MrB's Bee House

Yesterday MrB mentioned he had done some tree clearing in front of his bee house which is set just in the forest. The forest  around the house also belong to him so he can do what he likes in terms of tree felling. 

I think he is going in to the industrial bee keeping business. I counted 14 hives and he later said he had another two at home in the garden. We also talked about the bee keeping club he is a member of - it's not a very active group but has the advantage of getting certain discounts on bee keeping products and membership includes insurance and the ability to use the German Bee Keeping logo/seals. I ought to join.

He also mentioned at the "spring" meeting recently, the reports are that this winter has seen hive death rates of around 25-40%. So I can count myself lucky with my 0%. Perhaps the rather harsh varroa treatment in late autumn helped but time will tell. The mites overwinter in the brood cells and will only now start to show as the larvae emerge for the spring. 

Also got an email from a UK beekeeper asking me to sign a petition to  . 
ban imports of bees from Italy as there is an outbreak of a certain beetle causing untold damage. UK stands a chance but MrB tells me that we have less chance here. He says tens of thousands of "industrial" German  bee hives are overwintered in Italy and there is also in the age of Amazon and Co a roaring trade in buying bee colonies via the internet. Apparently the price of a colony is soaring due to the losses. 

So need to look after my gals - better than having money in the bank which I haven't got anyway!