[Kate and her Ducks]

they certainly are fascinating creatures, can sit for hours just watching them go in and out and when you open the hive its quite magical to see them all about their business.

been stung twice, only very mild reactions so far.

isn't it nerve wracking wondering if they'll survive the winter...... we're doing all we can to ensure they do

Couldn't agree more! One of the first questions people ask me is "Don't they take a lot of time to look after?"
"No" says I. "just half an hour per week per hive really." It's the hours and hours spent just watching them coming and going about their business thats the problem!
Better than any therapy and half the price even if you go for the most expensive hives you can find!

[Kate and her Ducks]

Am also paranoid about them getting through winter!

Can you get little heated blankets for them?

[kerry-n-rob]

Kate, DH is asking where your mam got her honey extractor from please?

K x

[Kate and her Ducks]

Will ask her. It is a cheap plastic drill driven one but it does the job and was about £120 I think.

[kerry-n-rob]

thanks x

[darren64]

I just started my varroa treatment with apigard trays,and after the first week I calculated about a 1000 mite drop in 1 hive and 300 in the smaller colony,have you started treatment yet?if so what was your mite drop?

[kerry-n-rob]

we did ours a couple of week ago and didn't really take much noticce of how much had dropped.

bit concerned cos they don't seem tohave any stores in the brood box though, full super on and we're feedign the 2:1 syrup too so should be ok

[Kate and her Ducks]

Kate, DH is asking where your mam got her honey extractor from please?

K x

Sorry for the delay. Mum got it from Fragile PLanet (Oswetry and on the web), about £100 and the drill that drives it included she thinks.

[Kate and her Ducks]

Can't see it on their website at the moment but they are a small company and it changes regularly. Give them a ring as they have always been really helpful with me.

[kerry-n-rob]

thanks for that Kate, hope all is well with your girls x

[Kate and her Ducks]

Well the bees are tucked up in bed for the winter, or they should be but we have had some lovely weather so they don't seem to know it is November and are still flying. They have had their varroa treatment but I haven't quite got round to fitting the mouse guards yet. That will have to be this weekend's job.

I attended the Honey show with my Mum a couple of weekends ago which was lovely. A bit like time travelling back to about 1953 but a lovely day in the village hall where I used to fence as a teenager which was nostalgic (Not in 1953 I hasten to add).

I entered some honey (in the wrong category unfortunately!) and a candle made of my girls wax. I came second which was exciting (and there was more then 2 entries!) so I have the rosette in pride of place at home and the candle will be saved for Christmas.

Now I just need to wait for spring and keep praying that they all make it through the winter.

[darren64]

I inspected mine at the weekend as it was so warm,I swapped the empty brood frames in 1 hive for a dummy board,the larger colony had all the brood frames full of stores and brood,I removed the varroa trays and opened the floors,and i put my mouse guards on,so that should be it now till january when I feed fondant.

[Kate and her Ducks]

I'm not entirely sure what to do with my main hive. During the summer they filled a double brood chamber but as they have contracted as we have approached winter HRH has settled in the upper brood chamber which is still full of brood and store and they have entirely filled the lower BC with stores. Honey in the outer frames and pollen in all the central frames. They have 9 frames packed with pollen! I have actually seen them kicking off the pollen before they enter the hive rather than bring it in!

All the books and advice I have been given is to reduce the space in the hive as much as possible so that they don't have as much top heat over winter but to reduce the space at all I would have to remove some of the store so have just left things the way they are. I'm still reckoning that the bees know what they are doing more than I do! They seem to have plenty of stores and a super of honey to keep them going so hope to not have to feed them.

[Kate and her Ducks]

It's been an amazing couple of weeks given how mild it had been. The bees have been flying out and collecting pollen despite it is meant to be mid-winter!

Today has been the first day I have been home and it has been cold enough to keep the bees indoors so I can do the running repairs of their run and shuffle the hives around a bit to make the most of the space, learning from last season. made a little space for nucs so we can raise some new queens this year hopefully.

Looking forward to spring and them getting going again.

[SnooziSuzi]

a couple of mine were out on cleansing flights the other day.  One of them was flailing around on the top of the hive (have you noticed how they seem to end up on their backs on the shiny top of the hive?) so I rescued her and put her right again.

She walked up my finger where she promptly pooped on it!!  after she flew off, I had nowhere I could get rid of it so I wiped it on my jacket, thinking that I'd just put it in the wash that evening.

Anyhoo, whilst driving back to work I could smell a familiar smell of honey in the car, but how could that be - honey harvesting happened months before hand.... You guessed it, the bee poo that I wiped on my jacket smells of honey!  You learn something new every day! :happy: