Moving the Bees

As I've already mentioned in previous posts my Dad has had to give up one of his allotments, which is the one my Bees have been taking residence in. You may also be aware that we have acquired the rights to use another bit of land in our area. The owner of this land has given us the OK to keep Bees on the land so the next problem was getting the Bees there.

The problem with moving Bees is that if you are moving them less than 3 miles away from where they were then they may get confused and when they leave the hive return to where they previously were. I searched the internet and asked a few people and the general consensus was that winter is actually a fairly good time to move the Bees anyway. This is because the Bees aren't flying much at the moment due to cold weather and when the good weather returns (he says optimistically!) the Bees should re-orientate them selves to their new location.

All this week has been snowy and freezing so luckily me and my Dad timed it just right by moving the Bees just before the weather turned. I'd already ordered some straps to put around the hives to make sure they didn't separate in transit and I took some cardboard to block the entrances with tape to hold it in place. When the hives were strapped up it was as simple as putting them in a wheelbarrow then move them to the car to then be taken to the new site. Below are the photos I took during this.

My Dad wheeling a hive to the car

Both hives in the car ready to be moved

A nice big steaming pile of horse manure ready to be dug in to the land!

A nice row of trees planted, will look better when in full blossom covered in Bees!

The hives in their new home

Straps removed, tape off and entrances unblocked

The row of raspberries has grown some what

I took the lid off the hives to see how much fondant they had left

If you look carefully you can just see a little bee flying near the entrance

Update on New Allotment

Just a quick update on how things are going on the new allotment. Although it is technically not an allotment, more just a plot of land we have been given rights to use, I am still going to refer to it as an allotment.

In the past week we have had warmer than average temperatures for the time of year and as a result of this have managed to get a considerable amount done; I have done an Ok amount but my dad has been really busy. Due to work commitments I have not been there most days but the time I've managed to get there I have been busy. We now have several trees planted and most of the larger weeds removed. I have cleared an area for the Bees to go and have put some anti weed covering down to keep it clear.

Just need to add Bees!

A row of fruit trees. There are more in now since photo was taken and a lot less weeds to the right hand side of them.

Even Buster (my Dad's dog) is "helping"

The days that I haven't been able to get there I have still kept myself busy by making a new stand for one of my hives. I haven't any pictures of it yet as it remains unfinished. I'm also not as proud of this one as my sawing isn't as straight, therefore it has a little wobble. I'll have to see how well it works when a heavy hive is on top of it, with any luck it'll be fine and if needed I can sink the legs into the ground slightly to aid stability. I've also ordered some straps for the hives for when the time comes to move them. They actually arrived this morning and although a little fiddly to fasten they are extremely secure so hopefully no escaping Bees in transit.

Finally a little mention to something else I've ordered that I'd slightly related to the allotment. I've ordered a 4.25l dutch oven. I plan to use this when camping mainly but will take it down to the allotment some days when I plan to be there all day; I intend on lighting up a fire when I first get there and get some meal slow cooking so I can have a proper well deserved meal break when the time comes. I will also be able to use the freshest ingredients straight out of the ground!

Out With The Old...

In November 2012 I received some bad news from my Dad and I have been putting off posting about it until now. The news was in relation to the allotment my Dad has held since 1984, which is also the one that I keep my Bees on, stating that he will have to give up this allotment at the end of January 2013. The reason they have given him is that because he already has another allotment he is not allowed a second. The other one is withing walking distance of his house and has his greenhouses on so I can't expect him to give this one up however it is right next to a school so Bees will be a big no on this site!

Between me and my Dad there were a few mixed emotions, mainly a feeling of slight anger from my Dad and panic from myself. My Dad has many well established trees in the allotment that won't be easy work to move not to mention that he had just spent a good many hours digging in the manure to prepare the soil for next years growing season and then there's the Bees. In the small time frame from receiving notice to end of January there is not much time to find a new site, prepare the site and the move the Bees.

Now for the more positive news. I have been mentioning my problem to a few people and have a few friends who have said they will keep an eye out for places but so far no luck. I have also sent an email to the allotment committee to ask if it is at all possible to either sign the allotment over to my name, or split the allotment in 2 leaving me the half with the Bees or get an extension to give me more time. They have not got back to me yet. In the mean time my Dad has been far more successful than me and has found a friend with some land that he's willing to let us use.

The land is approximately 1.5 miles away from my dads allotment as the Bee flies and few hundred feet further travel from my home but the best thing is that is on my route to and from work so if needed I can visit straight from work. The land is slightly bigger by my reckoning using google maps to measure the boundaries (roughly), but not by a great amount. There is a good water source right next to the land in the form of a stream. The land has been used to raise pigs in the last few years so there is plenty of well rotted pig muck just under the surface.

I have included some photos below, including an attempt at a panoramic, and in these photos you'll be able to see that there is still a load of work to be done but with some hard work I'm sure it'll look excellent in no time and be producing loads of food and room for plenty of Bee hives!

  

Weeds, junk and tree stumps

The first tree planted! Baking apples!

Access to the stream

More of the stream

More weeds!

The twigs sticking out of the ground  in a row are raspberry bushes