The Apiary

 This is an attempt to summarise the history of each of my hives, focusing on the origin of each queen.

This is very much a work in progress, so it may well be revised or abandoned, if it isn't working for me.

Hive #1 

• Originally started as a nuc from Pete in late Aug 24
• Queen stopped laying in late spring 2025 
• Replaced with a 2025 queen from Honeyfields Bee Farm

Hive #2 

• Originally started as a nuc from Pete in late Aug 24, 2024 Queen. 
• Colony failed over the Winter of 2024/25
• April 25, replacement nuc from Pete. 
• Colony split in Summer of 2025, Queen transferred to Hive #3,
• Colony has locally mated 2025 queen, Hive #2 Queen was parent
• April 26 Colony split and Queen moved to Hive #4
• As at late April '26, Numerous queen cells present in Hive. 

Hive #3 

• Split established in 2025 with Queen from Hive #2. 
• Supercedure immediately after split created.  
• Resulting colony had a locally mated 2025 queen. Original Hive #2 Queen was parent
• April 26 Colony split and Queen moved to Hive #5
• As at late April '26, Numerous queen cells present in Hive. 

Hive #4 

• Nuc established April 26 with queen from Hive #2

Hive #5 

• Nuc established April 26 with queen from Hive #3

Another battery needed?

I wandered up to the orchard this morning to liberate the chickens. I glanced up in to the apple tree, and noted that the swarm was no longer there. I checked the nucleus hive, that I put out yesterday, in the hope that the swarm had taken up residence.  Unfortunately the box was empty, and there was no obvious sign that the swarm had settled elsewhere in the orchard ... this is not a huge disaster as I have, potentially, five viable colonies in the apiary at the moment.

Shortly after breakfast I headed out with Hobson and TB for our usual walk. On our return I could see that 'Chelle had dropped in for morning coffee, so a fun hour was spent chatting with her and 30% on the patio.

In the afternoon I assembled another batch of frames, as these are needed for the demo hive that I will be taking to my beekeeping talk on Tuesday.

I then wheeled the Honda from the garage, turned on the fuel tap, and attempted to get her started. I expected some reluctance, as I had been advised to run her, with the fuel tap off, until the carbs were drained of petrol, when I put her into storage at the end of last year.  With each push of the starter button, the engine turned over, and fuel was pulled in to the carbs. Unfortunately the battery was less and less vigorous with each attempt, and I gave up before I killed it. The bike was returned to the garage and reconnected to its trickle charger.

I retired to the house and idled away an hour, before returning to the garage. This time she fired up straight away. I threw on my jacket, helmet and gloves and headed off down the lane. I didn't go far, as she is not yet taxed, and there is no way I am going to tax her this close to the end of the month.*

The ride out was lovely and, despite being cautious because of new tyres, the little Honda still delights on twisty roads.  I made a resolution to get out on her as much as possible,** having finally got her back in running order.  She needs a little tidying up, but still looks lovely and is in great condition for a thirty year old motorcycle. Perhaps, as it suggests in the title of today's entry, a new battery might be needed?

So those were the newsworthy items from today. The only other news was that our gate installer called to say that he'll be here at the beginning of June ... as soon as he gets back from his three week tour of Scotland!

---

* If you reading this and are unfamiliar with UK road fund licensing, every vehicle used on British roads must have paid its Vehicle Excise Duty (VED). This can be purchased for a 12 or 6 month period. Any vehicle without VED must have made a Statutory Off Road Notification (SORN), and must not be used on the road until the VED is paid. VED can only be purchased for full months, so if you pay the VED after the first day of the month, one will be paying VED for days already passed.

** Obviously I rode her to our new house, when we moved here in 2021, but her fuel pipes and carburettors became inoperable due to damage by modern fuels shortly afterwards, so she hadn't been ridden for a good five years before she headed off for refurbishment last year. I can't remember the last time I rode her on a regular basis ... I'll bet that it's ten years, or more, since she was last ridden in anger.

Read the bloody label - Idiot!

I was wandering around a sunny garden this morning, after returning from this morning's walk.  I could hear a significant buzz from the orchard and wandered up to investigate. As I walked through the gate my attention was drawn to the boughs of the large cooking apple tree, and I could see a lot of bees flying around one particular branch. Closer inspection showed a swarm clustered there.

I glanced across to the hives and I could see that the face of hive #2 was covered in bees. This was a sure sign that a virgin swarm* had emerged from this hive and settled in the nearby apple tree. I hope that there is another virgin queen still in the hive, and that she mates and returns to continue the colony.

It would not be possible to shake the swarm form the tree, so I put out a nucleus box nearby, in the hope that the virgin swarm would be attracted to settle in it ... Although I don't think I'm that lucky!

In the afternoon I mixed up a couple of batches of weedkiller and sprayed the veg patch. I then went on to remove the side panel from the Moto Guzzi.

The Guzzi's battery charger has been displaying error lights on and off throughout the winter, and it is highly likely that its ten year old battery is on its way out. I ordered a new battery, and then started to have a nagging suspicion that I hadn't mixed up the weedkiller in the correct proportions.

I retured to the potting shed and re-read the instructions ... Oh bollocks! I had totally cocked up the mixture and had applied a far too diluted mixture. It was therefore necessary to nip out to the Nursery, buy another bottle of concentrate and re-apply the weedkiller.

The veg patch now has Roundup on one half and Resolva on the other. I believe the they are both glyphosate based, so it'll be interesting to see whether there is any difference in performance.

---

* A swarm contains one, or more, unmated queens

Holiday planning and the bees

It was a gentle start to the day, as I would not be walking the dogs this morning.

The reason for this adjustment to my normal routine, was because 30% had a physio appointment at the hospital in Worcester. We had therefore arranged for her to attend the appointment, and then meet up with B&H for lunch afterwards.

A little after midday we arrived at The Swan at Whittington. Drinks and food were ordered, and gentle teasing and leg pulling took place. We then attended to the main agenda item, which is the planning of next year's holiday.

Surprisingly this will not be another narrowboating adventure. We will be going much further afield, as we are planning a safari holiday in Africa. Various options have been explored and we have settled on a tour in Zambia and Botswana, that will include a visit to the Victoria Falls. Our preferred dates are a fortnight at the beginning of July '27, and H has been tasked with checking availability, securing the appropriate discounts and making the booking.  30% will need to ensure our dog sitter has the availability to accommodate our mutts, whilst B and I sit back and do nothing secure in the knowledge that we would only get in the way!

After a pleasant and productive lunch, we headed home, and I assembled my beekeeping kit.

I needed to move the nucleus colony, that I created last week, to a full sized brood box.* I also needed to check the other new hive (Hive #4), perform a full inspection of hive #1, and just check the supers of hives #2 and #3.

The transfer of the nuc to hive #5 was swiftly performed and all seems well. The queen is laying and her colony is starting to grow in size. This nucleus colony is being fed syrup, and this is making it easy for them to both build comb, and lay down some stored food.

Hive #4 is also doing well. This is the nucleus colony created with the queen from hive #2.  They were moved in to a full sized brood last week and, consequently, are a little larger than #5.  They are being managed in the same way as Hive #5.  Basically the plan is to get them to increase in size, so that the brood nest is covering at least six or seven frames. At that point I may even add a super and see if I can get a small honey crop from them. later in the year.

I then went on to inspect hive #1. They seem to be bringing in surplus nectar and I estimate that the super is, perhaps, three quarters full. They are not yet capping off the cells in the super, so we are way off harvesting honey at the moment. The inspection of the brood box then followed, and all was well. There were a few queen cups to squash, but no serious signs of swarming. This colony is also incredibly well tempered. So, I have a calm colony that is reluctant to swarm ... I really should look to rearing a few queens from this hive!**

I then checked the supers on hives #2 and #3. Both were slowly being filled with honey. There was no point inspecting the brood boxes as both hives are raising young queens at present. I would not expect these to have mated, and be laying for at least another couple of weeks.

I can report that all seems well in my little apiary.

Next on my list was to get the mower out of the shed and perambulate around the front lawn, and the verge outside the cottage. I didn't get as far as mowing the grass around the garage, but that five minute job  can wait for another day.

---

* This will be hive #5. I plan to create a separate Journal entry that briefly summarises the origins of each of my hives.  For example; Hive #5 is a nucleus colony created in April '26 with the queen from Hive #3.

** Desirable genetics?

Getting my steps in

It will be no surprise that the morning started with the usual walk out as far as Pete the Beekeeper's house.  This is a little under three miles, or about 6,200 steps.  Those are my statistics. I haven't got a clue about the dogs as they are forever running to and fro, and darting through the hedges in to the adjacent fields. I wouldn't be surprised if they covered another couple of miles.

In the afternoon I dragged  lawnmower from the shed and attacked the lawns at the back of the house. I had almost completed the back lawn, when I realised that my blood sugar was dropping. As a result a snack and a short snooze was needed to recuperate. 

I then returned and picked up where I had left off. The back lawn was finished, and I went on to mow the lawns around the greenhouses and veg patch. 

I didn't have my phone in my pocket, so don't have a record of the steps, but I'll wager it was another three or four thousand.

I will freely admit that I was quite weary at the end of that, and was glad to plonk my bum on the sofa.

This evening I also managed to persuade 30% to listen to a rehearsal of a talk about bees and beekeeping, that I will be giving for a local group next Tuesday. She says that it will be fine, although, apparently, I do say the word colony quite a lot ... I'm not quite sure what I could say instead?

So, that was Thursday. I'm hoping that I sleep well after quite a lot of physical and mental activity today.

Sorting out the chainsaw

Wednesday wasn't the busiest of days.

I took my reasonably regular walk in the morning, and had planned to mow the lawns in the afternoon. That was until I remembered that I had a Tai Chi class this evening ... I didn't want wear myself out in advance of this week's session.

Instead, I wandered in to the workshop and attended to the chainsaw.  When attacking the tree stump, earlier this week, I managed to hit a stone and run the blade through a patch of clay surrounding a root. As a result It was necessary to spend a happy hour removing the blade and bar, and removing the oily, sawdusty crud that had collected at the base of the bar.

I then reassembled the saw, and spent another hour sharpening the chain. It has been a long time since I last did this* and I had forgotten that it is quite a tedious and repetitive task. On this occasion I clamped the bar in the engineer's vice in the garage. This made the job significantly easier than previous attempts, where it had been necessary to try and both hold the bar still, and file each cutting link. With the bar clamped I could concentrate on filing the cutters, and the job was finally finished.

A test cut confirmed that the saw was cutting well, although I think a new bar and chain may soon be needed.

This evening's Tai Chi class was very similar to last week. Further elements of the Yi Jin Jing sequence were practiced and we were all forewarned that the Lying Tiger move may be a little painful for one's knees.

---

* I have the saw serviced fairly regularly and it always comes back with a nicely sharpened chain.

Dont you all look lovely!

Spring is definitely here.  the weather is much drier and the sun is now making regular appearances. The winds are still chilly, and we are still getting light frosts overnight, but I'm sure that the temperatures will become more clement in the near future.

This morning started with my usual walk.  After TB's antics on Sunday, I have been far more cautious about letting him off the lead, and we have avoided the fields and woods for the past couple of days. I can report that he has been well behaved and seems to stay a little closer to me when he is off the lead, perhaps he scared himself when he got himself lost after chasing pheasants the other day?

Hobson, on the other hand, was a little sod this morning.  He didn't stray that far away, but frequently disappeared through the hedges in search of birds. He was also far more intent on their scents and showed reluctance to come back when called.

With the weather warming my thoughts have turned to motorcycling, and I spent this afternoon taking the bikes out of their Vac Bags. I can report that the time spent cleaning the bikes last autumn was well worth it. The bikes have emerged beautifully clean, without a trace of dust or corrosion.  

It may be a bit of a faff packing and unpacking the bikes in and out of the large, heavy duty bags, but I will definitely be doing it again at the end of this year. I should also mention that folding up a 2m x 3m bag on a windy day is not the easiest task either.

Now I just need the temperatures to rise a little further and decide which bike to take out first.*

---

* TP and I have a loose plan to have a ride out across the Cotswolds with Charlie and Rob over the early May Bank Holiday weekend. I suppose I had better start planning a route.

Stump Removal, Phase 3

After yesterday's escapade  I was far more cautious with TB. He was allowed off lead, but spent far more time restrained, particularly in the areas where game birds were more likely to be present.  I also kept to the lanes, rather than allowing the dogs the freedom of the fields and woodland.

After a thankfully uneventful walk, the rest of the day was spent in the garden.

Job #1 was to repair the screening for our oil tank.  The tank would be visible from the road, were it not for the row of thorny shrubs that grow in front of it.  These are, or rather were, tied in to a flimsy trellis to keep them trained as a screen.

The winter gales have blown them down, and destroyed the trellis, so 30% and I set about a repair.  The trellis was held in place by two 6' posts.  These are still standing, although they are a little wobbly!  I decided to use four 7' lengths of roofing lath to replace the trellis, and we soon had them screwed to the posts.*

It was then a case of considerably reducing the volume, and height of the shrubs, before we tied them back in to the new supports.

First job after lunch was to haul the prunings up to the orchard and dump them on the bonfire. I can report that they really were bloody spiky, penetrating my clothes and the thick leather gloves I had worn as a precaution.

After a coffee break, I gathered an axe, spade, chainsaw and wheelbarrow, and headed out on to the front lawn. It has been a couple of weeks since I last attacked the tree stump and root wad, as I have been focussed on getting the new gates treated with preservative oil.

It may seem odd, but I really enjoy the physical work of digging out the earth and sawing away the roots.  It took a good few hours, but I can report that another square yard of lawn has been levelled. The turf has been relayed and grass seed has been scattered on the bare areas.  The excavated earth has been piled up in the orchard, and will be reused, when we attempt to sort out the edging of the herbaceous border at the back of the house.

The only problem is that I was a little over enthusiastic with the chainsaw, and hit a stone, when attempting to saw through a root. It may be time for a new chain, or an hour spent sharpening the one on the saw.**

The messy stump root wad is now greatly reduced, and will only need one more assault before it is time to bring in the stump grinder.

---

* I have my doubts about how long this repair will last, but the tank is screened, the drive looks a lot tidier, and we didn't spent too much time with this temporary fix.

** It is the original chain, and I have had the saw for more than fifteen years. Perhaps it's time to treat the saw?

Search and Rescue

I spent the first part of the morning sorting through my beehive equipment in the store room. This seems to be a regular activity and, despite careful planning, I always seem to need to dismantle a head-high stack to get to the item I need. In this case I needed a couple of hives.* One is for the nucleus colony that I created last Thursday, and the other is for a beekeeping talk that I will be giving later on in the month.

I then decided to take the two youngest dogs for a walk.  At this point I will take a slight diversion in the narrative, and advise that 30% had tidied up the utility room.  As a consequence the dog leads were nowhere to be seen. I checked the coat rack and also the cupboard where the dogfood and other canine paraphernalia is kept. There was no sign. I then went on to check the stool in the kitchen ... an occasional site for the dumping of dog leads. There was still no sign.  At this point I called upstairs and enquired about their whereabouts. 30% advised that they had been placed in the brown handbag hanging on the coat rack ... I went with "how far down my search list was that location?" instead of "what on earth made you think that was the best place to put them?"**

We then headed out for a walk, and this was the point at which my plans went awry. 

As we headed towards the bridge over the stream Hobson and TB charged across and headed to the right. I thought they may have disturbed a pheasant. This is not unusual, so I headed to the left calling them as I walked. After about fifty yards I turned and saw no sign of the dogs. I called again and Hobson came charging towards me. Despite repeated calling there was no sign of TB ... Oh Shit!

I wandered back towards the bridge and spent a good few minutes calling and listening for him.  Now TB does like to explore, but, up until now, he has always returned reasonably promptly.  This non appearance was out of character and I was starting to be quite concerned.

I gave 30% a call to let her know about his disappearance, and she advised that she would get in the car and check out the lanes in the vicinity. I circled the small patch of woodland, where I thought he had disturbed the pheasant, calling and listening. There was still no sign. After two circuits I called 30% again and let her know that there was no sign of him. She suggested that I should start heading home.

As Hobson and I started to head homeward I continued to call TB on a regular basis.  We came to the field that leads up to the ridge near home, and, I took the decision to turn right rather than left. This would take me, roughly, in the direction that I thought TB had gone. As we reached the furthest corner of the field there is a bridleway, and, on a whim, I decided to wander down it.

As I walked down the path I could see out across the fields, so I climbed through a gap in the hedge to get a better view of the fields across which I assumed TB had run.  I called a couple of times and the little fucker appeared out of nowhere. 

It is fair to say that I was incredibly relieved. He was put on a lead and a call was made to let 30% know that he had been found.***

I think we may be considering a GPS tracker for the little sod!

---

* Each hive needs a stand, floor, brood box, crown board and roof. The roofs were right at the bottom of the stacks at the back.

** When taking account of the fact that we have a cupboard filled with doggy stuff! A far more sensible place to put them.

*** Clearly he had heard me calling and headed back towards me. He actually tracked across about half a mile of fields he had never seen to find me, so there is nothing wrong with his recall and terrain crossing skills. It is just that he is bird obsessed and won't come back until he has lost interest in the pheasant.

Post Script

My normal walk is about 6,200 steps and just over two and a half miles. Today I walked about ten thousand steps and covered four miles, most of which, was across the fields.

Not quite what I expected from TB

A good chunk of today was spent bottling the last of the honey supplied by Pete.  This last bucket was slightly overweight, so I am pleased to report that it has yielded thirty two pounds of saleable honey. One might say, "Bloody Good Job" as he charged me eighty quid for this last 30 lb bucket.

Staying on the subject of bulk honey supplies, I can also report that my alternative supplier made contact today, after going quiet for over a week. He has confirmed that his honey is all UK produce and I am now just waiting for him to let me know when I can pop over and pick it up.

This afternoon I took a walk with the dogs and TB demonstrated an unusual response to a recall command.  

As we wandered down the farm track we approached a small meadow. The footpath crosses the meadow and we leave this little pasture by crossing a gated footbridge over the stream. Hobson and TB charged ahead and were racing up and down the full length of the field. All of a sudden, TB disappeared in to the brush that borders the stream. As I drew closer to the bridge, I called the dogs in, and Hobson responded promptly,* and came back to me.

Despite repeated calls, there was no sign of TB, and I started to get mildly concerned, until I reached the footbridge, and saw him on the other side of the gate, standing on the bridge deck, waiting for us. He had obviously crossed the stream further down, heard my calls, and run up the other side of the stream to meet us at the bridge.

I think I prefer Hobson's more traditional approach to canine obedience.

---

* Because he's a GOOD BOY!

Nearly done

My first task this morning was to add a syrup feeder to the nucleus colony that I set up yesterday. This is to ensure that the colony doesn't run short of food.  It also provides the raw materials for the bees to produce wax, as they will need to draw out the foundation sheets, to provide comb for the queen to lay in.

Then Hobson, TB, and I headed out for our usual walk.  In the afternoon I was back in the carport, where I applied the final coat of oil to the second of the new gates. 

As I said on Tuesday, "I just need to coat the undersides of the bottom rails, and they'll be ready to hang." 30% has already reached out to make arrangements for them to be installed.

I will freely admit, that I'll be glad to have finished this job. It really has been incredibly tedious.

A lot of beekeeping

The main event this morning was Whiffler's second follow-up appointment at the Vet's. We were seen by the surgeon who performed the operation and he was absolutely amazed by how well Whiffler was healing.  We will have a further appointment in four week's time, where the Vet will carry out a digital examination, presumably to see whether the cancer has metastasised. For the moment all we can say is that he seems to be doing remarkably well, and the daily dose of Metacam is doing wonders for his mobility.

Now on to the bees.

I am fairly certain that I am on the record that, as a beekeeper, I spend my time worrying about my colonies. In the winter I am concerned about starvation, Varroa infection and colony collapse. In the summer my concerns switch to swarming, whether they can find enough forage, and whether the colonies are being managed appropriately.  

Last week I split one of my colonies and added supers to all of the hives. So, for the past week, I have been wondering whether I have done the right thing.  I know that new queens are available to purchase, so I have a back up plan if my new queens fail to hatch or mate. My other concern has been about the availability of local nectar sources for the bees.  

In my daily wanderings I make a mental note of what is coming in to flower, so have seen the celandines come and go. The bluebells and cowslips look lovely at the moment, and the blackthorn is already in flower. The damsons are just about over, but I can see that the apples will be flowering within the next few days.

The lingering question is, "is this enough to produce a honey crop?" 

This afternoon I wandered up to the orchard to check the hives. The first thing I did was to transfer the nucleus colony, created last week, to a standard National Brood box.  The queen appears to be laying, and she now has plenty of room to expand. More syrup was added to the feeder to enable the workers to build out the foundation in to fresh comb.*

I then moved on to Hive #1 and was delighted to see that the workers had already moved up to the super, cleaned out the cells, and had started to store honey there. The super was nowhere near full, but was noticeably heavier than when I added it last week. The colony is doing well and I could see no signs of swarming, so the hive was reassembled and I moved on to hive #2.

Hive #2 was split last week, so it is currently without a queen. It needs to be left for at least four weeks, for the new queen to hatch and start laying, so I did nothing other than check a couple of frames in the super. Again, surplus nectar was being processed, and stored as honey.

Next it was on to hive #3. It was showing early signs of swarming when I inspected it last week, so I was prepared to split the colony, with a nucleus box ready and waiting. I removed the super, noting the presence of stored honey, and started to inspect the brood box. I soon found capped queen cells, and focussed on finding the queen.  She was located quite quickly and transferred across to the "nuc" along with three frames of brood, a frame of stores and a couple of frames of foundation. The nuc was relocated to its new position in the apiary and hive #3 was closed up, leaving the swarm cells to develop, and hopefully, produce a new queen for the colony.

Nuc #2 will need to be transferred to a National Brood box in a week's time, so I spent the rest of the afternoon assembling a batch of frames.  

This evening I found myself at Redditch College restaurant in the company of 30%, Mummy Sheila, 'Chelle, Tracey and Grubby Sue.  It was a Greek themed menu and the food was great. The company was brilliant too, and we had a very amusing evening. I think the prize comment was made by Grubby Sue ... She advised that she had shaved her legs and then noticed that she hadn't made a very good job of it. Apparently her eyesight is so bad that she hadn't noticed that she hadn't removed the safety guard from her razor!

---

* The nucleus colony has six frames. The National Brood box has eleven, so the bees have another five frames of foundation to draw out in to comb. This is unlikely to be a rapid process. They need warm weather and a strong colony to do this

Yi Jin Jing

It will come as no surprise that this morning started with a walk with the dogs.

My plans for the afternoon were swiftly redrafted, when the rain started and graduated in to thunder storms.

As a consequence 30% and I settled in front of the television and watched The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert.  Although we have seen stage productions in recent years, it has been many years since we last saw the film. It is a great movie!

This evening I returned to the PEC for the start of the Summer Tai Chi term.  Kung Po Fran took us through a warm up and the Spring sequence before introducing us to the Yi Jin Jing set. Apparently there are ten movements focused on strengthening muscles, joints and tendons. 

Fran demonstrated the first five this evening and it was really enjoyable. It's been three weeks since my last class, and it was great to be back. I keep forgetting how much I enjoy it.

Nearly finished

Tuesday was a day of two halves.

The morning was taken up by a walk with the dogs.  It stayed dry, but, again, the weather has turned very chilly.

In the afternoon I put on a coat and hat and headed out to the carport, where I applied a second coat of oil to one of the gates. 

That is one gate almost completely finished. I just need to coat the underside of the bottom rail, and it'll be ready to hang.

So, it wasn't the most exciting of days, but at least I'm a step closer to finishing the gates.