Poo - Of Various Sorts

A toy - NOT a real poo.

Poo is a big thing in our house.  It's not uncommon for kids with autism to have issues with bladder and bowel and sure enough Harry is in there - not exactly with the greatest, but he gives it a good run for the money.  He'll happily urinate (until the cows come home), but when it comes to "dropping the kids off at the pool" he'll go through long periods of failing to keep it regular.  They can medicate for this, but the trick is to give them as little (leading to none) as possible so as to make it a regular as possible.  He'll get to the daily stage so we roll back on the meds and he'll be fine for some time, and then a set back (some minor illness, such as a cold or something like a trip out of town that doesn't go well) and he'll hold onto it for days.  He last went on Saturday (I'm writing this on a Friday).  So we're getting to the stage of medical intervention - which can make him go almost instantaniously.  But that doesn't help the long term, so it leads to daily pressure (I don't mean physically) to get him to go to the toilet and give it a "go".  It's not clear why Harry's "voiding" is an issue.  I read something that suggested that kids on the spectrum have issues with "letting go", but with Harry I think it's more to do with transition - from going from one activity to another.  He has to be slowly steered from one activity to another, so this sudden "need" to do something has to be fought and he has now found that if you fight it hard enough, it will soon pass.  At least temporarily.  And of course when he does go, it's uncomfortable - because he hasn't gone for so long.  Which teaches him to not want to go.

Before beeing a beekeeper I never thought about insect poo.  That also is an issue.  During the warmer months it's easy for them to defecate outside, but when the temperature drops these cleansing flights have to be brief and it's not unusual to find a number of bees dead outside the hive in winter who had to go poo, but just quite didn't make it back.  They can go many weeks without pooing, so with the arrival of spring their evacuation becomes something quite obvious, so if you park your car near a hive or if the neighbours hang out their washing, it can become very noticeable.  It's yellow and sticky (they eat honey -who'd 'a thunk) and some beekeepers refer to it as yellow rain.  Pooing inside the hive is a no-no, so if they do, it can be a urgent indicator of poor bee health, especially if it appears to be diarrhea and may require intervention.

So we'll see.  Both with the bees and with Harrry.  But I hope Harry gives in first.

Do Reindeers Sting?

We went to see Santa’s reindeer at a local garden centre on Saturday. There was a small Christmas market with food and the reindeer could be fed by the kids. We had breakfast there and it was just starting to get to the busy stage – busy enough that Harry was on edge – which put me on edge. His mum went to get some cutlery, leaving Harry and me for a few minutes and as luck would have it Harry then announced we wanted to go to toilet. No big deal, but Harry’s starting to be a bit more independent. We walked past the queue for the breakfast café towards the toilet. Harry’s already standing out because he’s wearing his ear defenders and then just as we’re about to go into the toilet he starts shouting at me. He doesn’t want me to go into the toilet with him and start shouting it at the top of his voice – if front of the whole queue. Like I’m some kind of paedophile. I’m not embarrassed – I don’t get embarrassed any more. But I am on the verge of dropping the C Bomb on everyone who’s staring at us. I didn’t. This time. I have done before.

So H&S Britain means signs like this appear, even though you’re encouraged to buy food to give to the reindeer. Wild animals bite – go figure. Especially when you’ve got reindeer food in your hand. It made me think about the most common question I get asked when people find out I’m a beekeeper – do you get stung? Yes, is the answer. Some times more than others, but on a bad day this season one hive got through my gloves seven times. They needed re-queening – and I was actually doing a manipulation to do that on that day. But seven stings is a lot. People react in different ways, but generally I get a bit of swelling and the site is itchy for a few days. And then it leaves a small red dot where the stinger went in – usually lasting a couple of weeks. The worst stings I get are to the head. Bees know to go towards the CO2 when they’re planning to sting, so it’s not uncommon to get head stings. But it doesn’t put me off. I’ve never been bitten by a reindeer.

Girls Are Mean...

Girls Are Mean...

99.9% of bees are females.  I'm exaggerating, must the vast majority are.  There's the queen who lays all the eggs and then there are workers who... well, do all the work.  And then there are the drones (the males), who are kept around for their genetic input.  They do nothing but consume the hive's resources and mate.  But that means that they can't sting (their stinger is replaced with a penis - apparently nature won't let you have both), so if you're ever stung by a bee, you know it was a girl.

In November there's not much to do for the beekeeper, but tidy up and make sure everything is in place for the winter.  I had to fix the stand my hives are on, which involved using a cordless drill.  Even though the bees weren't flying (it was about 8C) I had my bee suite on, just in case.  And good job I did - as soon as the bees felt the vibration of the drill, they came out to attack whatever was disturbing their slumber.  I had a few stings in my gloves, but none got through to the skin.  I don't blame the bees - they know that at this time of year if they had to deal with moving location or loosing their honey stores, they would surely die.  They know winter is on the way and what they have now needs to keep them going until the spring.

These were just a couple of the ladies who came out to greet me.  See how clean they are?  All that hair and their wings look perfect.  These are guard bees.  In the summer they would just be getting to the stage when they would be going out to forage for nectar and pollen.  But seeing as it's autumn, they'll stay in the hive, hopefully until next spring, keeping the queen warm.  Only coming out on the occasional cleansing flight and maybe to deal with invaders like me.

So they're not mean - just concerned citizens looking after the greater community.  My son, Harry, suffers from development learning delays because of his autism.  Harry is Harry, but I notice his autism the most when the neighbours' granddaughter comes to visit.  She was born a couple of months after Harry and is neurotypical - doing all the things you'd expect a nine year old girl to be getting up to.  She has a sister who is about two years old.  This weekend Harry and the two girls were playing hide and seek in the house.  Running after each other, taking turns to hide, screaming and shouting.  And because Harry has the largest dinosaur collection on the street, the younger of the two girls starting playing with some of them, to Harry's dismay.  I don't know if this is because of Harry's autism or because he's an only child, but Harry doesn't like to share.

It was lovely to see them all playing together.  Girls aren't mean.  

An Inspector Calls...

An Inspector Calls...

I have two hives - both BS Nationals. At the height of summer this may go up to four or five, but I like to start off with two at the start of the year. I used to give them names, but it became a bit silly. Last August the Seasonal Bee Inspector paid me a visit and asked me to number the hives for his records. I now have Hive 1 and Hive 2. Not as catchy as California and Steynburg, but I can at least remember which is which now.

The Bee Inspector, Chris Appleby, was a really nice guy. I say "was" because a few weeks after his visit I heard that he had sadly passed away. He made me think about beekeeping and what I was trying to do in "looking after bees". I worry, I think like many beekeepers, about whether I'm doing the right thing for my bees. He reminded me that there is always the option to do nothing - let the bees get on with what they're doing. Bees know best. I try to keep this at the front of my mind when looking at the bees - with varying degrees of success. Like most new beekeepers, I think I'm too quick to interfere. These bees lasted for millennia without me - I should take a step back and take time to think more often.

The hives tucked up for winter - March 2018

Here We Go...

Here we go....

I'm a beekeeper and the parent of a son who is autistic.  The two things dominate my life.  Someone suggested that I write something down - even if nobody reads it, it's good for the mental health innit.

I live in the north east of England, although I've moved around a lot.  I've been here for about 12 years now and took up beekeeping about four years ago.  The idea was to give me something to focus on which didn't take a lot of time - something I could be consumed by.  It works.