Hi there, I have been very lazy... I have not written my blog for months...
So a quick catch up....
The Bee season has not been easy, it started well but the weather turned on us during May for some 3 weeks and I calculate that we lost about 60% of the harvest on the OSR.
I did loads of splits as part of the swarm control and this increased the number of colonies by some 50%. I have been merging them back down ever since. The new queens took for ever to mate and come into lay.
Some have been total failures but we now seem to be back to the 20 that I want to take into winter.
I did a few swarms in the village and have been extracting honey.... on the subject of honey production I have now taken to wearing hospital type scrubs as well as a lab coat when extracting. They are faster to wash and dry and do have the added ability to puzzle people who come to the door !
I have made a few short films for you all. and they have appeared in Facebook and on the YouTube channel .
This is of a supersedure in progress you can see the queen and her daughters on the frame together.... sorry did not have the gopro with me !
This one is about the simplest way to produce honey.
This one is about testing the water content..
Finally... we have got the heather in flower for the first time in three years... so with luck we will get some !
Happy beekeeping