Week 2

  

 

Bee late.

Still waiting for the bees and the hives. Still waiting for the electric hornet killers (death metal band). Still preparing. 

More prep

Working my way through this tome. I think I'm going to need a "beekeeping for extra stupid dummies". This one is about 350 pages long. Very good though. It explains that a billion things can go wrong and probably will.

...More optimistically

There are already tonnes of bumble bees hanging around. Must be a good sign. Good weather. Excited. 

Can't really see any bees in this pic, but I imagine they might be quite happy around here.

The hives themselves have to go on stands. They shouldn't sit on the ground. 

Hive stands

Very rough and ready. A couple of old window shutters sitting on cinder blocks. Have to make sure they are level with the horizon (although they might not look like that from the photo). They should be tilted ever so slightly forward though, to make sure any water drains out of the hives. (No idea what the dogs are going to make of the bees).

Traps

Some more of the traps that Maria has put out for the Asian hornets. Haven't seen many of them yet which is probably a good sign.

You might have to strain your eyes to see the bottles. People use different formulas to attract the hornets but am reliably informed that beer and a bit of yeast and sugar is a good combination.

The dogs are almost certainly interested in the cows next door.

Hope to have received everything by next week i.e. bees, hives and electrical thingies.