Get Ready For Spring!
- by Thirteen Bees
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- 01 Feb, 2017
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Here's a snippet from our latest monthly update for the lovely people at French Entrée on what's happening in the hives in February...
"It’s been a bitterly cold couple of weeks in the Charente, but the returning cranes reassure me that we’re now heading towards Spring and better weather. Given the amount of icing sugar our bees have been consuming this winter, I am expecting them to emerge into the sunshine with fat tums. They’ll be thirsty too so I’ll be putting out water for them, taking care that they won’t drown in it. Saucers of water with bee-rafts (pieces of floating wood) and plant pots full of soil sitting in small pots of water (the soil soaks up the water and the bees can take the moisture from the soil) are ideal. It’s at this time of year that bemused owners may observe bees drinking at the edge of their swimming pools; they’re not fussy.".... Read More (external, SAFE, link)
Let us know what you think :-)
"It’s been a bitterly cold couple of weeks in the Charente, but the returning cranes reassure me that we’re now heading towards Spring and better weather. Given the amount of icing sugar our bees have been consuming this winter, I am expecting them to emerge into the sunshine with fat tums. They’ll be thirsty too so I’ll be putting out water for them, taking care that they won’t drown in it. Saucers of water with bee-rafts (pieces of floating wood) and plant pots full of soil sitting in small pots of water (the soil soaks up the water and the bees can take the moisture from the soil) are ideal. It’s at this time of year that bemused owners may observe bees drinking at the edge of their swimming pools; they’re not fussy.".... Read More (external, SAFE, link)
Let us know what you think :-)
Evidence of wax cappings underneath the hive show that the bees are accessing the honey stores - and so they're alive!
A summary of what we have tried this year to combat the threat of Asian hornets to our bees
Making quilt boxes for bee hives in an attempt to absorb excess moisture over the winter
An update on how the hive muzzles are working to deter Asian hornets from preying on our bees
How we cut out a nest of bees from a window sill and moved them to their new home at 13 Bees
