The Queen Cups are occupied at last

Hornet season has begun

And just when I thought the Wasp Queens season for nesting has ended, new monster has arrived!!! This time MUCH BIGGER!!! Hornet Queens looking for nesting sites!
I feel that all Earth's creatures have their place under the blue sky but NOT UNDER MY ROOF!!!

Hornets give me creeps! They are the size of a miniature bird for bees sake! I'm happy we don't have the Japanese Hornet which is 2 times bigger than our European Hornet. But these Hornets invading our cottage at this time are no Forager Hornets but Queens which sure are big! Like Wasp Queens so do Hornet Queens search for nesting sites in late Spring. This is the right time to keep their numbers low around the household ... and around the Apiary :) I don't want my ladies to have much hussle in life.

My weapon of choice is a Badminton racquet which is very effective.
I use thick rubber gloves and a beekeepers anorak when pursuing Hornets. 

They are huge! My finger is thinner than the gloves. She is as big as 2 thirds
of my little finger!

I have evicted one Hornet Queen just a few days ago from a hollow tree only 10 meters away from our cottage. Today I killed the one in the pics and as soon as I took off the anorak and the veil and placed the racquet behind the door I saw another one in front of one of my Top Bar Hives. She entered the hive and I immediately dressed again and ran out armed with my badminton racquet. She flew out of the hive obviously not willing to risk her life since she has much to risk; existence of her entire Hornet colony rests in her abdomen.

She flew pass me and that is when she met the racquet face on! BANG!

In the last couple of days I killed 3 Hornet Queens. I wish these are the last ones to visit. May they be in peace ... someplace else.

All forager bees returning home before the rain

Bees flying in the rain

New plant for my bee garden

I had a few Tomato plants too many and thought to give them to my neighbours who were very helpful in the past. They were happy about the tomato plants and we talked a bit in their garden. I noticed one very unusual flower and I asked about it. My neighbour didn't know much about it except that its a perennial plant and grows like a weed and added that I can take some if I want to :) of course I took a bunch and am hoping to create a large flowering patch with it :) I didnt knows its name and after a long search through my books I found its called Centaurea montana or Mountain Cornflower (in Swedish Blåklinta).

I was happy to read that it flowers from May to August and I've seen Bumble Bees feeding on these flowers. I understand that Honey Bees aren't generally interested in just a few flowers because Scout Bees usually are much more interested in those flowers which dominate their environment (in a 3km radius).

Seasonal continuum of the biodiverse ecosystem

Last year I was learning mostly about Honeybee biology and top bar hive natural beekeeping. This year is different; the Honeybees are teaching me about our ecosystem. I'm observing the flowering plants, bushes and trees. I'm observing what what crops my neighbouring farmers are growing and what bushes and trees do they have in their yards. I'm observing the seasonal continuum of this biodiverse ecosystem. The nature is in constant flux. The Honeybee made me see nature with open eyes for the very first time :)

Dandelions bloom has ceased and the flowers became seeds

My neighbour has 3 huge old Horse Chestnut trees which are blooming like mad :)
so many flowers. I see my bees bringing back to the hive orange and red pollen.
I'm sure the red one comes from the Chestnut flower

A Bumblebee working the Chestnut flower

Lilac is blooming heavily but I see no Honeybees pollinating it,
only Bumblebees. Not sure if Honeybees like it ...

Comfrey has begun to flower

Dead Nettle is in full bloom at this time. I see no Honeybees on it
rather only Bumblebees work its flowers :( I hope my bees didn't choose
to collect nectar and pollen from the nearby Canola (Raps/Rape) field
which is not organic :(

I'm hoping to see the Raspberry bloom soon. I've heard from my local bee inspector that bees prefer Raspberry over Canola and we have lots of wild Raspberries around this area :)

Empty Queen Cups

Che Guebee Apiary

I have split my hives on the 18th of May, which was 6 days ago. The Queenless hives had 3 days to move less than 3 days old eggs into the Queen Cups. I decided to open those hives today and see if the Queen Cups are occupied with a growing Queen larvae.

I first opened the weaker hive and found a few empty queen cups and only 1 occupied Queen Cup which was very long and frosted from the sides. I'm sure they will cap it in the next day or two. I was surprised to see this colony deciding to only make 1 Queen - ??? They usually make several Queen Cells in case of emergency. Anyway, that Queen Cup looks very long and I'm sure they will raise a very nice Queen.

The stronger Queenless hive had only several empty Queen Cups but none with a larvae in !!! Alarm !!! This was not good at all!
I expected to see at least 3-4 valid queen cups with developing larvae in them, but nope, none had life in it. I'm just guessing that I made the split at exact time when the whole brood nest was occupied with developing larvae. Most of the brood combs are dark and seeing the tiny eggs through the veil is very difficult yet Im almost sure I saw eggs when I made the split.

Bees note in a very short time that the Queen is no more in the hive. Their Queen Pheromone is gone and they immediately switch to raising a new Queen. They do this because the eggs must be less than 3 days old to develope into a Queen (less than 3 days old eggs are fed with Royal Jelly). More than 3 days old larvae is fed with Bee Bread (pollen, water and nectar) instead of royal jelly and this very diet decides whether the larvae will become a Queen or a Worker Bee. The Queen larvae is exclusively fed with Royal Jelly.

So I had to act NOW so they have a chance to make a Queen. They needed a comb with freshly laid eggs and I took this from their original Queen which was split into a new hive. I swapped it with a fully capped brood comb which the Queenright hive got instead.

Now the Queenless hive can "move" the fresh eggs into Queen Cups and raise new Queens.
I will check this hive in 5-6 days to see if the Queen Cups have larva and if not I will have to combine the two hives which are related and let them build swarm cells when they feel it right time for it. I will keep an open eye to make a split before they cap the Queen Cells. But lets hope they use these new eggs wisely this time :)

I've got new gloves. These are much thicker than the yellow rubber gloves
used in households and the bees cant sting through it. Two bees tried to
sting me but the sting couldn't penetrate the thick rubber. These gloves are made
for those handling pesticides and have two layers. They are fairly flexible and I can
easily go through the entire hive with sensitivity. I can feel the top bar very well. 

I have placed a clay water pot I found in our local second hand shop near the
hives. The stone and the sticks make sure not many bees get drowned.
They work this pot a lot. This pot was filled to the top yesterday and it already
sunk considerably. Some of it must be due evaporation on such warm day.
Its good to teach bees where to get their water, otherwise they might drink
from the dogs or chicken water bowl instead, or even your neighbours
dripping tap ;)