NewGenBees Diary for July 2008

July, not the best of summers for bees

As there were still masses of brood and bees in the original hive I decided to buy a Queen introduce a different strain by creating another nuc and using the last capped queen cells to creat another colony. My practical part of the beekeeping course was under way but it was obvious that the bees in nuc that was mine were struggling to to expand because of the poor weather for foraging. But before the end of the month they suddenly seemed to take a leap forward and I put them into a full size brood box and they never looked back. By now my small garden had two hives and two nucs strategically placed amongst the plants and at peak times of activity by the bees it was starting to feel a little crowded so I began looking for suitable places to put some hives. A neighbour across the street knew I had the bees and was interested enough to take the hive from Harlow Carr at the end of the month. It is a good spot with a hedge to make the bees fly up over the neighbours gardens and became the first garden of many offered to Friends of NewGenBees. After helping HRBKA out at an open day at RHS Harlow Carr I was given the name of a contact who was interested in learning about beekeeping and had a five acre garden. So after meeting them it was agreed that I could keep some hives there. This was my first attempt at setting up a proper apiary with ample space and scope to terrace parts of the orchard to take a good number of hives.

Diary pages can be accessed from here by clicking the links below: 2008 Archive Spring 2009 March 2009 April 2009 Summer 2009