We woke up to find this beauty on the front step one morning this week!
So its one of the hottest days of the year, and I’ve managed to fit in three of my favourite pastimes – cycling, cooking/baking and beekeeping. What I didn’t realise until today is that all my hobbies involve getting hot and sweaty, even in moderate temperatures. Now, three showers later, I’m facing the prospect of an evening baking the big little baby’s birthday cake in preparation for tomorrow’s celebrations.
Cycling through the forest will never bore me, and today, although the cycle trail was full of holiday-makers and lads racing in their off-road gear, reinforced why I love it so much. Not only was the dappled light stunning, but at one point I had to stop pretty sharpish as a mother boar and her two babies stepped out on to the track. She saw us first stopped dead in their tracks. I shouted for Izzy to stop, and we all stood there for a few seconds, within ten metres of each other, just staring at each other. I called for Izzy to slowly back away, as she was much closer than me, and at that moment, just as I was wondering whether to stay where I was, or turn and race off, looking for a sign that she may be about to charge, mother and babies turned and vanished into the undergrowth.
Izzy and I just looked at each other and carried on. I mean, what else could we do? My heart only beat a little faster briefly, but I noticed that Izzy didn’t race on too far ahead of me for the rest of the ride. After taking a turn around Cannop Ponds, we headed back, keeping an eye in the undergrowth for piggies.
So on to my second favourite pastime – the bees! So today I did my second solo inspection. All was good, although I’m really concerned about one of the colonies, which isn’t showing any signs of a queen, or any laying. They’ve built comb and stored food, but this is one of the swarms (the one that landed in the meadow, on a fence post) and I’ve been feeding it in order to help it along. Now that there doesn’t seem to be a queen, I’m not sure what I should do.
My feeling is that I should merge it with the original Green Queen, who’s still in a nuc box, and also, not really up to much. She’s laying, but that colony doesn’t seem to be growing. Other beekeepers have suggested that at some point I need to be prepared to merge at least two of my hives and I feel that now may be the time. Another alternative would be to introduce a frame of eggs from another hive, but I’m not sure that I want to sacrifice good eggs on a colony that really isn’t up to much.
I don’t need to decide quite yet, but what I have done is to stop feeding the failing hive. Instead, I’ve moved the feeder to the swarm hive that I helped catch a couple of weeks ago. That hive is so exciting – lots of stores already and frames full of eggs & larvae. If only I could find that queen…
Next week’s mission is to find all my queens, and clip them so that they can’t get away!
Just need it to cool down a bit first…
The Lush Forest 