“…a piece of beehive, and it might be the wrong piece, where the bees are buzzing and not hunnying. Bother.” Piglet agreed that it would be rather bothering.
(Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A Milne, p.213)
An excellent summary of last year’s beekeeping at Hob Moor Drive. However, this year seems a bit more promising. It is true the bees are still buzzing and not hunnying YET. But I feel confident that they have now got the idea. I have had a poke around and the colonies are growing fast. When it is time to have a proper look, I will call for an expert to help me.
So far, Queen Latifa II is filling one whole brood box and I put another super box on for the colony to grow into. She is a rather aggressive Queen and I have plans to either kill her off (some of you may remember my failed attempt to do this last year) or exile her to another apiary.
Queen Marguerita’s girls (and a few boys) are a smaller colony, but I hope they will fill a whole brood box by mid-May when the clover and other wild-flowers on the Moor comes into bloom.
On our way to school today, in the pouring rain, Rowan and I had a look at all the flowers people planted in their gardens – there are tulips, magnolia, bluebells, hyacinths and other flowers – that we thought the bees would like. As long as its within 3 miles, anything is possible.
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