The weather has been cool and showery over the past week and, unsurprisingly, the bees have not been flying as much as they would in warmer weather. I waited until the day had brightened somewhat, but the hives were still packed with bees as I examined the frames. This made it a challenge to find queen cups or cells, let alone the queens themselves.
The inspections went reasonably well, but it was apparent that the the bees had been relying on their stores rather than foraged nectar.* The frames of stores that surround the brood nests had, mostly, been emptied to keep the colony sustained over the past seven days. I'm not concerned, as there is ample honey in the supers to keep them going.
After checking on the bees, 30% and headed out in to the garden to deal with a vermin problem ... Over the past few weeks we had noticed that something had been chewing holes in the poultry food sacks. These are kept in what, until recently, had been a vermin proof store, so it was time to investigate. The little shed was emptied and 30% dived in to sweep up. She soon called out that she had found rat droppings. At this point I suggested that she should retreat, so that we could check that the rat wasn't still there.
I started looking for rat runs and, as I looked around the roof space, I saw a beady eye looking back at me. Neither of us fancied having a startled rat jumping out at us, so a length of cane was deployed to persuade the verminous, little sod to vacate the premises. We then spent an hour, or so, clearing up the shed and relocating the food to a rat proof metal bin. With the poultry food gone, a couple of traps were set, although I didn't hold much hope of success; they are very clever animals.
There's not much else to report, apart from the fact that I finally got my arse in to gear and descaled the coffee machine this evening. I love to start the day with a cup of proper coffee ... A black Americano made with an espresso machine and, preferably, from freshly ground Old Brown Java coffee beans.
I have a little Gaggia classic and it makes a great cup of coffee, but it is a complete faff to descale. It needs doing every couple of months and the process can take a good couple of hours. This necessary chore is lovingly referred to as "defrosting the microwave" in the panoply of nonsense I spout as I grow older.
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* Here in the UK there is a phenomenon called the"June gap" where nectar sources diminish during this month and then increase again from July through to September.
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