Bee keeping...

where did you get the three free pints again ?

books ticket to grantham

Heh, well I was gonna get the drinks in, but it was held in an extraordinary 'social club' where serious looking women were engaged in darts matches and people were playing cards and simultaneously moving pegs in wooden boards (bridge?) and when I whipped out my contactless debit card and said "hi, like, you accept this yah, everhwere in London does, cashless society nowadays what?" everyone stopped talking and the club secretary shouted me a pint. Then the treasurer. Then the course tutor. Then they shoved my brompton in the boot and gave me a lift home cos it was pissing down. Top evening.

The card game with pegs sounds like cribbage. We had a good harvest and it seems we don't have varroa this year, #fistpump

Good result given the shit year so I gather. Did you feed over the winter?

Forget the candles & honey, mead is where it's at ... the retro fixie of homemade wine. Really zen, at one with the garden, made popular by smelly people way before hipsters got into it...

Reminds me I should contact my pal in Ewell who makes top stuff.

It was a bit of a rough year for our bees.
Haven't been to grandparents house for a while (November), and pretty sure the hive is just ticking away (haven't heard any bad news), but they weren't productive enough beyond hive sufficiency last year, so hopefully in not harvesting anything beyond the occasional inspection teaspoon sized amount (delicious)- we'll have a productive 2nd year colony.
We split the hive also midway through the year, and that had mixed success when I was last down there, so we'll see. They're now in the orchard, safe and sound though, so no major disturbances.

Will update when next able to get to go down there.

I feel the need... the need for mead.

Also planning on augmenting my home brew beer with a pound or two of honey ultimately.

Good stuff brows. They should be starting to wiggle around and maybe venture out soon.

Excellent news for our buzzy friends that the EU has voted to ban neonicotinoids!

In other news, the beekeeping course is really enjoyable and I am planning on building a top bar hive to start keeping this summer. I've explained about the hive choice and why I like it on my blog if anyone's interested.

So while the topbar has been a bit of a novelty last year, the nationals have done terribly over the winter/spring. 1 dead and checking the other looks like its on the way out, no queen or eggs, and some withered wings. Topbar, however, with the hands off approach appears very strong, built out along the length of it and eggs.

Inspecting is still a faff with them though. How's it going Olly?

Just finished my hive. On the swarm list at the local club, could get a call out at any time to put my beesuit on and get up a ladder!!

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Sorry to hear about your nationals. Interesting the top bar went along okay. How many bars of honey stores did you leave in it before winter?

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Shit! I've got my first bees!
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Caught a swarm. Hope they stay. More

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Good news! Our bees live!!!!
New layer on hive... May be productive this yr...

Olly- such a good blog post. Love it.
Will update in two weeks.

Good stuff Henry, so have you added a 'super' on top for them to store the honey in? If you've started the year with an overwintered colony then you should do well, but what are you doing about swarm control?

Have you chaps seen this Friends of the Earth initiative to involve the public with the creation of wildflower havens for bees all over the UK? http://www.foe.co.uk/what_we_do/bee_worlds_39332.html

Some stark stats are cited.

Yus.

One of the hives swarmed, split it and requeened with a native black bee variety and the other half left with the carnolean variant,

The cold damp weather has had a disasterous effect on bees in my neck of the woods.

My garden is usally buzzing with hundreds of bees from spring right through to autumn (all kinds), I have something flowering at pretty much everytime. Including what I think is a variety of willow tree, which attracts a frightening amount. But not this year!

I'm thinking about doing some beekeeping from next year and will book myself on a course in October. Would anyone be willing to show me their beekeeping set-up? I'm just interested to find out how easy/hard it is etc. Seems like one or two of you have been doing it in London for a little bit...

Haven't posted here for a bit. Well there have been a few ups and downs including a re-queening and some cut'n shut national brood frames (full story here, then scroll down), but the bees are still with us and I have recently installed a bottom board and some roof insulation.

No honey taken but I have learned tons and the pleasure of having a colony of bees living in a hive I made has been very rewarding.

They have been taking 2:1 sugar syrup strongly as winter approaches and and I saw them bringing pollen into the hive today (sunny at last and not raining :-)

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Bad winter for many beekeepers (or, more accurately, the bees), too long and damp.

Sadly, after all the hard thought and work, my colony died out a few weeks ago. I have written a detailed write up of my analysis and the lessons learned.

I am not giving up with beekeeping, but time for a more considered approach. watch this space!

I have no updates as I haven't been down to Devon for a very long time
I just realised this as I typed it, and that's pretty bad of me.

Sad news, Ollie... Better luck next time, dude...

All is well! (for now): two new hives started last night.
Let's see how they get on.

That looks amazing...

Bees bringing pollen into one of the new hives - a good sign that they are settled and 'queenright'. :-)

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