3nZhEKmDtOu2ifNCC-_Z1hhtNB83Ld3aQZjievAoDXeN6wuMd3zZILd_y4CxR5-UvDvUgPCoTUu9zwLqtcnSmwK94wZ-fLG2HboX4QSGQUAi4UKFBqHPVxdsf4lHZmU6TNXqpiOQb4/s1600-h/P1000119.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIl3nZhEKmDtOu2ifNCC-_Z1hhtNB83Ld3aQZjievAoDXeN6wuMd3zZILd_y4CxR5-UvDvUgPCoTUu9zwLqtcnSmwK94wZ-fLG2HboX4QSGQUAi4UKFBqHPVxdsf4lHZmU6TNXqpiOQb4/s320/P1000119.JPG" /></a></span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">There were more drones than recently although not hugely so but quite a lot of drone cells (capped). I am sure that I'm being alarmist but I'm surprised. Is the presence of the number of drones and drone cells significant given the time of year (although we're still experiencing this Indian Summer)? </span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The population was a strong and calm and I know there was a Queen present within the last 3 days from the eggs (I am assuming these were laid by a mated Queen). <br />
</span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">My bee-assistant and fiancee was kindly given a new camera for her birthday (by some very generous guy who shall remain nameless!) so there should be a few more photos from now on...</span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixiFHbyybnp7af9PeW7cU0dsbuhS549ZwNeHqEjaBh_BlfWOcmweDng4yYZNAHn8dmMoRQSryrHqGeNHAFl7bZDgSIsi5NEs2apWRCAa7RL6qhkzpwakozxeA9dPbR5a8leHW5cNQF5Qs/s1600-h/P1000062.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixiFHbyybnp7af9PeW7cU0dsbuhS549ZwNeHqEjaBh_BlfWOcmweDng4yYZNAHn8dmMoRQSryrHqGeNHAFl7bZDgSIsi5NEs2apWRCAa7RL6qhkzpwakozxeA9dPbR5a8leHW5cNQF5Qs/s400/P1000062.JPG" /></a></span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Lastly, to the credit of my photograper, she caught one of the season's last cornflowers with a visitor looking for a quick meal!</span><br />
</span><br />
</div>Cliff Whttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13929876975838342227noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-313235697892335537.post-33952199871297289912009-09-11T12:48:00.005+01:002009-09-11T15:50:17.776+01:00Sad news! Don't worry the bees are fine...<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Not bee-related at all, but it is with sadness I have to announce that our 2 hens were brutally "murdered" yesterday.</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Unfortunately, and not for the first time, the perpetrator of this crime is not unknown to us. His identitiy was revealed when I called him for dinner and he jumped back over the wall of the yard which had been previously reinforced (and tested) with additional height after previous misdemeanours). Very bold dog!!!!!</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">When we originally got him, he had been abandoned in the site compound where I was working. He was dangerously underweight and riddled with nasties but we brought him home so as to give him a chance. With a visit to the vets, lots of TLC and time to recuperate he recovered to his current healthy self. Too healthy really as he seems to have Olympic abilities when it comes to jumping! Looking at him, you'd swear that butter wouldn't melt in his mouth. A perfect angel in other respects.</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">I don't know what to do because there is little more satisfying than fresh eggs but clearly Freddie (as he was christened) and foul are <b>completely </b>incompatible despite ever-increasing security. Do I build a separate coop but risked it being broken into? A hen-type version of Alcatraz in the backyard doesn't seem that appealing. There seems to be limited benefit in keeping your own hens if they have to live under maximum security for their own protection. Our other dog, a collie sheep dog type, had lived with the hens and ducks perfectly happily before Freddie's arrival. [May they rest in peace also] With her natural herding nature, the hens and ducks would be driven around the garden and gobble all of those pesky slugs etc. The absolutely perfect organic pest control system. Alas no more!</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Fortunately the bees aren't nearly as troublesome...</span> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div>Cliff Whttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13929876975838342227noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-313235697892335537.post-51118656637933200322009-09-09T21:41:00.006+01:002009-09-10T12:08:37.462+01:00Coming or going?<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Well, the weather's gone completely topsy-turvy. It was a gorgeous day here as stable high pressure sits over north-western Europe. It's forecast to stay like this for a good while.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I was looking to top-up the bees' feeder during the still, late afternoon sun. Again lots of pollen coming in and thankfully no sign of further bee deaths near the hive. I didn't want to disrupt anything under the crownboard so it was a quick in-and-out. The hive's in a corner of the garden so it's very convenient for this type of feeding. I added a couple of super foundation frames too - I just want them to draw out the comb ready for next year. [I'm not interested in honey at this stage].</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">It strikes me though that the bees' internal "clocks" must be so confused - something akin to "seasonal" jet-lag. The sun crossed through its solstice position as the rain poured and the gales blew. [It's the third summer in a row that's happened!] As the nights lengthen and the leaves on the trees turn, suddenly there is this "unseasonal" spell. It was probably in the mid 20's in the full sunshine sheltered as the hive is. The problem is that the nights are really quite cool ~ maybe 5 or 6 Celsius. It got me thinking about global warming etc. It raises lots of questions about the way that nature will react to these changes. We all know the importance of the honeybee and their poor predicament. I'm convinced they don't need this stress too!!</span>Cliff Whttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13929876975838342227noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-313235697892335537.post-5160980132020329782009-09-05T13:46:00.011+01:002009-09-05T19:34:19.834+01:00Autumn cometh!<div align="justify"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The weather here has been absolutely dreadful for the last fortnight but there was no option this morning but to inspect inside the hive. The temperatures remain very cool still far below what we could expect. It's struggling to get to 16 degrees and the wind has been quite strong. [I am not helping the cause of the Irish Tourist Board, am I?] The inspection had to be a rapid affair for fear of chilling any brood.</span></div><div align="justify"><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Despite this, the girls still seem to taking every chance they get to fly outdoors for reconnaissance and refilling the fuel tanks. They were still bringing in plenty of the vivid orange pollen although I remain unsure where this originates given our surroundings. It's fairly rural here with a lot of what is known as "bog" all around. In beekeeping terms, these low lying peat bogs can be tremendously important due to the heather which flowers around this time of year. The story of the peat bogs is a long one and is crucial to the tale of Irish history especially in terms of the supply of heating fuel. [Horticulturally, there is a growing movement away from the use of peat particularly in domestic gardening products e.g. compost materials because of the recognition that the peat is limited [see </span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">http://www.ipcc.ie </span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">for further details]. I will return to the subject of peat another day maybe.</span></div><div align="justify"><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Many beekeepers or beeks </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- a term I learned from Mark in NC - take their hives to the moors and bogs to allow their bees to forage on the heather during the latter part of summer. A honey known as ling is a speciality in itself but that's also a subject for the future and something which I hope to try out in 2010.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Getting back to this morning, the hive stores were dangerously low although there's been no serious harm as I could see - just a reduction of stored honey in the brood chamber but I hope that this can be raised back up through some intensive feeding. Given the late start there was always going to a limited opportunity for supering and it looks like the weather isn't going to allow it now.</span></div><div align="justify"><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Interestingly, I noticed the presence of several drones once ag</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">ain which surprised me as I thought they'd been given the elbow by now, especially given the low levels of supplies. Although I never seem to spot her, I am sure that the Queen is laying well and the drones don't indicate anything amiss. Definitely something to keep an eye on though.</span></div><div align="justify"><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Probably the most important plant in this area for late flowering is the evergreen common ivy (</span><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">hedera helix</span></i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">) which is just starting to come into flower. It's really the bees' last opportunity to stack up on those extra goodies prior to the winter - we have ivy over some of the walls around our cottage garden although, in beekeeping terms, more would be better. Planting for honeybees is going to be an important part of how we progress the garden. Maybe I should plant some ivy around the local gardens in the local area when the neighbours aren't looking!</span></div><div align="justify"><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Lastly, I noticed half a dozen dead workers on the ground around the hive. Not too alarming but I'm noting this for my own records.</span></div><div align="justify"><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">With the refilled circular feeder </span><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">in situ </span></i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I will be checking this daily for signs of </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">uptake and keeping it full so as to build up the stores again.</span></div><div align="justify"><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sorry about the epistle but it's been a while...</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>Cliff Whttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13929876975838342227noreply@blogger.com6