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BEES NEED DIVERSE FORAGE
Believe it or not, French scientists have just established that honeybees thrive best when they have access to diverse forage and are able to feed their young with a good variety of pollen. Well, we have to be grateful, as science is something of an assailable touchstone in many people's minds and it is doubtful that the BBC would have published an article about it if some natural beekeeper had submitted this information, something so blindingly obvious that one would not normally bother to state it.
In case you are wondering, the lettering (in my take on Arabic script) means Beautiful Queen, the name of one of my "Einraumbeuten" meaning one-room-hive, developed and built by Uwe Bodenschatz in Germany. I have reason to believe that the incumbent bees appreciate their queen being honoured thus ... but there is no scientific proof, as yet. They originate from a swarm of a feral colony, hived four years ago. Last summer was the first year they filled the entire box, with all frames nearly fully drawn. A beautiful colony with the sweetest of temperament. They have never been exposed to the experience of smoke or a full-scale harvest as visited upon many colonies in autumn. I take the occasional frame of honey in the midst of a good flow, with their blessing, I like to imagine, as I have never been stung in the process. I look forward to seeing these lovely bees again soon.