Remember a few weeks ago I said that I'd put another brood box on the hive so that the queen had more room to lay eggs. Well they have moved into it alright but they have pretty much filled it all with honey! There is some brood in there but it's mostly honey. I can only just lift it!
It is normal for the bees to have honey in the brood box, in fact they will rely on these stores over the winter, but we would like some honey to! The new super, where they are supposed to put the honey, is coming along nicely but there isn't much honey in there yet.
This is a picture of one of the frames.
Just to prove that it not all honey in the top brood box, this a close up of a frame with brood on it. Can you spot the new arrival in the middle?
They other news is that they weren't happy with me this week. I'm not entirely sure why but they were grumpy. I think it may have been the weather. Actually last week was the first time I got stung, but that was my own silly fault for sticking my head around there without any gear on. This week they were on a mission to get me though. I got stung twice on the ankle and once on the finger, which feels like it's been hit with a hammer. Ahh well, at least I know I'm not allergic!
Oh, and I still haven't found the queen :( I know she's in there because there are eggs and larvae, but I still have never managed to actually spot her. I think she's a little shy ;)
Things are coming along nicely in there. The new brood box doesn't contain as much brood as I'd like, but they have almost completely filled it with honey. It weighs an absolute tonne!
The new super I put on a week before is looking good. They have half draw out the honeycomb, and have even started to put some honey in there.
Just to give some idea of the task they have when drawing out new comb and filling it with honey........A bee needs to visit 1 million flowers to make a pound of honey. The bees then eat this honey and secrete wax from glands in their head to make the honeycomb. They need to eat 3 pounds of honey to make 1 pound of wax. That's a lot of honey and wax before they have even started to fill they comb with honey. Thankfully there is a lot of flowers and nectar around at the moment .
I'm intending to go and inspect the bees again tomorrow, so it will be interesting to see how much honey they have put in the new super. I've bought a second new super just in case they really get moving.
In the picture, the white area around the outside of the frame is capped honey, and the spotty bits in the middle are the brood. One of the brood was hatching while I was there, which was nice.
Anyone that has driven past the Bristol museum in the last few days will have noticed that there is something going on. It's an exhibition by the Graffiti artist called 'Banksy'. We haven't been yet, but if you are in the area I've heard it's very good. Oh, and it's free!
This is one of the frames in the super (ie the bit with just honey in). It got a little scraped while I was pulling it out of the super, so you can see the honey in the cells. This frame had been in the super all season so far, so they haven't just filled it over night, but I am still amazed with what they have achieved :)
As you can see there is a new section in the middle, the lighter box. This is the new brood box where the bee's live. Now that they have two boxes to live in, the queen has more space to lay eggs so they can increase in numbers. This also discourages them from swarming. Swarming is when half the bees leave in a big swarm and find a new home. Swarming is bad because it worries people and we loose half our bees.
Tomorrow we are hoping to be able to get into the hive to see what they have done in the new box.
The hive is on a different plot and moving it is going to be difficult. We have had a chat with the people who are taking on the plot, and they are happy for us to leave it there until the winter when it will be easier to move. This is a result as I was begining to worry about moving a hive full with 20,000 bee's!
In the picture you can see that there are two main sections to the hive. The bottom section, in the darker green, is called the Brood Box. This is the main area where the bees live. They enter the hive at the bottom of the brood box via a small opening. You can just about see it on the picture at the bottom left. They then go up into their 'home' and fill out the comb inside. This area has a mix of pollen, honey, and larvae. The queen is in this area and she spends her whole day laying eggs into the honeycomb. These then grow into larvae and eventually become bee's.
Above the brood box is a box which is called a 'Super'. The name is derived from the Latin for 'on top'. The bee's also live in this part, but it only holds honey. Between the two sections is a metal grid that stops the queen moving from the bottom to the top. This is called the queen excluder. As the queen is the only one that lays eggs, the beekeeper can be sure that the super only has honey in there as she is too big to get through the holds on the queen excluder.
The hive looks slightly different now because we have put another brood box on. This means that the queen has more room to lay eggs. This is good for everyone because more bee's means more honey! The new brood box is exactly the same as the one in the picture, if a little cleaner, but it has never been touched by bee's, so they to will need to create the honey comb from the wax that they make. Then the queen will start laying eggs in there hopefully. This weekend will be the first time we have inspected this hive since we have put the new box on, so we are quite excited to see what they have done with the place.
On another note, the bees seemed to be a bit calmer this time. I think they have got used to me poking about in their home now :)
Next time I will try and get some pictures of the inside of the hive. Hopefully you will be able to see some of their handywork, and all our lovely honey.
Now that we have the equipment, we are able to actually have a look at the bees that we are taking on.
The owner has been out of the country for a while and hasn't been able to do much to them, so I didn't really know what to expect. Well they look pretty good actually. The hive is a bit of a mess with comb and stuck together with wax and propolis, but the bee's themselves look like they are in good order. While trying to get the comb out I managed to disturb some of the honey which caused a bit of a storm of bee's, but hopefully they will have that sorted out pretty quickly.
I didn't get any pictures of the bees, but this is the smoker. It is used to calm the bees down by making them think that something is on fire and gorging themselves on honey before they escape. After they haven't smelt the smoke for a while they give up any escape plans and get on with their jobs. On close inspection of the comb, you can see all the little bees with their heads stuck into the comb sucking up all the honey.
I managed to clear some of the excess wax and propolis away from the frames, so hopefully it should be a little easier to inspect next time. Having said that, I think there is a good deal of clearing up to do.
Next job is to move the hive from the plot they are on now, to the end of our plot. This is not something I am really looking forward to, but hopefully it shouldn't be too painful (literaly)!
I have become fascinated by bees. I have started reading up on them, after seeing a program on the telly. The more I read, the more fascinated I become. They are amazing animals that are very important to us in a lot of ways.
The idea was that we would maybe get a hive at some point. However, we visited the local bee keeping association for one of their 'Apiary Meetings' and decided that it was a lot to take on so we would leave it until next season. They are reasonably simple animals but I am keen to know as much as possible before we take them on. They sting after all!
This was the plan until we found out that there is a chap on the allotments that has a hive and is giving up his plot. Anyway, long story short, it turns out that he wants to get rid of the whole hive and we could have it for a few pounds. Its an absolute bargain because all we would need is a bit of equipment and we'd be up and running.
Today we traveled up to Maisemore Apiarys in Gloucester to get some kit. Now we have all the bits we need (I hope), including the silly hats and some spare hive boxes. The plan is then to have a look at the hive on the allotments and move them down to our plot. Assuming they are ok, we should be able to start setting up their new home on our plot.
We are off to Singapore if you didn't know already. At the moment we are sitting in the departure lounge waiting to board the A380. We reserved our seats online in the week, and managed to get two seats by the windows on the upper deck. Apparently these are the best to choose.
Anyway, we dont have much to say other that we are very excited. Keep an eye one the pics, and I will try to upload some while we are there.
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quills4u said:
Saw it featured on the local TV. It looks well worth a visit. read more
on Banksy vs The Bristol Museum
Good point. It doesn't hurt for long, having said that my finger is aching a bit :( read more
on Ouch!