Creative Living

[Aubazine2002]

Hi all, I just had a call today from the bee guru and he is bringing two small colonies here on Wednesday morning for me to overwinter!!! Am I excited or what? He said I can keep the strongest colony and he will take the other one in the spring. I am really nervous.....gulp.....
All tips very gratefully received.


Love Aub xx

[nita]

havnt a clue, but good luck
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Anita xx
http://thekentishlass.blogspot.com/
The Cat has too much spirit to have no heart. Ernest Menault

[Pots]

We lived nextdoor to a beekeeper many years ago when I was a child. All the gear he got dressed up in used to fascinate me, and the whole process looked so interesting. The spinning of the combs in a sort of centrifuge and the scraping of the honey from them - and my treat at the end, a piece of the comb to chew. An especially exciting memory was when a swarm of bees settled in one of our fruit trees and he came with a smoke machine to calm them as he skillfully gathered them in a skep I can't offer any tips, but I envy you your experiences. Good luck, you'll enjoy it.
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~ Worry is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but gets you nowhere. ~

[MrsL]

At this point, I would read as much as you can over the winter, so you have an idea of what to expect/what's going on in the late spring when you open them up for the first time. Make usre you have all the gear so you're ready to go. Books and websites, forums, etc; familiarise yourself with the terminology.

Mine are away for teh winter now, haven't seen them for a while; hope they make it through OK.
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unboughtdelicacies
figheade knitting blog
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[Wotta Wally]

Feed them Aub! And keep them warm. Weather has been really crap here this summer so mine don't have much stores. When it stops raining, I am going to go up there and open them up to check on them then put the crown board on top of the brood chamber then a super. I then have a small tupperware pot with a hole the size of the crown board cut into the lid, filled with fondant icing and inverted over the hole. Pack the area around the pot with newspaper and, if really cold, put a piece of carpet over the top. Then put the roof back on. You will need to check the food pot regularly to get them through the winter but don't touch the crown board as it will lose heat in the brood chamber.

Good luck!
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What would you achieve if you didn't fear failure?

[Aubazine2002]

Thanks for the advice WW and Mrs L. I have been reading like mad and have a whole list of queries for the bee guru tomorrow. I have all the gear, I think! and have got two of those feeders WW. It does get very cold here in the winter so I don't think I will be messing about with them too much.
I can tell it is addictive though - a friend has now got five hives, his wife is a bee widow - she never sees him she says! My other worry is hornets, but I think the bee chap will be able to advise me on that one, they shouldn't be a problem in the winter, I hope......
Thanks for the good wishes Nita and Pots I only hope I don't make any horrendous mistakes...

Aub xx

[Wotta Wally]

[Aubazine2002]

thanks for the tips WW, I will stock up on tea-tree oil and you were right about the feeders I've got, they are for syrup but the bee chap is bringing some fondant on Friday plus a few mouseguards - and boy do we need them here..... We found a good sunny site for the bees against a gable wall - my original site between two buttresses would not give them enough sun during the winter months, so I moved a huge pile of manure for nothing.... Typical!

Aubxx