Bees Buds and Blossom

First Blossom

Bumble Bee

Honey Bees

Spring is finally here.

The buds are getting bigger and the blossom is starting to bloom. That's obvious as the pictures show. The ground is still a bit wet and the muddy in places.

The grass is also looking brown as some of the older grass is had dried and died out. The young shoots are coming up.

On the down side a couple of horses have been in and had a wander round.


The pictures also show the bees all the hives in the orchard have done well. On a couple I have seen 5/6 frames of bees s they have done very well. I can also see the eggs and the larvae coming through. I will have the supers on the hives by the end of the week. I want to get them on sooner so as to deter them from swarming.

The bumble bees have also started appearing.

At the moments its just the queens that are rearing the next generation.

Start of spring

Daffodils starting to come into bloom

 Its the start of spring and the 40 Kgs of daffodils that I planted back in the autumn months have started to come into blossom. They are are nice. They also brighten up the orchard floor this time of year. They aren't bee friendly  and they are also poisonous but make the place nice.

Mole Mounds

The past couple of weeks have produced a large number of mole mounds and hills, near the entrance of the orchard. I see them most years, and its also good to see them. I always worry when parts of the orchard are flooded cold that the moles will survive.

Crocuses starting to Bloom

The crocuses are also coming out and they also add lots of colour and they are more bee friends however I need to get more planted later this year for spring next year.

I have started putting suppers on the hives, but as yet not on the hives in the orchard. Its been a busy couple of weeks study for the retake of the Module three British Beekeepers exam and a recent trip to India where I saw Apis Cerana, Aps Florea and Apis Dorsata bees.

Bees starting to come out

The bees at the orchard are also getting ready for the coming year, I have seen them coming and going however I have not yet checked the brood. However will when we get a couple of days of good weather.
I did attended the BeeTradex show on the 7th March and have bought a couple of bits for this year. However I still need to get a couple of bits and more on that in the next couple of blog entries.

Started Pruning the apple trees

Apple tree before Pruning

 Its that time of year when the apple trees get a prune. It encourages growth and vigor. I have pruned a number of the smaller trees and started on the larger ones. The larger ones will take a couple of weekends to get done, and a ladder.

Larvae found in a dead branch

I am using a pair of secateurs and a small bow saw. I am aiming for a goblet looking tree. So that branches are not touching and everything is growing outwards and not into the tree, this will open up the tree to light and hence give it more space also to grow. It will take a while.

But it will mean that this year the tree will grow more and be able to stretch out. Anything that is growing in the wrong direction is cut out.

In terms of wild life I saw honey bees out looking for forage and taking advantage of the warmer weather for cleansing flights. I also sow a number of caterpillars and larvae of one sort or another.

The ground is still wet but the daffodils are coming up nicely and because of the wind its bitterly cold.

BBKA Introduction to Microscopy Stoneleigh

Attended the Warwickshire Bee Keepers Introduction to Microscopy.

I took my own microscopes in and used them for the practical work
We looked at Pollen grains and attempted to look for Nosema spores in dead bees under compound microscopes.

I also did a dissection of a been looking for acrine and Tracheal Mite using a dissection microscope.

All the practicals were very useful, I need to gain more practical experience using the microscopes. I would also like to have my own library of pollen samples from the orchard.

We learn to setup microscopes, the chemicals used to stain pollen, How to identify pollen, which is difficult but the pollen grains are very pretty. I had sample of Jasmine, and Snowdrops. The Jasmine pollen was nice very intricate the snowdrop pollen was a little boring.

It was an educational day.

Daffodils are coming up

Daffodils coming through

Towards the end of last year I had planted kilos of daffodils and they have started to come up. They will look great in a couple weeks.

I have also hefted the hives and they all have food and they seem fine. Lots of bees. I collected some for a microscopy course I will be attending.

Module 3 results

The results arrived, and I didn't pass. The pass mark was 60% I got 45%. It was disappointing a very disappointing result.

It wasn't just me but all of us in the study group that had failed the exam. We had started the study for module six but we have dropped that and begun again on Module 3. We plan to retake the exam again in March.

Over the past couple of days I have started to reread the notes and its going in much easier I hope that its stays. Some of it is just a recap. So I have gone through European Foul Brood and American Foul Brood the most serious illness that bees can get infected with . AFB the bee dies of septicemia and EFB the larvae dies from starvation as the bacteria competes for food with the larvae.

Lots more study to get done.

BBKA Module Three Exam

I took the module three exam today. I was prepared for the exam and I can remember 2 mistakes I made. One of the questions related to wax moths, I didn't explain myself as well as I should have. I should have said that the greater wax moth "Galleria Mellonella" is larger than the less wax moth "Achroia Grisella". I didn't mention the Latin names or the fact the the greater wax moth is larger that then the lesser, both these facts would have gained me some points.

Also I had a question on the the Honey bees Excretory organ I put rectum when I should have but the Malpigham tubules.

So i'm not sure how I have done in the exam. I am certain I got other parts correct. I waffled on the third section which was about American Foul Brood.

In section two one of my answers was on Chalkbrood "Ascosphaera Apis" not exactly sure that went to plan either. So I wait for the results which will be months away.

I look forward to the next round of study Module 6 with the study group.