So now all we had to do was get some bees …. Simple one would think but yet again naivety was abound and although the option to simply buy a “nucleus” was available it would take some time and I just wanted to get going. As it happens an assignment to Scotland took my mind off the issue for a few weeks but then I was refocused by an email from a fellow beekeeper who was downsizing for the year to facilitate a back operation. Needless to say I was galvanised into action and the prospect of putting all the theory into practice came ever closer.
We had chosen to place our first hive in my parent’s garden in Fareham as it is long, has no problems with neighbours and is abundant with plants and trees. With the whole family booted and spurred we waited for Mike to turn up with his Nuc transport box – he duly arrived and we decided to transfer them the following night for a variety of reasons. My son declared it all a bit of an anti-climax! The following night they were transferred and it became clear that the Nuc was queenless – disaster! Mike kindly shot home, found her and got her into the hive in due course and we were all mightily relieved.
Then came the question of feeding them … 20 different answers. Eventually I offered them some in a frame feeder but they didn’t take much really although by the end of June the brood was steadily expanding and a merry stream of bees could be seen entering and leaving the hive so we were happy. To be honest we were expecting to generate a good colony by the end of the summer, give them a good feed for winter, button them up and have a good 2012 but then I had an interesting inspection.
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