Bees!!!!

Here we go again.  I told the story of the "Accidental Beekeepers"  in this post.  The feral hive that lived in our roof eaves for years was removed.  The beekeeper/contractor who we hired to cut them out, accidentally put the queen in the colony after he sprayed her with insecticide in the roof. He was trying to kill any bees he didn't remove so they didn't recolonize in the roof. OOPS.  Three days later, the whole colony died.  Then we bought a hive from a local IFA store  We later discovered that it hadn't really been taken care of very well when we got it; not very many bees. I don't think we fed it enough either and it absconded, which in beekeeper terms means the colony didn't like the accommodations we provided and moved on to greener pastures. This year, armed with more knowledge and hard won experience,  we are trying again; this time with two hives so we can compare the two.

The kitchen garden is providing some nice pollen and nectar right now.  The poppy pollen is bright orange.  It looks nice in the bee frames next to the bright yellow of the dandelion pollen.

One hive is stronger than the other but both are gaining in population and the queens are laying. We've had at least one hatch and this weekend I'll put a second brood box on each hive. The colony needs to more room to grow so the queen has comb to lay new eggs. The average life of a field bee (the foragers that collect nectar for honey) is about 3-4 weeks this time of year. They literally work themselves to death.  It takes 3 weeks for an egg become a bee so it's important the queen is laying well.

There is a great deal of pollen and nectar now and the hives are thriving so cross your fingers and hope we do better this time around.

This starling and his mate pulled out some mortar from the ice house eaves and they have a nest full of baby birds under the roofline.  The bird on the ridge was watching me pretty carefully with a worm in his beak.

And here's a photo of one the beekeepers.  Don't tell him I posted his photo though.  He's camera shy.
We both use a full bee suit when I open up the hive. B's allergic to bee stings and I just don't like getting them!  I could sit all day watching the hives and I don't use a suit for that.

This is the way to "mow" a lawn/pasture in my opinion.  Our neighbor, Peter, borrows his friend's sheep for the weekend. Love this breed and their black faces.
That's a pretty nice view from our back garden, don't you think?

Little Cotton Rabbits....hooray!

Aren't these just the cutest little animals you've ever seen.  Julie Williams' Little Cotton Rabbits are addicting to knit.  I may have knitted 35 or so a few of them.

It's been busy here.  Nothing earth shattering or bad...just busy.

We hived two new packages of bees last weekend and they're doing fine so far.  The queen is out and they're gathering nectar. We've had house guests and a family wedding coming up.  Abby graduated from university and Rachel got a new job. And tax season is over!   It's a good life.

I hope to get back here sooner rather than later.
Hope all is well with you.

Fun in the Sun....

I've not been here at the blog for a while.  We've been busy.

 

There's been beekeeping, berry picking (and eating of course), jamming, some really good summertime menus, a bit of vacationing which included yarn and knitting of course,  there was some reading on the veranda.

It was hard to concentrate on anything but the Pacific view, but we managed to tough it out and sit on the veranda quite a bit, morning, evening, and through one slightly foggy afternoon.

There was some wallpaper stripping going on (and a lot more of it that has to happen, unfortunately).

There was even a summer birthday, which is new for our family.  It's fun to add son-in-laws and some new summertime celebrations.
I hope your summer is going as well as ours.  I'll be back.  I'm off for a bit again.

Buzzzzzz.................

The bee yard.

 If only the bee suits were a bit more flattering!  My age is showing...can you see my reading glasses under my veil?  I need them to see the teeny tiny eggs on the brood frame during an inspection.

Can you see the bees collecting nectar and pollen in the center of my poppies in the kitchen garden?

The new hive is doing well.  It's thriving.  I've put on a new brood box and a honey super.  Bees are amazing creatures.  We are having a good time learning about them and watching them.  I have a whole new understanding of the phrase, "Busy as a Bee".

This is a frame from the brood box.  The bees have made the white wax on the black foundation.  When they make the wax hexagons it's called "drawing out the wax".  This is the nursery of the hive.  The queen is at the left of the frame where you see a little circle of bees around a yellow middle.  She is laying.  We have twice as many bees this week as last.  Hurray!!!!

Dale is patching the limestone mortar on all the stone buildings at the homestead.  The bee holes in the house are patched...thank goodness.  No more swarms!  I like my bees were they belong, in the hive not in the wall of the house.

Have a great weekend.