Derelict Door.

I rashly volunteered to open my apiary to the club for tomorrow afternoon; then even more rashly, invited a neighbouring club to join us. It’s not that I have a lot to show, just the two colonies, one of which is not progressing as it should; even worse, one of the visitors will be the beekeeper who sold me the poor one. What’s wrong with it? Well, it’s a bit lazy - only working when the weather is at its best (in Scotland?) and it became a little aggressive last autumn. I intend to re-queen it as soon as there are drones in the area – provided I can find the queen – but, if all else I can sieve her out as she’s larger that the workers. Re-queening is a wonderful process, transforming the character of the colony within minutes whereas one would expect the process to take about six weeks – the life span of a worker bee.
 
I’ve also managed to invite the Scottish Bee Development officer to come and give us a talk, she’s keen to meet all the Scottish clubs; perhaps she’ll make up for the shortage of practical activity.
 
I spent the afternoon delivering chairs and tables for the picnic that always goes with these functions, a task that took an hour longer than it should have done because I was accosted by one of the volunteers at the Lost Garden. She’s completely ignorant about bees, but very interested, so I invited her as well.
 
I’m sure it will all be alright on the day – probably.
 
The doorway is a side entrance into the garden, not used much as access from the outside is a little difficult but, the view through it always looks inviting, particularly when the sun shines.
 
Thanks are due to Marlieske for hosting this week’s DerelictSunday, I’ll post a link once she’s updated her entry.