At last a somewhat slow spring becomes warm, so it is time to head out to the olde country and check in on the girls. I had gone out a month earlier and the signs weren't good: few bees, all seemed rather quiet, though it wasn't desperately warm then.
But today things are better. Here's the "before" hive, only lightly overgrown; "
after" is somewhat better.
Opened up, things seem quite believable: there are bees, rather well behaved ones in fact despite my somewhat rough treatment; lacking a car right now I am equipement light which means not much in the way of smoke; smoke being hard to transport by bicycle, you understand.
I don't even consider taking off any honey at this point, I'm just looking in. And traces of rape remain in the fields.
View from above onto the brood box. No, I didn't lift the queen excluder. Do you think I'm mad?
My friends back garden remains idyllic-looking in the sunshine.
Refs
* "Hive B" didn't survive the winter; but did provide a refuge for a shrew. Video.
* Bad beekeeping, spring 2023.