Adding a Queen Excluder and Honey Super to my hive!!

It has been awhile since I have dug into the hive and so today was the big day. I needed to see if there was enough built out on the top box to add the queen excluder and add a honey super. This is a big step for me because this is where the bees finally start making some honey for me. In the video (see the link below) there is a lot of activity in the hive and most of the frames in the top box are built out.

It is amazing to me how much more comfortable I am now with the bees then just a few short months ago. what a blast. Now all I have to do is check the hive every couple of weeks to make sure that they are progressing and have enough room, if not I will add another box (more honey). This has been such a fun hobby and a great thing to do, especially if you lazy like me, the bees do all of the work and I just get to enjoy their work.

See the video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpDVSP6O74Q

Mid-June and things are looking good!

After waiting the four long weeks I was able to get into the hive this Saturday to check on how things are going. With the cold damp weather it was anyone's guess on what I would see.

When I looked it it was great! the bees were building out the top box (about 3 frames had wax built out) and the bottom box was a buzz of activity, there was plenty of brood, pollen, and honey stores and I was able to find the queen (she has been one busy bee). So after a quick look around I closed it all back up and now will check again in a couple of weeks.

So far I have found that this is a great hobby if you want to neglect it. The hardest part of beekeeping seems to be waiting. With the nectar flow coming on now I expect things to progress more quickly and soon I can put on the queen excluder and a honey supper (this is where I will start getting honey for me!!).

Added a 2nd story to the bees hive

This last weekend was the big weekend, I opened the hive and looked around. The bees seemed to be doing well and building out the new frames. I decided even though they had not built out all of the new frames that I would add another box on top of the hive, with 10 more frames.

This was very fun, I didn't feel any pressure this time and was able to relax and enjoy working with them. I did get a video of it but the sounds wasn't working well and so it is boring to watch (even for me and I was there). I am going to get some of the pictures off of it and I will post them here.

One thing that has happened that has been fun is that Mary Lou and I have become bee watchers. It surprised me how relaxing, yes I said relaxing, it is to sit and watch the bees going in and out of the hive. Sometimes we just sit there watching the bees and talking about the day. It is like sitting by the campfire and watching it burn, kind of hypnotizing.

The plan now is to leave the hive alone for about a month, except to fee them, and let them build things up. Then hopefully it will warm up here and I will be able to put the queen excluder (a grate that keeps the queen bee from getting to the upper boxes) on and then start putting on boxes that they will put MY HONEY in. If all goes well I will be harvesting honey in August or September.

Home at last

Today was the big day! I was able to transfer the bees to their final home. I donned the bee suit in anticipation of opening the lid to the nuc and seeing how many bees there actuality were in that box. The new hive was ready, the bee suit was on, and the camera was rolling, the moment had finally arrived. I opened the lid and wow, there were A LOT of bees, and this was in the middle of the day when many of them were out and about.

What a cool thing, the transfer went smoothly and I was able to see the queen bee on one of the frames. The hive looks healthy and well established, so we will see in another week how they are adjusting to their new home. At least I get to open the hive top every couple of days to feed them.

You can see the video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPSUzV9o4Og

Guess who came to dinner

I decided it was time to feed the bees and because they are the only ones in the area (or so I thought) it would be ok to use an external feeder. I was amazed when I looked at the feeder and saw all of the bees. There were hundreds of bees and all of them hungry. I filled up the feeder in the morning with about 2-2.5 quarts of sugar syrup in the morning and by five pm it was bone dry empty. I couldn't believe how many bees there were and how fast they went through all of the food. It wasn't until later that day when I found out that they had put bees in the orchard (less then 1/4 of a mile from the house) that it made sense what was happening and I learned that I need to wait until I get the bees in their hive and then feed them using an internal feeder so that the food will not be available for other bees.

I guess I still have a lot to learn.

It's April for crying out loud!!!

It is the end of April, and this morning I looked out my window and what did I see..... SNOW! I can't believe it, we had over 3 inches of Snow. We have snow covered grass and trees and then I remembered that means I have a snow covered bee hive too. being the responsible bee keeper that I am, my bee insights quickly took hold, or the neighbor called and told me that he had moved his hives in their garage and I should do the same thing. Either way I went out, plugged the hive, and put the bees in the garage for today and tonight, since it is going to freeze again tonight.

For all of you who have been so worried, don't. When I was moving them I heard them buzzing away happily so I think all is well.

All I can hope is that May will be a warmer month then April was and that all of this April Snow brings May flowers.

Till Next Time..

The waiting continues

Things are settling down in the bee yard. We are down to just one hive now so that calmed things down by 2/3rds. It is a funny thing but the bees seem to know their area and stay mostly on the gravel area (a 9' radius) or fly out of the area to go to work visiting flowers.

So for the next week the bees are working in their nuc building the hive strength. Because of the cooler spring that we are having they are not as far along as they could be. The nuc is a junior hive with 5 frames in it. The frames are what the bees build their honey comb on, in the permanent hive there will be 10 frame in each box. With the nuc being smaller they can keep it warm easier (they keep it in the low 90s) and also the hive entrance is smaller so they have less to guard to make sure that no intruders come in. Leaving them in the nuc longer lets them build up the hive strength a little more before they are in the real world.

So far this has been a blast and I would recommend bees to anyone that asks.