Thanks for the comment. It seems to have rained most days over the last three months and we’ve had two or three days when it has been heavy for the full day. I think they will all be ok now - the dead ones were due to queen issues.
Nice blocking jobs! Trevor we had the honor of meeting Dr. Brown northwest of us in Canada. He runs double deeps in a 4 pack configuration. The hives flood regularly into the 1st super. He even showed us a photo of his crew checking the hives in an amphibious Argo 6 wheeler.! At 80 years old he laughed and said the bees clean up the mess with little losses. And it might have been last Spring Ian Steppler had his 500 year floods. Sir I can not recall ether of them mentioning queen losses. Be those much cooler areas. On a humor not I literally have a 27 foot pontoon next to my backyard cabin bees. Life is a bit crazy all round.
All very interesting, thank you. It’s amazing where and how bees can be kept. My reference to losing queens wasn’t referring to the water but to the stress a winter move can cause them.
Good morning, Trevor! Glad to see you again! It's also warm here, but with the rain, the bees don't fly. Mild winter is not scary. Worse than here: yesterday +8°C, and tomorrow -10°C. Take care of yourself and your family! I wish you health and peace! 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🤝🤝🤝🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🐝🐝🐝✌✌✌
Thank you for your concern. Everything is fine with me, although now no place in Ukraine is safe. But everything will be fine! We will endure! We will win! Everything will be Ukraine! After darkness always comes sunshine! 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🤝🤝🤝🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🐝🐝🐝✌✌✌🤙🤙🤙
What a going on! Some people may hold a romantic image of the beekeeper in their cottage garden on a balmy Sunday afternoon, checking their stock with the ambiance of fragrant blooms and buzzing insects and tea in china cups 😂. Good that you’ve highlighted the reality 👏👏👍
I know the feeling Trevor, I had to move 12 from one site in November when they were at full weight and ready for winter. The field they were in the water board needed to put a new main in right under where the hives were, was a while ago but from memory lost two of them
Yes I think so Carol. The following Saturday 3/2/24 the temperature was about 13 degrees and sunny and the bees were very active. Left above that water I think thousands would have drowned lured in by the reflected light.
You have done what any other beekeeper would have done but you should have got someone to give you a hand to lift them once they were blocked in if you had slipped !!!! Or done your back in then we would have had to wait a bit longer for another excellent video 👍👍👍
John you have not been around bees long enough yet, as we get older we all get ‘beekeepers back’ It’s mostly lone work and if you ask for help it’s surprising how busy people become when they realise it’s a box of shining insects
Hello Rob, I suppose anything is possible but in this case I don’t think it’s practical. The lay of the land means the pump would have to run 24/7. Also to clear the water it would need discharging about 300 yards/metres down the road. The real irony is that at this point the land drops away fairly steeply by about 100 foot. This site is just sat in a bowl and this exceptionally wet winter has finished it.
May I ask why you added screens. Why not just block entrance and move. I was flooded but moved to high ground within the apiary. It was pitch black and muddy to swampy. Not a high point yet not the lowest point either.
Yes that’s the reason. I knew it was going to take sometime and didn’t want to risk the bees. It was cool and they would probably have been ok but not guaranteed. The anxiety of knowing bees may suffocate can drive me on to such an extent that I can make mistakes. I didn’t want to leave them on the same site and lose flying bees.
