Battened Down

Not a real blog, but I couldn't resist posting this photograph of the hives tied down ready for the tail end of hurricane Gonzalo.

Accolades

 

We've reached the end of our first season as beekeepers with the help and support of lots of people so this last blog of the season is dedicated to thanking them for their advice, guidance, support and interest.  In no particular order.....:

Paul and Charlotte for hosting the beekeeping taster session last year.

Paul, Malcolm and Penny for the fantastic theory classes.

Sally for letting us handle her bees at the practical classes.

Douglas for setting up Queen B and the Beebettes.

Richard for his guidance and Jonathan and Ben for their support at the Bee Rescue.

Mr G for breeding Queen G and the lovely G Bees.

Jennie our bee buddy for helping inspect and look after our bees.

BJ, Dad and P, the official photographers.

Eth, for helping everyone.

Joe for dealing with the wasps.

Dee for providing the honey jars and extractor.

Bob at the Thornes for his endless patience.

Dad for our bee suits, for helping transport bees, lift hives, inspect bees, feed bees, for general advice and for making the gate and brood box.

P for the birthday present hive, patience and support (but he had tons of fun with the router, pressure washer, extractor and uncapping knife).

And last but not least all our friends and acquaintances who prompted us to keep these notes.

No blogs now for a while unless I am inspired by the National Honey Show at the end of October.

Bees and Mice

Time to make the bee hives mouse proof

We've had the first frost so it's time to put the mouse guards on the hives.  We know there are mice living in or near the apiary;   just before we brought the Beebettes back to the garden we found this one sunbathing on the floor of the apiary. 

 

 

 

Apparently, they find beehives attractive, warm, cosy homes for the Winter.  Bees don't mind them but the mice make a mess of the frames when they remodel to build their own nests.    As they can squeeze through tiny gaps and holes, metal mouse guards are placed over the hive entrance which have holes in that are big enough for bees to enter and leave the hive but which keep mice out.

 

The down side is that the mouse guards may knock the pollen off that the bees are still bringing back in to the hive and they make it more difficult for the house keeping bees to remove debris but with mice in the apiary we don't want to take any chances.

 

We are still keeping the entrances narrow to make it easier for the bees to defend their hives from the wasps lurking about.