Bee Shed

Tonight I emptied out my bee shed which I could literally just step inside!
3 hours later my shed looks neat and tidy and I can literally just step inside!!
Mind you I have fitted more "stuff" in it. :-)

Drab May

Doing bees tonight I thought how we were spoilt by the lovely weather in April - warm, dry and sunny. By comparison May has been a drab, damp affair (well for me it has): colder, WETTER and the explosive build up by the bees last month seems to have stagnated at the moment, especially with the Rape crop finishing. Indeed I am keeping a watch on stores in some colonies (June gap come early?).

Queens

I saw my first 2011 queen today and got a real good feeling and there was normal sealed brood which is always a relief to me. My next dilemma is whether to mark now or next Spring, after the problems I had last year.
Tonight I went to a demonstration of Instrumental Insemination; I don't know my stance on this and can see arguements on both sides. One thing I can say is a big "Thank You" to Michael Collier - what a really nice guy and a wealth of bee keeping knowledge and acumen he has. I remember going to Michaels last Open Day which still remains one of the best bee keeping things I have done.

What In Swarms Name Is Going On ?

I do beleive that bee keepers should be exacting artificial swarm control to avoid nuisance to the general public (much as I would love for the bees to carry out what comes naturally). So as it is only mid May and I already have 5 swarms from local bee keepers I have to ask what is being taught to these people? Last year I acquired 9 swarms and I feel that this is not good given that what I acquire is only a small percentage of the total.

Sexism!

I returned some supers to hives this afternoon, having extracted some honey. I noticed that a nuc which was an artificial swarm done last week had a small pile of dead bees outside the entrance: closer inspection revealed they were all drones - obviously surplus to requirement at this time for that colony and maybe a sign of a lack of food, which I quickly checked, though there seemed sufficient. Poor blokes!

A Pain In The Arm, Raindances, and Supers

Yesterday whilst inspecting my bees - in the rain - I got stung on my left arm. I took little notice thinking it was me messing with the bees in bad weather. A second sting still led me to think the same. But then further stings on my left arm and shoulder forced me to step back from the hive and check my bee suit was done up properly. All was secure so I resumed but then further stings and then the feeling of bees crawling along my arm made me lift my arm and there was a huge tear in my bee suit. I don't know how it happened (or when) but I have a sore arm today!!
Every day I have tried to look at my bees this week, no matter what time of day, it has rained. Not a little, a lot and I have got soaked several times. I am now convinced that someone at work is doing rain dances. It's almost like a little grey cloud following me every time I look at my bees.
Tonight my friend Martin and I have been out getting supers full of honey off for extracting (yes in the rain again). We work well as a team and managed to get nearly 60 supers off in a couple of hours.

Rain stings!

I took my chances to inspect some colonies tonight after work, the weather looked dodgy and no sooner had I lit my smoker and opened up a colony down came the rain. The bees were not best pleased at my antics and dogged perseverance; it did not take long before they were digging in and gouging through my bee suit. Time to stop I thought but not before getting a good few more painful reminders. Maybe the sun will come out tomorrow night- LOL!

Early Rape

The fields of yellow are not quite so bright and now have a green tinge, at least local to me. The bees have brought some crop in and I may need to do some extracting in the next week or two. This seems to be about 3 weeks earlier than last year. I hope it doesn't go cold later this month as the rape will solidify in the comb if I am not quick.