Beelighted Delighted with the first haul of honey .
thirty something stings , 5 swarms , and not enough beehives and still the girls managed to provide some of the good stuff - and the Honey Flow and main harvest still has to happen yet Beautiful Beehives Beekeeper from Szymon Masiak on Vimeo. So you want to #savethebees but don't know what to do ! Imagine how hard just one bee works in a single day. Bees tend to at least 2,000 flowers daily, with tiny wings beating 10,000 times per minute, carrying pollen, and dramatically assisting our food supply. Sound exhausting? Bees get thirsty, and they need safe water sources. The problem is water is not always available. Bees need very shallow water to drink from. However, shallow water evaporates quickly. Birdbaths are not the best option as bees tend to drown if the water is not be shallow enough. As for river and lakes, bees risk their lives trying to get water in the presence of fishes, frogs, and other wildlife, not to mention the risk of being swept away in water currents. To help hydrate our little pollinators, set up a water feeder by filling a pie pan with marbles and then water. The marbles give the bees a spot to land so that they don’t drown when they come to drink. No more drowned bees! For urban beekeepers, providing a clean water source for your bees is the best way to ensure they don’t take a fatal dip in your neighbor’s pool or flash mob the dog bowl. A pet water dispencer filled with rocks at the base is the easiest way to water bees. Looks a little weird, but who said beekeeping was glamorous? This cute honeybee is drinking some water. By the way, it can be hot this time of year, so be sure to have some water available for your honeybees.Just fill a pie pan with water and place a couple of rocks in it.Make sure the rocks rise above the water a bit to give the bees something to stand on.The honeybees will take the water and put it into their hive.As the bees fan their hive entrance, the water evaporates and helps to cool the beehive.Very smart little creatures! What a day , Called up to the apairy to do a scheduled inspection - it was due to be done tomorrow - but as we had good weather today we said we;d do it a day earlier . So we started on the beehives on one side of the apairy and as we were finishing the second hive a neighbour called in to tell us she had some bees or wasps in her garden . We finished up the inspection on the hive we were working on and went next door . This is what we found ... So if you notice a swarm of bee's that you dont want in your garden or on your house , get in touch and we'll arrange to take them away
Finally today the girls arrived , about 10,000 of them in 2 small nuc's ( box's ) that had being over wintered by my friend and possibly mentor Liam Nolan of South Kildare Beekeeping Association . If you have a interest in beekeeping you could not meet a nice group of people who have a abundance of experience when it comes to beekeeping .And a real friendly bunch of people too . I would have to recommend their beginner's course run by Derek, Loretta and all the experienced beekeepers I wonder what sort of pollen they may be bringing in , according to this pollen chart it looks like it might be from the dandelions and perhaps some from the local Laurel trees . While we were waiting for the girls to settle , Declan and myself made a few more nuc's which still need a lick of wood treatment and a roof.
Kinda chuffed with the improvement in our woodworking skills, so far this year we have made the stand the beehives are sitting on above , the nuc's and a couple of horsley boards just in case any swarming is to take place. Extracting honey with Micheál Mac Giolla Coda Micheál Mac Giolla Coda, a beekeeper who lives next to the Glengarra woods in Cluain Meala, Co Tipperary and during the summer he showed her how to extract honey from the hive. Courtesy TG4 The honey extraction is at 10 minutes into the clip How far Bee's will travel from their hive foraging Handy little tool on google maps to work out how far the bee's will travel from their hive when out foraging
Click Here Bees foraging coverage The honeybee in your hive can cover a huge area during foraging. A study from 1997 showed that the mean foraging distance was 1 km from the hive, but your bees will fly up to 4-5 km (2-3 miles) while foraging. This is a simple tool to measure the foraging area of your hive and what is within it. First select your country to move the map view to the right place of the earth. Then you can zoom in to the right area where your hive is. To mark a place, click somewhere in the map. The map will then center itself onto the point, and circles will be drawn around the point. It is one km (or one mile) between each circle. You can change the unit between kilometres and miles selecting the right radio button. Switch between regular map mode and satelite view using the controls on the top of the map |
Gerry Walsh
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