After a good Autumn winter went well Well the hive in my garden is still going strong. I gave them some candy about a week before Christmas because I wasn't sure how many stores they had because they were late settling down. But on warm days they seem to be flying ok, it's got to be at least 12 degrees Centigrade and calm. When I next had a peek, again on a day they were flying, they'd eaten most of the candy so I made some more. All it is is lots white sugar dissolved in some water over some heat and the resulting candy is left to cool in a mould. Once it is cool I place it on top of the brood nest frames under the hessian. I now use hessian instead of a wooden crown board on two of my four Nationals. I've also modified the roof to contain hay, held in by a piece of hessian. This is based on the quilt concept discussed by Abbé Warré in his Peoples Hive. My next chance to have a peek was almost at the end of January. Now that I use hessian instead of a wooden crown board I am able to see at a glance how the candy is lasting. Because it looked like it had almost all gone I eased up a corner of the hessian and quickly placed another block in. That should keep them going for another three weeks. Now I need to get back to making some more boxes, I've got plenty of roofs so once the paint is dry on these I'll start the next batch. February 13th exactly four months since I last looked inside all the hives I was able to have a quick look to see how they were wintering. Plenty of bees, lots of stores left and some brood in them all. Even the hive in 'Intensive Care' in my garden is looking good with pollen coming in before night 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