Bish's Bee Blog

Queen Cells  Went to the apiary today to make up small Nucs ready for Queens arriving through the Post on Tuesday.  (This was May) However we got into the first hive to find them merrily making queen cells. You can make out one of the queen cells, its got a red ring round it.  We went round the rest of the hives to find if they were thinking of swarming too.  They were!  We finally managed to put together a couple of Nucs to recieve the Buckfast queens I ordered. A Swarm moved into an empty hive last year ignored the frames in the brood box and filled the empty super with wild comb.  Its taken me till now to get her to move down into the brood box.  This super is now packed with honey.  I will clear the bees in a couple of weeks and put it through a press to extract the honey.  Bees have been working dandelions, may flower, and sycamore.

Introducing Queen Bees  I like the F1 hybred out of Buckfast queens so every year I buy a couple of queens from BS Honey.  The arrived by Post This always slighty freaks out our postman.  They come in a small cage with attendants, when you want to introduce them to your Nuc. (The Nuc was made up two days previously and cheaked to see they werent making their own queen cell on introduction day) The plastic tab on the end is broken and a cocktail stick pushed through the candy plug inside. Once the cage has a hole in the candy, I use a cocktail stick to place it in between frames of brood.  This can be quite fiddley. Roof on and leave quite for a couple of weeks.

Hive Stand Getting hives off the ground helps with air circulation, saves your back and gives you somewhere to put that first frame when you examine your hive. I have metal hive stands, good until they are on soft ground, then they slowly lean over and will tip your hive off. Pallets are used by some, but the wooden ones tend to rot and you end up leaning over too much. I have on times made hive stands which are too flimsy and have broken when the bees have done well.  I now use 2 by 4 tanalised timber.  Its heavy but stays put when the the hive are loaded with honey. The measurements are simple to avoid waste. 53 inches for the long bits, every thing else is 17 inches; feet and brace pieces. Brace pieces fasted with 800mm Screws.  The bigger the better. A 10 degree slope on the legs looks right Big Screws a must as these are the only things holding the legs on. The finshed result.  Simple, Quick to make and Sturdy enough for two full hives.