Bees, Pigs and Apple Trees

 

The bees are still out and about flying around during the middle of the day when the temperatures rise above 9-10 degrees.

As they have not clustered yet, they are using more energy and therefore food reserves but are able to feed although there is no forage available at this time of year for them.

I opened up all the hives, just taking off the roof to get access to the crown boards.

As you can see they have used most of the fondant that I give them in early oct. 

I made up another batch of about four litres and added this to the crown boards.

The fondant was still warm and more liquid but it quickly firmed up. The bees were delighted!

I will have to keep a close watch on them as this mild winter will see them needing more feeding through to spring. 

I prefer to over feed than for the bees to starve under the pressure of spring. 

I watched the bees going about their housework, cleaning out the hive and collecting moisture droplets from the grass.

I have them four years now and I am still in awe of them and their collective organisation. 

It hasn't rained here in a few days and the pig sty is getting messy. A heavy rain usually cleans out the sty for us. A job I must do today instead :-)

This is a young apple tree that I under sown with peas. The peas are dying back now but I noticed that the peas did a wonderful job of opening out the branches of this young tree. The weight/pull of the peas all season has trained the branches into a more ideal shape. A delightful accident!