The arrival of bees at long last. It has only been in gestation for about three years. I did my learners course at Ealing Beekeepers about 4 years ago and I had the input from Johann at the allotment.
I ordered the bees in January and they arrived 2 days ago. They are Buckfast which are meant to be a more mild mannered breed. The queen is 2025 so the colony is small and relatively immature.
The colony arrived in the polystyrene ‘nuc’ after another hour in the car. I think the bees were somewhat stressed.
I followed the advice of the man in shop and bought and used an insulated frame to help conserve heat as the colony only takes up half of the ruche. I also have used feed – glucose sirop – to give them a boost and because it is a low time currently for availability of pollen and nectar.
They do seem to have come to life a bit today. The weather has been warmer and maybe the bees are more settled.
I have been concerned as some bees have congregated under la ruche today. Are they stressed? Are they disoriented because they left the nuc first and then cannot find the opening? I did lift some up to the landing strip and they did wobble slowly inside.
I rechecked la ruche today. The bees are feeding from the nourisseur and I think I saw the queen. There seemed to be a lot of activity. Some maybe all ok really. On verra.
