While his bees were hard at work in the early spring sunshine, LandofSpike had some seasonal tasks of his own to complete.
Apiary Diary: A Little Maintenance
1. No Grass and Looking a bit Scruffy
Task: Last year's wet weather had transformed the Apiary (and the previously grassy plains of Spike Acres) into a mud pit.
It was now spring and the grass hadn't yet recovered.
Also, the Apiary was covered in leaves, twigs and other detritus that had built up over the winter.
Action: Leaves and twigs raked up, grass seed laid.
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| Raked & seeded. There are even some daffs |
2. The Apiary Gate Needs Some Attention
Task A: Sticks from the willow screen above the door were continually dropping down into the door space, getting wedged in the door and stopping it from closing.
Action A: Attach wooden strip across front and back of the top of the door frame to keep the sticks in place.
Seal the job with weatherproof paint.
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| Before: typically shoddy workmanship After: still shoddy of course, but problem solved |
Task B: The Apiary Gate wasn't closing properly as it had not yet had a lock fitted.
The lock needed to be:
i) sturdy enough to keep the gate from swinging open on its own or blowing open in the wind.
ii) simple enough to click open when carrying lots of bee equipment.
Action B: Attach lock device
Secure clip to Doorframe with 20mm panel pins.
Hammer 30mm nail into top right hand corner of gate so that the head of the nail just rests behind clip when door is shut.
Door will now click open with the gentlest of tugs or pushes. It will also click shut with the same minimal pressure.
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| Position of gate lock on unpainted lintel Close up of lock device: gentle click to open |
Update: A Week Later
The Apiary gate modifications are working perfectly.
On the other hand, it has rained, more or less, continuously for two days, turning the Apiary and the rest of Spike Acres, once again, into a sea of mud.
Just forwarded my Dad your blog - he was stressing that down in Dorset the blossom is out but it's still too cold for bees. Anyway, he can now have a nice read while he waits for the sun to come out. Can you hurry up and write some more though please - between you and my sister (the only other blog I read) you're not very prolific - and I have a LOT of time on my hands.... I thank you.
ReplyDeleteExcellent... thanks for giving me the hurry-up Lucy!
DeleteI'm actually really pleased you want to read more of my semi-literate ramblings.
There is a giant backlog of diary notes and pictures to post, I'll endeavour to update a bit more often!
As I write, the bees are doing fantastically well, I've just added a third super and we've prepared a second hive in the hope that we can go into the summer operating two colonies.