Natural Beekeeping International Forum

[zaunreiter]

Foundations get drawn out.



A cluster of building bees formed in the topbox, so ladders worked.


They pull at each other, wings...


...and feet.








Bernhard

[zaunreiter]

Some more flight studies.

[zaunreiter]

Bees been busy building. Foundations get drawn pretty quickly and four other new combs are started.


One of those combs already reached box height.


Heavy working.


I am asking myself, how it would be, to crawl through a world of honey!


Bernhard

[zaunreiter]

Queen cell get cared for and grow now into length.


Bees carrying a lot of water. Luckily a couple of bee ponds with dribbling water and moss are installed. Preventing May-disease!




There is an abundance of blossoming flowers right now. The bees obviously like Glechoma hederacea and Lamium (deadnettle).


Makes rally-stripes...nice.



Some more impressions of May, 1st.















Found a dead hornet.

[MObeek]

Really impressive pictures! Thanks for sharing.

[BoBnh]

[Paz]

Terrific pictures Bernhard. Keep them coming!

[zaunreiter]

The first box of honey is capped.





The topmost box (which was supered) already gets filled with honey, although the combs are notfully finished. The combs grow very fast right now.





Drone brood on one comb in a brood box, the comb at the side of the hive. The rest of the combs have worker brood in all stages.


Pollen foragers climb up very quickly - I rarely can take a picture of one, because when lifting the camera, the forager already is gone.


Bernhard

[Meg]

Just found this thread.. Fantastic! Thank you, I've really enjoyed these.

[zaunreiter]

Queen cells grow very slowly.


Exchange of fresh nectar...




Look at the neck, gee!






My name is Droned, James Droned.

[zaunreiter]

Honey.


A lot of honey.






Don't talk - just kiss!

[zaunreiter]

This is the first box (lowest box) that I nadired with 4.9mm plastic combs. When it is raining outside, they use it to hang around.


Second lowest hive box: brood. On the outmost left side there is a comb with drone brood on it. The rest is worker brood in all stages. This is the box where the queen cells are.


Third box from below: On the left a comb with drone brood at the lower part, honey on top. The rest is mainly honey with some brood at the tips of the comb. This box is pretty heavy.


Fourth box. This is the one I supered.


Because box four is almost completed, and the hive has enough bees, I supered another box today: box 5.


Construction teams advance! Right after supering.


Not much space left to the roof. I need to remove some pantiles.


From bottom to top: 1,2,3,4,5


Timeline of building the comb in the supered box.



Bernhard

[jaywoo]

Wow, thanks for sharing all the photos!

[zaunreiter]

Cube of bees


Bees fill in the space between the two ladders building comb. (Day 1 after supering.)




Band of brothers, errm...sisters...


My wife does like to take photos with the macro lens. These are her's:








This bee does use the side entrance to get to the nectar.


Strange blossom, strange bee!


Bernhard

[jaywoo]

Wow, is this a pollen sack?

[zaunreiter]

Yes, that is the pollen sack/basket. The outside. On the inside there is a brush. The pollen is transfered through some sort of knee and ends up in the basket.

Bernhard

[MObeek]

To Bernhard,

It sure is very interesting to follow the progress of the bees living in your attic. However, have you considered how heavy the beehive has gotten? I hope the floor holds.

[zaunreiter]

At the moment I enjoy the strong colonies in my bee house, ready for the second strong nectar flow at the end of May and beginning of June. Two boxes are filled up to the rim with honey in each hive and a third already is in progress.



Videos:

http://immenfreunde.de/vids/17052012_1.mp4
http://immenfreunde.de/vids/17052012_2.mp4
http://immenfreunde.de/vids/17052012_3.mp4

The queen cells are not capped yet. But the bees slowed down building in the third box, also they hang around in the lowest box. You see a lot of bellies when looking through the window at the bottom box - a good indicator, that they soon swarm. They will swarm within the next days when the weather warms up again.

Bernhard

[zaunreiter]

Blackberry run: ready, set, go!

[zaunreiter]

Blackberry pollen:










Someone is cheating here...open up the package before time...

[zaunreiter]

Also loved by the bees: firethorn/Pyracantha

[zaunreiter]

The splits bring in pollen - a lot of pollen:














Oh dear, that is too much a load!

[zaunreiter]

[zaunreiter]

[zaunreiter]

[zaunreiter]

Yummie!


Busy building combs.





Filled that box within a week...


..and started filling it with honey. One more week and this is another box of honey.


They started another queencell - do they want to swarm? A little late, isn't it?





Bernhard

[zaunreiter]

So nectar is coming in! Bees are busy drawing comb in the topmost box and fill it with honey.


Lime tree, lavendar and others are visited by the bees, so it should be a nice honey then.


In the bottom box combs are drawn, too, and they put brood into it straight away.


We had quite hot weather today, this is why they stored water next to the brood.


My wild chooks.




The geese had some tiny wonders hatching this late afternoon.

[MObeek]

Interesting information about the bees storing water next to the brood. Good looking chooks and goose also. Do you get to eat the wild chooks?

[zaunreiter]

The "bee tree" (as we call it: Bienenbaum = Tetradium daniellii) starts blossoming!


A bee tree is covered over and over with tiny little blossoms. Giving a lot of nectar until late autumn.


Almost all pollen are yellow. So it is difficult to say which plants it comes from.


The whiteish pollen comes from a sort of white morning glories (Ipomoea). See picture below.


Out of the way! Ooh these drones are buggers...notice the dark green pollen. Guess what it is?


The dark green pollen comes from Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria).
















Malva.


This is the last lime tree blossoming coming to an end! It is a pitty, since it has rained all weeks and the bees only could make little use of it.


Thistel.


Common Hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium)


Ipomoea => white pollen.




This bee has specialised on Lamb's Ear (Stachys byzantina)


It's name is European wool carder bee (Anthidium manicatum) See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthidium_manicatum




Bernhard

[zaunreiter]

Globe thistel - a meeting point for many pollinators..honeybees, bumbles, hoverflies.








Bees love phacelia!


I cultivate a patch of phacelia in my garden to keep the bees out of the maize. And it works pretty good.


Echinacea.


Gives nectar for a long time in summer, bees love it. I planted of it as much as I could.







Bee in a pumpkin flower.


The three sisters: maize, pole beans and pumpkins.


The pole bean climbs the maize.


Pumpkins cover the ground keeping the weeds down and shades the corn's roots.


The Three Sisters can be grown together successfully, are beneficial to each other. Just have to tell the farmers... )


This is one of the oldest companion of mankind in Europe, since the end of the ice age. It is medicine, can be smoked and eaten with all sorts of meat.


All other sorts of thistles spend some nectar.


Bernhard