A miserable rainy Monday

Cliffe Castle Bee Blog #20 2023

A miserable Monday morning! It was definitely cool and on the wetter side of dry as Lee and I checked the bees and found that they had taken down all the syrup we gave them last week.

Welcome signs that they had a small surplus though, as we could see liquid stores glistening on several frames of comb. We added an extra frame of stores removed earlier this year, just to be sure - and they were all over it like a rash!

Another museum volunteer told us that he had seen the bees flying freely on a few recent days of settled weather. This echoed what workmen who had been inspecting the museum roof, had also told us earlier (luckily, they are interested in the bees rather than afraid of them, given they work at the height they do!)

Our red queen is maintaining her rate of lay across three frames. Hopefully she will venture onto at least one more frame now that the feeding crisis is resolved, and so produce some more bees to expand the colony and help it to survive the winter.

Meanwhile...

A reminder that Airedale Beekeepers continue to provide a Beekeeper by the Hive during the school summer holidays on Tuesday afternoons (1.30-3.30pm). A great opportunity to find out more about what you can see in the Observation Hive and ask questions about honey bees and other pollinators.

Linda