I have to wait until the 28th of this month thats when I'm have two bee hives delivered can't wait.
We have just bought an old farm and plan to grow most of our food.
Two acres have 100 fruit trees so i have a real need for bees as last year i didn't see many at all
Well after a glorious day with the mason bee homes in the sun
The first one has hatched
For anyone that does not know about mason bees here is a short blurb, They are better at pollenating than honey bees but they are a solitary bee. As a side note the first year I had these my garden went from an average producer to oh my god what am I going to do with all this food.
They do not sting nor do you get any honey or anything else from them. They do one job of pollenating for about 8 weeks lay three eggs per tube, which are capped of with mud then sadly they die.
This one has some mites on it if you look between the head and body you can see what look like small balls. The bee will scratch of most of them off but some will fall off when she lays an egg and therefore next year when the new bee hatches so to will the mite.
Last edited by john61rm; 20-04-2016 at 09:34 AM.
I've put up a few 'bee hotels' in the garden here. They were a fun make with the kids. I had some scrap ply in the shed and some bamboo staves. Who said looking after the kids was a chore.
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Border Bushcrafters
Isn't it nice when someone says "that's a great piece of kit, where did you buy that", then you can modestly reply "you can't buy it, I made it myself". The moral is, it's amazing what you can achieve if you put your mind to it.
"No better burden can a man carry on the road, than a store of common sense." - Hávamál: 10
http://midgefodderbushcraft.blogspot.co.uk
Midge_Fodder: What kind of bees will you get?
Buff tailed and red tailed Bumbles, we also get quite a few Carder bees. Since I've planted clematis the numbers in my garden have grown.
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Border Bushcrafters
Isn't it nice when someone says "that's a great piece of kit, where did you buy that", then you can modestly reply "you can't buy it, I made it myself". The moral is, it's amazing what you can achieve if you put your mind to it.
"No better burden can a man carry on the road, than a store of common sense." - Hávamál: 10
http://midgefodderbushcraft.blogspot.co.uk
Oh thats great Ive only seen one type of bumble bee here, would love more types. I noticed that whenI put out the houses one or two had been colonized by leaf cutter bees
I was quite surprised how fast they will colonise the houses.
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Border Bushcrafters
Isn't it nice when someone says "that's a great piece of kit, where did you buy that", then you can modestly reply "you can't buy it, I made it myself". The moral is, it's amazing what you can achieve if you put your mind to it.
"No better burden can a man carry on the road, than a store of common sense." - Hávamál: 10
http://midgefodderbushcraft.blogspot.co.uk
Yes very quickly, I'm lucky in my backyard I have 100 fruit trees so get all kinds of pollinators turn up.
I've got a few apple trees to plant up so we will see how that helps.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Border Bushcrafters
Isn't it nice when someone says "that's a great piece of kit, where did you buy that", then you can modestly reply "you can't buy it, I made it myself". The moral is, it's amazing what you can achieve if you put your mind to it.
"No better burden can a man carry on the road, than a store of common sense." - Hávamál: 10
http://midgefodderbushcraft.blogspot.co.uk
Thats good every plant helps your garden, and the bees will show their appreciation.
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