I am pleased to say that our emergency measure of combining two Warré beehive colonies at Milkwood Farm seems to have worked. The two colonies have made friends, combined, and are now operating as one big family (or super organism, to be technical).
Time to bed the new uber-colony down for winter, following one last inspection as part of our first on-farm natural beekeeping course. As i write this, the bees are now tucked up against the cold, with an extra box of honey on top to keep them supplied till spring. We won’t bother them until then, for a couple of reasons… Read More »
February 21, 2011 – 6:00 am
Bees are amazingly resilient and adaptable creatures. In a good year, when there are many ‘honey flows’ happening, they can build comb and collect and store honey at an astonishing rate, to make the most of the bounty dripping from nearby plants. Tim tells stories of his bees filling 5 boxes full with comb and honey in a couple of days.
And in a leaner year, bees might only fill two or three boxes with comb and honey over the whole season. Which can be ok if you plan to leave them alone until spring, and let them winter on their own stores of honey. Sometimes, though, the bees just can’t find enough nectar. Which means they won’t have enough honey to see them through till spring. Uh oh. What to do? Read More »
November 16, 2010 – 9:35 pm
Tim checks how the bees traveled. Floyd looks on respectfully.
Much excitement this week as the bees finally arrived at Milkwood. Tim Malfroy brought around 3 Warré beehives, complete with bees, to install on our farm. And so I have officially become a Warré beekeeper, with all the fascination, responsibility and of course delicious raw honey that goes with that territory… Read More »
I am pleased to say that our emergency measure of combining two Warré beehive colonies at Milkwood Farm seems to have worked. The two colonies have made friends, combined, and are now operating as one big family (or super organism, to be technical).
