Tag Archives: Bees

Bee dramas!

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We have generally been fortunate with our bees- there have certainly been tricky times and disastrous times like when a fallen branched smashed a hive. Over the years it has been really helpful to have two hives- when one’s weakened we we have had the other to help strengthen, either by sharing honey frames or brood frames.

Currently though we have issues with both hives! In October both hives had brood and queens, but one was a bit aggressive so we figured we needed to requiem, which we did. Since then we have lost both queens in both hives, so both were requeened (one for the second time).

Over the past two -three weeks, the hives have settled and we can be pottering out there with no issues. Great, we thought- the queens must have been accepted as the hives are now settled.

But no, today revealed no sign of queens in either hive, no sign of brood in one hive and only drone brood and multiple queen cells in the other. This means we must have either a drone laying queen (who wasn’t mated properly) or a laying worker bee (who only ever lay drones).

We have never had this situation before, so after researching we now know how to tell the two situations apart- laying workers lay multiple eggs in each cell, whereas a drone laying queen still lays one egg per cell. In each case though, the hive is usually aggressive, but ours aren’t!

So, tomorrow it is back into each hive with a magnifying glass to see if we have multiple eggs in cells, single eggs in cells, or no eggs in cells……….. then we make a plan.

Busy Spring!

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It has been a busy, though strange, spring. Perth has seem hot days, windy days, cold days, rainy days…. and sometimes all four in one day! The gardens and the bees have sometimes struggled with the changing conditions, but overall are going well.

We had lost a queen in one hive a while ago, and the newly purchased queen did not survive or stay for some reason. This is where it is very useful having two hives, as we were able to transfer a frame or two of brood from the strong one to the weak one. We had to do this a couple of times, but eventually they did produce a queen, who is now laying prolifically!

We haven’t had a honey harvest so far this season, but it won’t be long before we do!

The orchard has gone well generally, with some good harvests of nectarines, peaches, loquats and plums, though unfortunately one of the nectarines we transferred from McCarthy Park 1 (see There is never nothing to do!) suddenly split and was rotten inside.

This, plus a plum and an apricot going the same way, are disappointing nearly four years after transplanting! The rest are going well though….

a few avocados, hopefully will develop beyond pea size!
Hopefully a few develop into fruit!

The dragon fruit are loving their new home too, after some trials and tribulations- fingers crossed we finally get some fruit develop this year. Moving them to the verandah certainly helped to protect them from the frost, so this spring they have taken off!

Despite the variable weather, there has been plenty to harvest from the pumpkin palace as well as the aquaponics.

Pumpkin Palace early November…. now harvesting heaps!
plenty of things to eat and preserve!

Beehives and aquaponics update!

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After a huge effort to get the aquaponics up and running, it has been great to consolidate a bit this last month. The aquaponics has really got going and is loving its new position on the east side of the house. In summer we will need some protection from the easterly wind, but in this autumn weather it is really cranking!

System 1- the original system moved from the old house
System 2- newly established

Both systems are going very well with good plant growth and healthy fish.

Also going well are the beehives, which is surprising in a way as it is well recognised locally as being a very poor season. Where some have had to feed their bees all through summer, we have managed without that and even did a small harvest (12 litres) as we downsized for the winter months.

The newly established ‘bee room’ proved very successful, with plenty of room to extract and clean up.
Yummo!

Another finishing touch to the garden was the installation of a SubPod, a worm/composting system we are trying out as we decided not to bring our old worm farm (an old cast iron bath). So far it is great to be able to reuse those items the chooks won’t eat, such as tea bags, lint and tissues!

Edible garden, with herbs, bush tucker and the SubPod. Agapanthus line the garden beds around the house as they are considered fire retardant.

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