Diva Hens & Gardening Tales

Diva Hens & Gardening Tales Personal Blog

This is a frame out of Olive's colony. Olive is a queen made from a split around July last year. This year she's been st...
22/05/2026

This is a frame out of Olive's colony. Olive is a queen made from a split around July last year. This year she's been struggling to lay workers (females). She's been increasingly laying drones (males) which is no good for the future of the hive.

Her female workers have decided that it's time to replace her. So, they have prepared a supercedure queen cell which they have stuffed full of royal jelly. The peanut looking thing in the middle of the frames.

The new queen should emerge from her cell in a week. She will then go out on a mating flight and hopefully return to be the new queen of the colony, laying lots of workers in about 6 weeks time.

Now it's just a waiting game.

The bees have kept me busy for 3 full days. There had better be a sweet reward after all the time they're taking up.
16/05/2026

The bees have kept me busy for 3 full days. There had better be a sweet reward after all the time they're taking up.

Another month has passed. Spring is still hanging on, and summer doesn't seem to be able to get started.The bees seem to...
10/05/2026

Another month has passed. Spring is still hanging on, and summer doesn't seem to be able to get started.

The bees seem to have taken more of my time this year, so the garden and growing seems to be a bit (actually a lot), behind schedule.

If you remember though, I had promised myself not to be such a slave to the garden, and grow less. That seems to have happened courtesy of my buzzing Diva girls.

Where did March go? Time for a little update on what's been growing in the garden. Many of you will have seen these plan...
02/04/2026

Where did March go? Time for a little update on what's been growing in the garden.

Many of you will have seen these plants before. But if you're a gardener, you'll appreciate that the arrival of spring is one of the most exciting time of the year for growers of anything edible or flowering.

26/03/2026

The new Diva girl's extra space is coming along nicely.

Thanks to hubby, they have their own new chicken drawbridge direct into their new space. And a new gate for me to get in and out to check on them.

I still have some tidying to do and to fill my new plant table with the plants I have available for sale. Plant table also made by hubby.

Not that i wasn't capable, i might add. But if I'd been doing all of this, I'd have been at it for months and probably have cut, bruises and a load more injuries to show for it.

I'll stick to plants and animals. Relatively safer than power tools. 🤣

I need to work out how I add plant sales to this page. I'm fast running out of space in the borders and some more grass may need to be dug up 🫣

Yesterday the plan was to get into the garden for the day and maybe get some seeds sown. But it didn't go like that at a...
08/03/2026

Yesterday the plan was to get into the garden for the day and maybe get some seeds sown. But it didn't go like that at all.

I went to do my fortnightly winter check on the bees after breakfast. And sadly found that one of my colonies had died 😢.

I'd been suspicious about this colony for a while as there had been a lot of dead bees outside the hive on my last few visits. So I wasn't really surprised. But still sad when it happens.

You care for them all year for little or no honey and then they're gone.

To give you an idea, cost if bees, frames and wax that can't be re-used, treatments for varroa, feed = approx £200 from set up for 1 year. And this colony gave me no honey. The life of a bee keeper isn't easy. But rewarding in so many other ways.

I still have 5 other colonies, who at the moment seem ok. So there's still hope with spring just starting.

A hearty breakfast before a day in the garden and greenhouse.
07/03/2026

A hearty breakfast before a day in the garden and greenhouse.

06/03/2026

The space behind the garage and chicken run is going to have another change of use this year.

Last year after removing the compost bin, it was used to house the containers of potatoes and squashes.

This year the plan is to give it to the Diva girls. Today was a lovely spring day. So after a big 2 day greenhouse tidy, it was time to let the girls see their new space. And they love it 😀

I did a bit of tidying. Moved the tubs and bags of soil, found a spot for my little table and chair, poured myself a drink and sat with my girls for about an hour. The sound of happy hens clucking and scratching is very therapeutic. Just what I needed this week.

The snowdrops are in flower around the estate and generally it's been getting milder. So, yesterday I decided to give my...
20/02/2026

The snowdrops are in flower around the estate and generally it's been getting milder. So, yesterday I decided to give my bees some small tubs of candipolline alongside their normal fondant.

I'm relieved that so far all 6 colonies have made it through the winter.

We're not out of the woods yet. But, going into February with hives that still have life in them, 5 months since you closed them up for the winter, is still a relief.

Hopefully, HRH Queenie has survived in each hive. I'll need to wait until about April to know for sure.

Today its cold and wet. So what did I do? I decided to tend to my compost bins.If you remember, last year I got rid of m...
15/02/2026

Today its cold and wet. So what did I do? I decided to tend to my compost bins.

If you remember, last year I got rid of my bay bins in favour of a hot composter.

The capacity isn't as much. And during the winter, composting really slows down. But so far, I'm happy with the results.

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