Sustainable beekeeping, chickens, and cake
I wrote a post back in January about a hive I had which contained the bees we rescued from a wall in a squash court in 2016. As it was free comb cut from the cavity in the brood box, I couldn't have access apart from 6 frames in the super above, from which I … Continue reading Hive autopsy, and spiders
The past few weeks have been warm, sunny and mild here in the UK, and as such, the bees have been out looking for pollen and nectar. I don't normally check my bees until March or even April, but as they have been so active, I wanted to see what was going on and they … Continue reading First hive check
I was going through some of my files and discovered this: https://youtu.be/821uVRAcZ1I I think it brilliantly shows how the bees build their comb, and why I don't use foundation. Worker bees exude little flakes of wax from glands in their abdomen, and mould them with their mandibles in to the familiar hexagonal cells. The bees … Continue reading Comb building