This last week has been so unbelievably hectic that I have yet to write about my talk at the Grow Your Own Show. It was funny but I was nervous in a funny way. I am used to public speaking in my corporate life and so give me an audience to discuss the intricicies of the European Property Market I would have no problem, beginner beekeeping is quite another.
Unperterbed I soldiered on and prepared a presentation with lots of visual aids (I found lots of photos online which I have included at the end of this post – sadly I haven’t referenced them so I apologise if I have used a photo of yours)
All in all I felt it went really well (though I did upset a farmer when talking about pesticide use) and over the two talks I did I must have presented to at least 200 people. All in all a very enjoyable experience.
So, it is all getting a little bit busy at the moment, work is building to a crescendo, the potty training of number one son is in full flow (not literally thank god), the weaning of number two son is moving messily along and then there is the bees…….with all this wonderful weather we are having it looks like swarm season is as early as the apple blossom (about three weeks early apparently)
How can I fit it all in….the answer sadly is that I can’t. The difficulty I find is that you can water the garden at 5.30am but you can’t really go in and see the bees. Knowing how grumpy I am at that time of the morning I wouldn’t dare open up a hive of probably 25,000 buzzy bees. Read the rest of this entry »
So I was really excited this weekend to be going up to check on the bees. The weather was good, the bees had been flying around like maniacs and I knew the blossom on the fruit trees was out with avengence. Perfect conditions for the bees to make me lots of honey.
I also decided that I would give my wife a little bit of time off from our two year old, Sebastian, who is always running around in a way that only two year olds can. Therefore I decided to show him the bees. What I didn’t account for, in my infinite wisdom, was the combination of a very active two year old and him being half way through his potty training period. What fun it turned out to be. Read the rest of this entry »
The weather was perfect and I felt it was time I went for a 2nd inspection of the year. The bees were pretty active and I was having a mild case of beekeepers panic at the thought of what was going on in the hive. I had already managed to put one super on the National Hive but I hadn’t yet put anything on the Omlet hive. Now was possible the time.
I got to the Omlet hive and had prepared a game plan (I find I have to do this nowadays in preparation for what I might find!). The glory of the Omlet is that you can essentially put on half a super first unlike National when a whole super has to go on. I would like to think it was because it was planned but it was simply because I had only prepared 6 super frames. The Omlet super technique was perfect. Read the rest of this entry »
I think I experienced what is called the Beekeeping panic today. It was the hottest day of the year so far in the UK and as a result I knew that my bees would be loving it (especially as all the fruit tree blossom would be coming out any second). The problem was that I had just put a super on one of the hives (thank god I had that ready to go) but the other was not ready in the slightest. To top it all off I hadn’t removed the hive entrance blocks.
Standing outside the hive this morning (which I only did as a fluke as I wasn’t even going out to the hives today) was like watching the busiest of motorways on the worst rush hour ever. To top it all off there would be a multi-car pile up right in the middle of it. I decided there and then that I had to do something. Read the rest of this entry »
When I started beekeeping there was this lovely thought of putting your beautiful, quintessential bee hive in an apple orchard. I couldn’t believe it when I found out late last year that at the end of the road was a huge orchard full of not just apple trees but pear, cherry and plum trees; thousands of them. I couldn’t believe it.
I chance meeting with the rather scary farmer at the end of the road resulted in a conversation where I found out that he had wanted a beekeeper to put hives in his orchard for years. I couldn’t believe my ears, what a result!
Below are some photos I took today with some of the trees in blossom and some others that are about to blossom. It really was lovely to see it all this morning in the morning sunlight…..
It is times like these when you wonder if you have taken on too much. My corporate life is incredibly hectic having been away the last four weekends out of five and virtually no days of in between, home life is hectic due to the two boys and wife who is being a complete super star at these busy times and then there is the garden, allotment and the bees to contend with.
Desperate times call for desperate measures. I am trying to get up early to tend the garden and allotment (really depends on what time our youngest gets us up in the night though!) and I am resorting to stealth beekeeping…… Read the rest of this entry »
Its funny isn’t it. You start feeling a little confident over the winter time. You sit there each day putting some of your own honey on toast in the morning with a nice mug of coffee and you come to the conclusion that it is all alright and that beekeeping is relatively straightforward. It was my first year last year and so I was feeling pretty confident going into this year safe in the knowledge that I had one year under my belt and a wealth of experience……then the season starts again and you realise you will forever be learning.
In the three weeks I have seriously been putting my beekeeper veil back on this year I have come to the conclusion that I will never know all there is to know and that the learning curve will keep on growing! You realise just how much there is to learn about this fascinating topic. Read the rest of this entry »
[google1] There are many beekeeping jobs to do in Spring but I think I have only touched the surface of what needs to be done. March is a time in the hive when everything is getting going and should the temperature get above the 10-150C range you will start to see bees flying around outside the hive (hopefully getting some pollen which is an indication that the hive is working as pollen is needed to feed larvae, an indication that the queen is laying)
Therefore here is a list of the jobs that I have done so far. However, I am sure this list isn’t exhaustive and so please help me by telling me what other jobs I have to do……. Read the rest of this entry »
First the important thing….are my bees still alive? Well I heard a pearl of wisdom the other day from a good beekeeping friend of mine. Without opening the hive you can tell quite easily by lying on the ground under the hive and simply blowing a few breaths through the open mesh floor (assuming you have one of these) he said. Therefore this is duly what I did and success, there was a nice roar from one of the hives but I haven’t had time to check the other yet (I suggest you do this on a nice cold day as otherwise you are pretty much a sitting or should I say lying duck if the bees want to investigate who is breathing on them!)
Going to be feeding them soon. Fondant on order….
Otherwise the garden and allotment are starting to wake up a little bit which is lovely to see. Just seeing tiny bits of green poking up through the soil is enough for me to really start enjoying the year. The weather has been quite unsettled and windy but apart from that relatively pleasent down here. Should you want any more information about the photos please just press the “i” in the middle of the photo and that should tell you all you need to know. Happy February.
