BeeHive

Gardening to 'grow your own food' from square foot to half an acre !!
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saint-spoon
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Post by saint-spoon »

Mrs SS has put her foot down witha firm hand on this one so no bees for me; however enjoy the ongoing soap of Citrine's bees, it's almost like owning your own hive.
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Citrine
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Bee Diary 11

Post by Citrine »

22nd June

Checked all three hives today, and swapped the Nuc into hive number four. Strange how these things grow, it just happens you know!!

The 'bitey bees' in number one hive have settled down particularly well. They have a queen - we saw brood, eggs and food. Fabulous!

Number 2, well, they are very tetchy. No queen. Plus, we put in a cast, so maybe they are still sorting themselves out. Drawing out the foundation wax, so things looking ok there.

Number 4 - tranferred the Nuc box of bees into a fourth hive. These are on 5 frames, with Queen cells, so not long before they start doing their thing.

Number 3 (top of garden) Still a verysmall colony. Worried about this one, that it wont be large enough to make it through the winter. Hubby and I agree that if we get another swarm it will be united into this colony, or, failing that, swap some frames over to boost numbers.

Looks like they're bringing in the blackberry pollen though, you can tell because its a grey colour.

*Addition - Hubby has in his possesion a small cast of bees. This will be united with hive 3*
My Websites; http://www.tranquillitytherapies.co.uk
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wendy
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Post by wendy »

It is becoming a little industry. Did you intend getting this many, so soon ?
Very, very interesting Citrine.
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Citrine
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Post by Citrine »

Erm, no Wendy!! Hubby has taken the reigns and run off with the whole thing!! Have given him the strictest of instructions, that enough is enough - we have four hives, and are only novices. Any more, and I think we're just asking for trouble.

We're coming to the end of swarming season anyway, at the moment, so that should be it.

*Note to Gandalf, NO MORE HIVES*

...just watch to see him stick his fingers up at me, and acquire another!!!!
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saint-spoon
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Post by saint-spoon »

Slightly )ot:



I have just been reading about the resurgence of using honey as a weapon against bacteria in infection prevention. Apparently many Eurasian countries are using dressings containing honey produced from New Zealand’s Manuka trees. The article goes on to say that this particular honey contains a particularly potent anti-bacterial compound and has caused the resurgence of using Pooh Bears favourite food in medicine. I wonder if you’ll get the same results from Hawthorn? confused>
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Citrine
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Post by Citrine »

Well, you can get Honey Bandages, and the NHS use them, apparently.

Also, its not just Honey which has anti-bacterial properties - Propolis (..the glue that bees use) is anti-bacterial too. Dentists use Propolis Tinture in their surgeries. It numbs the mouth, so it must have anesthetical properties too!!

SAVE THE BEE'S!!!!
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p.penn
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Post by p.penn »

This is just such an amazing thread! Saw on river cottage spring the other day a family keeping bees on a roof in Hackney and that started me off!!!!

Would so LOVE to keep bees but sadly a small, middle of terrace garden (albeit in the middle of fields) would probably not go down too well with the neighbours :cry:

It is not just your bee journey that is so fascinating - you have written it so well. So entertaining and informative. Thank you. I am looking forward to the next instalment.......

I BEE SOOOOOOO envious!!!! (f+
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Citrine
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Post by Citrine »

Ha ha!! Thanks for that!!!

I think theres a secret Beekeeper in all of us, just waiting to spring out!! Comes with chicken keeping I reckon! )t' (f+
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saint-spoon
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Post by saint-spoon »

I just want to drive down the road with a car full of bees.... i once spilt a pint of maggots in my boot and had to live with blue bottles flying out of the vent's for ages but that's not as cool as bees.
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Citrine
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Bee Diary 12

Post by Citrine »

Well, this isnt about an inspection, as such - but this very morning, my neighbour rang me at 08:00 to tell me that she had bee's in her garden, and couldnt get out of her back door.
My initial reaction, was 'Oh crikey, they've swarmed!' but, luckily no such thing.
Mr neighbour has been making mead and left the uncapped frames outside in the garden.
Luckily, it was our Mentor who donated the frames (...ragwort honey apparently isnt very pallatable, but is fine for mead making...)
so we know where the honey came from.
We put the frames near the hives, so the neighbours could carry on with their day-to-day activities.
He wont be doing that again!!
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Post by chickenofthewoods »

Funny you should mention Ragwort honey Citrine, I've just been having a conversation with a friend on another forum about honey poisoning. Are there any plants in the UK that are undesirable as nectar sources for honeybees? We'd been discussing Hemlock Water Dropwort, a highly toxic plant which he has in abundance where he lives and neither of us could decide whether it was a likely hazard or not.

Any ideas?
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Citrine
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Post by Citrine »

Hi

I posed this question on a Bee forum I belong to - the only thing they could come up with was Rhodedendron (sp), which can be a potent hallucinogenic!!!
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wendy
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Post by wendy »

Well we know what honey to eat when we feel down them LOL
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Bee Diary 13

Post by Citrine »

CATASTROPHE!!!!!

Blooming woman who owns the paddock where to 4 hives are, has asked us to move them ASAP, with no reason as to why!

Hubby was lugging the hives to our back garden, poor chap, he was cream crackered by the end of it! Angry bee's everywhere - had to leave one hive, because it got too dark.

We cant fathom it out - she asked us to put the hives there! The only thing we can come up with, is that maybe she has heard that bees bother horses (..apparently, they like horse sweat!)
As far as we know, no-one has been stung.

So, now we have to look for another site - garden isnt big enough for 4 hives!! :cry:
My Websites; http://www.tranquillitytherapies.co.uk
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wendy
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Post by wendy »

What a pain in the rear,
Fingers crossed you find somewhere soon.
Wendy
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If you can't be a good example........
you will just have to be a horrible warning
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