Bees – New Arrivals
As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, Tuesday was a scorcher with temperatures up to an annual high of 32.8ºC. Not ideal weather for donning a full hooded bee-suit, wellies and gloves, but that’s what I did. It was the first chance for a while that I’d had to inspect the bees so I suited up and headed down to the apiary.
I was sweating in no time but things were a little overgrown behind the hives so my first task just added to that. I cut back some huge Gunnera leaves and hacked through nettles and brambles to clear a space. The bees were fairly busy in the sunshine and took little notice of me.
A Queen has be Crowned
I then got the smoker going and started my inspections. I wasn’t expecting much from the first hive as last time they were inspected (by Anna) she had said she didn’t hold out much hope for them as they still hadn’t re-queened and their numbers were dwindling. I was therefore pleased to see eggs, larvae in all stages and sealed brood on the first frame that I looked at. There were about four frames of brood in total, lots of eggs and a small amount of stores too so all was looking good. I didn’t see the queen herself but they have finally managed to re-queen successfully. Good news even if it has taken a while since splitting them back at the beginning of June.
It’s good to have a new queen in the apiary and especially one from this split as the colony it came from has been really good.
A Queen about to Depart?
The second hive looked OK as well, plenty of bees, plenty of stores, eggs, larvae and brood. Once again I didn’t see the queen and I did see what might have been the beginnings of a queen cell so we’ll have to keep an eye on that. It would be a shame to see an old queen depart just as a new one has arisen.
A Potential new Colony
Later that day, whilst out swimming in the sea at Aberystwyth I had several messages. Some via Facebook, Some via Messenger, Others as Text Messages and Answer Phone messages and all from various people informing me of a colony of bees that had taken up residence in someone’s kayak. We didn’t have a huge amount of time or daylight left so we popped in on our way home to take a look and arranged to return the following evening to collect them.
The ‘swarm’ looks quite good. It’s not really a swarm any more as it has properly taken up residence in the upturned kayak. There are 4 or five frames of comb covered in bees. Apparently they have been there for a couple of weeks. I think the plan will be to cut the comb off and wire it to some empty frames before putting them into a nuc box. Hopefully the bees will then move into the Nuc box so that I can take them to our out apiary and transfer them to a new hive. That should keep me occupied and out of mischief this evening!
Wow that must have been hot in you suit. Hope all goes well with getting the “swarm” no doubt you’ll have a good chat about kayaking
Bees in a kayak – that might be a first! Perhaps they fancied being able to see the ocean. Seems like a precarious home to choose, low down and open to the elements.
The Kayak was up the other way so the bees were at least protected from the elements. They were low down though and as the owner of the kayak fancied a paddle it certainly wasn’t the best spot to set up a colony!