Neils

It would appear that I'm now the new education.... something (secretary? Member? Lord of the universe of) for our association. Education is my "thing" at the moment, I'm still a new beekeeper and the lack of access to our association for people like me has been a big part of why I'm now doing what I am. I now have another problem; what do I do for people who are several years down the line from where I am?

If I have any useful advice to dish out at this point it's that if you feel your local association isn't doing it for you, get involved if you can, change it through action rather than sitting on the side lines whining that it isn't being handed to you on a plate.

There are some very exciting possibilities on the horizon and I'm also a little overwhelmed. Both by the former and trying to keep on top of my bees.

The Artificial swarm has been interesting. I know I have queens in one box because I drew them out of then cells. I gave into temptation and took a look through the Nuc and the queen cell doesnt appear to have emerged. I've fallen into this trap before so I'm going to leave them for a week or so. If nothing else, they're bringing pollen in, the "downside" is that there is a big flow on the at the moment and they're filling the nuc with nectar and I'm not convinced they have a queen.

Despite knowing there's a flow on I've given syrup to the National box but not inspected. They've got 6 frames to draw, I know they've got a queen ( because I pulled the queen from the cell). I've only given them half a litre and I'll let them take that and leave them for another week.

The Main box is on 14x12 and the brood now covers 4 frames, they need another super but I also need them to draw out the brood frames and they seem to be concentrating on the supers at the moment. I'm going to make up another 10 frames, without foundation this week and start to introduce them into the bottom super. The experiment has gone well so far and I think it's worth continuing. It will be interesting to see how it works out when it comes to extracting.

Later on today I'm doing my basic assessment. Compared to doing the Module 1 exam I'm actually quite looking forward to it, theory exams are, in some respects, whether you can demonstrate at a distance what someone else thinks you should know. With a practical you have far more opportunity to demonstrate why you think your way works (for you).

The next few weeks could be incredibly interesting and I hope to be able to say more soon.