Next steps; grip-relaxing bimbling, and avoiding the temptations

Humdinger1

You brave soldier @Suffolk_lass! At the risk of being infuriating, these sound like bees too angry to sell? Your description has stayed with me. How are you? Love Humdinger xx

Suffolk_lass

Thanks for the good wishes and enquiries as to my condition. I am fine now. The new meds seem to have helped (upping the dose in my antihistamines from 10mg to 180mg when stung; the Doctor's surgery pharmacist has added these to my regular prescription items).

I have one apiary where I am still suffering the legacy of the bees that really were too angry to sell. That was a known queen genetics issue. My other two apiaries (only 3 colonies in each) are both nice bees now that they have queens. The conditions that make any colony defensive (nasty/aggressive), whatever the genetic predisposition are being queenless or being attacked and robbed. The wasps are out early this year and that is the main thing. Once the guard bees start emitting their banana-scented alarm pheromone, that recruits bees that just do as they are told, and go looking to sting the intruder.

A much nicer week in prospect if we ignore the destruction by burning coming on Thursday, and the need to euthanise one colony before that. I have a gardener today (albeit the step-son of my regular one, who is a farm contract manager and elsewhere at the moment) - I need to be ready to supervise and train him today. Hedging and weed seed removal and dead cutting, I think.

I have lunch with my travelling bee convention group at a nice restaurant tomorrow and we are going away in the camper to meet up with friends after the burn on Thursday. Mr Sl's motorbike is being collected that morning too. The quiet period of the finances is imminent too, with just my big (JL) credit card to go but otherwise almost all the regular things have gone now and Mr Sl's state pension is incoming on Friday 😊

The hosepipe ban has made things harder but I filled 20 10L watering cans to water my veg garden and greenhouse last night, once the temperature dropped. I will repeat on Wednesday but then the outdoor planting is fending for themselves until Tuesday, with a friend watering the greenhouse. I might ask the cat sitter to do the hanging baskets and the winter squashes once.

- have a good week, everyone if I don't get back here