Today we accomplished quite a bit.  4 brood chambers, 8 supers and 4 floors were constructed and we checked all colonies on site to see if any feeders needed topping up.  The Beehaus brood chamber was not inspected.  I hope to do this on monday as the colony seems to be developing a little slowly.

Barry

Saturday 30 April

Today Colin and I will be on the Apiary.  We'll be constructing hives from flat-pack kits and looking at the Beehaus which seems to be developing rather slowly. We'll also take a quick glance at Colin's feral bees.  Phone me on 07581531623 if you want to visit the Apiary but don't have a key to the allotment gates.

Barry

Wednesday 27 April 0930h

I'll be on the Apiary tommorrow from about 0900h.  Colin and I have been tidying up the Apiary sheds and we're hoping to get rid of some of the stuff that's been loafing around on the Apiary for years unused.  At 1030h or thereabouts Bill Mundy will take Colin and I with a trailer load of junk to the tip.

Hello all,
yesterday I found we had no brood chambers available on the apiary, (except one old and decrepit antique), instead I fitted a super and quickly closed up.
Today 25/4 I asked Colin if he could loan the apiary the necessary gear to carry out swarm control and he kindly obliged.  We did a Demaree on Hive 7 and introduced a new queen. She is about 8 days old and laying.  Hive 7 proved to be preparing to swarm so we removed a sealed Queen cell and introduced that into the Mini Nuc that had raised the Queen for H7.

 On 14/5 Bill Mundy will be giving a demo of how to drive a colony of feral bees, (Colin's), up into a new brood chamber.

Barry

The purpose of this blog is to inform members and friends of Dartford Beekeepers branch of the KBKA of activities on the Bedonwell Apiary in real time.  This to enable anyone interested in the tasks being undertaken on  a particular day to attend and observe or help with those tasks.
The Apiary shares a gate with the Tredegar Allotment society and so anyone without a key should phone me on 07581531623, (yes I've been persuaded to get a mobile phone), or post a reply on this blog.
On the 9th April Colin Mann and I made up a couple of Mini Nucs containing 9 day old queen cells from Colins most prolific colony.  Yesterday, 24th April, I inspected one of them and found it's queen had hatched, mated and was laying! Today I intend to carry out a Demaree operation on a colony in the apiary to obtain bees for a five frame Nuc into which our new queen is to be introduced.  

Hello and welcome

This is the first post of many to come. The blog is intended for you to keep up to date with all the goings on down the Apiary.
More to come so keep checking back for updates.