Following on from the challenges that were faced with what we refer to as hive 1, which we posted about on 25th April, and because so many of you are keen to hear more, Lisa prepared a short update from the field.
In David, The Bee Farmer, McDowell, Lisa and Tom, we found kindred spirits that want to do the best for the planet and to leave a lasting positive legacy. In our first video of 29th March all three of them show how they installed the apiary, some thing we attached in the post of that time. The second video was one with some sad news about bee hive 1 on 25th April and now we wanted to post about a rescue mission that Lisa began back at the end of April.
So after hive 1 failed due to it not having a Queen bee, eggs were being laid by a female worker, meaning that only male (drone) eggs would be laid, Lisa decided it would be better if the bees in the hive weren’t lost, but repatriated to another hive. Not an easy thing to do, you can’t simply introduce a Queen into the hive, as more often than not the other bees will kill her, as they believe they already have one.
So the solution being attempted (and it might not work), is to unite hive 1 with hive 2; that hive has a Queen, so newspaper is placed across the top of the hive, holes are made in the paper, this allows the bees in the top to be smelt by the bees in the bottom and vice-versa. They will ‘chew’ their way through the paper, which takes a few days and then unite harmoniously.
If you were to simply to place the hives on top of each other, without the newspaper, then both hives would simply fight to the death! So in the spirit of a school day everyday, we have learnt how to merge hives (fingers crossed it works) and a further use for newspaper! Yippee (so not just chips, lining your budgies cage, cat litter soak etc.) but a means to help bees survive.
We will follow up with hopefully some better news as Lisa looks to turn a tragedy into success; for now do take a look at the attached video in which Lisa explains the methodology!
And definitely for those wanting to learn more about bees then don’t hesitate to contact David, The Bee Farmer, McDowell using the details on the website link https://lnkd.in/eGD4fXrX and if you’d like to see more about Co-Treetment then use the link here https://lnkd.in/eqa4BEbX
And to add to the fun, I just thought of ‘Bees Means Hives’ 😀 – I used to love that advert!
Simon Evans
Darrell Taylor
Keith Cox
David, The Bee Farmer, McDowell
