Abbey Bee Hive Project News

November 11, 2019 | What's The Buzz?

The news is good! Lots has happened.
Recently I purchased some manuka and jelly bush tea tree and heath banksia seedlings from Wariapendi Nursery and planted them with the help of Peter Larkin on the apiary site. These are for the health of the bees. As you know the manuka and jelly bush are highly medicinal and will strengthen the bees’ immune system. The banksia will bloom in winter so the bees will have a little something to get them started into spring.

We have one langstroth hive at the end of the farm which we hope to transfer to a top bar hive using a migration box which I built.

Lee Ann caught a swarm near a funeral parlour and we left them there in a top bar hive nuc until they could be brought home here. The video is that swarm being placed into their new home here at the apiary site.

At one stage the little nuc was to be delivered to the Abbey at night in a hearse.
That didn’t happen as LeeAnn and another beekeeper Mark from Jamberoo brought the bees in his ute. I don’t know if you have ever driven a car with a box of bees in the back.
It can get tricky if some of the bees get out. Bee keepers often move hives at night because all the bees are in the hive so no one gets left behind.

All is well, the bees are flying, collecting what they need and are all healthy, following my spring inspection of the hives.

-Veronica