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News from Members...
Ramblings of a beekeeper:.....
It's official! Summer is on its way, our solar extractor burst into life and liquid wax was flowing.
We lost one small colony over winter but not last years town centre swarm as we expected. That one has built up very quickly and on May 2nd was on brood & a half and packing in the honey. Their temperament has also improved greatly.
We found our first queen cells on 21st April, but they appeared to be superceding and had already killed the queen. There were lots of drone cells so they had started at the beginning of the month.
We have found and marked 3 queens so far this season - quite a record for us as we don't often spot them. A couple of years ago we had the services of a youth(with excellent eye sight), but alas Tom, known as TK went to uni last year. His sharp eyes could always be relied upon to spot the queen. He tells me he is studying accountancy but after a go at queen marking I thought he would have a promising career as a painter and decorator. I have it on good authority that his studying involves drinking large amounts of beer! Best of luck TK.
So now welcome to our new eyes - Peter age 10. As he is at such a tender ageI have been informed that a child protection policy needs to be formulated, so after much deliberation I have decided that any cheek or back chat will be dealt with by a clip round the ear!
We are currently moving our hives to oil seed rape fields and are often asked how we transport them. We insert a wooden door block and strap it all together with the roof on. Then using 2 metal washing poles (a couple of pounds from a discount store) inserted under the rim of the lids we carry them like a sedan chair. Much better than paying 60 or 70 quid for a device from a beekeepers supplier. Here it is ably assisted by our chairman Brian.
Happy Beekeeping, more soon.
Jim Rooney