{"id":1248,"date":"2020-08-19T07:44:19","date_gmt":"2020-08-19T07:44:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beverleybeekeepers.co.uk\/2020\/?p=1248"},"modified":"2020-09-01T10:13:39","modified_gmt":"2020-09-01T10:13:39","slug":"the-day-the-bees-left","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beverleybeekeepers.co.uk\/2020\/the-day-the-bees-left\/","title":{"rendered":"the day the bees left"},"content":{"rendered":"

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On the previous inspection I was excited to see how fast the colonies had developed. It was the fifth week since the nucs arrived. The brown hive girls had finally moved onto their new frames, made side-to-side capped brood and I’d taken out what looked like queen cells. In my records I wrote ‘looks like they’ve taken off at last’ <\/em>and messaged Patrick to share my excitement at their progress.<\/p>\n

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I went home happy to think how well we’d all done. I’d overseen the transfer and development of two healthy colonies, and survived my first bee sting. What more did I need to be a successful beek?<\/p>\n

As a newbie I was still living in the moment. I hadn’t mastered the art of looking backwards and forwards at the same time, and didn’t understand how essential these skills were.<\/p>\n

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The day after the inspection there was an explosion of buzzing and I saw the apiary area full of flying bees. Most of the activity seemed to be coming from the pink hive, although with hindsight (which is a wonderful thing) I realised this was down to colour contrast. They simply showed up more against pink than brown!\u00a0 However, regardless of which colony it was, the bees were out and about in numbers I hadn’t seen before.<\/p>\n

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Being unsure of what was happening, I panicked and sent Patrick a photo. He suggested they could be feeling short of space, following their rapid expansion, and advised making a split sooner rather than later.<\/p>\n

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I raced home to get my gear, heart thumping and stress levels rising, but by the time I returned everything was calm.<\/p>\n

Lifting the roof, the pink hive appeared much as it did before. There were a similar number of bees, none of them overly bothered to see me back again. Whatever caused the flurry of excitement seemed to have passed. The weather had been dull for days, and they’d emerged just as it became brighter and warmer. Maybe they hadn’t wanted to miss an opportunity for some sun. Feeling silly for getting into a panic, I closed the hive and went home.<\/p>\n

Next morning, all was quiet when suddenly the bees began to fly again. I took a short video and sent it to Patrick, with a casual comment about enjoying the sun.<\/p>\n

Obviously th\"imageis was what bees did now and then. I was determined not to be panicked by these unexpected bursts of activity.<\/p>\n