Cleanliness matters

It used to be thought that a beekeeper who wore a propolis stained beekeeping suit, smock or pair of overalls was one to be admired. Propolis, wax and honey stains were a badge of office, to be nurtured and retained as evidence that they were far too busy with their bees and beekeeping to have time to take their protective clothing off for long enough to put launder it.

Times have changed, and so have perceptions, and although it's still common to see bee suits, smocks and trousers speckled with mildew from winter damp, it's as rare to see a beekeeper wearing dirty outer clothing as it is for a surgeon to wear bloodstained tweeds.

When Ribes comes into flower.

One of the things I was told as a beginner beekeeper was that Spring colony inspections shouldn't commence until the Flowering Currant was in bloom - that's Ribes sanguineum for those who prefer the Latin names.  


(Image from BBC Plant Finder)


Rules of Thumb
We have one of these shrubs in our garden and it's only just in flower, which would suggest it's time to open the hives for the first inspection of the season - but this particular plant is growing in a cold pocket, so always flowers later than any other in the area. This means that the 'rule' doesn't work too well for me and my bees.

Bees use polyurethane and polyethylene polymers as nest materials.

Article taken directly from Science Daily  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/02/140211103340.htm I thought it was interesting.

A new study by a University of Guelph graduate and a University of Guelph scientist reveals that some bees use bits of plastic bags and plastic building materials to construct their nests. The research was published recently in the journal Ecosphere.

It's an important discovery because it shows bees' resourcefulness and flexibility in adapting to a human-dominated world, says lead author Scott MacIvor, a doctoral student at York University and a 2008 University of Guelph graduate.

Fruity Beef Meatballs with Curried Banana Sauce

This recipe works so brilliantly that I thought I'd share it. It is good as a meal on its' own, or can be served alongside a variety of other curries. It will work if you use only the pre-prepared curry powder, but the extra spices give a richer flavour.

serves 2 - 4 people

You will need:
Shallow ovenproof dish
frying pan
food processor (not essential, but it's the easiest way to prepare the date, apple and onion mixture)

Ingredients

Meatballs:

• 2 medium onions
• 2 apples
• 8 pitted dates
• about 500g beef mince
• about 1 tbsp dried breadcrumbs
• salt
• ground mixed pepper

Back to Jumbos

Earlier in the year I decided to house a swarm in two shallow super boxes (MD shallows/Langstroth mediums) rather than the Jumbo Langstroths (same depth as Dadant, but only 10 frames) I usually use. I mentioned it in my post "A swarm in May".

I reasoned that plenty of people keep their bees in double brood and, although these boxes are shallow, two of them were about the same as Tom Seeley's recommended 40 litres for a swarm, so should have been fine. If it worked well with this one colony then I would be able to transfer all my colonies to these boxes, making everything cross-compatible - no more messing about with two sizes of box and two sizes of frame.

I was initially fairly enthusiastic, it all seemed to go very well. The bees were fine, the queen was laying well. They were warm and dry, and should have had enough space to do whatever they wanted. Or did they?

Caramelised pineapple dessert

A delicious, and very quick and easy, dessert recipe using fresh pineapple and honey which can be used as a topping for meringue baskets, a basis for tart tatin or in a tasty trifle.

Ingredients

• 1/2 pineapple, cored and cut into bite-sized pieces
• 2 -> 3 tablespoons good honey
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon (small pinch) of either five spice powder or ground star anise

Combining colonies

On last inspection I realised that one of my colonies wasn't going anywhere useful. This is the one that had a drone laying queen, and had made both what appeared to be a queen cell and an elongated 'drone queen' cell. I couldn't see any eggs or larvae, so there was no active queen and, fortunately, no laying workers either. A test frame from another colony had shown they were eager to produce a new queen - but it's getting a bit late in the late in the year, and it would be mid-September before the colony had its' own foragers.

The brood box was also top-heavy with drones which were clambering over each other on all surfaces, so much so that I suspected that this hive was attracting all local drones that had been evicted from their home colonies. (I've read that this can happen, but have never before seen evidence for myself.)

There were three things I could do: