Rash of complete and mysterious beehive failures the last 2 weeks. 😬 #beekeeping
#beekeeping
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This mural comes to mind often.
https://inspiringcity.com/2014/05/19/louis-masai-and-jim-vision-mural-campaign-to-save-the-bees/
#beekeeping
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Fifth hive failure this week. Three completely abandoned and no brood or dead bees.. we think queen failed. One had bees and no queen. Combined with another small hive. This one they abandoned brood... had food and honey. Dewy bees still hatching out, dozens and dozens of queen cells started but only 1 sealed, but they abandoned it before it hatched. We are thinking the strange tropical heatwave partly to blame. All of these Carniolan-Russian hybrids from Mann Lake. #beekeeping
The bees had a tuxedo cat visit last night. Hopefully that helps keep pests away. My buddy said it's a neighbor's and has roamed the area for years.
#beekeeping #HarpHives #catsofmastodon #TuxedoTuesday
I posted a new PeerTube video about overwintering honeybees. It's really just me rambling for a minute or so about what I've done with my hives but I'm always open for a discussion if a viewer has questions. The process is different for each zone but there's overlap for us all.
https://dudelike.wtf/w/67q8zCxzq9VfpYr2boqKtf
#beekeeping #bees #HarpHives #peertube
Slept well so cooking with gas so far today🤞. I've finished spinning out the honey frames I had uncapped yesterday and trimmed mildew leaves in the polytunnel. Made a flask of tea and a very basic lunch and soon we will be off out to inspect the hives and put clearer boards on at the apiary we widened the path to yesterday #beekeeping
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Drat. Stuart just spoke to farmer and he wants them gone over winter. He said we could just move them further along but you can't do that, its 3 foot or 3 miles, nothing in between with bees. So thats 7 hives to resettle before it gets too cold #beekeeping
You would not believe how heavy that little machine is but we got it up without either of us getting an actual hernia or ruptured disc. Now to get it down and back up at the apiary #beekeeping
Oh, crumb, another one of these.
(owl box taken over by bees).
No idea how to get these things down... hundreds of pounds of bees, honey, wax and all 20 feet up.
#beekeeping
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We won't work beehives 20 feet up... too dangerous to be on a ladder in a suit with smoker, tools, stinging insects, possibility of falling. Even if you rented a lift, no way to escape if stuff went wrong. Maybe rigging to slowly lower the whole thing to the ground, but then your box will not be straight.... (bad for the bees) #beekeeping
Off out to see if we can get some clearer boards on the bees near Brecon. Very nice as we set out but appreciable cooler #beekeeping
Forgot to toot yesterdays extraction photos. Balsam mostly I think, could be clover but I think not #beekeeping
Good test of the bee proof bee suits in the next apiary. The bees were right up the pole, no idea why. Only stings on the hands, 3 for me and one for Stuart #beekeeping
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Even this far away from the hives I was still being pursued by quite a few bees. #beekeeping
A bowl full of naturally soft set honey. Different honeys set at different rates, to different firmness and, most importantly, to different crystal size. To make soft set, or creamed as they call it in the USA, you mix a smooth, buttery honey with very small crystals so its not gritty into a clear honey with no existing crystals in it. This is then seeded with the fine crystals and will set much the same. #Beekeeping
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We extracted our last frames and got several more quarts of honey. Check out the contrast in color depth. The late spring/early summer honey on the left is light and a mix of wildflowers, clover and blooming trees. The jar on the right is late summer honey. It's dark with a mineral rich taste of sunflowers, sumac, buckwheat and blackberry/elderberry juice. Very complex but both are delicious, just different ends of the seasons.
#beekeeping #HarpHives #honey
Can you see the girl who is working the Himalayan balsam? #beekeeping
Unexpected bee swarm capture today. 1/x #beekeeping