Thursday 28 July 2011

Busy, busy bees

What a lovely day, today and very good flying weather for bees.  They are coming back to the hive covered in white pollen which makes them look a little mutant!  This is from - love it or hate it - Himalayan Balsam.  The scourge of conservationists, it is a wonderful insect, and particularly, honey bee plant.  See how busy they are ...



By now, there should be 50,000 to 60,000 bees in the hive - wow!  That's a lot of bees to be working with.


Apart from bringing back pollen and nectar to the hive, they'll also be defending it against predators.  Mostly me, disturbing them with my regular inspections.  However, at this time of year, wasps will be attracted to the source of carbohydrate (honey) and will be attempting to get into the hive to rob it from the bees.


The guard at the entrance of the hive reduces the area that the bees have to defend and is very useful.  Once the winter comes, the guard is turned upside down reducing the defensive area even further, as there will be less bees in the hive then.  Mice looking for a warm home are kept out by this narrowing of the entrance.

If the hive is really strong and there aren't many wasps around, then the guard can be taken out altogher facilitating the heavy bee traffic as well.

Monday 25 July 2011

What is going on?

Thursday was an amazing day - if it had snowed or sleeted, I wouldn't have been surprised!  There was sunshine, rain, showers and cloudy gloom!  And the temperature didn't fall below 18 degrees.  If the bees were inclined to fly at all, there would have been plenty of forage ...

bramble ...


 white clover which they love ...


lots of red clover ... 
which is more difficult for their probiscus (tongue) to reach.  They wait for the bumbles to bite into it and then take secondary nectar from it.

But lookee here - blackberries ready to pick in July!!!


With the apple crops coming weeks early, too, now would be a great time to learn how to make pastry for yummy, scrummy blackberry and apple treats.

Thursday 14 July 2011

14th July 2011

That a fantastic day! Let hope its a classic summer. Sorry I havent done any blogs recently, but we have been away.




Walter the boar has had a bad leg so we have brought him in to the farrowing pen for closer observation. He does seem to be getting much better



Victoria has been busy doing all sorts of jams. The red and blackcurrants have been brillant this year. The guests seem to love the raspberry and redcurrent the best.

What a change in the weather and the bees are loving it. With no rain, and the sun to help the flowers bloom, they're out collecting the pollen and nectar necessary to sustain developing bees. You have to look closely but there they are - coming into land or preparing to take off. 


And inside the hive, all is well. The queen is laying like crazy and the nurse bees are feeding the worker larvae with a mixture of the pollen and nectar (called bee bread).
There was a lovely contented buzz in the hive today. More like a gently hum, really.  Bliss.

Thursday 7 July 2011

Sutton Mawr Farm in the rain!

It's July - what do we expect!!!


The umbrella isn't for me - it's for the bees.  They don't like the rain - at all.  They are usually quite spiky if the hive is opened up in bad weather and this was no exception.  However, if I miss a visit and they start to build queen cells, then the first warm day and they'll be off!
All was well inside the hives.  The queens are laying well, the pattern of brood, pollen and stores is as expected in spite of the weather.