Sunday 22 February 2015

Hive Alive!!

Well over the last few weeks I have been a little worried about the beehives.

You do the best you can in winter but you never really know what is going to happen so it is left up to fate as to what will happen.

So I was getting a little worried...I had been up to the hives a few times and seen no activity at all even on those milder days....I had listened and heard nothing...I had given a good slap on the side of the hives....and still nothing so I was thinking that maybe, for one reason or another (of which I would not be able to determine until the warmer weather had come) that the colonies had died over the winter.

This was my assumption but not certainty so I wouldn't risk going into the hives just in case as I would have to go down to the brood chamber to really determine what had gone wrong and then if there was nothing wrong the cold could kill the colony.

So here I was worrying but without being able to do anything about it!!

Anyway last Wednesday a lovely sunny day arrived with very little wind so I decided I would yet again go and take a look at the hives. I'm sure you can imagine my delight when I found this....


bees on winbter flights
Happy bees in the sun
A very busy colony of bees enjoying the winter sunshine!!

And then this.....

bees in winter
Bees flying in the weak winter sun.

So that is the two poly hives...the wooden one I was still worried about....no activity at all and with a few taps no humming. With the weather being quite warm I decided a quick look into the top box wouldn't do them any harm and when I opened the lids I found................a lovely cluster of bees eating the honey out of the top brood frame....WHAT A RELIEF!!!!!

No pics of the wooden hive as it is very quick in and out and they aren't totally out fo the woods as a colony yet for reasons I will explain in a later post but at least there is a good size cluster so I am very pleased.

As we've has a few warm days and there isn't much about for the bees to collect I gave them all some food which this time of year is fondant and then left them to go about there business.

I am really glad I got this done when I did a the very next day the weather took a turn for the worst again and there has not been a chance since when I could have got into the hives.

Point of interest...this time of year when the bees can't get out much then you give them feed in the form of fondant. this is food that they do not have to process and can eat immediately which means they do not need to go on any cleansing flights so it doesn't matter if they can't get out as they aren't messing up the hive.

So we are all happy here....and I managed to get two post done in less that a week...and I have yet more stuff to tell you so I may be back in the next couple of days!!
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Monday 16 February 2015

Not quite the way I planned it!!

The posting and reading that is...in fact I have spent so little time on the computer of late that I get into trouble about not having checked e-mails...whoops.

I would like to sat it is all going to change from now but I can't promise that it will and I hate empty promises so I won't make one now but I would like you all to know that you are in my thoughts when I don't sit down to write or read your blogs and I really appreciate all bearing with me and coming back even when I do just write a load of twoddle that has absolutely no rhyme, reason or purpose!!

Apparently according to my spell check 'twoddle' isn't really a word but I like it and I'm sticking with it. It's been so long since I sat and typed that my fingers aren't even stretching to the right keys....you wouldn't believe how many errors I have had to correct just in this little bit so far...oh well ...never mind!

So I have done nothing on the allotment though it has warmed up a bit in the last week and I am hoping to get a bit of time done there soon to get some tidying up done if nothing else...everywhere is so dreary at the minute but days are getting longer and warmer and there is hope on the horizon that soon spring will be in full bloom.

I don't think the bees have faired very well this winter but more about that and the exciting edition to the bee plot in a new post.

Thinking about it I don't even know why I haven't had the inspiration to sit down and tell you all things as stuff has been going on I just didn't get to the computer and I think then when I did other bits had to be sorted and things happened and yadayadayada, I guess I could come up with excuses all night but really what is the point...any way I do have exciting news to share with you all but I will do it in a post in a day or two and I will also show you how things are looking at the allotment and the garden.....I need to get back into taking my photos again too....Don't get my wrong...I do have plenty...but I think they are mainly of Trojan and I do know there is plenty of other good photographic material out there so I will be getting to it!!

Si I guess that is it for now...I will be visiting all my favourite blogs real soon but I will only probably visit your latest post as when I realise how much I have missed I may possibly lose the will to ever log into blogger again!!

If it makes you feel any better I haven't written on the 'bee blog' for a lot longer but that is going to change to and I am going to be doing extracts and some book reviews on there as well as things to look for and what to do and not to do to help bee in your garden...that's the theory anyway so I do hope that maybe you will check that out once in a while too.

All words and no pictures can be pretty dull so let me see what I can find to share with you now....what sort of mood are you in?? Me I'm longing for long summer days!!

Poppy fields.
Poppies always come to mind for me when I think of childhood summers! What springs in to your mind when you think of the summer season??

Talk to you all soon!! :-)
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