At last the farmy is looking springy. I even mowed the lawns yesterday. Gardened for hours wearing a heat wrap to protect my back. And look at our new header, it says it all.
Charlotte’s shape is slowly changing.
I told her to open her eyes for this picture or it would look like she was dead. “She is too Fat to move her eyelids!” smartly grunted Sheila from out the back.
“Shut up in the cheap seats.” called back Char.
Donna’s magnolia is flowering in her garden out to the South.
Now, here is something interesting at the bee hives. Look below: This hive is very still the bees just sit all day. It is the weaker hive that took the brunt of the cold that first night they were here. 
Compare their inactivity with the hive below. It is busy, pollen is being brought home, bees are fanning at the door and they have set up the guards and the doormen.
Our little hive has lost its queen, almost definitely. They are drinking more sugar water (not foraging) , despondent, disorganised and still, just clinging to the side of the hive. The other hive is roaring along. I shall call the bee man today and see if he can fedex out a new queen for them. Hopefully they can hang on until she arrives. But isn’t that interesting, the huge and very obvious difference the queen makes to the hives mood. I shall keep you posted.
Good morning. Let’s hope all MY worker bees turn up today. I had better get going early so that everything is ship shape before they all arrive. With two crews (roofing and dry-walling) working in the same space it will be busy. If they all arrive that is, you never know.
Have a lovely day.
your friend, celi
cc
The Kitchen's Garden 
57 responses to “Sometimes piggies are not pretty but bees always are …”
hi c! i was working in my garden today and was thinking about the coupe. when i did my gardens, i had them install some 4 season water outlets. since they are running water to the coupe, i was thinking maybe you could ask them to install one for you so you would be able to use it in the winter. it sure comes in handy! they run the line deep enough so it does not freeze in winter. i was just thinking about it and thought i would mention it. joyce
Joyce that is an excellent idea, and no i had not thought of it, thank you for the brilliant thought i shall mention it tomorrow.. c
Here’s hoping for a new queen and soon for that hive to get those bees busy and in a good mood again! Loving the captures of the piggies – pigs are smart:) Happy Monday
That is so interesting that the bees without a queen sit rather listlessly. I wouldn’t have guessed that. Huh. Love the new spring look of the header. Makes me feel warm and fuzzy. 🙂
you should get a prize, being the only one who noticed! I love it, it is a little fuzzy but focus is over-rated! .. c
Perhaps if the bee man cannot help soon, you could take a frame of eggs from the healthy hive and put it in the weak hive for them to create their own queen? I’ve never had to buy a queen in yet… but the bees making their own is of course slower!
that is an excellent suggestion emily thank you, i shall keep that in mind if this happesn again.. i hope your bees are doing ok, i must pop over.. c
Yes, this is exactly the solution for queenlessness that Emily has given, and if it does ever happen again, the frame of eggs must be freshly laid and added soon enough after the original queen’s death(disappearance) that the girls haven’t yet started drone laying… (But the solution to that problem is another story altogether… :/) and I’ll need to have a look for more of your stories about this later. xo
The difference between the two hives is marked, Celi. I was listening to On Your Farm ( I think it was) where they were visiting beekepers who have lose half of their hives over the Winter. Very hard; and if there’s one thing our world needs more of, it’s bees!
I’d no idea how the bees would react without a queen. Isn’t that something! I hope you can get a new queen soon before you lose that hive completely. As for the contractors, you’re at their mercy. If only they were as energetic on the job as they are when they apply for the job. Glad your back is doing better and this has been a fantastic day. Tomorrow will be better. Yay!
we are going to languish in the sun tomorrow you and I, in our respective gardens!.. c
The color of the buds and the flowering magnolia are just lovely. Lovely to my winter weary eyes, although we have had spring for two days in a row now. Weather forecast calls for a plunge back into the 30s by the end of the week.
Oh NO, poor you, that is too horrible, this is going to be a short season i think! c
Your flower buds look beautiful! I thought of you this morning when I heard on the news a widely used insecticide has been banned in Europe and they are reviewing its use in Oz; because of its link to the destruction of bee population.
I’m very fortunate there are flowers in blossom most of the year in my garden, lots of frogs and flocks of visiting wee birds.
I hope your wild bees are still visiting, i must say i am quite taken by them! c
I love frogs too!! c
My home is the same way. I’ve been gone for five days, and my little hive is despondent and disorganized.
Poor wee darlings, clinging to the walls .. waiting for their queen to return.. 5 days is an awfully long time to leave your hive untended.. c
The difference in the two hives is very clear, and I had no idea just how important a queen is in the hive – the others are lost without her, don’t know what to do; so sad. Hope you are able to get a new queen for them real soon.
The weather here in Queensland is perfect today, I’m going out for a walk soon round our lake with a friend (after walking the dog of course!)
Have a great day Celi!
Those pigs are always pretty! I hope you get a new queen 😉
Hhmph: tradespeople all over the world always seem to have an excuse! Frustrating, especially for as organized a person as you! Those bees are sad to see: do hope the hive can be saved. Yes, there has been talk in the Oz media about damage done to our bee population too: hope the pros outshout the cons!!!! We have ‘community’ sprying programmes here a couple of times a year – guess who the obstreperous one is who refuses 🙂 ! But we are ‘green’ enough here now for me not to be forced . . . . Thanks for the blossoms, I only have some sasanqua camellias at the moment . . .
what is a sprying programme? are they a bit Do Goody? Bees are having a hard time.. I am not sure why those news media people are so surprised actually.. sprays kill insects you know i want to say to them.. with a good old teenage – DUH! c
Can’t spell, can I: it was meant to say ‘spraying programme’ – am ‘stuck’ in a ‘gated sort of’ community and ‘those things’ are taken care of!! It’s still kind’of taken for granted everything has to be sprayed all around for weeds, unwanted insects etc; I have refused since day dot!! The guys know me, grin and say ‘OK, OK, Eha . . . we’ll walk around all your stuff’ 🙂 ! I’m then there to pull weeds or pour boiling water over them . . . with great pleasure!
ah now I see what you mean.. yes.. c
C. Do you think the queen has gone on her virgin mating flight or met some early demise? Have you ever combined two hives using the newspaper trick? I’ve successfully done this a few times. If you want to try it, give me heads up and I’ll email how I accomplished it! Then your queen less bees will survive and you can order another complete hive. Awe…bee keeping-nothin’ but problem solving! Let me hear from you!
I have joined a hive like that and it was very successful, I cannot join these two though as they would tower their way straight up the two supers. however they do seem to have joined all by themselves so i am going to split them back and give them a new queen, it is still so early in the year to settle for just one.. this is on the advice of my bee man so fingers crossed… thank you though.. c
This is so fascinating, learning about the bees.
What a difference in the hives! Charlotte knows she’d better get her rest now, won’t be much after the piggies arrive.
too true!! c