6. An Unexpected Setback

1st October 2013

An Unexpected Setback

At last we had a sunshiny day forecast and Jamie and I suited up to crack open Hive 1 - The Beginning.

What should have been a happy hive of about 30 000 bees, turned out to be an empty hive filled with mold, slugs, snails and disappointment for two hardworking apiarists.

The mold on the frames is so bad we will have to completely strip them of wax and steam clean them. Photo taken October 1st 2013.

Some very fat slugs who had moved in after the bees moved out! Photo taken October 1st 2013.

The slabs which had been leveled to slope and keep the hives moisture free, had settled and everything in the hive is saturated. 

The bees of course would no way tolerate these second rate conditions and have taken off to look for more suitable accommodation. So Jamie and I find ourselves back at square one, or maybe negative one because we have some very hard and messy work ahead of us to clean up the moldy frames and supers. 

We will of course learn from this and take heart in the fact that many very experienced beekeepers have had problems with moisture in their hives this year. Next year we will lean the hives like the 'leaning tower of Piza' and put a sheet of corregate on to boot. Hindsight is such a wonderful thing - SIGH.

It is moments like this that remind you that 'living off the land' is filled with uncertainty and that a hard years work does not always pay dividends unless of course you are really into slugs!