Category Archives: Colony management

A quintet of queen cells

Posted on July 9, 2011 by Emily Scott

Everything was going so well. Both of our hives seemed fine. Until today. All was fine and dandy in Rosemary’s hive. It took a while to get in there – they had propolised down the entire queen excluder and it … Continue reading →

Posted in Colony management, Queens | 10 Comments

Moving home again

Posted on June 4, 2011 by Emily Scott

A quiet night in watching films with my other half has been cut short by his getting a call from work about temperature alerts in their data centre (he’s an IT bod). He’s cycled off at top speed, saying something … Continue reading →

Posted in Colony management | Tagged | 11 Comments

Bee Health Day

Posted on May 8, 2011 by Emily Scott

Went down to a Bee Health Day held at Roots & Shoots (a wildlife garden and base for the London Beekeepers’ Association) in Kennington, south London, today. It’s run each year by the London bee inspectors to give beekeepers information on looking after their bees well … Continue reading →

Posted in Colony management | Tagged , | 5 Comments

A royal break-up

Posted on May 1, 2011 by Emily Scott

On Tuesday Caroline Washington, our local bee inspector, had found a queen cell in our hive. Yesterday we decided what to do about it. Caroline hadn’t been able to find Queen Rose on Tuesday. Possibly she was wisely hiding at … Continue reading →

Posted in Colony management, Queens, Uncategorized | Tagged | 4 Comments

A bee inspector calls…

Posted on April 26, 2011 by Emily Scott

Today I have been down at the apiary watching Caroline Washington, our local FERA Bee Inspector, go through our hives. She was taking samples of bees as part of a nationwide analysis FERA are doing of the diseases present in … Continue reading →

Posted in Colony management | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Not so super after all

Posted on April 16, 2011 by Emily Scott

Yesterday my hive partner, Emma, had put a super on our hive as we thought it wouldn’t do any harm to have one on there ready for all the loads of honey we’re going to get this year. Today I … Continue reading →

Posted in Colony management | Tagged | 17 Comments

A week after shook-swarming

Posted on March 26, 2011 by Emily Scott

Had a quick peek in the hive today, a week after shook-swarming them. I had been a bit worried before I lifted the crown board up because lots of them had managed to drown themselves in the sugar syrup yet … Continue reading →

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A successful shook swarming

Posted on March 20, 2011 by Emily Scott

Yesterday I shook-swarmed my hive at the apiary, with the help of Alan Gibbs, one of the very experienced beekeepers down there. It’s a spring clean for the bees, removing all their old comb with larvae cocoons/faeces, varroa and possibly … Continue reading →

Posted in Colony management | Tagged | 7 Comments

More revision & shook-swarm notes

Posted on March 13, 2011 by Emily Scott

One of the Ealing beekeepers, Andy Pedley, kindly gave me a lift to a BBKA module exam revision session held in Harrow yesterday – the exam is next week, eek! The lady running it, Jo Telfer, was really nice and … Continue reading →

Posted in Colony management, Exams | Tagged | 2 Comments

Dead bee inspecting, shook-swarming and bees in Oman

Posted on February 12, 2011 by Emily Scott

Last week it was cold and wet and no bees were to be seen. Today was surprisingly warm, and taking a look at the floods of bees zooming into hives around the apiary I decided to put my bee suit … Continue reading →

Posted in Colony management, Disease prevention | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments