BEE NEWS
Scald End
Just after I got the Shed back I found myself in the Scald End area and couldn't resist having a quick look.
Its been several months since I was last there and although I had put fondant in the hives, I was worried they might be short of food. It was a warm day and when I arrived I found all four hives had bees flying. Hurrah!!
I came back the following day with bags of candipolline for them but it was much colder and they weren't venturing out. Saying that once I took the crown board off Hives 3-5 they all decided they really didn't want to be disturbed and made this fact perfectly clear. I got these 3 hives from the same source so I expect they share their behaviour.
The first three hives had built comb in the space below the crown board which was dry so taken out. Hive 1 was particularly busy and considering this was the weird swarm that decided to set up in a nuc box in my garden I was pleased to see it doing so well and the bees seem calmer than the other hives. Once the season is underway I will find and mark the queen and see if I can raise some queens from her. I will probably use either the Snellgrove or Horsley boards that I have ordered to produce some new colonies from her during the swarming season.
Hive 5 [there is no Hive 2!] was on the small side and hadn't built any brace comb and was only about 5 frames wide. Hopefully the food will keep them going although they were all bringing in pollen the day before so hopefully all the queens are laying.
Bumble Bees
This blog started off as a honey bee blog but as time has gone on things have diversified a bit and I've become more interested in other types of bees. I have been a member of the Bumble Bee Conservation Trust for some time and have done a survey for them about BB's in my area and I think they are, for want of a better word, cute.
As I am now doing talks for WI's, schools etc and talk to people about 'bees' at markets I decided to buy a proper bumble bee nesting box and see if I can start up a BB colony.
The maker of the nest provides proper nesting material with grass, shredded paper and kapoc which is mouse scented as BB's often use mouse holes to make a nest and will be attracted by the scent.
Its suggested you make an extended entrance to try and mimic an entrance to a mouse hole.
Amongst the remains of the old engine that was still in the back of Shed when I picked it up, I found a piece of radiator hose that was exactly the right diameter.
Its also suggested you try to fool the BB by making the entrance look larger than it is and also have some sort of contrast to make it easier to spot. I drilled a hole in a piece of wood I painted yellow and put some black tape around it to make it look like a bigger hole.
The nest was placed in a hedgerow as BB's patrol raised ground looking for mouse holes; and covered it with some branches and leaf litter.
It faces a field behind my house where the farmers plants wildflower seed so it should be great for bees
Solitary Bees
I got the SB nest from the same man as the BB nest and it is a thin box with a removable cassette in it. Into the cassette are drilled tunnels for the bees to lay their eggs in and it has perspex sides. At the end of the season these can be removed so the tunnels are cleared of parasites. The outside of the box has removable doors to view the cassette.
It needs to face south west and to achieve this, and get the benefit of the field by my house where the BB nest is, I put it at the end of my garden on a post about 3 ft high.
Some SB's, particularly Red Mason bees, use mud to seal the compartments in the tunnels in the cassette, so to entice them in some mud is spread across the entrances.
We'll see what happens and if something sets up in either of the nests I can set up my trail cam to take some pictures and videos.
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