Planning ahead with ebay

Over the winter, Frome beginner beekeepers have been lucky enough to attend a series of evening courses run by Robin. These are pitched at a level above total beginner but below the basic exam course and have been extremely interesting.

Robin has encouraged us to think ahead and work out what we want to do if (when?!) we find Queen cells. Liam and I have decided that we would like to increase the number of colonies we have and take it to the dizzy heights of two hives.

Last week's course included a discussion on the different methods of swarm control. There are a couple of different approaches including the Pagden method (the BBKA recommended method) and a revised approach - Robin's "Safety First" method! We will be attempting the latter so more on this in a few months time...

Whichever method we use, we learnt that a nucleus hive would be useful - and that these are available on ebay from £35. I have accordingly just "Made an offer" on a nuc hive with a wire mesh floor for £32 plus £15 postage and had it accepted.

Next up is a second hive - I am hoping to find a second hand one at a local auction?

The bees are awake!

It is so nice to finally have something to post about! After a long winter with not very much happening (bar some oxalic acid treatment in December and an excellent candle making course with Robin - see separate post), my bees seem to be waking up again.

I have been hefting my hive every couple of weeks from mid Jan and had noticed last week that it was definitely lighter. Liam bought some fondant from the bakers in Frome (who immediately asked how many hives we had - he must have suspected something!) and we put it in the hive on Thursday. Up until then, we had seen no activity whatsoever around the hive - no flying bees, or visible guard bees etc.

This continued until Sunday when I went to check again. In the morning - nothing, despite the fact that it was a reasonably sunny day. I lifted the roof and inspected the fondant and was reassured to see they had taken some and seemed very busy in the hive at least. Later that afternoon I glanced at the hive and saw not only bees flying but about 20 bee corpses in front of it. It looks as if they had suddenly decided a spring clean was in order and had chucked out all the debris? For the first time since November, I could also see guard bees at the entrance and a few bees flying.