Bee Check

I have been wanting to check my bees for a while but with a nod to my new-found bee knowledge, I wanted to wait til the weather was very mild and not breezy, so that I could open the hive up to dust them with icing sugar. The thinking is that they groom themselves and each other to remove the sugar, and in doing so, ping off any Varroa mites that have been latched on. I'd darned the holes in my veil and the elasticated cuffs of my bee suit yesterday evening and when the sun was shining brightly on the hives, I took the lid off and had a look. The smaller hive has a very small nest but that's to be expected at this stage in the season, but I did see the queen, eggs and capped brood, as well as plenty of pollen, so they look like they have done alright so far this winter. I put a desertspoon of icing sugar in to my sieve and gently dispensed it over all the frames of the brood box, and then tapped the last teaspoon over the bees in the super. They protested a bit but I put the crownboard and roof back on quickly anyway to try and retain the heat, and within seconds the rather disgruntled buzzing had calmed to the usual contented hum.

The hive at the front of the house is my original one, and contains the descendants of my first queen who was prolific and docile, and has passed the traits on to her offspring. They are still some of the friendliest bees I know, and due to my rather inexpert amalgamation of an artificial swarm, has over-wintered with two brood boxes. A quick look in the top box showed egg and lots of honey; I think they are going to grow in to a large and productive colony again this year. I'm hoping for some swarms so I can 'experiment' a bit with my apicentric theories by using frames rather than foundation and not using a queen excluder so she has the run of the hive.

I gave the bees in this hive a dose of icing sugar in the same way, and they didn't complain at all, even though they do look a bit ghostly:

I put the hive back together and left them to their grooming. I'll check the base board in a while to see if any varroa have fallen off...

I got in the way of their flight path as I was putting the roof on:

If we get another mild day in the next few weeks, I'll dust them again.

Projects

The weather has turned rather wintery again which is always disappointing - we get a tantalising reminder of mild weather and spring sunshine, and then bam, in comes rain and wind and back I am in to warm woollies. I am thankful for all my knitted goods though. I'm currently working on a pair of socks which need a higher diploma in Fairisle colourwork and pattern deciphering - frankly the latter is far more frustrating but I'm hoping sock number 2 will prove a little less challenging. I do need to get on with it before I forget all my interpretations and what the scribbles on my colour chart mean :-/ I have also cast on some ribbed wrist-warmers using the cuff of my gumboot sock as a guide, and while waiting with T at the doctor's I polished off a jug cover for Nicky so I will get some beads to put on that when I next see her.

The green Kidsilk Haze shawl/wrap is growing and I am looking forward to using it, although I will have to remember not to go for impromptu wanders when wearing it as it will snag like anything.

In the garden I have been busy as well. Having bought some wildflowers from the garden centre, I've planted them in the area in front of the beehive, and sown some poached egg plant seeds. There are lots of dandelions too and Crocosmia which flower late so with luck the bees will have a buffet on their doorstep, although they will no doubt go straight past them to the nearest crop of rape/field beans/Himalayan balsam. Still, it will benefit the other pollinators and look great so that must be good. I have planted a variegated thyme and the salad burnet in pots:

I have been weeding my borders and raised beds as they have numerous clumps of grass dotted through them. I was chucking them on the compost but then decided to plonk them on to the bit of the garden where the poultry were, and, having squished them in with a welly, they have all taken. It won't be a bowling green but I think it will be green if nothing else! Reseeding or putting down turf is a) expensive and b) risky with the hens and c) not worth it for what was originally a pretty scrappy excuse for a lawn, but some foliage should assuage my landlord's horror. I have also been feeding the new dandelion shoots that are springing up amongst the perennials to the bunnies, which they love. So, upcycle your flower border and vegetable bed rejects!

All my seedlings have germinated so I have transplanted some things from the cold frame in to the ground, and from the house to the cold frame to give me more room, as I was running out of windowsills. New growth has started and I am really looking forward to seeing how the garden progresses this year. The perennials should be at their peak.

The animals are all fine, except nextdoor's ducks waddled in to my garden while I was on the phone to the CSA, which meant I had to drop the phone and run out to rescue Jean from the attentions of their enormous drake. This necessitated me confirming my national insurance number again when I came back on the line which I found rather pointless. It reminded me of The Now Show podcast that I had on last night - Andy Parsons' piece about banks had me crying with laughter. Do have a listen:(http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01cks52/The_Now_Show_Series_36_With_Andy_Parsons_and_Lynne_Truss/)  :-)