I'll Be Your Honey Bee

Brilliant day at DigIn today.  Sharp frost overnight provided an icy pond, but a blue sky sunshine morning soon had us all warmed up.  Even the honey bees were out & about enjoying the pollen and nectar on our Mirabelle tree.  Their hard work should ensure a good crop later in the season.  The Mirabelle tree was also playing host to some house-hunters - some BlueTits were spotted having a look round a rather des. res. in the form of the nesting box put up in the tree last winter - lets hope they take up residence.

Archive beeshed photos

Here are a couple of pics from the archives of the bee area at DigIn.
It was a very muddy area, not good for growing anything, so ideal for bees!

Transformed into a bee area, complete with the two colonies of bees.  Hard to believe a muddy swamp could turn into such a brilliant place.  All thanks to the hard work of DigIn volunteers of course!

Beekeeping Workshop 2012

Pictures from the recent beekeeping workshop.  The photos are of the small colony of bees that took up residence, uninvited, earlier in the year. There are only about four frames of bees and brood, so it is a small colony and has had to be fed sugar syrup solution during the wet summer so far.

New Bees - 2 new colonies!

Helen Turner and Mary Venning have been looking to revive the Apiary. A stray colony has come by itself about a month ago to take up residence in Hive No 1.Helen has been feeding them 1:1 syrup to encourage them to stay. When we had a look at them they seemed active and happy with plenty of new brood in evidence. They were occupying 2 frames and we saw the queen!
Then on Monday 25th we went along to Pearson's farm to collect another colony, courtesy of Lee. We went in the evening hoping that most workers would have come home for the night. We taped up the hive and moved it to Dig-in, untaped it and left it on top of the Bessant Hive.
Then on Wednesday 27th we inspected the new colony. There were bees on 4 frames and again we saw the queen, so did David and Edwin. (Note to self- get more rubber gloves!) We moved the occupied brood box onto the stand and placed two supers above it without the queen excluder. This is so the bees will be encouraged to move up into our accommodation.Later we can return Lee's brood box to him.
We now have to see if they stay with us or decide to go back to Pearson's farm as I'm not sure if it's 3 miles away.Watch this space!
Mary

There has been a lot of action on site over the past few weeks. Last weekend Pulp Friction was well and truly launched, and this weekend over 30 people learnt about bee keeping from Lee. The picture shows a number of "bee hotels" to attract solitary bees to the garden and a swarm of bees made from wool and plastic bags.

September Bee Keeping workshop

We had lovely weather for the second DIG IN bee keeping workshop. Everyone who attended enjoyed looking into the hives and the information the Lee and Luke supplied.Thanks to all who supplied lovely food and their time and thanks to Cicely who found the childrens tools and worked so hard!

bees

Just a quick reminder - if anyone is interested in coming along on saturday 18th 10-12, to see inside the bee hives on site- could you let me know on 07827083853. Wear full trousers and good shoes- we may have to cancel if the weather is bad.

More bees in action

Taken by Mike who attended the workshop on saturday the 10th July.Thanks to everyone who came along either to learn or to help- it was a really enjoyable day.Big thanks to Lee and Dean.We will be arranging another workshop on 18th September 2010 10-12 at DIG IN. Please call me to book 0115 8752095- Kathy

Beekeeping workshop

Another hot and sunny day saw our first ever beekeeping workshop. It was run by Lee and Dean who keep two hives on the plot, and attended by enthusiastic visitors, all keen to find out about the art and science of beekeeping.

Dean gave a talk and answered questions using a well-prepared display of visual materials, which included a dummy hive and a few preserved (late) bees. Lee helped everyone to take turns in donning the protective clothing and veils then looking into an open hive and handling the frames of workers.

Genuine Stapleford honey was available to purchase, and plenty of honey cakes and other goodies had been made by our skillful cooks for people to sample and enjoy.

Everyone had a great time, and found it very informative. Lee and Dean are already planning a repeat performance later this summer.