Get a grip woman!

rtandon27

Oh dear - that's horrible - hope you can tempt the wasps into your traps!

Suffolk_lass

Bee update
I've been out to look this morning and my girls are holding their own - very busy collecting (I guess) ivy nectar as it is the last big flow of the year - which is remarkable given it is not that warm yet. 

In the meantime we know we will need to split this colony next Spring and originally we were going to use our traditional hives (WBC - the ones that look like layers) but the girls are currently in a Commercial so I bit the bullet and ordered one in red cedar (eek!) - with a perspex viewing crown board (the top layer inside the roof) and a deep roof. This is so we can feed them this winter without it being complicated. 

If it warms up enough today we will do an inspection to see how much weight there is in the super (an indication of whether they have good winter stores) and whether the wasps are wreaking havoc inside or just doing some opportunistic robbing (I really hope it is the latter and the dead bees are the drones that don't contribute in winter.

themadvix

Fingers crossed it's just the opportunistic robbing. Good to hear your girls (love that!) are making the most of the ivy nectar. I walked past some ivy the other day that was absolutely alive with bees - and now I know why!

The red cedar hive sounds beautiful and practical.

teapot2

Hope your bees are ok.  One of my best foraging memories was from a few weeks ago when out with family for brambling adventures, we passed a sandstone wall covered in flowering ivy which the sun was warming it nicely.  It was covered in the most butterflies I've seen this summer and also vibrating with bees, hover flies and other insects - glorious.

Suffolk_lass

Thank you both for the good wishes for my girls - they are very busy this week but we have not been able to inspect because of intermittent rain. We need to go in in two weeks time as the Varroa treatment strips need to be removed (varroa is a mite that is endemic in the honey bee population now. It causes mutation to the wings that stop the bees flying (among other things) and typically they are treated at the end of summer (when any honey harvest has been taken) and in winter, around January, a less disturbing treatment is added.

What we did do (and I would not, had I not seen wasps entering) is set up some wasp traps - and one has either a queen wasp or a hornet in - it is about 3cm long - I do not believe it is an asian hornet. They are notifiable to APHA as they destroy and feed on honey bees. Hampshire has had nests destroyed this year but fingers crossed that there are no more. I have downloaded the hornet app on my phone (DH thinks I am hornet obsessed!).

In money things, thanks to another small return of funds from the doomed Woodford fund this month, we have over £600 saved from scrapings, interest/dividends and one regular saver - all the rewards payments are missing due to an unscheduled spend by DH on one account, and a withdrawal by the other. I am waiting to hear back from Skipton BS whether the maturing bond can be used in part to clear our mortgage completely - it was not listed as an option

Karmacat

That's a goodly amount from the "scrapings" etc

Hornets!  I'm not surprised you're obsessed, yuck.  When I stayed with some rellies in Zimbabwe (farmers) I remember them finding a hornet nest on their porch and even they weren't best pleased.  Sending positive vibes to your bees.

greent

Ah - hope the girls are all ok.

Our bumble bees appear to have disappeared from under our garden steps - I haven't seen them for a while now - I almost miss them buzzing in and out whilst I'm hanging the washing out on the line. They've made some decent sized holes in the mortar, though - goodness knows what it would look like if we actually took a step up

Suffolk_lass

Got two in now - I am going to take a picture but I need to make sure they are both well and truly dead first!

Suffolk_lass

Busy day yesterday - we cooked lunch for 25 people (all allowable as a licensed food business using a community hall) - it involved lots of spacing people out and not letting the singe householders sit opposite anyone (while couples could). Everyone enjoyed a good old chat and then a few of us met in the hall again with our own bottles and sat in small groups chatting, using the provisions of the licensed bar. Several of us zapped in with the NHS App. Surprisingly it keeps you there until midnight, even when you are home by 8pm!

We also popped out in between to collect a couple of hardwood crates (pallet crates that had had paving slabs in) that were free to us - to add to the autumn clear up they will be two leaf-mould compost bins I think. That will be 8 bins!!

Still piddling here so have not collected the wasp traps yet.

Suffolk_lass

I have been putting off the kitchen project but there is a delivery coming on Saturday week (the drawer fronts for the 600mm units and the glass splash-back - so there is a certain amount I can no longer put off.

I have made up one 300mm wide wall cupboard and need to make up a 400 and a 300 for the other side of the hob. There is (always) a certain amount of faffing with any change. On this occasion the tiling may not extend beyond the edges of the existing cupboards (which are 10cm wider each side) and the fused switch for the range is in the top of one cupboard and will need to be moved to the new one.

Maybe today is the day to make up the other cupboards, and paint two doors