Category Archives: Bees

Bee developments…….

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The bees seem to be thriving- we have lots of jarrah and some redgum in flower at the moment, and these are a good source of nectar for the bees. We added the super, with the queen excluder between it and the brood box below, on Christmas eve, and the bees moved up into it straight away. During some very hot (40C plus) weather over between Christmas and New Year, we noticed a lot of ‘bearding’ (when the bees cover the front of the box). This is often something they do to keep cool and to keep the hive cool.

Checking the frames in the super

Checking the frames in the super- the bees are very active only 2 weeks after adding the super

To bee or not to bee…..

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Yes…..we now have a bee hive! We decided to go for a new hive and bees, rather than second hand as we really wanted to avoid introducing any disease onto the property. We bought the hive components from Guilfoyle’s and put it all together ourselves. This was a great way of learning the parts and how it all worked. Introducing the ‘nuc’ (nucleus) of new bees was a very simple process- we put the small box they came in on the base we had made for our hive, and let the bees out for the day.

The nucleus of bees in place where the hive will be

Then, suited up, we gave it a couple of puffs of smoke from the new smoker, moved it to the side, and set up our hive on the stand.

Preparing for the transfer of frames

Then the four frames (covered in bees) were transferred from the nucleus box into our hive, and voila! we now have our own bee hive!

Transferring the frames

Transfer complete