Growing Diamonds
Cool, it looks as though we have successfully cultivated diamonds in the garden – They are growing well at the moment. Trouble is, the bees are onto them already and have started mining them!
Category: Beekeeping
A Thank-You to the Bees from Rowse Honey
I was contacted the other day by someone from Rowse Honey telling me that they were planning on planting loads of plants especially for honey bees around the country and asking if I’d like to get involved by helping to spread the word. The idea is that they’ll plant a lavendar plant in community gardens...
Beekeeping Weather – All Looks Good
With day time temperatures soaring to the 20’s it seems as though beekeeping season is upon us once again. The bees have been getting busier and busier and they were in full flight at the weekend. There still aren’t huge number of flowers out for them to forage on, especially here, but there should be...
Bee-location, Bee-location
We moved a beehive again on Monday evening. As per usual, our beekeeping activities took place under cover of darkness. The hive in question had been moved from Aberystwyth to our house a couple of weeks prior and was now going back to our new out apiary just outside of Aberystwyth. All went well and...
Bees Under the Floor – Pesky things!
We’ve been busy this weekend building our new hives. Morgan has been helping and then today all three of us were at it and we’ve gradually turned the pallet of wood that arrived last week into two new beehives. There’s another two to build yet though. First we have to seal all of the cut...
Beekeeping in the Dark
Things are beginning to get busy in our beekeeping world again. Yesterday we took delivery of a pallet of supplies. I was sat working at my computer when a huge articulated lorry pulled up outside, there was a knock on the door and the delivery driver said there was a pallet for us. My mind raced, I...
A New Apiary Site
Hopefully, if our bees survive the next month or so, they’ll expand rapidly in number and we’ll end up with more colonies than we started with. Our plan this year is to ‘make increase’ by performing artificial swarms and re-housing the swarms in new hives. Our garden isn’t big enough for too many hives and not really...
The Bees think Spring is Here
I mentioned the other day that the bees were busy. Well, they’re at it again, out enjoying the Spring sunshine and feasting on the pollen and nectar from out little patch of crocuses. As new beekeepers who are just coming out of their first winter with bees, it’s a lovely sight to see. It must...
Springing into Life
Sunday morning was absolutely gorgeous here. A perfect early Spring morning that just can’t be beat. I was up early to go for a run and a swim, did a bit of work, got ready and then headed into Machynlleth. The temperature was around 1°C there and mist was hanging in the valleys with gorgeous...
Stores for Winter – Beekeeping Season Starts Again
After to big freeze of last year, the winter of 2011-2012 has been fairly mild. So what does this mean for our honey bees? Well, we had a check on our three hives this winter and things don’t look too bad. It’s difficult to know if bees consume more food in warm winters than in...
