Fire Mountain Permaculture

A month ago I reported our bee catastrophe, when our bee hive was blown off the roof. Thanks to a rapid response by Gavin, the bee hive was reassembled from what remained, but the question was: would it recover? Last weekend was a busy bee weekend, with a hive opening on the Saturday in Maroubra,…

By

James

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Bee hives are very tough!

Opening up the hive, to check on its health.
Opening up the hive, to check on its health.

A month ago I reported our bee catastrophe, when our bee hive was blown off the roof. Thanks to a rapid response by Gavin, the bee hive was reassembled from what remained, but the question was: would it recover?

Last weekend was a busy bee weekend, with a hive opening on the Saturday in Maroubra, and a second opening at our house in Lewisham (both organised via the increasingly busy natural beekeeping AU/NZ list).

Katrina & John were kind enough to come over to help out, and Katrina took a pile of wonderful photographs, which are featured in this post.

Bees forming natural comb, and then rapidly filling it with honey.
Bees forming natural comb, and then rapidly filling it with honey.

The good news: the hive has recovered well, and is going strong. Phew!

While we’ve lost a bunch of honey, there are still plenty of bees, and the hive as a whole is healthy. Now we just need to give it a bit of time to fully recover, but that shouldn’t take long if the good weather continues.

Onwards to more honey!

This is the important bit: the brood cells in the middle of the photo, which hatch out new bees.
This is the important bit: the brood cells in the middle of the photo, which hatch out new bees.

Thanks again to Katrina and John, and to the whole Sydney natural beekeeping community for their help and support!

5 responses to “Bee hives are very tough!”

  1. Katrina Wilkins Avatar
    Katrina Wilkins

    James, it was an absolute pleasure to vista you and help out at your hive. The weather was much under than the day before when we opened our hive. As you know mid opening and the skies also opened. The bees were very accommodating for both visits.

    We would be happy to join you anytime.

    Regards

    Katrina

    Reply
  2. Katrina Wilkins Avatar
    Katrina Wilkins

    James, it was an absolute pleasure to visit you and help out at your hive. The weather was much kinder on Sunday than the day before when we opened our hive. As you know mid opening and the skies also opened. The bees were very accommodating for both visits.

    We would be happy to join you anytime.

    Regards

    Katrina

    Reply
  3. Gerry Heaton Avatar
    Gerry Heaton

    James

    Looks really good and healthy. Good stuff.

    Gerry

    >

    Reply
  4. solarbeez Avatar
    solarbeez

    I love to see natural comb being built instead of plastic foundation that so many beekeepers use. Glad your hive ‘came back.’

    Reply
  5. Caitlin | The Siren's Tale Avatar
    Caitlin | The Siren’s Tale

    Yay for healthy hives! Great news here 🙂

    Reply

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