Posts
Well, just after leaving a message on someone else's blog about how it's a shame you can't really tell how the girls are doing in the hive during the winter, I discovered I could "look" inside the hive.
I went for a wander in the snow. It's a rare event in London and the thaw's started even before it's stopped snowing (it's been snowing lightly non-stop for past 6 hours here) and I wanted to get out and enjoy it. And I thought it was a great chance to go to my apiary and take some snaps of the hives.
.
.
I hope you enjoy the pictures (those of you in countries where it snows properly might laugh as London's poor attempt, but seriously this is not usual here). Here's Amidala hive with a small covering of the white stuff on the roof and landing board. More interesting is to examine the snow on the roof. Look! There's a clear "melting patch" in the middle. The ambient air temperature is probably 0 or -1 celcius, so the snow is prone to melting, and clearly the heat from the bee cluster in the centre of the hive is doing just that. Both Amidala and Boudica hives showed this melt pattern on top, so I left the site with a warm fuzzy feeling that the girls are alive and well.
The WBC hive you can see is not mine, but has been on the site for many years. It's just a stack of WBC "lifts" (no boxes inside) and in fact is full of tools. It looks pretty anyhow, especially in the snow.
.
.
I hope you enjoy the pictures (those of you in countries where it snows properly might laugh as London's poor attempt, but seriously this is not usual here). Here's Amidala hive with a small covering of the white stuff on the roof and landing board. More interesting is to examine the snow on the roof. Look! There's a clear "melting patch" in the middle. The ambient air temperature is probably 0 or -1 celcius, so the snow is prone to melting, and clearly the heat from the bee cluster in the centre of the hive is doing just that. Both Amidala and Boudica hives showed this melt pattern on top, so I left the site with a warm fuzzy feeling that the girls are alive and well.
The WBC hive you can see is not mine, but has been on the site for many years. It's just a stack of WBC "lifts" (no boxes inside) and in fact is full of tools. It looks pretty anyhow, especially in the snow.I though I'd post some other snow pictures I took. The first is of a corylus contorta (twisted hazel) in my garden and the other just a bush full of berries in the street outside my house. All lovely looking in the snow.
I love the look of your hives. You also got about as much snow as we did about 3 weeks ago. We do not usually get snow but got quite a bit just before christmas.
ReplyDeleteThere are quite a few subtle differences in the US hives and nucs and the UK ones. I am always interested in seeing different setups. Yours looks great!
Great pictures! I do love to see the snow when it falls...but I'll be glad when its long gone and spring comes.
ReplyDeleteGood to hear you and family enjoyed my lovely country, which at this minute is basking in the sunshine - quite hot today, up to 25C.
ReplyDeleteThe snow on the contorted hazel looks cool ! i have read heaps of bee books, my fav at the moment is `The Barefoot Beekeeper` by Phil Chandler, I did read the one and only NZ book which is out of print now, plus A to Z of Beekeeping (American) and surfed the net alot.