Not an ideal day for climbing into a thick head to toe bee suit but we braved the heat. We had our youngest observer to date. As her mum Helen, had signed up to help and we had a cancellation, Ella came along to see the bees. After a briefing and being, somehow fitted into an adults suit, Ella showed incredible courage and genuine interest.
We saw a lot today some good some bad. I put an entrance block in at the weekend, this has reduced the entrance size to allow the bees to protect the hive from robbing wasps. It seems to have done the trick, we've also been made aware of several nests nearby which should be dealt with soon. As soon as the hive was opened though several flew in to steal honey.
We saw eggs, brood stores and.... Da Da Da Da Da Da Daaaa, signs that they are moving onto the foundation! We also saw the queen, who was very keen to stay out of the sun. Lynsey took a very good photograph of one of the frames, on it you can see brood in various stages of development (black ring) and eggs about 3 days old (red ring) if you look at the photo in Paint you can see some incredible detail. We also saw 3 varroa on the varroa floor, not an epidemic but needs watching, we will do a mechanical method to keep them under some control and treat them fully in the autumn.
Our bees were later spotted having a drink on the newly watered lettuces in the community garden.
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