Progress

Today, April 20, about a month since my last post, I have done 7 more splits. The first split, in that post was confirmed on 13 April, to have a laying queen. I am now up to 20 colonies – so perhaps only another two or three to go.

The four colonies in Roquefort and Chateauneuf are doing very well and each one enabled me to do a split. The next step is to take these colonies up to Coursegoules before they get too heavy. The smaller colonies in 6 frame hive boxes (ruchettes) will stay put until they have produced a queen.

I will then take them up to Coursegoules too.

My colonies at Coursegoules (8) are doing well on average, there were two hives that were bursting with a number of bees so I decided to make two splits. There is another hive that is coming along very well too. The other five are rather average. I have always had to remind myself that spring there is usually about a month behind Roquefort so one expects the development of those colonies to happen later.

One word of caution however, locally, we are suffering from near drought conditions. It has simply not rained enough over the winter, if at all. The flowers and other vegetation are not growing and the bees do not have enough to forage on. We are literally praying for rain. Meanwhile the local mayor has banned watering the garden, filling up pools, and cleaning cars etc. ….

Any questions and comments are welcome contact me at info@mjbees.com