first inspection

Tody was out first inspection of the bees and they seem to be doing well. There is lots of brood and collecting lots of nectar. The bees were a a bit wary of me and at times would be flying around me. But they don’t know me and are just settling. They have been taken feed and will continue to provide feed until the next inspection at which point I will stop and add a super.

Flying bees

The weather is perfect for bees. We wander down the garden and they are bussily flying from the hive – into our garden as well as into the garden behind out house.

At the end of the day I fill up the sugar syrup and there are lots of bees desperately collecting the syrup.

Good start and just hope it continues.

Our new bee family

Today we finally got our new colony. we had planned to collect a few weeks ago ended up being delayed – partially due t the fact that the beekeeper found a swarm on the day we were going to collect so had to deal with his swarm but also due to an outbreak of European Foul Brood (EFB) In Cambridge. Patryk – beekeeper – wanted to ensure his colonies were EFB free before selling me colony.

The day has arrived and we all went to collect the bees. Adrian driving, Zoey in the front (she was not going to take responsibility of the bees next to hear in the back) and mummy in the back.

Patryk is from Poland and has been involved in keeping bees since he was very young. He has an apiary away from his home and has nucs in his back garden. He hears a hood but handles the bees without a suit of gloves. After looking at the first nuc he changed to another one as there was some sign of varoea. He also does not use foundation and allows the bees to create their own foundation (although he does put wire on the frame). He gently transferred the frames into out box and then i sealed them up. We strapped them into the back seat with the seatbelt and I was left in charge. Patryk suggested putting them in soon (ideally before the temperature drops to 14c or below). So off we drive home and the bees are generally quiet. We get home and put them on the table by the hove whilst Adrian lights the smoker and Adrian and Zoey sit in the car. Giving them 10 mins to settle i then transfer them one frame at a time and keeping them in the same order in the middle of the brood box. He has given me 7 frames in total. I then add frames to the edge and empty the box from the nuc into the hive. There are a few bees in the box so leave it open near the entrance to hive to hope that they all go into the hive. I then put on the crownboard and then the feeder on top. I add some sugar solution but need to make some more tomorrow. Add the empty broodbox to surround the feeder and the roof.

Now I leave them in peace to sleep and hope that in the morning then had find their way out and enjoy the garden. The weather for tomorrow looks good so fingers crossed.

syrup – he has suggested a thinner syrup – 1:1 and add juice of half a lemon to 1lt of water. This reduces to level of acid and makes it heathier for the bees.