Day 9 not so beesy :(

Well i got home today all excited thinking is she here? did she get through her journey ok? has she rested? has Kim made sure she is ok?......only to find out she has not turned up! grrr So still no queen yet :( so I'm sorry folks no news as of yet. I did ring up to find out whats happened as I was more concerned on her welfare as I did not want her being left in her cage with her attendants (5 or 6 worker bee's lol) for to long. The supplier could not help me as it was a different person who spoke to me so i have to ring tomorrow and find out whats going on, so nothing to report at the moment people

Day 8 'a beesy day'

Well things certainly change sometimes lol....no we did not find the queen (we did look again though) but i contacted the queen suppliers who were very apologetic and again said they will provide us with a new queen, the problem was that because their queen came from Greece?? (i never new that lol) and because of the problems with strikes etc. we may not get a new queen until possibly the 11th july....i had no choice obviously and mentioned that because we were new to beekeeping do we just keep an eye on the hive as it has no eggs or brood present....the gentleman went quiet then said if i could hold on he would speak to their main beekeeper. Minutes later i was informed that a queen would be sent special overnight delivery to arrive tomorrow (they pinched a queen that was to be given to someone else lol) to say kim and myself were happy is definetly an under statement :)
I am hoping this will work as Kim and myself opened the queenless hive and have seen that all capped brood has gone now (bee's have emerged) and no new eggs/larvae can be seen. Our new queen will certainly have a busy time ahead of her.
We checked the other hive as well

the metal plate you see here is what is called a queen excluder, it stops the queen from getting to the level above which is called a super, only the worker bee's are small enough to get through the holes which means only honey can be made in the wax combs above not eggs or larvae.

On top of the excluder we place the syrup feeder, syrup is poured into the larger area whist the bee's enter from below at the front, they climb a sort of V shaped ramp to get to the solution which helpfeed them until stores are produced. With the worry of the queenless hive not having foragers in time i do have another syrup feeder which cover the entire top of the excluder and holds a lot more so should help this colony till they forage again.
So until tomorrow when the new queen arrives i will leave you with one last photo

Here we have Steve sporting the very latest seasions fashion outfit, you will notice the khaki top with its wide collar and matching hood, brilliant for those less than sunny afternoons, the veil comes as standard with a variety of sizes for the disconcerning gentleman. Gloves come in a soft and supple goatskin leather with the added bonus of elasticated cuff. Trousers though not matching can be worn with any top and has the added benifit of being able to be tucked into wellies (green being this years black) whether on a street corner, a field or your back garden you can be sure you will always look.....'a plonker' :) l8rs

Day 7 the bee's :)

OK a short post here :) i contacted the suppliers today informing them that we had checked both hives and that we still had not seen one of the queens. The gentleman i spoke to was absolutely fine about it all saying the queen would be relaced but if i could check one more time which i had already said i would do by tomorrow. The only problem we have is that they do not have any queens this week as they will be turning up next week instead....which obviously causes a problem as the longer we leave it the smaller the hive will be as there will be a gap betwen the last lot of workers pupaeting and the new ones that will emerge when the new queen lays her eggs i am off tomorrow so once we come back from the hospital I will have another go at hive 1 before ringing the suppliers up.

Day 6 with the bee's

And i thought yesterday was hot lol....i was worrying what this heat does to the 2 hives especially as they are south facing so have the heat for most of the day...i saw the odd dead bee on the path going up to the hives so was thinking the worst. I heard that we were due storms so wanted to at least check one of the hives if possible and by 6pm both kim and myself decided we could not leave it any longer and opened the busier of the 2 hives up.

even taking out the first frame we could see that the bee's were drawing the comb which means producing wax onto the wax sheets that are in the wooden frames. In the picture below you can see at the bottom left how the wax looks raised...

the next frame even more so, it even had pollen stores within some of the cells if you look at the frame to the left you can see different colours within the cells (red, green etc.) thats the pollen.

Kim was in her element as you can see lol

the next frame was from the original nucleus we recieved and as you can see ...a lot more bee's

This next picture is my favourite as well because you can see the queen on it...see if you can spot her :)

The syrup i had left was gone and in fact the container held about 20 dead bee's not sure why as the other hive did not have that problem? I was going to leave the other hive till tuesday but Kim said we had time so we opened it up, unfortunetly still no sign that a queen is present. There are not as many bee's as in hive 2, there are a lot of drone bee's (males) we saw that they are bringing in pollen, and nectar but not much evidence of brood (larvae, eggs) though there were some newly hatched bee's present. I will ring our supplier up tomorrow letting them know i will check one last time for the queen when i finish work tuesday which means introducing a queen the colony has never met before and hopefully she will be in time to help the hive build up in time for the winter....but lets see what tomorrow brings :) until then l8rs my friends.

Day 5

well it has certainly been a hot one today definetly a lovely day, it looked lovely around the garden

what ever angle you sat

the main thing was that the activity around both hives were very busy. I sat four feet away watching the bee's going in and out again lots of pollen being collected

which as i said has to be a good sign. Tomorrow we will open hive 2 up to check on the queen etc and i will take some more pictures, hive 1 will be left till tuesday as we need to take our time checking that one until then theres not much more we can do. I have been jumping on the internet looking at the honey process but its the equipement and the cost which is off putting though we will need to start collecting soon. Buckets have been ordered for storage of honey but if the honey flow does start we will need a honey extractor though our local club does loan one out but we will get to that hurdle when it arrives. So again not much more to tell or show you yet but within the next few days i will have more pictures and information soon, until then :) l8rs

Day 4 with the Bee's

Weather not great this morning so not much activity first thing, took Kim to the hairdressers then when we got back i thought i would check on the bee's again but Alfie turned up unexpectedly so decided to leave that idea for the moment lol. What i did notice which may be a good sign is that because the afternoon warmed up considerably there was a lot more activity with both hives having bee's going back and forth from the entrances. Hive 2 is still the busiest but what was interesting is that there is pollen being collected for the smaller hive where we think there is no queen...the books say a good sign that a queen is present is that pollen is being collected.....i will check on the bee syrup tomorrow but not the brood frames until Tuesday or Wednesday. Kim popped down there this evening and mentioned that the activity is still the same but also how non aggressive they seemed but that may be they don't feel threatened in anyway though the queens were bought knowing they are a gentle breed :) that may change next year when the rapeseed fields stop flowering as its known bee's get angry when the rapeseed finishes lol. Anyway got to finish this blog as I'm off to an old biker mates 50th birthday for a couple of hours so until then l8rs my friends :)

Day 3 With the Bee's

Well as all of you have read from day 2 both Kim and myself transferred our bee's into their hives but were concerned that one of the hives may not have one of their queens present. I rang the supplier soon as I dropt Kim off to work and told them of our dilemma but they reassured me if the queen is missing it will be replaced but that we had to be 100% sure the queen is not there before sending us a new one as we don't wont 2 queens present in the hive at the same time, i could see their point so we will check the hive and do the usual checks such as eggs, larvae, uncapped brood etc. by Wednesday.

First thing this morning the bee's seemed confused as to how to get in the hive as they kept flying around the top of the hive instaed of at the bottom

By the afternoon both hives were starting to use the right entrance...although hive 2 is definitely the busier of the 2 hives

At least there is activity from both hives but until we open them up we wont be sure whats going on, the only other thing I've noticed is the amount of bee's about up this end of the garden, found one dead one in the house, 2 on the patio and 1 drinking off a wet plant bulb of all things on our garden table lol we watched the flight paths of the bee's at the moment which seems to be that they are going over the chicken house but also back over the garden to get to the clover which is understandable considering how much we have on the back and front garden

 anyway thats it for now at least until tomorrow so will talk to you all l8r :)

Day 2 with the Bee's

Ok i got home from work today to transfer the bee's from the nucleus to their hives, kim was already home so we both went down to the bottom of the garden to get changed into our suits :)

could not get a picture of myself yet lol...oh and thats a hive tool she's waving around, its used to seperate frames that are stuck together. Anyway we smoked and opened the box before checking each frame for our 1st queen but kim found her on the 4th frame so we new we were ok :) i wanted to get a picture but we needed to get them into their new home as quickly as possible

these 2 pictures show the brood frames in place

the smoke is to help the bee's move down the frames so we can put the queen excluder on. Next we put the sugar syrup in the feeder and closed the hive up.
The second box was quieter than the 1st we checked the frames again...and this is whats worrying ...we have not found evidence that a queen was in the box....no queen cage and as kim said no real proof of brood...lots of workers and a lot of drones. The instructions say to leave them now for 5 days so we closed this hive up after feeding  as well and will check on both in a few days. Whats worrying me as we both could not see a queen so i will ring the suppliers tomorrow and see what they say hopefully this will be sorted as if not we have a queenless colony and i'm not sure what to do about that yet...will let you all know friday, so until then l8rs :)

New Guests staying at The Warren :)

AHHHH bloody blogs and Internet, typed up a blog then lost it all so having to start again....
OK starting a new blog early as we have some new permanent guests at the warren...Bee's :) It started back in march when we went on a bee keepers course and basically it went from there :) We aquired the hives first and set them up at the bottom of the garden, these particular hives are called WBC's.

we cut some of the over head branches away before the next stage as so many branches would block out the bee's flight path and it was hard to work around the hives as well.

Well we ordered 2 queens with 5 frames of brood (eggs, larvae, bee's) and some stores for them (food) which eventually turned up today Wednesday 22nd June. Our postman was the one who turned up with 2 boxes of buzzing bee's lol and after chatting with him about our new hobby i brought them through to the garden. The instructions said i had to place them where the hives would be for 24 hours so that the bee's could forage.

so after taking the roofs off the hives both boxes were placed where they should be

Both boxes had flaps cut into them and taped over, so after getting into my suit i let the bee's out...that was interesting as the 1st box just poured out and climbed up the box then started doing circular flights getting their bearing for their new environment (very interesting watching the ariel display) the second box was a bit quieter but eventually both boxes had bee's flying back and forth. Then it rained so i went back indoors till it stopped...when i got back the bee's were flying further afield but what was interesting was the amount of bee's on the path drinking

Since then I've seen a lot of the bee's already visiting flowers (we have a lot of clover on our lawn) and flying over the fence looking for nectar and pollen, it just shows that the instinct to forage is very strong. I went back down the garden around 9:30 pm and sat and watched one of the boxes...there were a small clump of bee's around the entrance with the odd bee still returning from where ever, tomorrow with the help of Kim we will be opening the nucleus to check on the queen and transfer everything into the hive before leaving them food and closing the hive up till next week. So all in all an interesting day :) i will try and remember to get pictures done as we work tomorrow so you can see what happens next...until then l8rs my friends :)

Well i thought i would start this blog a little earlier as we have some new perminant guests staying with us...we ordered our first lot of bee's a couple of months back and they turned up today :) the hives they are moving into had already been put together and placed in the positions at the bottom of the garden

 We cleared the area by cutting some branches away as well

Well the bee's arived wednesday 22nd June in 2 boxes taped together with our local postman...his face was a picture as you could hear them all buzzing quite loudly lol well after chatting to him about bees i took the warm and buzzing box indoors. Now what to do...luckily instructions come with the bee's which said to put the nucleus where the hives ard open the flaps to allow bee's to forage for 24 hours...

week 5 and more :)

week 5 and more :)

Well up until the weekend last week was an average week lol not a lot happening on monday, tuesday we went and did an anti bullying programme in a catholic school in southend working with a year 5 class which the class enjoyed and more so the teacher, who ended up using some of the work we were doing with an incident that happened at break time.
Wednesday was a work at home day as we had a tree surgeun in to sort out the tree's in both the front and back garden. One tree had to be cut right down to the ground as it had a lot of fungus growing through it, the plum was pruned and opened up, the salix at the bottom of the garden had 2 very large branches cut right back so to allow access for our new arivals this week :)
Thursday saw us back at the school we had been into tuesday but with a different class this time the head teacher came in and watched us working...we had a very good write up on our evaluations from the teachers and an e-mail sent to my boss...which went down well :)
Friday was Alfie day although instead of coming back to the house we went straight to Kims work place as Alfie's dad was having x-rays done on his back so Alfie went home with his dad.
Saturday Les came over to put new wishbones on his car...started at 9am...then his brother turned up to help....and they finished midnight lol.....those were the days .....not :)
Sunday was fathers day....and lots of things happen sometimes on days when you least expect them...so i never got to visit my dad for a beer :( but i know he knew the reasons why lol.....anyway lets just say that at least me and kim got a year to ourselves lol before someone finally came back to live with us again. Les (kims eldest) is staying with us for the next 3 months so its going to seem strange having other people about in our house. My daughter Karley

came to visit with her brother Michael (need a picture here lol) Chris and Gemma came as well i got to see the grandchildren as well so the day was not wasted :) i even got 5 mins to plant a few plants lol any way another quick round up of a week but next week will be a little more interesting as we have some perminant guests coming to stay on friday...so until then l8rs xx

week 4 sorry....forgot :)

well i'm a week behind so sorry about that people :) but hopefully i can catch up now. This week was a mixed bag as the start of the week was ok then i became ill by wednesday then better saturday...oh well...anyway lets see
Monday i was involved in something called crucial crew...this is an event offered to all yr 6 children from local primary schools to attend and basically its about safety, Its to help youngsters during that transition from yr 6 to yr 7 looking at the dangers in their lives. There are around 10 scenario's ranging from stranger danger, drug awareness, fire safety, rail safety, water safety etc. i do our talk on bullying but the last 3 years we now just focus on internet safety. Its a fast paced day with usually 3 schools in the mornings and 3 in the afternoons and thats over a whole week. The children are put into groups of around 10 children then each group participates in the scenarios for 10 minutes before moving onto the next group. Its scarey actually what little skills some of these kids have....many thought that the emergency number in the UK is 911?? instead of 999, many walked off with a stranger offering drugs (actor using sweets) and yet when it came to cyber safety the majority were very good about the dangers of passing info on or meeting someone they dont know, it obviously varied between schools and the neighbourhoods and family backgrounds each came from...but as i said its a little scary that a lot of these kids will suddenly be given a lot more freedom just because they hit yr 7.
Tuesday was the same but a lot more lids turned up (16 per group) but it still went well.
Wednesday was my day off so just the usual with housework etc.
Thursday i should of been doing crucial crew again but took ill for a couple of days with divertiulitis so i was not a happy person.
The weekend perked up so did I and so did the weather :) so i cut the lawn which always makes the place look tidy but i also managed to have a go on our latest toy that i had ordered from argos, a cybercycle....

Its brilliant as it conects up to the wii as an exercise bike :)

the game has different fitness levels as well as a mountain bike course

so hopefully it will give me the incentive to start getting fit :) I've been on there a couple of times already so its a start lol.
Sunday i spent the day day in the garage and started work revamping the trailer soon as its done i'll take a picture...its to rusty and the woods all rotten so it needs stripping down repainting and new wood panels and flooring. Once thats done i can sell it...as i haven't got a tow bar (grin). Anyway people thats week 4 rundown will put week 5 up as soon as i can so l8rs :)

week 3

A good week with lots of sunshine :) i had the week off so decided to sort a few jobs out (as you do when on holiday...) only thing was i took no photos (lost my compact camera??) anyway lets see
monday....had a long lie in after a very busy weekend so that was most of the day gone straight away, Kim got on with some of her crafts while i did the house work (aint i the good guy :) ) i did shoot off to Chelmsford as i needed some tools and bought kim some shoes at the same time luckily i know what she likes and both shoes she liked. My daughter and her boyfriend Alex came over in the evening for a beer and a chat  then we finished the evening with a take away so a very good day :)

Tuesday....had to go into work for a few hours as we have a new venue for our future playschemes, many parents needed to eneable their children adjust to the new venue so we had an open day we even had 2 new families interested and put their names down for future schemes. finished early enough that i was able to take kim in to work and pick her up :) We thought it was our last practical bee session today as we visited a bee house in writtle, a great set up with the bee keeper managing 25 hives in total (thats a lot of honey) they showed us the combs, how honey is extracted how its stored, bottling, set honey and runny honey etc. a real eye opener on whats needed to prepare honey.

Wednesday...took kim into work then get a phone call...we should not of been at the honey house as we dont have bee's yet theres been a mix up we should have gone to another apairy to smoke and open a hive individually..oh well :) anyway we are to go to Maldon next week to see a garden apairy and another honey house. Stayed in for some deliveries and spent some time in the garden planting  kims veg plants.

Thursday....Fishing. Theres a fishing lake up the road to us (well 3 actually) so i spent the day up there, not been fishing for a long time got lots of small tench andbream then started catching some fish i had never seen b4 still cannot find out what they are though the only picture i have seen shows them to be freshwater sunfish?? anyway i did catch a nice 14lb mirror carp b4 i went home so that put a smile on my face :)

Friday....took kim into work, spot of house work (god his sooo good) stayed in 4 another delivery then forgot to check if i was to have Alfie today then spent evening getting all kims craft work ready for her 1st craft fair

Saturday.....the big day. Turned out to be very warm which i thought meant the fair would go one of 2 ways quiet...or extra busy....seemed it was the quietest day the organisers had known (there was a fete the same time up the road)  :( but she sold 5 cushions :) which was ok and it showed us what to bring next time some nice people there and some nice products (i bought some sausages) just got to get around to eating them now lol. Kims son Les turned up with his partner and daughter to see what we were up to which was nice.

sunday....more fishing...well for half a day. I went with Kims brother Shaun and his daughter Charlotte. Not so good 1st thing with so much weed and hardly any bites Shaun wanted to go home but i moved to the spot behind me and started to do extremely well very big tench around 4lb and bream of the same size poor shaun at one point was next to me using the same bait, the float at the same level and still not catching anything...but just b4 he went home he and charlotte caught a couple each.

So that was the week in a nutshell, i know theres loads i forgot and i should have some moe pictures but i never was good with diaries lol. If i remember anything else i will add later