Another month has passed and I have noticed many eucalypts in flower. This is a positive sign that winter is coming to an end. Now is the time to make sure that all your frames and boxes are ready for the spring. Often when the bees start collecting they go hell for leather and we beekeepers are left trying to keep up.

A honeybee can carry up to 30 percent of its body weight in pollen because of the strategic spacing of its nearly three million hairs. The gap between each eye hair is approximately the same size as a grain of dandelion pollen, which is typically collected by bees. This keeps the pollen suspended above the eye and allows the forelegs to comb through and collect the particles. The legs are much hairier and the hair is very densely packed -- five times denser than the hair on the eyes.

With the weather getting cooler it is now a good time to clean up equipment and around the hives. Speaking from experience, it is much easier to fit wax to clean frames than have to clean the frames first, especially when you are in a hurry to do your hives, finding them full and then needing to put in more foundation!