Bees emerging after chewing their way out of their cells.
Busy day at the pool.
The water workers collect water and take it back to the hive for the other bees to use to hydrate themselves and cool the hive by evaporative cooling.
This is how I cage a queen and attendants.
Beekeepers do this when we sell queens, or want to introduce them to another queenless colony. Having the queen in a cage protects her when she is introduced to a new colony until the new queens pheromones are spread and that colony accepts her.
Late Swarm 🫤
I’m caught between a rock and a hard place. This drought has forced me to supplement feed some of my colonies since they don’t have enough nectar coming in. As a result, the bees have reduced brood rearing (not making as many baby bees). This means a smaller population heading into winter—which could lead to an even smaller population coming out of winter… or worse, they might not make it through at all.
Like all livestock facing food shortages due to environmental factors, beekeepers feed their bees to help them not just survive, but thrive. However, by feeding some of my hives, I not only stimulated brood production again but also made the bees confident enough in their food supply to swarm and start a new colony—right before winter. 🤦
They always keep me on my toes! 😂
Wait for it .... Wait for it .... There she is! 😍
Spotted this majestic flower wasp foraging today. Such a huge insect
Corymbia ficifolia, commonly known as red flowering gum has started to flower in the hills, and aren't the girls happy about it.
Started collecting pollen from my bees as part of my requirements for my cert 3 in the beekeeping course. As the bees squeeze though the small wire loops the pollen gets knocked off their legs and falls into the tray. In a few days I will collect, dehydrate, clean and package ready to hand in.
Bees use pollen as a protein source, nurse bees eat pollen and honey to help them secrete brood food from 2 glands in their heads. Brood food is used to feed the worker larvae.
The time I removed a bee sting. You can see it pulsing and excreting the venom. This is why it is important to remove a sting as soon as possible as stingers just keep pumping trying to give us a full dose.
Sadly worker bees die after stinging us, but they willingly do this to protect their colony. And while beekeepers don't love being stung, it is definitely part of the job.
Finally a flow in the Adelaide hills. The sun was out and the blackberries are in full bloom. You can feel the positive energy in the apiary.
When it starts the rain and all the foragers come home at the same time. It helps give you some indication as to how many foragers are actually out and about this time of year. It was like this for well over 5 mins.
Giving the new toy a whirl. Creamed honey coming soon!
Uncapping envy! My little hand held uncapping fork doesn't feel quite so grand once I saw this bad boy in action!