Saturday 26 April 2014

Some bees done, some go away

 
Following on from the previous post.....
 
 
It was late in the evening. Time to do.
 

With stealth did Lester carry the newly purchased beehive out to the old rabbit hutches, putting it down, quickly, silently, just in case the bees in the box woke up. They don't like him. He put them in the box in the first place. They would have preferred to stay glued to the underside of the rabbit cages.


 
Oh dear. A minor problem. Hive needed to be put on block bricks. Bees still oblivious.

 
 
 
Back indoors. Bee suit on. Tucked into several layers of trousering. Hopefully the bees will not find their way inside the suit like they did a few days ago. Not to worry. The stinging pain of the stings did not last very long.
 
Back outside. Pick up still asleep box of bees. Ah. A slight rustle. No probs. Box still closed.
 

......oh so carefully opening the lid of the box...

 
...bees now not so asleep....
 
 
With speed Lester upends the box.
Bees fall into their new home. Upside down. A bunch of very unhappy bees.


 
 
Best to get the lid on before all hell lets loose.
 
 
And well done to Lester.
And well done the long range lens of the Lumix camera.
And well done to the bees who are now all settled in.
 
However, it would appear that we have inadvertently got a swarm production line here,
because five days later, and the bees in the original hive were at it again,
and a few days later there was a humungous load of bees flying around,
eventually settling on a nearby branch.
 
And not so well done to me, because the battery of my camera had gone flat!
Not to worry,
I parked myself on a chair near to where they were swarming,
put an umbrella up to shield myself from the sun,
and watched.
It was absolutely fascinating.
And when they were settled down,
I said to them,
"If you would like to stay here you will be more than welcome,
but if you want to go somewhere else, then that is OK as well".
They went.
I didn't see them go because I was busy elsewhere,
but when I saw them gone, I looked up into the sky and wished them bon voyage.
It was like sending a grown up child out into the world.
And it came into my mind, that although we are not exactly the most efficient of bee keepers at the moment because we are not managing the hives well enough to get a honey harvest, (when bees swarm they take the stored honey with them), we are doing our bit towards helping the declining bee population by having a hive which is sufficiently healthy enough to act as a swarm production line.
 
*****
The Bollards ( our little band) : we had our first little gig a week ago. There is room for improvement, but we are only a month old, and we did rise to the challenge.......
 
 
John (left) on homemade drum. Lester (centre). Kathy (right)
Boolie (centre) feeling the pain of listening to us rehearse.
 

We now have a rhythm guitarist (Mike), and Sarah from down the lane at La Maison des Chameaux has joined us a trainee whistle and banjo player.
I, meanwhile, am back on the keyboard, because a heavy jamming session whilst playing the piano accordion has sprained my hands and wrists. Not to worry. I can still make a noise.
 
That's all for now. Hope you make music. It is fun.
 
Vx


8 comments:

Denise said...

That look on Boolie's face!! Made me laugh so much! I think he should be your mascot...avec un beret et neckerchief! He would do pathos very well.

Well done for the hiving of the bees. I think it is probably going to be a swarmy year like it was three years ago...sigh...xx

John Going Gently said...

Now where is the YouTube video often band?
Go on...post it!

Kev Alviti said...

Lets hear the band!
Bees are next year for me I think! It looks like they could be quite a bit of work!

Vera said...

Denise, I don't think Boolie likes being our mascot!

John, will post a vid of the band when I can fathom out how to get my new camera to take a video. And that is my excuse, and I am sticking to it!

Vera said...

Kev, bees are lovely creatures but are complicated, although in the UK you should have a bee keeping society near you who will help you. We went on a bee keeping course before we came here, but can't find any similar group of people here who can continue teaching us, so we are on our own. As for the band...ditto the comment I made to John!

Ohiofarmgirl said...

i think you know that we will pester you until we get a vid of the band! so regarding dog beds.... we have a two step dog staging process. the sheps (the big white ones) are usually separated from our younger dogs for sleeping and eating. so we have two dog areas - they do not have the run of the house.

the sheps get the prime spot in the living room. however, they stay in the "dog area" in the kitchen with the younger dogs - on easy to wash blankets - until they are dry and somewhat clean... before they come into the living room and on their beds. but we have our share of mud, believe me!
:-)

Rhodesia said...

I am happy that you have a good hive of bees going now. I am always delighted to see bees in our garden, but a hive I could not cope with being allergic to them!
All the dogs I have ever had were good at singing at odd noises so you band must be good not to of set Boolie off :) Hope that all is well. Take care Diane

Vera said...

OFG, you are so organised about where you put your dogs. Ours used to sleep in a special place but now we are all of a muddle, while Lester works on the kitchen, our two girls sleep wherever their dog beds get put. Boolie is alright though, he sleeps in our room! But I will take note of your method for keeping dog beds cleanish.....

Diane, Boolie is deaf now, so it doesn't matter what noise we make!