[Kate and her Ducks]

Well Mum and I went through them yesterday and they seem lovely and all as to be hoped for. I hadn't really used cover cloths before but they did make it easier so will definately be making some.

Then a very odd thing happened today. Was sat in the garden talking to a friend on the phone as I often do and a couple of the bees took offence and stung me! They are usually very placid and have never behaved like this before. It was pretty unprovoked and I had spent over an hour near the hives in the morning and they were as pleasent as usual.

Luckally I had taken an anihistamine just prior to this as my hayfever has been playing up a bit but am having a minor panic as I was on the phone to one of my best friends for whom I am a bridesmaid in 4 days time and was stung on the cheek!

Unfortunately I was also on the phone to the bride who I left ina minor panic as I suddenly said "Ow ow ow! I'm going to have to go... been stung... on face... hope you don't end up with a bridesmaid like Quasimodo!..."

So far just have a very healthy glow on that cheek so hopefully can just balance up with A LOT of blusher on the other if it doesn't go down!

My OH in his inimmitablly supportive fashion said "Pah! (well he didn't actually say Pah as that would be silly but you get the drift) That's nothing, if you want to see a bee sting, look at this!"

So if you want to see a beesting and how not to ever treat bees, look at this!

h03wzwBiJbE
Yummy. Bee comb with brood!

[darren64]

I am 99% certain mine have swarmed - had some queen cell activity which I was on top of then there was a period where every day was windy and rainy and when I tried to look they threw a fit (you know what I mean, coming to the top of the frames and staring before attacking).

So, by the time I got a decent day and could fully inspect the hive was strangely quiet.  I'm sure I had just missed the swarm.  Now I am waiting to see if there is a new queen (haven't spotted her) and am in the period before eggs are laid - none on Sunday.

A little daunting as I have just taken everything on and it is a steep learning curve even after doing an intro course last year.  If no eggs appear this week it will be a shopping trip for a new queen I feel.

on the bright side...the old queen was a couple of years old so if she has left it has saved me the job of finding her and replacing this summer.

I've been informed it can take upto 4 weeks for a new queen to mate.

[Kate and her Ducks]

Well in the lovely weather the bees have been very  busy, especially as the linden trees are all in blossom.

Not sure this pic really shows them to their best advantage but the video won't load up.



They have been making me all sorts of presents starting with this-



It is the most amazing piece of brace comb and so incredibly geometric.

Today I went in and found my first capped frame of honey and impatience got the better of me so I nabbed it! Think the rest of the frames in that super will be capped in the next week or so and the bees have moved into the super above and started getting that ready already.

Feels like the next step in the dream. I am now self sufficient in eggs, honey and dandilions!

[Aunt Sally]

That looks like they have given you their heart Kate 

[Kate and her Ducks]

You are the second person to say that and I never really noticed it was heart shaped till you pointed it out.

I was sorely tempted to leave the gap so they would keep making brace comb in it as it is just so beautiful but decided to go for honey production instead.

[monkeywobbler]

Kate, this is fascinating reading. Just a quick note - I can't remember where I read it, but I remember seeing that mobile phones and their masts can irritate bees. Might have something to do with the random stinging? 

[Kate and her Ducks]

I've read mixed things about this. Just got the book "A world without bees" which looks at this amongst many things. The begining seems pretty objective so far but only a couple of pages in. I would need a bit of convincing on this. I suspect it wasn't the cause of the stings as I often talk inthe mobile in the garden and the ignore me entirely. Wasn't on the phone, hadn't been drinking. Remains a mystery. Luckally they are back to their normal lovely docile selves. Think they are far too busy working making honey with all this lovely weather. I've put a clearer board in and am taking my first super off tonight with another one not far behind.

[monkeywobbler]

Hmm, maybe that wasn't it then. Glad they're back to normal!

[Trillium]

I thought Kate posted the pic because it was a heart. Very pretty too.

[Kate and her Ducks]

Well I have been very remiss about keeping up to date with the bees comings and goings and much has been going on.

I harvested the first batch of honey which was very satisfying. The girls have been working their little socks off and filled 2 supers so I headed off to Mum who has an extractor.

The comb.


In the extractor having been spun.


Honey and the odd bit of wax draining out the bottom.


And the finished product (well one of the 45lbs of honey they made!).

(already tucked into that jar!)

Then we checked my Mum's bees and a nucleus of bees she had started earlier this year had really filled the box they were in and needed moving on but no spare hive so they came to leave with me as I have a back up hive.
I'm rapidly discovering that bees are a bit like ducks and chickens. You say that you are only going to have the 1 and think about more in a couple of years if all goes well and 8 weeks later the second colony in settled in and more on the way!

And that brings me onto the more on the way. Two colonies is really all I think I can comfortably accommodate although could manage 3 spacewise at a push so when Mum ended up with another colony that needed to move up into a hive I didn't hesitate to offer her my new backup hive. Was assured that the swarming season is winding down and haven't seen much in the way of queen cells anyway, so off it goes.

Was sitting with my bees listening to them going around their business yesterday and heard my queen piping. Don't really know much about this but my book says this about it - "Queen bees often make a 'piping' noise - variously described as a quacking or tooting noise of a toy trumpet. It can be clearly heard outside the hive and has been said to be either G# or A in pitch." Thought I would ask Mum about it and have a little google to find out that it is usually made by virgin queens or mated queens in a hive with a virgin queen or queen cell close to hatching! I thought she was just chatting back to me!
Mum has never heard it and nor has her bee mentor who has kept bees for 50 years! The general opinion is that I probably have another queen in the hive somewhere and need to find her and set her up on her own!

Hmmm. Not sure how I will find her and set her up before the queen finds her and they fight and am still kind of hoping that I am just hearing things or she is just a chatty queen.

If I'm hearing things I will be the first pychotic who's internal voices speak bee!

[mumofstig]

2 bee or not 2 bee (queens) that is the question 

[Paul Plots]

Love the pictures Kate - amazing!! 

[darren64]

how much honey did you get??I have 4 supers on my main hive at the moment but none are capped

[joyfull]

just above the photo of the jar of honey Kate mentions 45lbs of honey - which is an amazing amount don't you think? 

[Kate and her Ducks]

I got 45 lbs from the 2 supers I took. Have since taken anoher super and got one still to be capped. I'm amazed how hard the bees have been working and how much honey I have got. They really seem to be flourishing in Liverpool. We are quite near a couple if parks and most of the roads have lime trees on them so plenty of forage.

Hopefully enough for the nuc to build up good stores for winter too without too much feeding.