Today's the day when "Plan Bee" finally gets its first colony of bees. After waiting for what seems ages, I happened to be chatting with a lovely lady called Sylvia at the Annual Nosema Testing Day I went along to help at this weekend. It turned out that she had far too many bees herself and was thinking of getting rid of some of them. Talk about being in the right place at the right time!
This week I've had to come to terms with killing some bees and the only way I can look at it is that it's all for the good of the colony. Thirty bees was all that was needed for me to take along to the Exeter Beekeepers Association's Annual Nosema Testing Day where I had previously volunteered to go along to help with getting the samples brought in ready for testing.
Right. I've gone and got myself a beehive so need to get a wriggle on to finish off the patch of garden where the apiary will be. Easier said than done when it involves moving heavy blocks of concrete, broken up paving slabs, a heap of old bricks, a stack of old plasterboard sheets and wood pile. Not a job to be done in 5 minutes - time to roll up my sleeves!
Here we are at the end of our beekeeping course for the final session at the apiary. So, what did we do today?
This weekend brings to a close the Exeter branch Beginners' Beekeeping Course with the last practical session at the apiary on Saturday. At the first practical, the place was really buzzing with bees. With 17 colonies the sound just blew me away as the girls were out on possibly their first flights of the season to go and forage for nectar and pollen.
What a perfect day to meet thousands of bees - sunshine, blue sky and in the company of fellow budding beekeepers as we met at the Exeter branch's apiary today for our first practical lesson on handling bees.
It's been a three weeks since the last beekeeping session and this week is something I've been really looking forward to. Up to now, all the sessions have been theory but this weekend takes us a step closer to becoming beekeepers as we get to handle bees for the very first time at the local branch apiary. In between the theory and practicals, I've delved into more and more books soaking up as much knowledge and even chatted with another beekeeper in the area, who having kept bees herself for five years, still looks on herself as a beginner (hope you don't mind me mentioning this Bev!).
Where to start? We have two Nationals at work and my knowledge on beehives is practically zero but with the imminent arrival this year of a nuc (short for 'nucleus') of bees in a few months and still lots to learn, I musn't forget to clean the two hives and furnish them inside with what the colony will need for them to thrive and live a happy life. Basically, all the old frames, foundation - and anything else lurking inside - needs to come out and replaced.
One minute we think we've left the cold months behind us, the next we're blasted with wintry conditions - even here in Devon. It's March and I'm worried about the honey bees. The colonies themselves will be in their winter clusters snug and warm in their hives keeping their core hive temperature at around 35oC whatever the weather but while the cold snap continues, they won't be foraging outside but relying on their dwindling food stores.
March is almost upon as and we're five weeks into our beekeeping course having covered swarm control last week. No doubt about it, our bees will want to swarm instinctively as it's their nature to do so, but we can look out for the signs and manage rather than watch the queen and half our bees leave and then have to go and collect.