French Bees Create Blue Honey

Check out this great story
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/120009-French-Bees-Create-Blue-Honey-After-Raiding-M-Ms-Factory

Honey extraction and sticky fingers!

We borrowed the mobile extractor from the Warwick and Leamington beekeepers Assoc and had a fun morning uncapping and spinning frames then jarring up the honey.  Just enough for 2 jars each for honey share members and none for sale to others. At least we got some honey which is more than a lot of local beekeepers. Here are some photos...

Taking the honey supers off

A group of us made the most of Saturdays sunshine to take the supers of honey off the hives. We also checked 3 of the hives which are looking fine.

Who killed the honey bee

You might be interested in this BBC documentary. Only 6 days left to watch it
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00jzjys

Another swarm!!

Dinah and I collected another swarm yesterday. Its a big one and we put it in the top bar hive. Again? you might be thinking? Well the first one we put in the top bar hive flew off the next day. The second swarm we put in the top bar hive didnt seem to have a queen so we had to transfer to a national hive and gave a frame of eggs and they are happy there now with a new queen. So this is the third swarm to be installed. Hopefully third time lucky!

Report on R4 World at One

I heard an interesting short report on bees on the World at One today. All beekeepers are struggling with the poor weather we have had so far this year. It might make you more sympathetic to the fact that we might not have much honey to harvest this year unless the weather improves!! 

The link is here - and the report was at around minute 21:20

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/player/b01jrlf5

We have a swarm!

Dinah got a call about a swarm this evening. It was in a local beekeepers garden so he had caught it and put it in a box already. We took it up to the apiary and put it in the top bar hive. It was a big swarm which its good news. Lets  hope the bees like their new home.

I really enjoyed the AGM on Wednesday and what an ace film (The Vanishing Of The Bees), I recommend it to those who weren't able to make it...it's eye opening. We mentioned how bees are starting to swarm now (during breaks in the rain) so I thought I would share a picture of me and my friend on our way to catch one...

Here is a lovely poem by Carol Ann Duffy too....

The Hive

All day we leave and arrive at the hive,
concelebrants.The hive is love,
what we serve, preserve, avowed in Latin murmurs
as we come and go, skydive, freighted
with light, to where we thrive, us, in time's hum,
on history's breath,
                      industrious, identical...

there suck we,
alchemical, nectar-slurred, pollen-furred,
the world's mantra us, our blurry sound
along the thousand scented miles to the hive,
haven, where we unpack our foragers;
or heaven stare, drone eyed, for a queen's start;
or nurse or build in milky, waxy caves,
the hive, alive, us - how we behave.

Canalside Community Bees AGM

CCB will hold a launch AGM on Wednesday 19th May at Bath Place from 7.30 (please try to be punctual). We will start with a meeting to introduce the project and the steering group, and to hear your ideas about how the Bee club can develop. This will be followed by teas / coffees and then a screening of the documentary film "The Vanishing of the Bees" which looks at Colony Collapse Disorder and other problems facing bees worldwide, and the links to pesticide use. Hope to see you there!

Fun at the hives - 5th May

Hopefully not everyone is away for the Bank Holiday! Come along and join in with some activities at the apiary. We may be able to look at the bees, but there are other jobs to do like planting some bee friendly flower seeds (we can do this in the poly tunnels if its raining), and sorting out the bee shed (where we keep all the equipment). We will meet at the geodome at 1.30 or if you arrive later find us at the apiary or in the polytunnel.

Learning opportunities

Here are details of a couple of courses that have come to my attention:

1. Beekeeping Appreciation Day. Saturday 19 May 2012
A one day course run at Marton Village Hall near Rugby by our local beekeepers association. Book at http://www.warleambees.com/trainapp.html
 

2. The Honey Bee - A Being of Warmth, Friday 15th June to Sunday 17th June

A weekend course at Hawkwood College near Stroud looking at Biodynamic Beekeeping. http://www.hawkwoodcollege.co.uk/courses/The_Honey_Bee_-_A_Being_of_Warmth_June

What a tidy apiary!

A group of us spent the morning tidying the apiary ready for new hives and more bees. The willow fence is starting to grow and the Blackthorn is in blossom. Lovely!

Bees and flowers

"For to the bee the flower is a fountain of life, and to the flower the bee is a messenger of love, and to both, bee and flower, the giving and receiving is a need and an ecstacy". From Kahlil Gibran The Prophet

We had a buzzing first steering group meeting last night getting busy making arrangements for the Honey CSA. Looking forward to getting some of the Bee Club jobs done on saturday so hope all you enthusiasts out there will be flying by...We are hoping to arrange some more bee related events in the coming months such as film nights and talks so look out for that. The first film will most likely be the Vanishing of the Bees, a documentary exploring the decline of honeybees and the ecological, political and economic implications of that. It offers advice as to what we can do to help the situation...such as joining your local Bee Club! x

Cheeky bumble bee

I have a skep of bees in my garden and yesterday I saw a cheeky bumble bee trying to get in the hive. But there were so many honey bees going in and out it couldn't get close enough. I wonder if it could smell honey or just had an identity crisis!

First spring visit to the apiary

Well this was a couple of weeks ago now, but when we had that glorious sunny weather (remember that?!), a group of us who had come up to the farm to do some other bee related activities, took advantage of the warm sunshine to open up the hives. We only open up the hives on fine warm days because the bees maintain their hive at around 30 degrees C so if you open up on a cold day the temperature drops a lot and its more work for them to raise it up again.
Anyhow, we looked at the 4 hives. Two were doing pretty well, but the other two were looking quite weak. The queen had started to lay in all of them, and they were bringing in a lot of pollen and even some nectar. We will just have to keep our fingers crossed that they cope OK with this cold wet spell.
There are still a lot of jobs to do up at the apiary so we should have another work party up there soon.

Top bar hive

Check out the top bar hive we made. Yes it does look rather like a manger - a bit early for Christmas... It now also has a roof and a set of top bars inside. Now it just needs bees...

Spring Convention

Members may be interested in the upcoming British Beekeepers Association Spring Convention. This is a weekend of talks, stalls and demonstrations held at Harper Adams College in Shropshire. Check out details here http://www.bbka.org.uk/news/spring_convention/index.shtml

Welcome to Canalside Community Bees

We are a cooperative bee club, or a honey CSA (Community Supported Apiculture!). Members of Canalside Community Bees invest at the start of the year to buy the required equipment. Through the year members get involved in managing the bees, building hives, planting bee friendly flora, harvesting honey and making use of hive products. Honey share members pay extra to get a share of the honey at harvest time.

We keep our bees on the site of Canalside Community Food (www.canalsidecommunityfood.org.uk/), a Community Supported Agriculture project just outside Leamington Spa. We are starting out this year (2012) with 4 hives and hope to expand as soon as the season gets going.