Yes, it’s that time of year again. When I think:

• How are my bees looking?
• What is the plan for the year?
• What do I want to achieve?
• Maybe I should do some more of that blogging malarkey ….

Well anyway, a quick update from the edge of the flatlands.

12 colonies and 2 nuc’s made it through the winter. One of the nuc’s is weak but the other is strong and needs to graduate to a full sized hive.

The woodpeckers on one of my sites have clearly learned that the contents of beehives are edible, and are making breaches of their own:

That’s just a small part of the damage, there’s a pile of supers in the garage that Woody managed to have a go at, and I am slowly repairing / patching / generally bodging. There is also a brood box that needs quite a lot of TLC, along with the associated floor. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) there is a live colony in that box so it will have to be swapped out when, or if, the weather ever warms up. In the meantime some gaffer tape and rubber doormat is blocking the gaps.

So I’m now wrapping my hives over the winter, on that site at least.

The cold weather over the Easter period has given me the chance to get bodging. I am not sure filler is good enough for squaring up the edges of supers, so for damage to the edges I am generally cutting out and replacing with new wood. Time will tell how durable my repairs are ….

Anyway on with the season, and let’s see what 2021 has in store for us all!