The Inspector arrived. I very carefully peered out of the window as he walked up the path. I couldn’t believe it. There I was yesterday scouring the web for a photo of an American Drill Sergeant to add to the text of my blog and here was one walking down the path toward the house. He had the heavy boots on and the hat was an exact match but that was wear the comparisons stopped I have to say though I did have a good giggle at the hat.
He was lovely and immediately helpful. The bee inspection was not exactly as I thought it would be. We went up to the Omlet to start with to have a look around and we immediately got stuck in looking around for any Varroa (there was barely anything which is a relief) and all the signs from the hive were good – we did remove a couple of frames from the hive as they hadn’t been drawn out yet and so we wanted to allow the bees to concentrate on building up stores rather than wasting energy building up frames. Read the rest of this entry »
The day of the bee inspection has arrived. It came to my attention recently that us beekeepers will get inspected by higher powered beekeepers who are actually employed for that specific role by the British Beekeepers Association. What a scary thing to have happen to you. Here I am about four months into my career as a beekeeper and I am about to be inspected.
I have scary thoughts of a bearded beekeeper with glasses, hands behind his back, doing a parade while I stand to attention by my beehive. I will be there chest puffed out wearing an impeccably clean beesuit with my hive tool being held in one hand and a newly shined smoker in the other. Read the rest of this entry »
So, suddenly it has got a little bit more serious. Yesterdays inspection had two elements to it which were both equally important. Firstly the hopes of some capped honey and secondly the review of European Foul Brood. Its funny isn’t it. When I first started to write the account of my beekeeping year I really was approaching it as a jovial and often humerous story but I genuinely feel as if my attitude, respect and affection for the bees has grown immensely and I now see how serious it all is. These last two days have only emphasised that to me. Read the rest of this entry »
I used to be a big fan of The Krypton Factor when I was younger. I used to love sitting down on a Monday evening to tune into Gordon Burns testing people over assault courses and other tests which included mental agility tests. I used to think that was evil until I worked for the Ministry of Defence and was in charge of testing military recruits on their physical performance. I once had to put these poor, spotty and smelly teenage “squaddies” into an ice bath and then literally had to hold them down in the bath and get them to complete manual dexterity tests and answering simple questions. Though cruel it was fascinating.
I used to think these were the hardest tests you could ask someone to complete until I started beekeeping. I have found that tasks I have to complete currently are far harder than any Drill Instructor would have set or that Gordon Burns would have charmed me into doing. Read the rest of this entry »
So D Day. Two major events were happening today. Firstly it was the rematch between me and my traditional hive. They won last week and I had to retreat but narrowly avoided a mad dash into the nearest pond. With my pride hurt I had taken stock and today was the day. Secondly it was also the day that I was due to open up the Omlet Beehaus for the first time since the nucleus was transplanted. Two things I was interested in here. Firstly had they settled okay and was the queen laying okay and secondly, as I had only transplanted “standard” frames into a 14*12 box what was going on with the extra space they had at the bottom of the frames. I was actually nervously looking forward to it.
Today was a strange day. I woke up feeling quite excited following on from last weeks successful inspections. Spotting the two queens gave me real confidence and then there was my growing feeling of calm as I inspected the hives, something I hadn’t felt in previous inspections. Today however was slightly different, I got just over half way through the first inspection and then felt that I couldn’t complete the inspection. Read the rest of this entry »
I found the queen!! Fresh from the confidence I gained in spotting the marked queen yesterday in the nucleus – seriously I cannot tell you how much it helped me today – I found the queen! Even though I had seen them in the practice sessions I was amazed at how big they were and it was only yesterday that reminded me. Fantastic. Read the rest of this entry »
Crikey, the day before Fathers Day and in fact I think we Fathers need it simply to rest because of the day before Fathers Day. Jobs were flying around today but I did accomplish my 2nd Hive inspection and this time unaided. I have to say it is quite a different animal doing it on your own and you feel a lot more exposed to the whole thing with not one shoulder to lean on.
The inspection started with a very humorous lighting of the smoker and the afternoon had quite an unexpected turn of events involving a tin of paint and a bee ….. Read the rest of this entry »
I am a man of integrity and honesty and therefore I have to admit I am writing this piece with a glass of rose (yes, I know, not very beekeeping) to my right and a left over piece of cold pizza (with a bite taken out from a cheeky breakfast bite this morning) to my left. These are the leftovers from last nights World Cup match between England and the US, a rather disappointing result I have to say. Therefore I thought I would write this watching Australia beat Germany; sadly this is not the case with Australia 4-0 down and with only 10 men!
Anyway, what a momentous day. I have dreamt about this day for a while now and especially since I received the bees two weeks ago. You are meant to leave the bees for a bit to start building the colony and just to keep feeding them to give them a helping hand. After all, they have to build a new home and get the queen laying new eggs so she can keep the colony moving forward. Therefore I have done what I am told – there is a first for everything – and today was the day that I was going to have a look inside. Read the rest of this entry »
I was yesterday scouring the web for a photo of an American Drill Sergeant to add to the text of my blog and here was one walking down the path toward the house. He had the heavy boots on and the hat was an exact match but that was wear the comparisons stopped I have to say though I did have a good giggle at the hat.
