Be Like Bees

26/02/2026

From the apiary(s).

Our girls are buzzing along happily, we are cruising our back yard and reveling in the freedom.

The Blossom hive has now settled into the apiary at . We had split them, queen removed (thank you sweet queen for trying your best) and took them out of their hive into boxes that had been used before, thinking it may be something about the new hive I had them in.
Today we inspected and found 26 queen cells on 3 frames. WOW girls 😲 Below is a great pic of the girls festooning.
We knocked off the cells, merged the hive.
This evening I've been back to add a beautiful Italian queen from (he guaranteed varroa free). The girls were annoyed, as to be expected, when I turned up. But when I lay the queen on top of the frames, their tone lowered, they visited her and stuck their bums up fanning pheromones. They were definitely signing that they were accepting her. So in she popped in her cage. Of course the guards followed me for ages far and wide again, hopefully for the last time. But I'm waiting these girls out especially since they are not putting our streets in danger.
I look forward to visiting them next and seeing what is happening.

26/02/2026

22/02/2026

From the apiary

Well on the second try, the Blossom hive is closed up - steel wooled and taped.
It was 8.30pm, raining and they still came to give me a pinky sting. They heard me coming in the dark and were straight on guard duty. I think there may be more guards than workers. Hopefully the wet weather won't unstick the tape.

Hopefully we can fix these girls up soon. Am hopeful that they will soon be calm and well behaved. I'm sure they will be an amazing colony for someone's backyard soon. ✨️🐝

20/02/2026

From the apiary.

Well the little girls from the Blossom hive have done their dash. They've upset the neighbours (and us), won't let anyone out the back door, the dogs are confined to indoors. They definitely don't like public displays of affection.

Today I went in to do some preparation and they were roaring. They are the spiciest hive I've worked. Was going to take video of their tantrum but knew there would just be a screen covered in bees.

On Monday they will be moved to a new property with lots of space. Hopefully to be calmed down asap. Would be pretty nice if they just didn't like living at our place.

Crossing fingers our beautiful calm girls in the Violet and Flow hives haven't picked up bad habits.

16/02/2026

Harlequin bugs are in plague proportions this year and they seem to like congregating on the hives. So here's a summary of info from searches:

》they are native to Australia

》they are part of the family of bugs that some Australians call 'stink bugs', they apparently taste bad enough that chickens won't eat them

》they are sap sucking and love fruit and veg

》they are not harmful to the hive and bees, but do feed on dead bees and hive debris, monitor weak colonies to ensure they are not impacted

》they like warm weather

》they can be controlled:
-by planting herbs like dill and coriander and by having a diversity of plants
- using soapy water spray, however this can also can kill bees, better to brush them off the hive into a bucket of soapy water (at least 2 tablespoon dish soap to a bucket of water)
- just leaving them and waiting for the balance to return (remember only a month ago there were stacks of hover flies

》they are prolific breeder, one female can lay 150+ eggs, eggs are found on the underside of leaves

》 they live in debris during winter waiting for warmer conditions

》predators include: lady bugs, ants, spiders, praying mantis, lacewings, wasps, Guinea fowl

Be aware that by controlling one 'pest' in an ecosystem you are impacting other lives as well.

Be Like Bees 2026

12/02/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/1QfXzrAK5X/

12/02/2026

Learn about St Gobnait, one of few recognised female Irish saints & patron saint of bees and beekeepers. Feast of St Gobnait is February 11th.

10/02/2026

Deter wax moth and small hive beetle!!!
I use peppermint lollies as my sole successful deterrent alongside working to keep healthy colonies.
Pop some lollies on top of the frames. Bees say yum! Beetles and moths say yuck!

07/02/2026

From the apiary 🐝

A month ago I noticed that the hives were rapidly shrinking their brood (eggs, larvae, pupae) numbers. While that's somewhat normal at this time of year (their focus is on building stores for winter), the change was significant. All 3 hives were well stocked with honey and we even extracted from the flow hive.

Since then we've had dry weather with temps up to 43°. In this type of weather nectar on flowers dries making food harder to find.

So this inspection showed a number of changes as interesting observations.

- Blossom hive (langstroth - vertical) had uncapped their 4 previously fully capped frames.

- Flow hive (langstroth - vertical) had uncapped and used 90% of the flow frames which were previously almost ready to harvest. Brood ball was smaller and stores were adequate but not plentiful. They are Italian bees and they eat a lot.

- Lilac hive (langstroth - horizontal) was most interesting. These Italian girls had frames and frames of capped honey in their really well insulated space. They have obviously found a good nectar source. But, they had moved their brood ball. Rather than being at the entrance it was away to the side. At the entrance was capped honey. (Another horizontal hive I care for has done the same.) It seems they are using this strategy to increase their ability to maintain the temperature of the colony. Seeing as this hive has so much food unlike other hives, I will need to monitor for other bees robbing. I will not harvest as they may need the stores later if this weather continues.

How intriguing! What amazing insight they have!
🐝⭐️

06/02/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/1AaE4emkTf/

26/01/2026

Extremely hot tomorrow. The girls will be putting a major effort into keeping brood cool. Make sure you have accessible water and shade your hive/s if possible.

12/01/2026

The girls were introduced to the Bee Gym today. 🏋️‍♀️ We don't have varroa yet but hygiene is still important 😉 If nothing else it's fun!

https://youtu.be/EeHZMlh7c8o?si=ekWB3rdVe43mP3lI