My bees are ready :)

[crichmond]

Oh yes, happy days are round the corner.

Got the phone call that me and a fellow allotmenteer have been waiting for, our girls are ready to be collected.

4 hives in all, thats 2 each.

Cant wait, hopefully I will get them tis weekennd.

[Plot17B]

Result! Great news Crichmond.
is this on top of your nucleus you mentioned a month or so ago, or is this the actual collection? (from Thornes wasn't it?). Did you buy 4 nucleui? I might of missed something there methinks!!
Was up in your neck of the woods last week on hols (Arnside, a tad north of you) and although a bit damp I'm sure the girls will settle in well before time to bed them down for winter.

We've been busy managing our hives and spreading the word through our own website. Everyone, but everyone, is getting interested in the bees now....the more hives out there the better we say.

Post some pics when you sorted.
Cheers
P17B

[crichmond]

Hi P17B

I am afraid that the nuc idea went west as they said they didnt know if they could supply or not, but then I saw an advert in beecraft for smith hives with bees for £100 each so we have gone for them, not only better than a nuc but cheaper as well.
And best of all the frames will fit my national hives.

[Stacey Steve]

Must admit I'm more than a little interested in having bees on the allotments but that will be something for the future.

One of my cousins as 30+ hives around the Chelmsford, Essex area and when I have visited him the hives in his garden have always drawn me.

One of the other allotment holders on my site is at present doing a course with the local beekeepers, so I'm getting feedback from him at present and will probably do the course next year.

[rainbowbrite]

ooh lucky lucky, hope you get lots of honey. i want an allotment purely for bees and chickens, would that be allowed?

[Headfry]

Yay Stacey Steve .....GO FOR IT! can you 'hitch' a ride on one of the evening course sessions? To see what its like and if it is really for you?

Rainbowbrite, you would need to check with you allotment committee. some do - some don't.

The poor situation with the survival of our bees is a huge worry, I am sure allotment sites could do more to help up and coming bee keepers. Councils are very slow on this one.... guess it is at the end of the day down to the 'blame culture' what if someone is stung!
Yes - care has to taken, but surely common sense comes into play too.

Crichmond.....congratulations on your new arrivals ....some 20,000 of them I guess

This year is as naff as the last, so get good advice on the care of your new bees....the books give you an idea of what you should do when.... but oh the weather this summer is just pants! I am thinking of feeding mine!!!!!
The colony is struggling to increase, they wont draw out the super, they are spending their days just trying to stay warm! My poor girls, I am so worried for them.

How many of us have bees now?

any one see Dr Who.......they mentioned the bees again!!!!

Well done The Doctor! cheers mate for the mention.

[Peebels]

is it me or is the

"what if someone gets stung"

Argument just a tad lame? Will they be using a similar argument the next time they want to build a road? I would rather be stung by a bee that hit by a car, however i realise this might just be personal preference.

Correct me if i am wrong, but if the bee keeper has positioned his hive correctly your only going to get stung if your doing something you shouldn’t be(e)? or am i just being naive?

[Headfry]

Hi Peebels,

Yes I agree, but the country has gone blame mad.
As a bee keeper I like to let all who could be stung know where my hive is.
Funny thing...
Back in late spring, one of the lads (mid 20's) playing football came to fetch their lost ball from the plots- broke through the hedge onto my plot, across a few other plots (he did not see me watching) then into farmers wheat field. Got the ball back and reversed his journey, passed right in front of my 'box of tricks' bet he did not know they were bees! bet he does not do that when the weather is better! if he does- bet he will only do it the once

I do not have a beware sign facing the hedge- it's the last place I would expect to see someone come from....huge hedge it is too.

Bet if he had been stung then he would blame me, it's such a worry in this day and age.

Lucky that most people had not planted up their plots at the time- different now, so not much harm done to the plots!

[Plot17B]

Hiya,
Think I mentioned in another thread somewhere...I've posted 2 "beware" signs and 2 medical emergency posters on either side of our wind breaks. Would that protect us from legal proceedings should something happen? Probably not, no doubt the font is wrong size or the bee in a triangle is the wrong colour or something numpty like that.

But, a bit of a*se covering in this day and age does feel necessary sadly. When we site the next hives, I'll have to do the same again. Just in case.

[Headfry]

That looks fab fab Plot17b

I need to sort out wind breaks for my girls! they are getting such a bashing!

[crichmond]

What does the medical poster say? I could do with putting some up round my allotment.

[Headfry]

and, Where did you get your posters from? do you have them in a 'file' would you be able to email it? If so I will pm you with address, if you dont mind of course.

many thanks

[Plot17B]

Hi, if you both PM me your email addresses, I'll email on the files as-is to you both. One is a Word doc, the other is a psd format but I'll convert to jpeg so east to open. The medical one has local map and latitude/longitude but that'll be easy for you to edit. :-)

I couldn't find anything useful on t'internet, so I just cobbled them together myself after thinking what info ought to be passed onwards.
P17B

[crichmond]

Cant pick them up until next weekend unfortunately. But looking forward to it

Thanks for the files P17B

[Headfry]

Thanks plot17b thats a great help!