Fantastic weekend at The BBKA Spring Convention. I drove to Hereford at the end of last week with a fellow beekeeper and friend, Sally, to stay with my sister while attending the BBKA Spring Convention in Shropshire, thus being able to spend time with my sister and work at the same time… Boom! Northern Books, were super kind and allowed me a section of their vast stand to display and sell Betsie Valentine And The Honeybees. I spoke to so many people and sold lots of books and went to a very good seminar on swarming bees. I was asked to give a talk at “Speakers Corner” which they had called “Meet Betsie Valentine”, which I thought was quite funny because I think people thought I was Betsie Valentine. I had no idea what they wanted me to say so I talked about how I became a beekeeper, writing a book and self publishing. They had plenty of talks about honeybees lined up so I thought I would talk about something different. It was good practice for my up coming audition for the WI to become a “Speaker.”

And so, at last the new colony of bees have arrived. It was not without it’s complications. The apiary from which I had to get them was exceedingly difficult to find - in spite of explicit directions from the owner and a friend who had already picked up her colony. I had to park in a lay-by walk across a golf course, through a woodland area and then along a very dubious and multi directional footpath in to a wild orchard. Ye Gads, thank goodness I had enlisted the help of a fellow beekeeper, Keith Patton, to help me. Keith is a builder so he arrived in a pick up truck with a sturdy trolly and a very strong strap to hold the hive down. And thank goodness he did! Once found and on board the pick up all went well, apart from dropping the hive when unloading. Only a small drop but enough to make Keith and I wonder whether it was time to run to the hills in case a barrage of angry bees had escaped. Fortunately for us the strap held tight and the bee hive did not fall apart and no bees escaped. All set up and looking dandy I decided to leave them alone for a day, to let them settle down, before putting a varoa board underneath the hive to do a varoa count and perhaps placing a super on top if there were a lot of bees in there. It is nice to see two hives at the apiary and I am eager to have another colony, as promised by a friend of mine, when she splits one of her hives.

Keith loading the new beehive on to his truck.

Having left the new colony to rest for a day, I went and put a varoa board underneath the hive. I have done this in order to do a varoa count. Why? I hear you cry. Because, I have to make a decision, whether to do a shook swarm in to one of my hives or a Bailey Combe Change. The reason being, the gentleman from whom I got the bees would like his hive back. If there is a low varoa count I can to the Bailey Comb if there is high count then I should do a shook swarm so as to give the new hive as little varoa as possible. I am hoping I don’t have to do a shook swarm because it would be such a waste of brood, but if it is infected then it is for the best. As soon as I went near the hive a whole host of bees came at me and started to buzz all around me. It was quite intimidating. I guess they hadn’t forgotten the move then, not to mention the wee drop! I then took a peek inside to see how many bees I had and in order to make a decision about putting a super on top. My goodness those bees were not happy. At one point I walked away because it was hard to concentrate. I decided a queen excluder and super were necessary so a trip to the car was welcomed. The bees came with me! I soldiered on and got the job done with little or no interference to the bees, not that you would have know that from the amount of bees flying around. I have posted a video below which is at the tale end of the performance when they were beginning to settle down. Tomorrow I am going in to the hive to find the queen and either shake them in to the new hive or do the bailey comb. I sure hope they have forgiven me for bringing them to my apiary. If they are still feisty like that I may have to squish the queen and allow them to re-queen. However, in their defence they did not sting me! This bares up all the things I say about the honeybees not wanting to sting you. They were trying to intimidate me, defending their hive but they didn’t waste their precious sting/lives on me. Clever girlies!

The following is a link to a video I put up on FaceBook, for some reason this blog is not allowing the video to load - so follow this link if you wish to see the buzzy bees!

https://www.facebook.com/meriet.duncan/videos/10218863321642686/

After all the excitement with the new colony I made my first proper inspection of the hive I brought through the winter. What a surprise I got when the I tried to lift the super from the top of it. It was full and therefore very heavy. They have obviously been making the most of the sunshine! A quick phone call to my husband to bring up another super was made. I did a full inspection, spotted the gorgeous queen, lots of eggs, stores, pollen and brood - a perfect hive - and NO QUEEN CELLS. So far so good. My friend has already had to do an artificial swarm as her bees have started making queen cells. Also she has a hive of unpleasant buzzy bees and she has removed the queen. I am thinking I may have to do this today with my new colony if they are still all over me when I go and take my first proper look through. I digress.. below are pictures I took during my inspection… enjoy..

Top of the brood box humming with wonderful bees all busy with their work.

Spot the queen… clue is in the word ‘spot’

And finally, what a splendid way to end a lovely week, with a fabulous interview with Mimi Harker OBE on Wycombe Sound 106.6 fm. We recorded the interview on Good Friday and it went out on Easter Sunday. I could not have asked for more from Mimi. She had read the book, done her research, asked really good questions and plugged the book and my talks…boom! Thank you Mimi. I am leaving you with a link to the podcast of the interview. If you have a spare hour, make yourself a nice drink, put your feet up and enjoy!

https://listenagain.wycombesound.org.uk/index.php/shows/mimi-meets/

Signing a book for Mimi as she wanted to keep a copy for herself…

AT LAST... A NEW COLONY OF BEES!