Masonry bees in Alderney

I saw these bees living in a section of an old stone wall with people walking past taking no notice, I really hope that somebody doesn't decide to repoint the wall, the bees have been very busy, I'm guessing they are Red Masonry Bees?

Pictures aren't bad for a mobile phone.

Also think I found a Manuka tree on the island, this has got my mind working overtime!!!!

Final harvest of 2011 finished.......

......... or is it?

Well I managed to get another 13 jars and there maybe another one to come in a few days once all the honey has drained out of the wax cappings. So all in all at total of 45 1/2lb jars. Which if I sold would be about £130, so not bad for a supposedly bad year for honey.

But I did notice that the frames I left outside the hive that were only partially capped the bees left the capped cells until last to clear, so in morning will pop out and see if they have left any capped and cleared the uncapped, so may be able to squeeze a little bit more out of them.

Once they have cleaned those frames will need to start the pre winter feeding to stock them up for the months ahead.

PS next time I harvest must avoid getting a blister on inside of my thumb spinning out the honey, really painful!!!

That film

Ok life has stood still a bit today, don't know if you have ever seen the film I mentioned in part 1? The Lake House, if you haven't recommend you watch it, but not a film to sit and watch alone, meant for sharing.

Part 3

OK I might have to take it back about men multitasking!! The washing needs taking out and this film is a lot more complicated than I thought it would be, so will need to focus all my attention on it, well expect I can manage another cup of Darjeeling :-)

As you can see the garden is a bit of a no go zone for humans, best leave the ladies to it, and the honey is nearly all drained into the container.

Honey jar filling later, my guess 10 jars :-)

Part 2

A frame of capped honey, not quite full but it will have to do.

Uncapping with with a needle sharp comb as Aman taught me to do last weekend, it's a fiddly process but worth the effort, it means more wax stays on the frame and will be less work for the bees next year.

An uncapped frame ready to be spun out.

The amber nectar, slowing pouring into the straining sieve.

2011's final harvest (Part 1)

It's now approaching midday as I sit on my sofa updating my blog, while the last of the honey strains through the sieves, the garden is a complete no go zone as some very busy ladies are salvaging the surplus honey and putting in the brood box, well hope they are, more of that later. Now where was I? Ok yes, drinking Darjeeling first flush, honey jars in dishwasher, washing on and watching The Lake House with Sandra Bullock, (mmm) and wow what a house too, could seriously live there, who said men can't multitask!! :-)

Ok where to start!!

I've decided today is the day to take what honey I can and then get the bees to move the rest back into the brood box for the winter.

As you can see I only managed to get three more frames and they were cut comb frames, but hey will try spinning them out, bet the whole lot honey and comb ends up in the bottom of the spinner!

These are the frames not quite ready, that I have left out for the bees to take back into the hive.

Well here goes..............

Last squeeze

Off to Bournemouth in a bit to decorate Robyn's room at uni, but before I go will put the clearing board back in the hive and have one last go tomorrow to squeeze some honey out or collect a bit more honey comb.

Then not too sure really what to do, do I leave the super on for the winter or put the frames outside the entrance so that the bees can move it all back into the hive but in doing so move it to the brood box so it is closer to them in those cold months? Having seen how quickly they moved the residue of last weekends extraction inside I'm tempted to do the later and then put a feed on before finally treating them for varroa.

Bee Clean

Busy bees collecting all the honey left in the extractor and in the honeycomb, they will take this all back inside the hive and fill the honey comb again, who knows I might get to extract it this year, if not they can use it to get them through the winter.

1st harvest is in

With the help of Aman the first harvest is in, not all of the frames were ready, I think my mistake was putting a second super on too soon so the bees worked on both and didn't finish filling or capping either.

Of the 10 frames in a super 6 were ready to harvest and only one frame of honeycomb. These 6 frames produced 16 lbs of honey, so my guess is that a full super should produce 27 lbs.

It's a pretty messy process, but don't think we wasted too much. Aman's previous experience keeping bees in Afghanistan came in very handy with him teaching me how to uncap the frames so as not to damage the wax too much.

We made a few mistakes spinning out the honey and damaged the foundation on a couple of frames, but it went quite well for a first attempt.

Today's the day

Today's the day, honey will be harvested, not feeling overly confident all seems very scary, the thought of all that work by the bees and it could be undone by me messing it up!

I put the clearing board in yesterday morning, a really hope the bees have all moved down into the brood box and my supers are clear of bees!

Ok well here goes.................

Honey, propolis and things

Well the ladies still haven't quite got the honey capped off in the supers for me to harvest, fingers crossed next week, well come hell or high water I will attempt to harvest next weekend, the season is getting late and I want them to be able to stock up again for the winter.

But at least I spotted the queen this time, I was beginning to get a bit worried especially as I hadn't seen too much pollen being flown in.

ok now propolis, bees make this from tree saps, honey and pollen to glue up the hive and fillholes, this is suppose to be really good stuff, a natural antibiotic, good for burns and loads of things, I collected this lump from the hive today, but just how on earth do you make it into something you can use for medical purposes, I'm guessing an evening on google coming up!