We had an amazing thunderstorm last night, the weather has been a bit hot and humid so it was no surprise.
I have noticed that the bees do a lot of flying just before the rain comes.
There is so much activity outside the hive these days, it has been very warm, they are still finding pollen and are getting quite used to us walking around.
I have fed them on the 26th of July with a 3:2 sugar syrup mix and checked them on the 29th of July. The morning has been calm, warming up gently, so around 12 o’clock I lit my smoker and put my gear on.
The objective – to check the stores in supers, eggs and larvae in the brood box.
Stores are looking good they have finished preparing the foundations in the last 4 frames the rest are both capped and uncapped. In the brood box, I didn’t notice eggs, but saw larvae and young bees eating their way out. Might have seen the Queen but unsure about it as I saw a bee being fed by two workers but as I pulled the frame out I could not locate it anymore. The QC are still there with no eggs in them so left them alone.
Not planning to inspect the hive now unless anything happens or if my friend comes and has a look himself just to make sure all is well. Otherwise going to feed them again, treat them against disease.
They were very well behaved considering that I took their house apart, the smoke was much better than last time.I like to think I am getting better at handling them, I try and remember to move slowly, inspecting it for a reason and not just due to curiosity, generally getting better and feeling more confident with what I am doing although it will take many years to get to the standard my fellow beekeepers are.
It cools down quite quick now at the end of the day, seems like although we will still have some warm days the summer is slowly leaving us.
Planning to go mushrooming sometime this week. Found chanterelles last week in our local woods and with the weather as it has been – warm and damp it looks promising.