linchpin

Hello fellow Beekeeper

The time has long passed since first begining with Bees and the Joy and excitment was a truely wonderous thing to first behold my own bees,many older Beek's seem to forget they too once felt such joy and have become blinkered in there pursuit of doing whats right by the bees and the newcomers.
Many being judgemental for whatever reason is no excuse for throwing coldwater onto some newbees and there enthusiasims but alas the newbee's are the future of the craft and it should fall onto these older Beek's to encourage newbeekeepers to study hard and learn how to look after there bees.

Bees are a wild insect governed by there instincts and we only manage them in our hives, Trying to bend them to our will and produce either Honey or queens is a task and a half these days,with weather/pests/disease/chemicals,etc.
There once was a time when you could rely on decent crops without much imput and the bees would sort themselves out accordingly to there situation. Now with Varroa/Afb/ Efb/nosema, etc. the situation has changed and not without it's more vocal beekeepers telling us this or that should be done in order to save the day. Misinformation can cause lasting damage and discourage many from continueing with the craft, also many of the older beek's are stuck in there ways so to speak and don't listen to the younger generations.

So ! what should we do ? engage and try to understand the veiws held by many or not to listen ??

Education is the key,but how do you administer it ! Comunications...... that is the fundemental thing that holds us all .
Sets us apart from other species... NO. Comunictions is a bridge between information and Education.
Take our charges ,Bees use many forms of comunications, Danceing,/pheromones,/ sound. (queen pipeing for example).
Then what can we learn from our bees by way of comunications ! LOTS..

First we have to take the time to watch and listen.. (that will pay returns in your understanding of some situations..)
This winter has been severe with prolonged cold spells and many bees not makeing it through till now,I'm still hearing reports of colony deaths with many more concerned about the ones left. next few weeks will tell it's own story..

So as winter lengthened the hives in many cases will have been left undisturbed, but if you could have taken the time to simply lift the roofs off and see that they were still weather tight and not leaking that would have told you something. I myself had to change and repair quite a few (more than usual) Glad that I had the spares at hand and quickly repaired and painted the leaking ones. Why take the roofs off I hear some saying? well you take the roofs off to apply treatments so simply checking the roofs is less trouble and quicker than you might think. It also gives you peace of mind and something to do for the Newbeek's who I'm sure will be itching to get on with things but under no circumstances expose the bees to very cold temps. unlike some things I've read recently in the SBA mag.

Now with temps. increaseing each week, peace of mind that the hives are weather proof and the early pollen is amounting to quite large pellets being carried in warms the heart to know that the bees are surely rearing new brood for this season.
If on a warm afternoon temp. above 14, a look under the crown board you can count the seems with bees and frames with visible sealed stores. All will tell you something and if the propolis seal cracks as you lift and a hiss from the bees tells you something again.

Blogging off for now, Linchpin..

Ps. Excuse the spelling....