What a relief to be doing some real beekeeping. For so long we have been peeking in quickly with fondant at the ready. It’s nice to do that first inspection finally.
We keep hearing about horror stories of bee losses from all over the country. Folks up in the North, especially east Northern Ireland seem to have been really badly hit. All down the east and across into the south all seem to have been adversely affected too. Probably that prolonged very cold period from about Paddy’s weekend to nearly mid April delivered a killer punch to already-weak-after- winter colonies
Then again, we do hear about some good survival stories, even colonies that appear to be stronger than usual! Luck of the draw?
Working the Blacthorn
We hear about farmers having great difficulty feeding their stock because growth is so late….maybe
that can work in favour of our bees. Certainly blackthorn is very late, and there’s no sign at all of the ‘May’ (the hawthorn) which traditionally breaks through around 1st May. So the fact that plant life is running late, might benefit our bees which are also running late as they get going with spring build up, as the cold weather recedes.
So here’s hoping the forage season will extend a bit at the latter end to give our girls a chance to make up for lost time earlier!
By the way, our 2013 Prices have been out for a while. You’ll be glad to hear many prices are down.
You might enjoy my own Bee Movie! Don’t take it all too seriously!
‘Bee Movie’ does not appear to be working. Not a problem, just thought you’d like to know.
Thanks for spotting that! I’ve put in the correct link now.