Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Building Up

I started out with only 2 hives in April.  Now I am up to 5 hives!  This is so cool!  I got 2 hives from my Uncles farm and one from a trap out from a wild hive.  Now lets get these girls built so they will survive winter.  
Now its time to build boxes for these hives for future nectar flows.

Monday, June 6, 2011

Free bees can bee hard work!

So I went to my uncles farm today and got a few frames of comb with some brood. This hive has been around for about 40 some years or longer. With the help from my dad we got about 60lb. out in about 2 hours.

This had to be one of the craziest things I have ever done. Sticking my arm in a hive up to my elbow in bees.

I transported them home and added the comb to my frames and put them in their boxes. There was so much honey that it was oozing out and dripping out of my truck bed.

Now it's time to wait and let them rare a queen! This is what I have been waiting for all year! These bees have a survival rate that is almost unheard of and it's breed in to the queen. Now I will have to wait about 24 days before I have a laying queen.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Checked out hive #1 and we have a queen! I also added another super to it.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

I know I haven't posted anything in awhile. But things have been crazy here. Just an update in my hives.

Hive #1 had decided to make a new queen. Not sure why, could have been several things. One is she got chilled, wasn't lay a good pattern or I had killed her while inspecting it. Out of those I think she got chilled when benign transported.
I added two frames of brood from the other hive so that there would be some new bees while they are queenless.

Hive #2 is doing great! I added another super and they are drawing it out nicely.
I am hoping to split this hive within a few weeks.

On another note. I went to my uncles house today and be has a top bar hive that is multiplying before my eyes. This hive is crazy happy! He just got a swarm this season and almost has his 48" long hive filled to the gills!

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Benefits of Pollen

Since bee pollen derives from plant origin its chemical composition will vary somewhat depending on plant source, season and geographic location. Approximately 50% of its structure comprises polysaccharides (carbohydrates), followed by 35% amino acids and proteins, 2% fatty acids and 3% minerals and vitamins.

Bee pollen is denser in protein than any source from animals. This can provide a much safer source of protein without the worry of high intakes of saturated fats (not to mention the numerous established links between animal proteins and cancer).

Bee pollen is a concentrated source of the B vitamin complex – this provides energy. This is why bee pollen products are usually marketed as energy supplements or ‘energizers’.

The vitamin B complex, along with vitamins A, C, D, E, selenium, lecithin and powerful phytochemicals (carotenoids and bioflavonoids) make bee pollen a potent source of antioxidants.

Besides being most well known as a natural energy booster, bee pollen supplements are also popular as weight loss products. The pollen acts on the hypothalamus in the brain which controls dietary drive and this leads to a feeling of fullness. Appetite is naturally suppressed! Additionally, bee pollen contains lecithin which both stimulates and normalizes poor metabolism, and aids in dissolution of body fats.

Bee pollen is popular with athletes because it is believed to positively impact on endurance, strength, and speed. A common belief is that bee pollen enhances recovery from a training load and improves endurance for repeat exertion.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Collecting Pollen

Before I started beekeeping I was taking pollen for a source of vitamins and minerals.  I did it cause I read that beekeepers would take pollen to help get immune to their stings so they wouldn't have a allergic reaction.  For now I only have one trap, so I have it on my strongest hive.  For the past two days I have left it on for about 6 hours each day.  And this is what I got.



Here is a closeup shot of the pollen.



I'm hoping to be able to market this and sell it either in glass muth jars or in bags like this one. 

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Check up

Went in and checked the girls and they are doing good. But one of my hives has decided to make 2 queen cells. So in the next day or so I will Add more sugar water and go in and kill those queen cells. Also I will be swapping positions of the hives so that the weak hive will hopefully become stronger.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Bringing the Girls Home

So this past Saturday I got my Bee Packages. And here is the install process.





This is one of my packages of bees.  Inside this there is a can of sugar water and the queen that is in her own cage.

Here is a better pic of the Packaged Bees.  Hey dad what do ya think?

Time to suit up. Here is dad aka camera guy putting on his Vail.

Here I am getting the Hives ready for the bees.  I removed several frames so I could pour the bees in.  This is a 10 frame hive.

I pulled the can of sugar water out so I can pour the bees in.   While doing this I realized that the queen cage wasn't attached to the strap and had fallen in the package of bees.  No big deal just have to go fishing for the cage when i pour them in the hive.

Here I am pouring the bees in.  Now if this doesn't get your adrenaline going I don't know what would.  So after I poured the bees in I had to go dig for the queen.

Here is the queen cage.  I used a rubber band to attach her cage to a frame with the candy side up.


Added all the frames.  You can see the rubber band that is holding the queen cage on the frame.

Here I added the feeder for the bees.  It holds the sugar water that is a 1:1 ratio of water to sugar. 



Here is a good shot of what it looks like when a package is installed.

After putting the inner cover and top cover on.  I laid the boxes in front of the hives so that the bees that were left in the package would walk out and go inside the hive.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Can't sleep

So I can't sleep for I am so ecited about gettingy bees in the morning. Not looking forward to the bad weather that is coming toward us. But that will not stop me from working the bees. I will post again and my have a few pics to upload for you guys Nd gals.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Hive Tracks

Hive Tracks
 Here is a link to a free record keeping program.  This is a web base program and is a great tool for all beekeepers, from beeginers like me to the more experienced beekeepers aka not me!!
This program offers you to track every aspect of your hive.  

Brushy Mountian Bee Farm web site has two webinars on this website.  Check it out under resources.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Trap Set

Got one of my traps set today. I placed it behind the house.  Just to see if I could get anything around here.  I hope this Sunday I will be able to go to my Uncle Bills and set the other trap.  I bought some temporary nucs so when I get a swarm I will transfer them to the nucs.  16 more days till my packaged bees come in!!!  So excited about getting them.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Catching a Swarm

Well I got permission to set a swarm box out over at my Uncles house.  Going this week to get Pheromone and a swarm trap.  These bees have been in a old milk pallor for the longest time.  I know they have been there before I was born, which is over 30 years. 

This is a good sign that they are resistant to disease and mites.  This also means they produce very good queens. 

I plan on either giving the swarm to my other Uncle that has a Top Bar Hive, if he doesn't have an bees in his hive already or keeping them for myself and trying to produce a few queens from these bees. I would love to try some of these bees. 

Keeping my fingers crossed and hope they swarm!!

Monday, March 14, 2011

Almost here!

Less than a month away from getting my bees.  Brushy Mountain Bee Farm is serving breakfast and doing a Demo on our pick up date.  So my dad and I are going to that on April the 9th!! 

Monday, January 31, 2011

Buying the bees!

Well going in the morning to purchase my bees for this year!  I will be buying them from Brushy Mountain Bee Farm, located in Wilkesboro, NC.  I will be buying 2 hives for my new hive boxes.