Bee school..

The weekend began with a trip to Bee School .. The Montgomeryshire Bee Association puts on course for buffoons like us who think we can learn to keep bees.. I woke up not in the mood for such things but glad we pottered there as it was a great day. Our teacher a man called Brian Goodwin and he was THE most amazing teacher I have ever seen .. he was funny, knowledgeable, patient and calm. This man had inner peace that I can only dream of.. anyway he has completely fired us up and Bees are the future..he is the President of the Shropshire Bee Keepers Association and just a great bloke.. 


One of the things we learnt is how expensive it is to set up and how easily it can go wrong.. and another thing was how colonies of bees frequently decide to swarm, which is basically the old queen bee and some of her loyal subjects deciding that due to overcrowding its time to pop off and go and find a new home.. they send out scout bee's and its all precision planned.. these are AMAZING creatures..as such our plan is to get the hives in place and see if we can rehome some swarms.. if all else fails next season we will buy some. 

Amazing bee facts; 

- They stopped evolving 1.5 million years ago! (they are now perfect) 
- their eyes are have 40 facets.. they are the all seeing eye. 
- They can carry 2 times their body weight in nectar. 
- At the height of season the queen lays 2000 eggs per day. 

and the ultimate fact.. 

- without them we simply die out!


A lovely friend bought me a bee book for my birthday which I have had my nose in ever since.. I am so excited for them to move in ..

Well there is a question and the answer is set up an artificial swarm.. they are about to split and run.. 

lots to read