164. Bees are back . . .

Bees are back at Farlands. I had reached the top of the Cheshire beekeepers list as wanting a new colony, and last week I got the call. A colony was ready.

You may remember that our last colony died during the Winter of 2012/13 due both to a very poor Summer when they had not made enough food for the Winter, and naive beekeeping because I did not feed them enough (they need 20 kgs plus of honey to last them through the cold season).

Sarah was a little nervous about travelling in the car with them, but only a couple seemed to get out, and thankfully they preferred to stay in the boot.



Yesterday was a warm day and they were busy checking Farlands out. I hope there is enough pollen and nectar for them - the plum blossom is just coming but the horse chestnut is still a week or two away, and there is not much else.

To tell each other where the food sources are they do the famous 'waggle dance' (amongst others) and I am watching carefully to see if they flick me a few 'V' signs due to the poor fare on offer in our garden.

PS If you are still wondering about the photo last week - it is a broody cage. Our brown bantam has been broody, and the  wire mesh floor in the cage is to dissuade her. One broody chicken affects all the others so our egg production fell to one every two days.

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