Week 9 Practical Beekeeping

WOW and double WOW, I'm hooked! I can remember Mike from BeesnBeans, (link above), saying that we would never be satisfied with one colony! When can I give up the day job and live with the bees?:)

There is something strangely addictive just standing by a hive with bees flying all around you, the noise is kind of calming and even wierder, (is there such a word!), I felt really safe. and relaxed.

Initially Mike wanted to Queen up three Nucs with Queens that he had just received in the post from Bickerstaffs, they come on small plastic perforated boxes and have 5 worker bees to keep them company which have to be removed and discarded.

Then it was time to open up the hives for real, the ladies in the course had a real knack for spotting the Queen, six colonies on I did manage to spot a Queen by myself eventually!

What really amazed me was how heavy a frame was that was full of honey, a full frame can supply 6lbs of honey but you would never have guessed it just looking at it, two full supers are going to be seriously heavy!

At the end we had to brush the bees off each other, so what happens when you are working alone, I think this will be the stage when I get stung!

A few random photos from the day, the photos don't really do justice to the number of bees airbourne when the hive is open, I'm beginning to wonder if my chosen location is such a good idea, but the neighbours seem keen so what the hell lets go for it:)