Bee Hive Blooms Garden Festival

great close-up

thanks S, one of my daughters photos.
we are both thinking on going on a bee keeping course

my uncle has bees, they got me suited up and i really enjoyed the experience,, they just never stop working,,

are you serious Eileen ?? a good photo ........

Sorry to be picky, but these are honey bees, not bumble bees. Good for you Irish, go and do your bee keeping course and enjoy every minute of it.

yes honey bees toto,, who mentioned bumble bees,, sorry just noticed you mean on the feature!

You cracked it then.

lol, it took a bit of time toto,, but got there lol

I was doing the same thing... bumble bees...who said something about bumble bees??? Feature? What feature? Oh...Featured on! Gottcha!
Irish is this a photo of a photo or the real thing? It almost looks like a panting. Nice whatever it is :)

this is the real thing tracey, the beekeeper had a hive with him at the show

Wonderful Picture!

was hard to get a good photo PP as they were behind glass but i think she did well with this one

GO FOR IT EILEEN AND ENJOY
I am sure you will

Nice job, I adore these little workers. We have mason bees here in Canada, apparently 200 mason bees will do the same as 10,000 honeybees will do! We built little homes for them, & hang it in our fruit trees. Google it, quite amazing.

Bees from the hive have bodies bare,
and makes us lots of honey.
Now bumbles have a lot of hair,
and seem to be a little rare,
on garden plants when sunny.

well whatever they are its a fab picture but you are braver than i am always make me cringe a little.

thanks Marann.
sounds interesting Doon, i will google it and have a look

good one Linda.

thanks Jewells

I am going to buy a bee box to put into the garden for the bumble bees. Bees are having a tough time of it at the moment so I thought at least I'd try to help the wild ones, although I miss the beekeeping Irish. It is a very interesting hobby, and the hive is a very busy place with lots of activity going on. I always go to the bee tent to see the bees in the glass hive section. Look out for the large bee with the spot of paint on....that is the queen. The boss of the hive. We were queenless once and the hive hummed.......and when I realised I went and got a queen from an Apiarist and the hive settled down again almost within the hour.

a bee box for the garden is a great idea Linda.
i did see the queen be at the show, liek you said she had a spot of paint on her.

I made a bee box a few years ago - never had any takers tho :-( I heard recently that if you get a teapot, put a bit of dried grass in and bury it so only the end of the spout sticks out, then that makes a good bee-box-come-bee-teapot thingy lol Only thing is, I've been looking for cheap teapots and if you look inside, the spout doesn't go straight into the teapot - instead there are a load of little holes whcih are too small for the bees to get through.......i'll keep searching tho.......

Incidentally, I've not seen many honey bees in my garden recently, but, boy, I've got LOADS of bumbles! The garden is humming with them!

So true, our California lilacs are alive with bumble bees. I love these bees as well, the remind me of little flying 'tanks", so heavy & not dainty like the honeybees. I find them gentle & just zooming from flower to flower. I am always amazed how fat they R come Spring time. Keep looking 4 those teapots. So Sid do only one bee occupy a tea pot??would be kinda lonely LOL!!

Have you had a look in the charity shops? You might find one in there. You could try blocking the open end off a clay flowerpot and using the hole in the bottom for the entrance. Just a thought. We haven't had any honey bees around here, but a lot depends on who is keeping them and how far away the hives are because they will only fly a few miles back and forth to the hive.

Doon - Yes I like the bumbles too :-) I think they build their nest in the teapot as bumbles (over here at least) nest underground in things like old mouse holes. I don't think they live in big families like honey bees tho.

Lindak - hmm - that's a good idea - think I've missed the boat this year, but will defo do Something next year. Havnt tried charity shops, but been round a few carboots and emptied my cupboards here looking for old tea pots lol