So it's been a while since I have been inside the hive. I decided last
night about 7:30 to take a look. And although my smoker died out again on me midway through the quick inspection (I was in the hive for less than 10 min total) I was able to look at the top brood chamber and see lots of eggs, lots of larvae, and I found the queen again. There are a lot of bees inside, all actively working frames. As I pulled a frame or two, I'd peer inside down to the first level, and those are also full of bees. Life appears to be going good for this group of bees in this hive. I plan on purchasing a third deep this weekend, and adding it as soon as I have it painted up. I'm lead to believe by a local friend Bob, who has been beekeeping for more than 20 years, that this hive appears strong enough to get to a third deep before I worry about a queen excluder and a honey super for my reaping of honey. He also recommends going into the winter with 3 deeps ... his advice I will follow.I tried to take a video of my actions yesterday, and although I might impove the angle/perspective better in the future by mounting the camera on a tripod, this seems to work OK by setting it down on my spare hive. I like this little Flip camera - seems to work well.
[difficulties in getting this video attached]
Excuse me, I got your website from a friend of yours who was at my school many years ago, i was chatting bee's after he had a picture of one on facebook, and I said being a bee keeper is a dream of mine, and here I am.....well i have been thinking, what happens if I had a field of lavender near a hive, would this be a good or a bad idea, would it stop bee's pollinating other flowers, would it effect the taste of the honey, would the bee's only go to the lavender and nowhere else?
ReplyDeleteMy understanding is that if the lavender is a ready source of pollen & nectar for them, and if it is close to the hive, then, yes, the bees may feast exclusively on the lavender for as long as they can.
ReplyDeleteHoney flavor is affected by the nectar source - all you need do is go to a specialty store and you will find honey that ranges in color/hue, then notice that it is honey from different sources. Thanks to my oldest step-daughter and her fiance, I have 3 different honeys from New Zealand, and 1 from Samoa ... all are different colors, all taste different. I also have some blueberry honey from Maine, and some honey from Georgia ... again, different.
I believe that the bees will go wherever they want to, and if a hive is near, next to, or inside a lavender field, it may influence those bees, other bees or other insects will find the other flowers you refer to and provide adequate pollinatione.
Hope this answers your question and helps!