HIVE CHECK 4/25/2013

I finally found my gloves and hood and just checked my new bees - I am very pleased that they are exceptionally calm and very industrious.  They already built an astounding amount of new comb (not where I wanted- not their fault) with eggs in just under a week.  I did have to remove the comb and attach it to a frame, and now have the hive set up the way it should be.  I will leave them alone for the next two weeks before I peek in on them again.  Was even able to taste test a few teaspoons of the most scrumptious honey.  I am VERY happy about this swarm and their queen. I only wish I could have taken a photo.

Swarm Season and a New Hive 4/19/2013

A lot has happened over the past several months.  4 out of 5 of my hives survived and are looking strong and ready for a springtime explosion.  Exciting news right?  Well, I had to sell the hives.  We moved to California, and it was looking just a little bit too complicated to get the hives across state line. So here I am in beautiful sunny Cali with flowers blooming everywhere, but with no little nectar collecting insects to call my own.  A bee-less beekeeper is a pitiful sight.  At least I think so.
But behold!  Within the week of our arrival, a swarm landed in the neighbors yard!  Except it was about 35 feet high, right next to the power lines.  Sigh.  Well I scrambled to put a hive or two together, to hopefully entice the cluster to move in, but they did not find my offerings appealing enough. Sigh again.  Now we have been here about a month.  My friend from down the street knocked on the door and told me about another swarm right around the corner.  There was already a beekeeper there, but I went to investigate anyway and offer my assistance.  It didn't take long and she offered the bees to me, since she didn't have enough equipment.  YES!!!  I am a happy beekeeper with bees once again!

In The Dead Of Winter - 1/20/2013

It has been a very cold winter thus far.  Not as much snow on the ground as is usual for this time of year, but very very cold.  With the temps finally nearing 40 degrees, I was finally able to peek into the hives today.  4 out of five hives are alive and well.  The hive that didn't make it had a full block of sugar directly above the cluster, but I am guessing that the sub freezing temps made it impossible for them to move to it.  I am disappointed, but at the same time happy that I still have 4 hives.  It appears that the hive which was aggressive last year, is even more aggressive this year.  I didn't even lift the inner cover and the girls were on high alert.  Needless to say, I put the roof back on and didn't bother to see how much sugar they had left.  Judging by their enthusiastic response, they are probably just fine.  They should have enough sugar to get them through the next month or so after which we will be moving to warm and sunny California.  This should prove to be an exciting adventure.

Sugar installed - 11/23/2012

I have been worried lately that the bees may not have enough food stores to get through winter.  We have had a very mild winter so far, which equates to faster food consumption.  Two of my hives are of particular concern since they went into winter on the light side, and one of those two has been the repeated victim of robbing as well.  Although it feels rather early to be installing sugar patties, I decided I would do so just for some peace of mind, especially since we have a very long way to go before spring (which doesn't happen until mid June here in the mountains).  I would hate to find out (like I did last year) that I waited too long before offering them some survival rations.  So today, although it is chilly, I made quick business of installing a king sized lump of sugar in each hive.  I am very happy to see all hives are alive and well, although they are enjoying life in the penthouse.  I have not been able to remove the quail feeders I put in some time ago.  The weather has been too cold, and the bees are at least in part clustered on the jars.  At least they are all still buzzing.

I am excited about cyber Monday when I will be ordering a bunch of bee stuff from Brushy Mountain Bee Farm (free shipping!).  I signed up with them as a distributor, but the cost of shipping quickly dissolved any hope of my business plans.  So, as a consumer, when their annual free shipping sale comes along, I am jumping for joy.  It will be a hefty bill, but I will be set for the entire next year.  I love free shipping.

Happy Beekeeping!

Last minute feeding 10/28/2012

Well we survived our first cold snap.  The temp went down to 15 degrees night before last, and 25 degrees last night, but now we have a warm spell.  Since I didn't do so well with feeding the past month, I am jumping on this last minute opportunity to get some syrup in the hives.  Each hive got a quail feeder full of 2:1 sugar syrup.  I'll be adding more in a few days.  I am thankful for the warm weather we are being blessed with!

The problem with feeding though is robbing.  I highly suspect that at least one hive is getting robbed.  I have all entrances reduced down to a one-bee-at-a-time hole, but still there is chaos at the front of the hive.  I think it is time to shut all hives down for a few days.  Robbing is one of those things which causes me the most displeasure as it relates to beekeeping.  It is (in my humble opinion) one of the most difficult scenarios to deal with in beekeeping.

First snow - 10/23/2012

The first snow of the season has arrived tonight.  I didn't get into the hives the way I wanted to the past few weeks, so I am hoping that the girls are in good enough shape to manage through the winter.  I really wanted to get lots of syrup into the hives before snow fell, but life got in the way.  I hate it when that happens.  It is supposed to snow the next few days, and then the weather is supposed to warm up again.  I will add some more syrup into the feeders then, and hope it will be warm enough for them to take it.  I'll definitely be adding some sugar blocks on top of the hive for emergency feed as well.

Apiguard #2 + feeding - 10/2/2012

Today I installed the 2nd dose of Apiguard and inserted a quail feeder of sugar syrup in each hive.  I also reduced the hive entrances as much as possible, but it appears one of the hives is getting robbed nonetheless.  It wasn't the hive I anticipated (which is good), but I am surprised that it is one of the stronger (or so I thought) hives.  I have the entrance narrowed down to a single hole which only one bee at a time can pass through.  It is creating quite a log jam however as the foragers are coming in faster than they can enter through the hole, but it does appear the robbers are being deterred.  Let's hope that things calm down quickly.