BURGLARS BEE-WARE

..Or a string of stings

 LIVING in London's red light district of Soho presented many challenges but while there was evidence of criminal activity down some streets - prostitution, pimping, drugs - we residents were rarely affected.
 Perhaps local villains operating on street level made it too difficult for outsiders to muscle in on someone else's crime patch but whatever the reason, as a local property owner I never felt threatened.
 Similarly since moving to the countryside I've felt safe and secure but a recent spate of thefts in the region has shaken me and the rest of the beekeeping fraternity to the core.

PRICELESS: The humble honeybee

 In nearly 40 years of journalism I've never come across spates of hive theft but now there's an outbreak and I don't believe it has anything to do with the economy, social welfare cuts or other nasty policies targetted at the poor who are struggling to put bread on the table.

PARTNERS IN CRIME? No, it's my daughter

Daisy and her friend Tom.

You see whoever is nicking beehives and the colonies of bees contained inside must be one of us! Think about it. Not even the most desperate thief would lift a beehive without first going in properly dressed and while the couple on the left look perfectly harmless this is what beehive burglars must look like just before a crime; well let's face it a swag bag, face mask and stripey jumper is not going to protect a thief from a disturbed hive of angry bees.
 And would your ordinary thief know how to handle a hive of angry bees, anyway?
 While hives are not cheap - brand new they can cost anything from £200 upwards - the real value is the humble  bee inside which has become almost priceless this year following a series of rotten winters.
 As regulars to this blog know, me and my other half have been immersed in beekeeping books, enrolled on beekeeping courses and are members of the Caddonfoot BKA. We've got our kit, our hive tools and even our hives and apiary. In fact we have everything a beekeeper could want ... apart from bees. They're like gold dust and I won't get my hands on my first colony of bees until July from a Scottish breeder known simply as The Beeman.
 While I was aware of the odd hive and colony of bees disappearing in the region, it was a large-scale theft at his place which really shook me. Below is what he wrote in his online magazine:
                 .........................................................................................................

   Watch Out There's Some Nasty Evil Dirty Robbing Bas***ds
Last weekend we had one of our aparies robbed 13 top bar hives were taken and to add insult a further 25 were smashed or comb removed wiping out that apary and if i ever find them I will not be nice!
The customers who have been affected by this have been informed and all I can say is sorry that your orders had to be changed or put on hold. So as I stated in the last newsletter keep you eye on your hives with the shortage of bees and last winters losses in the UK bees are like gold dust. It is most likly to be other beekeepers doing this as to do this they must have to be booted and suited and your average tea leaf would run a mile when moving and smashing hives!               .........................................................................................................

My Warre hive looks
impressive but the real
value is what's inside ... when
my bees arrive.

It seems there's an apian black market - not just in this country but across Europe because of last year's rotten winter and non-existent summer - and break-ins at bee farms and individual homes make me suspect the thieves have a good knowledge of bees and how to sell them on in large numbers. When you consider a new colony is worth around £200 because of the unprecedented shortage we are talking big bucks.
 A recent wave of disease and pestilence, exacerbated by farmers using pesticides hasn't helped the heroic little honey bee either.
 So if any of you have any idea how I can protect my colony of bees when they arrive next month please do let me know. And next time you see someone dressed like a beekeeper it wouldn't harm to ask them a few pertinent questions or even take down their car number just in case.
 I only hope my goose patrol can thwart any would-be thieves - it's one thing having to handle a hive of angry bees but quite another having an angry gander on your tail as well.

NO YOLK IS NO JOKE

SHELL-SHOCKED: Can you spot the odd three out!

 .. Or who is failing to deliver in the hen pen? 

 ONE of the joys of keeping chickens is collecting their eggs towards the end of the day and now I'm picking up around nine from my dozen hens which I reckons is quite a good payback.

 At this rate I'll be setting up a roadside "eggs for sale" sign and operating an honesty box. Some of our visitors to the Borders are still talking about the concept with incredulity and commenting on how such a system could never work in the South ... a sad indictment on the age we live in, perhaps.

 But something decidedly odd has been happening in recent days - one of the Scots Dumpys is laying miniature eggs containing no yolk only egg white. I told hubby that we should market them as Californian Crackers for folk who don't want a yolk in their omlette but, of course, we can't guarantee the culprit will continue laying yolkless eggs for the rest of her laying life.

 I'm not sure who is the culprit - it can't be Josephine as she is sitting on a clutch of eggs having gone all broody - but the phenomenon sent me diving into the books and making phone calls to find out what is going on.

 Mis-shapen eggs are not that unusual - it's just supermarkets never put them out on the shelves and egg producers usually discard them.

 So far I've gleaned  that it can be a common occurrence in new layers who are still trying to sync their reproductive system, or it could be a lack of grit and oyster shell or it could be a sudden shock just as the egg is travelling down through the hen's system.

 Well my Dumpys by now should have no problems with their reproductive system and so I will put some extra oyster shell into the hen pen to avoid any more yolkless eggs which are known in the trade as fart eggs. I kid you not, that's what they're called - don't shoot the message folks, I'm merely passing on some inside knowledge.

WARNING: BARBARIAN AT WORK

.. Or bringing a touch of Algeria to the Borders

  MY husband is a Barbarian. No, he really IS a Barbarian. Born in some remote mountain village in the Berber region of Algeria, he often talks with a great fondness about his birthplace and the centuries-old traditions which have come to define the people who live there.

DANGER: Barbarian at work

 So when we moved to the Borders he said he would feel quite at home and put into practice some of the ways of his village. This actually filled me with dread in case he was expecting me to get up at 5am every day, milk a herd of goats, make a round of cheese and bake a dozen loaves of bread while collecting the wood, lighting the fires and getting the breakfast ready for the man of the house ... and all before 8am. That's what he reckons Algerian women in his village do, anyway.
 For the past few days he has disappeared off into the wood and apart from the noise of the chainsaw, tree branches snapping and other timber-like sounds I've not bothered to find out exactly what he's been up to focussing more instead on becoming a bee keeper. It's still some weeks away before I get my first colony but I want to make sure I am well prepared for the new arrivals.

  FOX-proof fence                       

 So imagine my surprise today when I went to see for myself what was occupying hubby's time. It turns out he has been building a fox-proof barrier to protect the turkeys, should they want to try nesting outside again. OK, so it's not Hadrian's Wall but it is an environmentally friendly version of a dry stone wall and it's a mega impressive structure.

 As you can see from the pictures the base is built with an intricate weave of tiny branches he snapped off from the lower trunks of trees and as the wall gets taller the size of the branches become thicker and stronger. They have been reclaimed from storm damaged trees on the forest floor. It's quite amazing, I'm sure you will agree. He proudly says the design is Algerian and will enable tiny creatures like mice and voles to pass through while blocking the path of our enemies Mr Fox and Old Brock.

 He also reckons birds will be drawn like magnets during the nesting season and his wall will become a host to all sorts of wildlife while repelling the predators who've made our lives such a misery these last few weeks. Regular visitors to this blog know the pain we've endured following the loss a nesting goose and turkey. Should you want to build a similar barrier I am sure my husband will be happy to advise and give some tips on how make such a structure. I'd also love to hear your feedback as well.

 I may even show the design to SNP leader Alex Salmond should, in the event of Scotland being blessed with independence, he wants a cost effective and environmentally friendly version of the Roman Wall built to keep out the neighbours south of the Borders!

SILO SNIPPETS

The first cuckoo

AN EXCITING start to a great day began with the sound of the first cuckoo I've heard in the Borders. Now I just need to keep my eyes peeled for the dove-sized grey bird. Their population is in decline but let's hope this summer visitor manages to lay some eggs. The parasitic bird lays her eggs in the nests of other unsuspecting birds like the Dunnock of which there are plenty around here.