Adrian had moved a couple of the hives up to the top paddock on the farm in Buxton.
Monster views, morning sun from dawn onwards, in the shade by early afternoon.
The right hand double box (in the photo above) is the 'Utter Hive', the other is the 'Other Hive',
from the bottom of the duck run in Mount Evelyn.
from the bottom of the duck run in Mount Evelyn.
The Acheron Valley in the background
That's James and Adrian, firing up the smoker.
The top box of the Utter Hive had a bit of burr comb, no hive mats in either of these.
The propolis is bright red in this one, and very sticky.
I found out that propolis is not a type of wax (which is secreted by the worker bees from glands on their bodies, which they then make cells out of), but actually resin that they have collected from trees, so the colour comes from tree sap. So that's another thing to add to the long list of things bees collect.
The propolis is bright red in this one, and very sticky.
I found out that propolis is not a type of wax (which is secreted by the worker bees from glands on their bodies, which they then make cells out of), but actually resin that they have collected from trees, so the colour comes from tree sap. So that's another thing to add to the long list of things bees collect.
A fair bit of honey in the top box, but not enough to bother extracting just yet....
One of the side frames had undrawn foundation on it,
but they were mostly full of uncapped honey.
but they were mostly full of uncapped honey.
James checking out the bottom box, cool as a cuke.
Loads of good brood, lots of pollen.
Loads of good brood, lots of pollen.
Small areas of chalk brood, not enough to worry about for the moment...?
We found a couple of supersedure cells, and this little swarm cell in the bottom box.
The 'Other Hive' had its lid lightly welded down with burr comb.
We collected it slowly, piece by piece, and got it into a bag.
We tasted it later, after squeezing the honey out by hand.
Very tangy, sharp, which makes sense as the pepperminrts up there had just been flowering.
We tasted it later, after squeezing the honey out by hand.
Very tangy, sharp, which makes sense as the pepperminrts up there had just been flowering.
James was sampling a piece when this girl came along, to get back what was hers.
Brood.
More brood. We put a second box on the 'Other Hive' before we left, putting in a queen excluder and swapping a couple of the frames from the bottom box into the middle of the new top box.
Fill it up, girls.
Fill it up, girls.
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