Jan...a quiet build up to the new year!

Since my last post I have to say it's been pretty quiet:

The bees are hunkering down, I'm pretty reluctant to open them up in this cold wet weather;  Bees are amazing little beasts, their winter is spend pretty much just ensuring the queen is kept alive, the 'cluster' simply moves over the frames eating food stores basically, surviving.

They will maintain a temperature of 35oC in the hive whether it be a hot day or sub zero conditions by either fanning cool air into the hive, or vibrating their little bodies around the queen to generate heat,

Needless to say cold isn't really the killer, add a little wet and damp to the mix and you're potentially in trouble. Bees do not like damp at all so it's really important that your hives are of good quality or at least preserved on the outside.  The bees will to their part too however, producing 'propolis' and sealing small gaps.  It's a mixture of tree sap an resins that they utilise to plug small holes (generally smaller than 5mm) and can range from a brown to a brilliant red colour.  Brittle in winter and ridiculously sticky in summer it has anti microbial properties and has been used in medicines, allergens and It's also been used in foods.

Ideally it's best to use cedar wood to construct your hives.  This is a hard wood and as such is more dense and structurally sound, cedar also holds a lot of natural resins so is a lot more hard wearing without treatment, than say a soft wood.  It is slightly more expensive, but it will last so much longer.

I simply treat the outside of my hives with teak oil. Just to improve longevity and bring out the natural wood appearance.  Though many people don't treat theirs at all, if you do have a lot of hives in your apiary it can aid the bees navigation if the individual hives are painted.  With all treatments or preservatives it is important to only treat the outside and leave the bare wood to the bees.  Strong smells and odours won't be that favorable to the bees inside.

My hives, well I gave them some fondant in Dec as a supplementary food source but having checked last week this has barely been touched. A good sign in one way in that they obviously have enough stores inside the hive.  That said, bees can often die through winter by not moving around the hive to eat stored food and can starve.  The fact I have seen mine flying on warmer days, and that a little fondant has been taken does gives me a little confidence that they should winter well!

As for my chickens...

I now have three layers! McNugget seems to have copied her 'bestie' The Colonel, in fact it was pretty funny to watch. When The Colonel first started making nests ready to lay, McNugget copied her behaviour... She laid 2 weeks later.

In fact she laid as I was cleaning, you can see the D'earth on the back of the nesting box I didn't have a chance to dust into the cracks and crevices of the hive until I got booted out the way for an egg session! She looks nervous....

I am just waiting for the long awaited blue egg layer to come into action which I'm sure will be soon.  We are getting on average 3 a day as they find their rhythm for want of a better word.

Looking forward to some nicer weather but other than that all is well and good.

Please get in touch if you have any questions or queries.

Dan

Where am I at before 2014...?

So....

As mentioned I'm relatively new to both of these pastime/hobbies/whatever you want to call them.  My job in the military lends itself to being adaptive so I guess I like to turn my hand to new things.  Having always been an outdoorsy person I like things that can keep me out of doors.

I love the military, but one thing it does offer everyone is stability; less a few short notice trips to sandy hot places... Nevertheless, 3 square meals, a roof and shelter plus a regular wage can lead to a false sense of "I have everything I need". Sadly there are still people leaving today, after serving 22 years who still haven't invested or saved knowing that the lifestyle will come to an end.  Which is why, at aged 32 and after 12 years in the military I bought my first house in Caterham, Surrey last year.

I love it, best thing I have ever done! It's given me my own space and room to potter.

As at Dec 2013.  I have 2 bee hives, now these were a couple of swarms I had to split from my charity hives.  Luckily these have thrived this year, sadly though my 4 charity hives that were located in Suffolk died.  If you remember, 2013 had a wet snowy winter where mine suffered from a very warm Feb, which had encouraged my Queens to start laying, followed by a very cold wet and snowy Mar etc etc. even though I supplemented their feed, they didn't make it.  I did consider myself lucky however as a local chap lost 14 of 32 hives!

Anyhow, my 2 back garden hives, I put in place in spring.  Normally you wouldn't expect any honey in your first year, yet these successful buggers sorted me out with 20 jars of the good stuff, with enough to leave for winter feed.

 Only recently have I lifted the hive (to check weight and food stores without opening in the cold) and fed them some supplementary feed.  None of this success was down to me, luckily I have a local keeper look after my hives whilst i was away in Afghanistan summer through winter,  however you'll often find that back garden hives will thrive. 

Lots of avid gardeners love to plant colours and pack out their gardens with their favorite plants, often more so than you'll find wild or in the country.  So bees can thrive in urban/semi-urban settings.  I get the benefit of extra honey, plus gardeners within a 3 mile radius will have then benefit of extra pollination.  It's win win!  If your worried about your neighbours, well as I did speak with them, you and they will hardly notice they are there as bees are much more concerned with gathering pollen, nectar and water than they are us in the gardens.  I can get to within 1.5 meters of my hives before they start getting interested in me!

These are they (2 commercial hives, and Nuc's (centre).

Moving onto my chooks... These came about after an flippant remark whilst I was away in afghan, when guarded by 3500 miles of distance I chanced my arm and asked if we could keep chickens. (Bearing in mind I'm a Bristol born and bred bloke and have never owned or kept any such thing before).

The resounding answer was NO, don't be stupid.  But to my suprise, when I returned home I was told I had a present outside and low and behold a chicken coop was waiting for me!

I'm usually very much a learn by doing sort of bloke, however after some strong advice and that look that only you're other half can give when she knows she is generally always right gives; I decided to do some proper research, study and prepare.  I did this for about 2 weeks, but also used the time to make the coop fox proof as best I could...

Originally I just bought two hens from +Surreypoultry, I know there is a lot of love and a lot to be said for Ex battery hens, but for me, I wanted Pullets (young, non laying hens) I could get tame quickly as well as knowing they will have a long egg laying career ahead of them.  After 2 weeks I accidentally popped back to +Surreypoultry which is near Dorking to get some advice and came away with another two chickens, making my flock 4 in number.

The Dutchess (Dutch) named so because she quickly kicked everyone's backside as soon as she arrived making herself top of the pecking order.  She's my only egg layer so far, and just cuts around quietly knowing she's boss not needing to make a fuss about it.

The other three; from left to right, The Colonel (black rock), McNugget (columbian blacktail) and Goujon (columbine).

The colonel used to be really timid but for the last week she's been squatting like a seasoned old dear and will be laying soon and as such has become pretty friendly.

McNugget has always been friendly and came up to me straight away which is why I chose her in the first place.  She is quite vicious towards Goujon, and regularly chases her around the garden.

Goujon, she's a funny one, probably lowest on the order but secretly my favorite, not least because she'll give me a blue egg but also because she is always getting in trouble, escaping and I imagine plotting scheme's  

Goujon... In trouble, somehow out over a 6 foot fence and up on the roof! God knows...

So that's where I am going into 2014.  Looking forward to keeping you all updated with the trials and tribulations of a small back garden turned 'the good life adventure'.

Please feel free to follow and ask any questions give advice or just get in contact for like minded chat.

Big love

Dan.

The dreaded first post!

Okay,
So this is the first post... Best make it poignant.

A couple of years ago I decided to take up bee keeping.  I had just returned from what was my 5th operational tour (2nd of Afghanistan) and I was stuck for something to do whilst on my post operational tour leave.

Coming home is amazing, yet family and friends don't get the opportunity to take as much leave as we do after a tour, so with a mind racing and winding down post tour I felt I needed something to occupy myself.

As a coincidence, my mum runs the Riverside garden centre cafe in Bristol who have a bee hive located within the grounds which I used to go and see as I was wandering around.  At around the same time one of my best friends mum sadly broke her femur and was laid up.  As she was, she had begun to study beekeeping and got 2 national hives for her garden.

Having seen the focus and attention it took to look after bees I figured it would be perfect for me to get involved in.  As such, I decided to take a course in beekeeping, Buy a hive and get involved.

I loved it. I could really switch off, and settle back into the UK way of life, the challenge of keeping bees successfully and maybe persuading them to make enough honey for me to take some gave me a challenge and another direction to take my spare time.

When I first got my hives I was working at RAF Honington, in Suffolk. Here I decided to help others in a way I'd helped myself, by setting up a Station bee keeping club.

Since this, lots has happened.

I have moved (to Henlow), bought a house in Surrey been back to Afghanistan, and bought 4 chickens.

So this blog will be following my musings, successes and failures of my back garden hives, chicken rearing, growing my own and general gardening.  All to which, I would suggest I rank as amateur.

I'll be seeking support and advice as well as helping others through bee keeping and hopefully encouraging people to get of the sofas and into the garden.

big love everyone

Dan

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