It's getting very hot!

This morning had been set aside to inspect the hives. 30% had planned to spend the morning wit 'Chelle, drinking coffee at one of their favoured haunts ... generally one with a Garden Centre close by!

I was therefore home-alone, and able to work my way through the hives, without fear of interruption, and avoid the heat of the day.*

Before I started with the bees, I carried out a little experiment.  Somewhere in the recesses of my memory, I recalled that punky wood, was a great fuel for my smoker. I normally use corrugated cardboard, but it can be temperamental, either refusing to burn, or burning so quickly that my smoker needs a refill midway through an inspection.

So, I grabbed a chunk of punk wood and, using a cigarette lighter, attempted to get it to burn.  It started to char immediately, but did not flame, neither did it go out.  It just slowly smouldered, and produced a lovely cloud of smoke when I blew on it.  If I can keep the wood dry enough, I may have found an almost perfect smoker fuel.

After checking the hives, I can report that the queen-right colonies (#4, #5 and #6) are all doing well. A super was added to #5, and #6 will be needing one in the next week or two.

I didn't check hive #1, as it is still too soon for it to have a mated queen, so I moved on to hives #2 and #3.  Unfortunately both of these are showing signs of laying workers.  

A session with Google followed to see if these colonies could be encouraged to accept a queen. I didn't really fancy spending £80 on two queens for the hives, only for the bees to reject and kill them.  My search session suggested that my best move would be to shake out all of the bees from the hive, at least twenty yards from the hives original position. I should then set up a hive with a frame of eggs and some stores in the original position.

The theory is that the laying workers will not return to the hive, but the rest of the worker bees will.  They should then use the frame of eggs to raise a new queen ... Well that's the theory, and it doesn't involve spending forty quid on queens, only for them to get killed by an unaccepting colony.

I plan to perform this management technique a little later in the week, when the weather cools somewhat. 

After finishing with the bees, I spent the rest of the morning splitting logs, and had created quite a pile, by the time 30% returned home a little after one o'clock.

Lunch and a lengthy kip followed, before I returned to the log splitter and chainsaw. TP arrived back midway through the afternoon,** and helped me shift the logs up to the orchard.

I can actually get my bikes out of the garage again!

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* The temperatures are in the high twenties, and the news reports are suggesting that we may experience the hottest May weather since records began.

** He had been up to Preston for a "pre-stag" event with his chums; Charlie, Dan and Matt, the groom-to-be.