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I went to the club apiary on Saturday. I took my two eldest children and they had the opportunity to look through a hive. Pat, the club chairman, very kindly stepped up to open his hive for them. They really enjoyed getting up close and personal with frames of bees, and it was a pleasure for me to see it. I took them to the club apiary to do this, rather than showing them mine, since they have extra bee suits there, and also because of the large number of experienced keepers.
I also popped the question about my large number of dead varroa on my boards under the hive. The most experienced beeks were actually a little shocked about the number of mites I had, but confirmed that I should not extend the length of Apiguard treatment, but just proceed in the knowledge that I've knocked down the mite infestations substantially, and I should crack on with an oxalic acid treatment in December. It's a relief to hear them say this, but worrying nonetheless that they think the infestation is unusually high. I'm sure I've not made any heinous errors in my beekeeping - have I?
Hello Kenzie, from New Zealand ! I am enjoying your blog, I also keep bees in a city and have had really good honey yields most years. I must admit, I keep bees mainly for the pollination side of things, honey being a lovely bonus !
ReplyDeleteI have just had a TopBar hive built for me and am very excited about keeping bees in a more natural way - check out `The Barefoot Beekeeper` blog by Phil Chandler if you haven`t already - he is inspiring ..
Hey Ngaio, thanks. Yeah I've seen the Barefoot Beekeeper stuff and when I get more experienced I'm planning to experiment outside the "established" wisdom a little, and certainly I know a few beeks who recommend top-bar hives (and a few who don't).
ReplyDeleteI'm spending 4 weeks in NZ over Christmas - taking the wife and 4 kids all the way down there for a road trip and to see my wife's sister and family in Arrowtown. Am looking forward to it SOOO much.