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Hello Fans of Gardeners’ Beehive

Is it not fantastic!! it looks like things are going to be going back to normal pretty soon.

BUT FIRST , Bee stuff: So after a rather dismill winter we have been having fantastic spring days , with the odd snow, yes odd for this part, not to much frost, and loads and loads of flowers and productive flying days for the bees.

Bees only realy have productive days when the flowers have not been frosted or rained on. the frost kills most flowers and the rain washes the pollen away.

In my hives the queens have, pretty much in all now, started to lay in earnest and I have seen the first of the spring bees flying around testing their wings.

You can see them as they just fly around the entrance a little. In a haphazard sort of way.

WHAT is happening rite now in your hive? well in most all hives the queen would have moved down and will now bee laying eggs like crazy. The workers and new workers will be flying to bring in as much spring nectar and pollen as possible. You will see all manor of colours of pollen coming in. and the thing is it is not always the nearest pollen, different pollen's seem to have different characteristics and the will fly out of the way to get a specific type if needed.

In a few weeks some of the bees will be tasked with looking for a new home , scouting for new homes. they are exploring but also looking for hives that have sucomed over the winter, or ones that have been cleared out and are ready to be repopulated. That is where my lure comes in. I mimic this smell, well as best as I can.

If your bees have survived to this point they are in a very good position to do well this summer. I have taken the winter covers off my hives, maybe a little premature this year as we have since had snow and some really cold nights.

IDEAS:
So this year I will be tryling the CUBE system again. This is where I put little boxes with foundation in the honey box and will see if I can get them to consider putting honey in neat little boxes. This remains to be seen. I does work to a degree with conventional beekeepers so there is no reason it should not work for us?

What I will also be trying again this year is to put honey boxes on before the first drones but after the last frost. This will be very specific to each location. But Should produce a harvest of honey if the weather turns a little funky and they cannot swarm. they will have a full hive of working bees half of whom are ready to go but still all braining in nectar. And this will need to be stored some where and no where better than in a honey box.

OTHER NEWS : so the ADDAM AND EVE oak bird box I put up over the winter, has now got residents, a pair of blue tits have moved in. Still trying to get a picture but they are just to quick. Still available on the website, great for fathers day that is coming up. (That's my feeble attempt at slipping in a sales punt ;-)

SHOWS AND TRAINING. Yes I will be doing some out door shows this year , the first being Artisan Collective Fair at Wimpole Estate (2nd – 4th July 2021)

Have a fantastic spring and hope to bring you all some news a little more regulatory over the next few months.

Cheers to all.

Kevin

The Gardeners’ Beehive Guy