March is about preparation This is the month when the foundations are laid to allow the colony to make the best of the first major nectar flow which will build up in April and could last into June. It takes approximately six weeks from an egg being laid to that bee flying and foraging ouside the hive. The eggs for the bees which will do a lot of the early foraging work were laid at the beginning of March and now the hive bees are busy cleaning out the cells for the queen to lay in. Here are some pictures from my new apiary, it's in a rural setting in a nature reserve with fields and villages nearby so plenty of variety for the foraging bees. The picture in the centre shows two Warré hives ready for colonies. The National hive between them has two brood boxes and a super on, ready for Queen rearing in April. I've started getting the other hives ready for Queen production and will set up some pages showing all the processes. It starts with wax melting in a baine marie on the stove and by using a special wooden tool for dipping into the hot melted wax I soon had a jar full of finished Queen Cups. These are then stuck on a special frame, shown below with more hot wax. Once new eggs are grafted into these cups the hope is that the bees will take to them and treat them as new Queen Cells and feed the larva lots of Royal Jelly to produce plenty of queens for starting my new colonies. As I’ve never done this before it promises to be an interesting Spring.  Diary pages can be accessed from here by clicking the links below: 2008 Archive Winter 2008 Spring 2009 April 2009 Summer 2009 Made with Xara Web Designer Privacy |  Copyright 2009/10 | All rights reserved | 25 Woodlands Walk, Harrogate HG2 7BB SITEMAP