The day after we came back from New Zealand was warm - ok, not very sunny - but warm. You've got to be grateful for that, right?
I can't express the intensity of joy I felt at revisiting all my beekeeping stuff. To be pulling on my suit again; digging out my hive tools; even lighting That Blasted Smoker. It was like a trip down Memory Lane, but better, because you know that now summer is really back and you have the whole summer of beekeeping to look forward to again.
Of course, the girls soon reminded me of the more sobering stuff. You know, like stings and all that. :)
I tromped down to the beehive and made ready ...
Now initially, my elaborate plan was to use this visit to make the shift from the brood-and-a-half configuration to the new 14x12 hive. But of course, the girls have been living in a double brood hive during the winter and the two moves.
And as I sat for a while, watching the bees while the smoker fired up, I thought to myself that perhaps it might be better to just make this an Intro Visit - go in there to establish exactly how the colony is doing before I fling them willy-nilly into another hive.
Because of course, the new hive will have no drawn foundation for the Queen to lay; it will have no saved stores. They will have to start again from the beginning. Well, almost. They'll need a couple of drawn frames filled with baby brood and honey stores. But most of the frames will be undrawn foundation.
This is all part of another, hidden agenda as well, you see. If I move them to undrawn foundation, they'll be kept busy. Very busy. Too busy to swarm. Cunning, eh?!
So as I watched the bees buzzing around the entrance I decided to keep this visit to the very basics. Just check they're ok, see if there's signs of Queen-rightness, check on feed levels, see how many frames of stores are left, and how many frames of brood might be starting up.
Then next time will be the crunch-time; the time to do the traumatic move over to 14x12.
I quietly smoked the hive and popped the lid off. The colony is still there, so Check One for the girls - they've survived the bitter winter. But the numbers are noticeably low. Of course it would be so.
Frames 10, 9, 8 and 7 had small quantities of honey stores remaining, in half-moon shapes across the top. Frame 6 had very early brood sign. Ever-so-tiny rice grain eggs. Not a lot, but there they were. Yahooooo! She is there, and She is laying. Long Live the Queen!
Next, Frame 5 - slightly older, fat white juicy larvae. And on the other side of Frame 4 - a small panel of sealed brood.
It was interesting to see how she'd spread out her laying across the three frames. Is that a bad sign? She is not a young Queen, after all. We shall see ...
OW! BUGGER!
First sting - right in the groin. Those little beggars.
Thankfully I was able to keep my movements slow and sure, and wipe off the sting. The next two got me in the same spot though, and I had to drop the frame I was looking at and walk away to bite the bullet. Not very dignified.
(Odd though it sounds, I am actually glad to be stung. It was really noticeable to me that the arthritis in my hands and feet flared up again in the winter, and I'm looking forward to getting relief from it by being stung. Bee venom really does seem to help suppress the symptoms. My hands are noticeably more supple and my knees and feet less achey. As for the hayfever, I still can't verify that honey and venom are helping.)
I went back to finish inspecting the top box; I thought about shifting the top box to inspect the bottom one but decided against it. I'd seen what I had to see and was happy.
I closed it all up, and spent time just sitting and looking at the entrance activity once more.
When I left the apiary I was as high as a kite; happy, happy, happy. Enchanted and relieved and pleased and proud.
I'm so looking forward to summer!
I can't express the intensity of joy I felt at revisiting all my beekeeping stuff. To be pulling on my suit again; digging out my hive tools; even lighting That Blasted Smoker. It was like a trip down Memory Lane, but better, because you know that now summer is really back and you have the whole summer of beekeeping to look forward to again.
Of course, the girls soon reminded me of the more sobering stuff. You know, like stings and all that. :)
I tromped down to the beehive and made ready ...
Now initially, my elaborate plan was to use this visit to make the shift from the brood-and-a-half configuration to the new 14x12 hive. But of course, the girls have been living in a double brood hive during the winter and the two moves.
And as I sat for a while, watching the bees while the smoker fired up, I thought to myself that perhaps it might be better to just make this an Intro Visit - go in there to establish exactly how the colony is doing before I fling them willy-nilly into another hive.
Because of course, the new hive will have no drawn foundation for the Queen to lay; it will have no saved stores. They will have to start again from the beginning. Well, almost. They'll need a couple of drawn frames filled with baby brood and honey stores. But most of the frames will be undrawn foundation.
This is all part of another, hidden agenda as well, you see. If I move them to undrawn foundation, they'll be kept busy. Very busy. Too busy to swarm. Cunning, eh?!
So as I watched the bees buzzing around the entrance I decided to keep this visit to the very basics. Just check they're ok, see if there's signs of Queen-rightness, check on feed levels, see how many frames of stores are left, and how many frames of brood might be starting up.
Then next time will be the crunch-time; the time to do the traumatic move over to 14x12.
I quietly smoked the hive and popped the lid off. The colony is still there, so Check One for the girls - they've survived the bitter winter. But the numbers are noticeably low. Of course it would be so.
Frames 10, 9, 8 and 7 had small quantities of honey stores remaining, in half-moon shapes across the top. Frame 6 had very early brood sign. Ever-so-tiny rice grain eggs. Not a lot, but there they were. Yahooooo! She is there, and She is laying. Long Live the Queen!
Next, Frame 5 - slightly older, fat white juicy larvae. And on the other side of Frame 4 - a small panel of sealed brood.
It was interesting to see how she'd spread out her laying across the three frames. Is that a bad sign? She is not a young Queen, after all. We shall see ...
OW! BUGGER!
First sting - right in the groin. Those little beggars.
Thankfully I was able to keep my movements slow and sure, and wipe off the sting. The next two got me in the same spot though, and I had to drop the frame I was looking at and walk away to bite the bullet. Not very dignified.
(Odd though it sounds, I am actually glad to be stung. It was really noticeable to me that the arthritis in my hands and feet flared up again in the winter, and I'm looking forward to getting relief from it by being stung. Bee venom really does seem to help suppress the symptoms. My hands are noticeably more supple and my knees and feet less achey. As for the hayfever, I still can't verify that honey and venom are helping.)
I went back to finish inspecting the top box; I thought about shifting the top box to inspect the bottom one but decided against it. I'd seen what I had to see and was happy.
I closed it all up, and spent time just sitting and looking at the entrance activity once more.
When I left the apiary I was as high as a kite; happy, happy, happy. Enchanted and relieved and pleased and proud.
I'm so looking forward to summer!
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