Well, for those who have been wondering why I haven't blogged. Well, nothing is going on.. like nothing, like the bees did not survive the winter. In reality bees do not take a lot of work, so all summer there was not much to report.
It was great to peer at them through the window, and they build a fair amount of comb. But by the fall they had not made enough honey that we could harvest any. OK, that is fairly common the first year of a new colony, so we just "let them bee".
We knew that often bees need feeding especially the first winter, but we just didn't understand when. On a few warm days in January we saw the bees coming out, and thus thought they were doing fine. In the very cold months we didn't want to check on them, lest we make their survival worse. When we finally got out to really see how they were doing in March, there was no sign of them. I guess they found a more suitable home, we didn't see any bee bodies. We probably should have been feeding them in January.
We have been MUCH happier with our Long hive than with our Warre Hive. That Warre hive has been a problem from the start, so I am not anxious to get more bees started n that one. But we would like to get a swarm to repopulate the long Top-Bar hive. We have had a couple of opportunities this summer but we have both been busy (or out of town) and just couldn't see adding to our plate. We even opted not to grow a garden this year, which has turned out to be a good decision, since we are not, and have not been home all summer.
The hummingbird have also not returned in any quantity this year, so perhaps it is too dry for much to survive.. I think it is all in the plan! We will have bees again, but probably not this summer, and when we do, we will write here. Please be patient with us, and our empty hives ;-)
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Our first visit to the hive
I've been bugging Mike to get out and check on the hive, meaning to open her up and take some photos... and do whatever we are supposed to do... That was part of the problem, what exactly are we supposed to do?
Well, basically, our TBH Hive has windows, so we knew that the bees were building, and they had about 5 combs built. And we could see bees coming and going and carrying Pollen back in, so that is a good sign too. But periodically you should open them up, look for larvae, look for eggs, Look for capped cells and look for honey. We need to expand the area that they can build, when they fill up what we have given them. You should do this with some regularity so that you know "what is normal". We don't know what that regularity is. We also have heard that you shouldn't disturb them too much. You also should only open them up early morning, or evening, when the bees are calmer, and when it's not too windy/cold/ etc. Seems conditions were never just right.
But we got out there this morning. First going to the TBH. When Mike took off the lid, some of the top bars stuck to it and lifted up, but then fell off.... Not great. (My camera also wasn't focusing well.. so you get what you get.) One comb broke completely off, so we brushed the bees off of that and set aside to take back to the house with us. One comb was being built on the divider... not sure what to do about that. We didn't open up the other top bars to inspect them. We did scoop our and toss out a bunch of bees that had not made it through the installation.
Next we went out to the Warre Hive. This is the hive we have been messing up on since the foiled up installation! We installed the bees in the bottom box (after the package broke at the back porch). Then since we didn't have a well thought out feeder plan, we put another box on top and put the food in that, then realized that the roof did not fit on that box, so we put another box, and then the lid. We only put top bars on the lowest box, since that is where we wanted them to build. Well Duh! The bees build from the top. So now we have 5 beautiful combs built on the roof... No way to separate and inspect them without destroying them. And we have no windows on that hive, so we had to open it up and check it (we actually knew there were problems because a couple days after installation we had gone down and had to open up the hive to check/refill the food... We found them building on the top but did not know what to do. We did however move the food out of the hive, so we could access and fill it better.) Anyhow, Mike opened up the top of the hive. I salvaged a piece of comb that had fallen off and brushed the bees back in, we rearranged the top bars a bit and put her back together, still not knowing how to solve this one. I had hoped the bees had built on one side of the roof, but no, it was right square centered so pretty full up with hive built in the wrong spot. Whatever.
Well, basically, our TBH Hive has windows, so we knew that the bees were building, and they had about 5 combs built. And we could see bees coming and going and carrying Pollen back in, so that is a good sign too. But periodically you should open them up, look for larvae, look for eggs, Look for capped cells and look for honey. We need to expand the area that they can build, when they fill up what we have given them. You should do this with some regularity so that you know "what is normal". We don't know what that regularity is. We also have heard that you shouldn't disturb them too much. You also should only open them up early morning, or evening, when the bees are calmer, and when it's not too windy/cold/ etc. Seems conditions were never just right.
But we got out there this morning. First going to the TBH. When Mike took off the lid, some of the top bars stuck to it and lifted up, but then fell off.... Not great. (My camera also wasn't focusing well.. so you get what you get.) One comb broke completely off, so we brushed the bees off of that and set aside to take back to the house with us. One comb was being built on the divider... not sure what to do about that. We didn't open up the other top bars to inspect them. We did scoop our and toss out a bunch of bees that had not made it through the installation.
Next we went out to the Warre Hive. This is the hive we have been messing up on since the foiled up installation! We installed the bees in the bottom box (after the package broke at the back porch). Then since we didn't have a well thought out feeder plan, we put another box on top and put the food in that, then realized that the roof did not fit on that box, so we put another box, and then the lid. We only put top bars on the lowest box, since that is where we wanted them to build. Well Duh! The bees build from the top. So now we have 5 beautiful combs built on the roof... No way to separate and inspect them without destroying them. And we have no windows on that hive, so we had to open it up and check it (we actually knew there were problems because a couple days after installation we had gone down and had to open up the hive to check/refill the food... We found them building on the top but did not know what to do. We did however move the food out of the hive, so we could access and fill it better.) Anyhow, Mike opened up the top of the hive. I salvaged a piece of comb that had fallen off and brushed the bees back in, we rearranged the top bars a bit and put her back together, still not knowing how to solve this one. I had hoped the bees had built on one side of the roof, but no, it was right square centered so pretty full up with hive built in the wrong spot. Whatever.
We went back in our house with our two pieces of comb that fell off, We had brushed all the bees off that comb and put the comb on a plate. A few minutes later we saw a bee crawling on the comb, so we took it out, and brushed him off. Went back in the house and a few minutes later saw another bee on the comb. So we took a closer look and discover a dozen or so bees were being born, and emerging from cells. That was pretty cool to watch. Grabbed my camera. Click on these to get a close look. The one below has a bee going in to clean out the cell. The third photo shows a section that had no larvae.. just honey. Cool. We harvested the honey and had honey from our own bees for breakfast!
Click on the photos to enlarge and see the bees being born.
Oh yeah.. The first bee sting on Mike's finger.
Harvested Honey^
Thursday, April 22, 2010
THE BEES ARE HERE!
So the bees were supposed to be here Friday... guess I posted that, but they emailed and told us they were to be mailed on Tuesday (arrival for Wednesday). Tuesday morning at 6am Mike got an email that said the bees were shipped. They were coming from Utah UPS. We discussed how odd it was that they could have been shipped so early in the morning, but Mike was sure they had just sent the email, and indicated that they were mailed Tuesday morning. So he went off to Salida to pick up some fencing supplies and then wanted to fish... The Arkansas river, two miles from our house claims one of the nations most prolific caddis fly hatches, and we have missed it for the last three years since we have lived here. He is determined to hit it this year.
Well, I'm sure you are ahead of me already.. The bees showed up around 10 am Tuesday. I called Mike and although I could not reach him, he did get the message just as he hit the river. He was not happy as his fishing was spoiled, and secondarily, although we have been planning and waiting for a year we were not totally prepared, we still had to level the Warre Hive, and put spacers between the top bars.
We bought 3 colonies, two for us, and one for Marvin and Paula, friends in town. The plan was Marvin wanted to come watch the bee installation and then we would all go to Marvin's house and install his. He was to bring the marshmallows. You are supposed to uncork the queen cage replacing that with a marshmallow, then the queen can eat herself out within the next few days and by then she is accepted by the colony. Well Marvin was out hiking with the hiking club, and couldn't be reached. Mike wanted to get the bees in as quickly as possible. After we got the hive settled we took the bars off holding the 3 packages together. That's when is all fell apart.. literally. One of the packages broke open, still on the porch. Bees started pouring out. We grabbed a plastic bag and put the box in there, but bees were flying everywhere. If we hadn't panicked we would have realized the queen was still in the cage, and the bees were not going to go anywhere. But we did. Stress was high, and we didn't have any marshmallows. We in fact had no candy of any sort... We briefly discussed making a sugar paste, so I went in to do that. I ended up making it way too thin, runny, and decided maybe craisins would work, especially if we used the paste to glue them in place. So I headed out.
Mike didn't think the bees would eat craisins and thought that was a bad idea, so we proceeded with the paste, which was the consistency of syrup and was obviously not going to work! I headed back to the house to dump a bunch more sugar in, and Mike was yelling at me to hurry up, and thus in my haste I dumped the sugar in and kneading it, headed back down. But by the time I got back to the hive, the water had absorbed and the paste was still too runny. We opened the cage and shoved a bunch in, put the queen in the hive and put the plastic bag with the bees over the hive, and left it. We fully expected the sugar to "run" out, the queen to get out way too early, the bees to kill her, and then be on there way to find another queen.. Feel sick and helpless we gathered our whits about us before going to the next hive.
This time we took our time and make a much better paste.. This time we were not at each others throats. This time it seemed to go like bookwork. This time I got some pictures! Then we went off to take Marvin's bees to him and get them settled in his hive.
That evening I went out to check on the hive and saw no signs of life.. I worried all night and slept poorly, and went out first thing in the morning. Still no sign of bees, and no buzzing! I looked in the window and saw a lot of dead bees, and no live ones. I felt sick, I was sure they all died or left. I came back and told Mike, and we both were very bummed out about it. We thought our bee adventure was over.. three strikes and you are out. About 11 am Mike went back out to the hives.. and there were bees buzzing about! Yes we had a lot of casualties but the bees were still there and working! I had just been out too early in the morning and it was cold. I would have thought they would make noise, but no.. So now, Thursday, they have eaten one quart jar of food and seem to be quite active.. during the warmth of the day.... Whew, we are breathing a little easier! Now we are supposed to stay away, and not bother them for a week or so, other than checking on their food. The Warre hive isn't eating their food as fast, and not sure what is going on there, but in the heat of the day the bees are coming and going in that hive too, so for now our hopes are high again.
Well, I'm sure you are ahead of me already.. The bees showed up around 10 am Tuesday. I called Mike and although I could not reach him, he did get the message just as he hit the river. He was not happy as his fishing was spoiled, and secondarily, although we have been planning and waiting for a year we were not totally prepared, we still had to level the Warre Hive, and put spacers between the top bars.
We bought 3 colonies, two for us, and one for Marvin and Paula, friends in town. The plan was Marvin wanted to come watch the bee installation and then we would all go to Marvin's house and install his. He was to bring the marshmallows. You are supposed to uncork the queen cage replacing that with a marshmallow, then the queen can eat herself out within the next few days and by then she is accepted by the colony. Well Marvin was out hiking with the hiking club, and couldn't be reached. Mike wanted to get the bees in as quickly as possible. After we got the hive settled we took the bars off holding the 3 packages together. That's when is all fell apart.. literally. One of the packages broke open, still on the porch. Bees started pouring out. We grabbed a plastic bag and put the box in there, but bees were flying everywhere. If we hadn't panicked we would have realized the queen was still in the cage, and the bees were not going to go anywhere. But we did. Stress was high, and we didn't have any marshmallows. We in fact had no candy of any sort... We briefly discussed making a sugar paste, so I went in to do that. I ended up making it way too thin, runny, and decided maybe craisins would work, especially if we used the paste to glue them in place. So I headed out.
Mike didn't think the bees would eat craisins and thought that was a bad idea, so we proceeded with the paste, which was the consistency of syrup and was obviously not going to work! I headed back to the house to dump a bunch more sugar in, and Mike was yelling at me to hurry up, and thus in my haste I dumped the sugar in and kneading it, headed back down. But by the time I got back to the hive, the water had absorbed and the paste was still too runny. We opened the cage and shoved a bunch in, put the queen in the hive and put the plastic bag with the bees over the hive, and left it. We fully expected the sugar to "run" out, the queen to get out way too early, the bees to kill her, and then be on there way to find another queen.. Feel sick and helpless we gathered our whits about us before going to the next hive.
This time we took our time and make a much better paste.. This time we were not at each others throats. This time it seemed to go like bookwork. This time I got some pictures! Then we went off to take Marvin's bees to him and get them settled in his hive.
Moments before the tragedy!
This is the package.. The inset can has food for the bees,
the tab to the right is attached to the queen cage.
You pull out the food, slide the queen cage down the slot to the opening, then put the can back.
Our Queen!
10,000 bees
Our Warre Hive with a bag overtop!
All closed up and ready to start makin' honey!
Bees at the Warre Hive.
Signs of life.
Marvin got the whole suit... Now how does this go??
The excited beekeepeers
Marvin's Queen
Dumping the bees in.
Paula cautiously watches from a distance!
(Ben is fearless)
Friday, April 16, 2010
Warre Hive
Well, the bees were supposed to come today, but alas one more delay. This morning they told us they will be mailed on the 19.. so three more days. So close we can taste honey! So of course I will be documenting the event in photos, and since I still haven't told you much about the Warre hive, I'll dedicate this blog to that topic. First I guess I should explain that after our failure to get bees last year, we are ordering 2 colonies instead of one, therefore we needed another hive. We decided to try the other kind just to see which one we liked better.
The Warre hive is also a top bar hive, meaning no frames. We got plans for this hive online also, so built it to spec, but this hive is vertical, rather than horizontal like the other one, so has more in common with traditional Langstroth hives. The bottom box is the brood box, the next box up is for the bee honey stores. Then the top two will be for harvesting. And finally a roof for the hive. We can make more if that is necessary.
I post a few more photos so you can get the idea..
We also got chickens last Friday, boy they are growing fast. No coop yet, but I'm keeping the discussion of our chicken adventures over on our Alpaca blog.. so many blogs, so little time!
The Warre hive is also a top bar hive, meaning no frames. We got plans for this hive online also, so built it to spec, but this hive is vertical, rather than horizontal like the other one, so has more in common with traditional Langstroth hives. The bottom box is the brood box, the next box up is for the bee honey stores. Then the top two will be for harvesting. And finally a roof for the hive. We can make more if that is necessary.
I post a few more photos so you can get the idea..
We also got chickens last Friday, boy they are growing fast. No coop yet, but I'm keeping the discussion of our chicken adventures over on our Alpaca blog.. so many blogs, so little time!
Friday, February 19, 2010
The Bees are Ordered!
We have placed our order for bees from a place in Utah this year. We have ordered 2 colonies of Carniolan. They have been promised to arrive in late April/Early May. I've adjusted to time clock for May 1. 70 days left at this point! ;-)
This year we cut out the middle man in our ordering and got on the list earlier, so hope we have alleviated some of the problems we had last year. Our lonely hive sits out in the woods awaiting its residents peacefully, covered in snow! We have started a second hive. This time we are building a Warre hive. This is also a top-bar hive, just of a different style. So it still supports our previous posts about our philosophy regarding top-bar hives. We have just barely gotten that hive started, so I'll follow up with photos as the progress goes along. We decided to order two colonies this year because of our dismal experience last year! This will give us twice the chance for success.
We also have ordered chickens for this spring, and will have to build a coop in the next month or so... but I guess that is another blog!
This year we cut out the middle man in our ordering and got on the list earlier, so hope we have alleviated some of the problems we had last year. Our lonely hive sits out in the woods awaiting its residents peacefully, covered in snow! We have started a second hive. This time we are building a Warre hive. This is also a top-bar hive, just of a different style. So it still supports our previous posts about our philosophy regarding top-bar hives. We have just barely gotten that hive started, so I'll follow up with photos as the progress goes along. We decided to order two colonies this year because of our dismal experience last year! This will give us twice the chance for success.
We also have ordered chickens for this spring, and will have to build a coop in the next month or so... but I guess that is another blog!
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Not this year
Well, I can't say that our bee experience has been a good one.. in fact it seems to keep going downhill. Now, end of August and still no bees. And in fact the guy we ordered from has not gotten them in either and is not expecting them until April....
Also the Bee-club has decided that we killed our bees so they will not give us another swarm (not directly said, but this is the result) We are blacklisted at the bee club. The last meeting was so frustrating we have decided not to return. They were not supportive of Top-Bar hives anyway. In fact the whole of the club seems to be run by this one guy who is a commercial beekeeper and sells all equipment etc. Since we didn't buy equipment from him, we are obviously wrong, and killed our bees.
SO, our adventure continues. If we got bees this late we would be feeding them throughout the winter anyway.. and we don't want to do that. So we will order now, early, and get them in April. And not from the guy that we ordered from this year. He was ordering them elsewhere anyway, so why not cut out the middleman....
SO all you patient friends and wanna bee bee keepers... check back in the spring as I'm sure there will be no developments until then.
Also the Bee-club has decided that we killed our bees so they will not give us another swarm (not directly said, but this is the result) We are blacklisted at the bee club. The last meeting was so frustrating we have decided not to return. They were not supportive of Top-Bar hives anyway. In fact the whole of the club seems to be run by this one guy who is a commercial beekeeper and sells all equipment etc. Since we didn't buy equipment from him, we are obviously wrong, and killed our bees.
SO, our adventure continues. If we got bees this late we would be feeding them throughout the winter anyway.. and we don't want to do that. So we will order now, early, and get them in April. And not from the guy that we ordered from this year. He was ordering them elsewhere anyway, so why not cut out the middleman....
SO all you patient friends and wanna bee bee keepers... check back in the spring as I'm sure there will be no developments until then.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Our First Colony
About time for a bee update.
We have been very disappointed because the bees that we ordered to assure that we would get bees this spring, never got delivered. By now that guy is telling us it will be mid July. This is all due to being down on the a long list of customers for the guy selling the bees.
In the meantime we put ourselves on the swarm list to get a free local feral colony. With all the water we have gotten this spring the bees are multiplying like crazy, and it's now swarm season. We got a call Tuesday night, asking if we still wanted a swarm... Yes! The guy said "Great I'm going out to collect it in the morning. I'll call if it turns out to be a viable colony and you can come pick it up." Well in the morning we got call from person B asking if we wanted a swarm.. So of course I told person B that we were already getting one we hoped from caller A. She said "Ok, but a bee in hand is worth two in the bush" (I just made that up..) that is not exactly what she said... but I thought, humm what if the Guy A comes home empty handed or his swarm is not viable.... I'd better accept Caller B's bees. So Mike was off to pick them up.
We brought them home and put them in our waiting hive. Mike actually thought they were rather lethargic.
The next morning there were many dead bees on the door stoop of the hive. On Friday, when I returned from Albuquerque, I peeked in the window to find only few bees moving inside.. Bummer! On Saturday we opened up the hive and found piles of dead bees, about 24 live bees clustered together, but no queen that we can identify. We cleaned them up and tonight (Tuesday) there are still 24 bees hanging around, which I really don't understand since they are Queenless, but they are also not building comb, so need to ask someone about that.
When we called people in the bee club the concensus is that they must have been sprayed with insecticide before they called the swarm control, even though the people said they did not. But it is pretty abnormal for bees to die like that.
So we are back on the swarm list, and now we have cancelled our order for bees... so keep your fingers crossed. (Of course guy A told me too bad that I hadn't stayed with his swarm, because it was a HUGE swarm.... yeah whatever!)
We have been very disappointed because the bees that we ordered to assure that we would get bees this spring, never got delivered. By now that guy is telling us it will be mid July. This is all due to being down on the a long list of customers for the guy selling the bees.
In the meantime we put ourselves on the swarm list to get a free local feral colony. With all the water we have gotten this spring the bees are multiplying like crazy, and it's now swarm season. We got a call Tuesday night, asking if we still wanted a swarm... Yes! The guy said "Great I'm going out to collect it in the morning. I'll call if it turns out to be a viable colony and you can come pick it up." Well in the morning we got call from person B asking if we wanted a swarm.. So of course I told person B that we were already getting one we hoped from caller A. She said "Ok, but a bee in hand is worth two in the bush" (I just made that up..) that is not exactly what she said... but I thought, humm what if the Guy A comes home empty handed or his swarm is not viable.... I'd better accept Caller B's bees. So Mike was off to pick them up.
We brought them home and put them in our waiting hive. Mike actually thought they were rather lethargic.
The next morning there were many dead bees on the door stoop of the hive. On Friday, when I returned from Albuquerque, I peeked in the window to find only few bees moving inside.. Bummer! On Saturday we opened up the hive and found piles of dead bees, about 24 live bees clustered together, but no queen that we can identify. We cleaned them up and tonight (Tuesday) there are still 24 bees hanging around, which I really don't understand since they are Queenless, but they are also not building comb, so need to ask someone about that.
When we called people in the bee club the concensus is that they must have been sprayed with insecticide before they called the swarm control, even though the people said they did not. But it is pretty abnormal for bees to die like that.
So we are back on the swarm list, and now we have cancelled our order for bees... so keep your fingers crossed. (Of course guy A told me too bad that I hadn't stayed with his swarm, because it was a HUGE swarm.... yeah whatever!)
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Last minute details ... but no bees
Well the bees we ordered were supposed to be picked up in New Mexico last weekend, and assuming the guy wouldn't want them hanging around much, I expected to get them on Monday or so. So Mike and I busily finished the last minute details to get ready for the bees.
We have bought the clothing, hats and gloves. We are going to tape our pantlegs shut and tuck in our shirts and try to get by with that. Seems most experienced beekeepers quickly shed the gloves, and not too long later the hat, but for our own comfort we got the hats and gloves, and we'll start out that way. Besides, I'm sure they will be handy to have around when guests come, etc.
Cute huh?
We also will not be using a smoker. When you smoke bees they react in a panic mode of gorging themselves on honey, to prepare for what might be a forest fire and drive them from their home. This was they will be full enough to get to a new home, since it might be a while before they are able to forage for food again. Bees that are engorged with honey are more lethargic, and not as protective of the hive. This is why people use smoke to "sedate" the bees when they work the hive. Well the smoke is not particularly healthy for the bees, neither is gorging themselves with honey on a regular basis. So we are going to try to go smokeless. We have read that if you move slowly and deliberately, no swatting, you will not get stung. We have also read that after a few stings you build an immunity and they will not effect you anymore. And finally if you tend to your bees in the early morning or evening they are more docile. Well, we will give er a try! Let you know how it goes.
And then finally we agreed on a spot on the property for our hive, and put the base out and level. We painted the top bars with beeswax (this helps them identify the hive as a good home, previously used by bees, and helps them start building comb on the top bars guiding them straight in the middle.) We bought a mason jar to make a feeder out of and made our sugar solution to feed them. We bought a sprayer bottle to fill with sugar solution to spray in the hive when installing the bees. We also bought a hive tool, a small crowbar like tool to help pry off the top bars when harvesting. We are ready to go!
So called the guy at dinnertime to see when he wanted to come out.. but he said he hadn't gone to New Mexico, the bees were not ready, and it would be at least June 1st before he got them :-(. I was bummed, but at least we are ready.
We have bought the clothing, hats and gloves. We are going to tape our pantlegs shut and tuck in our shirts and try to get by with that. Seems most experienced beekeepers quickly shed the gloves, and not too long later the hat, but for our own comfort we got the hats and gloves, and we'll start out that way. Besides, I'm sure they will be handy to have around when guests come, etc.
Cute huh?And then finally we agreed on a spot on the property for our hive, and put the base out and level. We painted the top bars with beeswax (this helps them identify the hive as a good home, previously used by bees, and helps them start building comb on the top bars guiding them straight in the middle.) We bought a mason jar to make a feeder out of and made our sugar solution to feed them. We bought a sprayer bottle to fill with sugar solution to spray in the hive when installing the bees. We also bought a hive tool, a small crowbar like tool to help pry off the top bars when harvesting. We are ready to go!
So called the guy at dinnertime to see when he wanted to come out.. but he said he hadn't gone to New Mexico, the bees were not ready, and it would be at least June 1st before he got them :-(. I was bummed, but at least we are ready.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
The Hive is Ready
We have decided to build a top bar hive as mentioned in our previous post. Instead of the frames that the traditional bee hive has, a top bar hive only has a bar at the top with a guiding notch to help the bees decide where to build their comb, then they build the comb from that spot. The hive has sloping sides to minimize attachment of the comb to the hive box, and there is a false backer board that you can put in anywhere, that will help the bees get started in a smaller space then increase the space as they can use it to fill with honey. Unlike traditional hives there are no supers. If the bees fill up the entire hive you simply harvest some honey and they have more room. The hive has windows in the side so you can watch what is happening without disturbing the bees much.
The finished hive with the window open.
We built our hive entirely out of scraps we had laying around, or found at my parents house. The wood was some mohogany trim that my Dad had been saving for just the right project. I hope he thinks this is the right project, at any rate the wood had been sitting in his garage for a number of years and he was ready to part with it. The top bars were from scraps of oak from Dad's wood pile, I think they were originally part of an oak bedroom set.
The bottom has a screen to help ventilate the hive in the summer and helps the mites from infesting the hive. Bees clean off the mites and drop them, if the floor is solid they can crawl back up and get back on the bees, with a screen floor they fall through, either to the ground in the summertime when the bottem is open, or onto a bottom board under the screen to help keep the hive warm in the wintertime. The board ideally has sticky paper attached that the mites stick to. Either was they can't get back to the bees. I also found the srca piece of screen on Dad's woodpile.
While Dan (Mike's son) was visiting a couple weeks ago he did a little welding for us. He was having so much fun that he welded up the stand for the hive from scrap metal that was on the property when we moved here.
I guess I lied.. we did buy the Plexiglas for the window and a couple hinges, and some good waterproof glue. Oh and Mike found the piece of corrugated roofing somewhere on the property. Pretty cool eh? The thing sticking out the front door of the hive is a feeder that we bought at the bee-club auction last week.
A closer look at the top bar, and sitting on the false backer board.
The finished hive
The finished hive with the window open.
We built our hive entirely out of scraps we had laying around, or found at my parents house. The wood was some mohogany trim that my Dad had been saving for just the right project. I hope he thinks this is the right project, at any rate the wood had been sitting in his garage for a number of years and he was ready to part with it. The top bars were from scraps of oak from Dad's wood pile, I think they were originally part of an oak bedroom set.
The bottom has a screen to help ventilate the hive in the summer and helps the mites from infesting the hive. Bees clean off the mites and drop them, if the floor is solid they can crawl back up and get back on the bees, with a screen floor they fall through, either to the ground in the summertime when the bottem is open, or onto a bottom board under the screen to help keep the hive warm in the wintertime. The board ideally has sticky paper attached that the mites stick to. Either was they can't get back to the bees. I also found the srca piece of screen on Dad's woodpile.
While Dan (Mike's son) was visiting a couple weeks ago he did a little welding for us. He was having so much fun that he welded up the stand for the hive from scrap metal that was on the property when we moved here.
I guess I lied.. we did buy the Plexiglas for the window and a couple hinges, and some good waterproof glue. Oh and Mike found the piece of corrugated roofing somewhere on the property. Pretty cool eh? The thing sticking out the front door of the hive is a feeder that we bought at the bee-club auction last week.
The hive with the Lid off, three top bars and the false backer board.
When the hive is full it fits 30 top bars.
When the hive is full it fits 30 top bars.
A closer look at the top bar, and sitting on the false backer board.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
The BEE-ginning
(I hear when you are a bee keeper it is required you make lots of jokes like that! - perhaps this is a warning to the reader)
Someone at bee-club told me that since we are just new-bees (ouch!) we should be sure to keep a journal. That in years to come we would appreciate looking back and seeing our naivety (perhaps he didn't say EXACTLY that). I wanted to tell him that in 2009 journals are called blogs, but much to Mike's surprise I kept my mouth shut.
None the less I thought it was a good idea. So I'm starting a blog and hope to write in it more regularly than in my other blog, but this blog will be dedicated to bee information. I also will not be announcing new posts, but feel free to come back often.
SO WHY BEES?
This is a question I am regularly asked. I went to a conference a couple years ago now where the lecturer talked about how the bees are in trouble and therefore pollination in the country is in trouble and if one private individual every 30 miles would keep one colony in their backyard that the pollination problems in the country would be fixed. (By now I can't imagine how this came up at a software conference.. but this is what stuck). So this is WHY we are doing it, for the environment. The honey and the wax just is a side-benefit.
WHAT WAS NEXT?
The university that was talking had a program where you could go to an intensive weekend long bee-school, and come home with bees. I recall this was Florida, so this year when I was ready (Having learned all I could about Alpacas... Ha!) I called the University of Florida, and they had no idea what I was talking about, except someone suggested it might be University of Georgia. Called them, they thought maybe a couple years ago they had that.. but not now. I didn't want to go to Georgia for a weekend anyway. We started searching around and found a local organization, Pike Peak Beekeepers Association (Whom I affectionately refer to as bee-club now), that has bee school once a year in Colorado Springs and then meets once a quarter for information sharing. Cool! We signed up, although were the last two let in before the class of 50 was full. The school was all day Saturday and half day Sunday and chalk full of information.
TOP BAR HIVES
In the meantime we had been doing lots of reading and research online. We didn't want to do anything that would be expensive and have lots of equipment to buy. We became impressed with the concept of Top Bar Hives, which are hive that do not have frames. The entire hive can be made at home, with scraps of wood. This method of beekeeping is more natural and some say healthier for the bees. It does not produce maximum amounts of honey, but back up two paragraphs if you think we are concerned about that. (Read more about top bar hives, and get plans for the hive we built at http://www.backyardhive.com/). They encourage you to try beekeeping without using smokers, as that is unhealthy for the bees. I go into that in a later blog. And you don't need an extractor to harvest your honey. Minimal expense and healthiest.
Since this first blog is going to be fairly long, I'll post again in a couple days with photos of our hive. Hopefully finished at that time.
CAPTURING A SWARM
A popular means of obtaining bees is to capture a swarm. Swarming is natural for bees in the late spring/early summer. A healthy colony outgrows it's space. When the hive become crowded the workers make a new queen, and just before she hatches the old queen and half of the workers leave the hive to find a new home. They will lite on a branch or something and send some of the bees out scouting for a new home. The rest of the bees cluster around the queen to protect her from harm. (A queen lays 1500 eggs a day, and does nothing else. The workers feed her, clean her, carry her feces out etc. She only leaves the hive to mate (once in her lifetime) or to swarm).
When bees swarm, local human types get nervous and call the exterminator/fire dept./ etc to come take care of the problem. They in turn call the local bee guy who has volunteered to collect swarms and relocate them or give them to a beekeeper looking for a new colony ;-)
The trick is capturing the queen. basically shake the branch over a bucket. If the queen falls in the others follow, if not try again. Ones the others follow you put the top on the bucket and you have captured a swarm.
We liked the idea of capturing a swarm because 1) it was free. and 2) they are survivors of the local area, and therefore potentially healthier. Down side is that you don't know what KIND of bee you are getting (different kinds have different personality traits), and you don't know WHEN you are getting. After bee school we were pretty excited to get bees, and don't like the lack of control in that "when" option. So we decided to buy our first colony and still put our name in for a swarm.. so guess we need to build another hive. We ordered one colony of Russian Bees that will come the second week of May. They are coming from New Mexico, so hopefully the climate will suit them fine. One colony when you get them is 1,500 bees, in 6 weeks when they are up to hive capacity they are 60,000.
BEE-CLUB
The Pikes Peak Beekeepers Association had their quarterly meeting last Thursday evening. This meeting included an auction, that was supposed to be in the parking lot, but it poured down 1/4 inch hail, so it got moved inside.. Not many things being auctioned anyway. We did buy a feeder for $3. Not bad. The auction was followed by a meeting full of information surprisingly appropriate to us new beekeepers. It's going to be a good group to belong to, although no one has any help for top bar hives.. I guess next year we will be the club authorities!
AND NOW?
Finish the beehives and wait for our bees and wait for some honey.... fun stuff.
Someone at bee-club told me that since we are just new-bees (ouch!) we should be sure to keep a journal. That in years to come we would appreciate looking back and seeing our naivety (perhaps he didn't say EXACTLY that). I wanted to tell him that in 2009 journals are called blogs, but much to Mike's surprise I kept my mouth shut.
None the less I thought it was a good idea. So I'm starting a blog and hope to write in it more regularly than in my other blog, but this blog will be dedicated to bee information. I also will not be announcing new posts, but feel free to come back often.
SO WHY BEES?
This is a question I am regularly asked. I went to a conference a couple years ago now where the lecturer talked about how the bees are in trouble and therefore pollination in the country is in trouble and if one private individual every 30 miles would keep one colony in their backyard that the pollination problems in the country would be fixed. (By now I can't imagine how this came up at a software conference.. but this is what stuck). So this is WHY we are doing it, for the environment. The honey and the wax just is a side-benefit.
WHAT WAS NEXT?
The university that was talking had a program where you could go to an intensive weekend long bee-school, and come home with bees. I recall this was Florida, so this year when I was ready (Having learned all I could about Alpacas... Ha!) I called the University of Florida, and they had no idea what I was talking about, except someone suggested it might be University of Georgia. Called them, they thought maybe a couple years ago they had that.. but not now. I didn't want to go to Georgia for a weekend anyway. We started searching around and found a local organization, Pike Peak Beekeepers Association (Whom I affectionately refer to as bee-club now), that has bee school once a year in Colorado Springs and then meets once a quarter for information sharing. Cool! We signed up, although were the last two let in before the class of 50 was full. The school was all day Saturday and half day Sunday and chalk full of information.
TOP BAR HIVES
In the meantime we had been doing lots of reading and research online. We didn't want to do anything that would be expensive and have lots of equipment to buy. We became impressed with the concept of Top Bar Hives, which are hive that do not have frames. The entire hive can be made at home, with scraps of wood. This method of beekeeping is more natural and some say healthier for the bees. It does not produce maximum amounts of honey, but back up two paragraphs if you think we are concerned about that. (Read more about top bar hives, and get plans for the hive we built at http://www.backyardhive.com/). They encourage you to try beekeeping without using smokers, as that is unhealthy for the bees. I go into that in a later blog. And you don't need an extractor to harvest your honey. Minimal expense and healthiest.
Since this first blog is going to be fairly long, I'll post again in a couple days with photos of our hive. Hopefully finished at that time.
CAPTURING A SWARM
A popular means of obtaining bees is to capture a swarm. Swarming is natural for bees in the late spring/early summer. A healthy colony outgrows it's space. When the hive become crowded the workers make a new queen, and just before she hatches the old queen and half of the workers leave the hive to find a new home. They will lite on a branch or something and send some of the bees out scouting for a new home. The rest of the bees cluster around the queen to protect her from harm. (A queen lays 1500 eggs a day, and does nothing else. The workers feed her, clean her, carry her feces out etc. She only leaves the hive to mate (once in her lifetime) or to swarm).
When bees swarm, local human types get nervous and call the exterminator/fire dept./ etc to come take care of the problem. They in turn call the local bee guy who has volunteered to collect swarms and relocate them or give them to a beekeeper looking for a new colony ;-)
The trick is capturing the queen. basically shake the branch over a bucket. If the queen falls in the others follow, if not try again. Ones the others follow you put the top on the bucket and you have captured a swarm.
We liked the idea of capturing a swarm because 1) it was free. and 2) they are survivors of the local area, and therefore potentially healthier. Down side is that you don't know what KIND of bee you are getting (different kinds have different personality traits), and you don't know WHEN you are getting. After bee school we were pretty excited to get bees, and don't like the lack of control in that "when" option. So we decided to buy our first colony and still put our name in for a swarm.. so guess we need to build another hive. We ordered one colony of Russian Bees that will come the second week of May. They are coming from New Mexico, so hopefully the climate will suit them fine. One colony when you get them is 1,500 bees, in 6 weeks when they are up to hive capacity they are 60,000.
BEE-CLUB
The Pikes Peak Beekeepers Association had their quarterly meeting last Thursday evening. This meeting included an auction, that was supposed to be in the parking lot, but it poured down 1/4 inch hail, so it got moved inside.. Not many things being auctioned anyway. We did buy a feeder for $3. Not bad. The auction was followed by a meeting full of information surprisingly appropriate to us new beekeepers. It's going to be a good group to belong to, although no one has any help for top bar hives.. I guess next year we will be the club authorities!
AND NOW?
Finish the beehives and wait for our bees and wait for some honey.... fun stuff.
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