This is what a Thermo Beehive looks like.  Double celled industrial plastic for healthy bees, warm in the winter and cool in the summer.  The bottom box is called the brood box and this is where the queen and her attendants and a lot of the female worker bees are: drawing out wax and feeding the young.  This is also where the greedy boy drones are.  Above this box is the queen excluder which is an internal barrier to the queen moving up to where the honey is stored and laying in the comb that will eventually be extracted from the 'super' boxes above.

The alighting board is helpful to the bees.  They can land with their heavy nectar and pollen loads and then walk into the hive.  The entrance cover is there as shelter from wind and rain.

 And here is one of my girls, coming to investigate the early morning ruccus!  The entrance has a removable block (not seen) that has bee-size holes in it.  This will be inserted later in the summer to help the guard bees defend against wasps as it narrows the area to be protected.

29th June 2011

We had a very busy weekend at Sutton Mawr. On Friday we were joined by Bernice Wills and her 93 year old mother. Bernice's mother used to live in Barry.  During the second world war, she met her husband who was an american navel officer.  They both returned to the states after the war.  They travelled over on the Queen Mary 2.  They have meet up with relatives and can not believe how much the area has changed.

We had a family from Watford and another from Singapore. They collected eggs each morning.  I lost a few of them on Saturday morning as it was pelting down with rain.  Sunday was lovely.

This one of our guests doing some commodity trading! I don't think the mud was too appealing.

Today we moved the piglets about. Aunt Nell is leaving us tomorrow so we are worried that the piglets will start fighting. So we put 6 in one woodland paddock and  6 in the other. This sound easy but we ended up with 8 piglets running around the field.

 They loved playing on the muck heap. After 4 hours we manged to get them in to their new paddocks with a bit of help from some tasty food.  Daisy our youngest breeding sow is just about to give birth for the first time. I am checking everyday for milk production as this indicates that labour is only a few hours away.

Tomorrow we have to seperate the rams from the eves otherwise will will have lambs for xmas!

17th June 2011

Last night we had Mark Newton to stay with us, he camped in the meadow.  He is following the coast on a mobility scooter. It the first time it's ever been done. He is raising money for Help the Heros.  A film crew turned up at 7am to wake him up. Bacon sandwiches all round and then. Mark went off to Cowbridge, to meet the mayor.  He finishes in Llanelli on the 27th June. Good luck and Well done Mark!

We sourced local rolled barley from a local farmer called John Thomas.  He delivered a ton, which we feed to the pigs and the piglets. It needs to be soaked in water before feeding . Andrew Stoodley also delivered a large organic  bale of hay.  The cows we very excited, and happily tucked in immediately. The chickens were lording it too.

It's Vicci birthday today and Izzy our middle daughter is finishing her last GCSE.  So we decided to celebrate with a lunch in Cardiff.  Just as we going to leave we got our first visit from Environmental Health..  Lovely chap but we had to scrap all our plans. Vicci then spent the next couple of hours going through everything.  No major problems but not the best of birthday present. At first I think she thought it was a practical joke.

My mum came to the house this week , to collect her minature Labradoddle, she is called Charlie and came from a lovely home in Oxford.   They were coming to Cardiff to watch Take That.  She is a fantastic little dog and it has settled in really well.

 Charlie and Tiger Lily in the garden.

Contented Bees

What a lovely day - the first day of sunshine in a while and just perfect for a mating flight for the virgin queens in two of the hives.  By next week, assuming that they manage successful mating flights, I would hope to see evidence of eggs and perhaps, even some larvae. 

Here is a picture of the marked queen in one of the other hives.  Each queen is marked with a colour denoting the year of her birth.  In this case, blue means that she is a 2010 queen.

See how her abdomen is extended.  This is perfect for dropping her tail end into the bottom of the cells and depositing an egg there. 

The bees around her are her attendants.  Their job is to follow, feed and groom her as she is unable to look after herself.

14th June 2011

Lovely day. The band Take That are playing in Cardiff Millenium Stadium tonight. We are full of fans both tonight and tomorrow.

We laid on a cream tea and a glass of Pimms in the courtyard

Then they were ready to rock!

I think these ladies like Take That !

I had my feet sucked by hundreds of small fish at Dr Fish in Swansea. It was a really weird feeling. But I soon forgot about the fish as I was joined by Bonnie Tyler.  No not really but its a great photo.  My feet were a bit tingly after the15 min session.  Not unpleasant, will do it again.  In fact Dr Fish is so popular he is moving to bigger premises in Castle Street in Swansea - well worth a visit.

11th June 2011

Tizzy the hen and her 20 chicks arrived last night for our first hen party kicking off with a few Mojitos they sat down to a Moroccan Feast,  they all had a great night with a lot of laughter.

It was a beautiful morning, so we laid out breakfast in the courtyard for full Sutton Mawr cooked breakfasts all around.

Then a farm tour with Mark followed by white water rafting in Cardiff Bay which was a great success and are now tucking into a few drinks and heading into Cardiff for a night on the town.

The theme for the evening was the circus.  Watch out Cardiff they are on their way!

10th june 2011

I finished cleaning all the other chicken sheds today. I have to say I am pleased that is over!  Not the nicest job..

We had our first chick today a female Cotwold Cream Legbar.. It is one of only a few chickens you can sex at birth. Females have a black strip on their heads.  Hope to have more tomorrow.

We seived the flowers  heads from the elderflower mixture, and then into steriled bottles .. a brilliant drink for the summer

We have our first hen party this weekend Hannah is bringing 20 of her friends so watch this space!

Tomorrow I am going to clean out the cows. Nice change from chickens.

The honeysuccle has now come out in full bloom, it smells fantastic.

Flower our last puppy is off today to my sister in Somerset.  She loves dogs so I am quiet sure she will be completely spoilt.  We will miss them all.  We are keen to have puppies from Dora and Rosie.  But will wait as having Tiger lillie puppies was lovely and very rewarding but quiet a responsiblity.