Queen Arrived

I gotta call at 5:45 am this morning from the post office!  They said your bees have been received.  So I go to the back door of the post office to pick up my lady!  I was pretty sure she was going to be dead on arrival.  She was shipped out on Wed. of last week and she was supposed to be here no later than saturday.  So I got her in the truck and the first thing I do is open the package to check if she is still alive.  To my surprise she is still alive.  After that I add a few drops of water onto the cage so the attendants could feed her. 

Got home and added her to my hive.  It was pooring down rain and wasnt the best time to open the hive but I needed to get her in there asap.  Not only for her health but also the health of the hive.  In a few days I will go in and make sure she is still alive and possibly laying eggs. The only thing I noticed was I ordered a marked queen and she came in unmarked.  No big deal but would have been nice to have her mark so I could Identify her faster.  

Queen on Order

So I ordered a new queen for my bee yard.  This queen is a VSH(varroa sensitive hygienic) queen.  I plan on keeping a few of these hives in the yard but not my primary stock.  I will be cross breeding them with my Italians and home of the survivor stock from a feral hive behind the house.

I'm getting this queen from a Farm from East NC called Mott Bee Farms.  Check out the link to their web site.

My plans are to get a few more splits. I will try to get at least 7 to 10 hives going this year.

Inspection with my Brother-in-Law

So I have tried really hard to get my brother-in-law involved in beekeeping.  He has thought about it and has the equipment to do so but no bees.  So I gave him a tour of my hives while I was doing my inspection.  I was great to bond with a family member over something you are very compassionate about.

All the hives are doing great. Im really excited about our newest hive we have started and we are still waiting on the queen to arrive.  She should be shipping out tomorrow.  I added the feeders back on top of the hives just cause the tulip poplar did not last long and the ladies harvest all the clover they could out of our clover patch.  With that being said, Dad cultivated the entire clover patch and we are going to start our buckwheat.  Buckwheat is very desirable to the bees and make a dark honey.  This can be grown all the way up to the first frost.

Making More Boxes

So I know its not the best time of year to be doing this, but I started on making a few more boxes.  I hope to be expanding a few more hives this year.  The past couple years that I have been making my boxes I have just mad my corners of my hive butt up against each other.

I have ventured into the box joints for my corners and love them.  It is more work but looks 10 times better and will more sturdy.
I got the plans off of www.beesource.com build it yourself page.
Normally you would make a 3/4 wide joints but my table saw would not accommodate that wide of an dado blade, so I half that and used a 7/16" dado. This is what a corner looks like.

I will make a few medium supers and going to make a few nucs also.

Fat Bee Man (fbm)

There is a guy on youtube and on the web called Fat Bee Man.  This guy is amazing in the bee industry.  He has a website called Dixie Bee Supply.  Any one looking to go organic?  This is something you need to watch and check out!

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Macon

Caught a Swarm...... Kinda

So today I went out to remove one of my swarm traps out of my backyard and to my surprise I found a small swarm of bees clustered on two frames.  At one point I didn't even know that there was anything in it.  I didn't even put any protection on of any sort.   So this was a little odd.  I wouldn't even call it a full swarm.  Anyway, I took them to my bee yard and looked for a queen.  No queen and no eggs in sight.  So I dropped in a couple of frames of brood, pollen and honey.  This will make the existing bees stay and also help with the bee population in the hive.  So my next step is to order me a queen or let them raise their own queen.  I takes almost 3 weeks for them to make the queen and have her laying egg.  This will take time that I don't wanna wast so, I ordered my queen from a bee farm called Mott Bee Farm.  They are fairly local and offer a VSH (Varroa-sensitive hygiene) Queens.  I really want these bees in my yard, so I can start to cross mate all my queens.  This will improve the fight against Varroa Mites and also reduce the potential of robbing.  


 So I have expand to 4 hives!  I plan on making more nucs and start breeding my own queens. 


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Macon

Checking hives

Checked my hives today and was a very good inspection. All except for the mishap of dropping so comb on the top bar hive.  I found egg in all hives and plenty for honey storage and some pollen coming in.
I dont have any pics of the hives this week but I did take a pic of where they are getting most of their nectar source.  Dad planted some crimson clover last fall and is amazing!  All you can hear is Buzzing in the air.

First Inspection 2012

Today went very well. The girls were on their best behavior.  I inspected all three hives and out of all of them only one of the hives didn't have their queen released.  So I released the one queen myself.  The two hives that had been released, I also found eggs!

The first hive is my Top Bar Hive. This was the hive that didn't have the queen released.  They were eating the candy to release her so I helped them out.  They were building comb on 2 bars and it looked great!!

The second hive I inspected had released their queen and found eggs in many cells!  This is a great sign for just being in the hive for 3 days!

The third hive I found that it was the same as the second but better.  These girls were storing lots of honey!  I also have a second super so they can start drawing comb out.

I will not inspect them for another week or so.  I got a few pics to share with you.  Dad took most of them and also operated the smoker.  This is just what the doctor order!  When I grow up, I want to be a beekeeper.

Feeding!

Well went by the bees today of feed!  It was a rainy cool day so this was perfect for house cleaning and sucking up some go oh sugar water. I gave them about a gallon of sugar water.  I will go into the hive tomorrow to check to see if the queens have been released.  If they haven't released her, I will.

New hive pics

Here is a pic of the new hives!

Back In Business

Well we are back in bee business!  It feels great to have bees back at home!
Let talk about how it went.

I installed 3 hives.
First Hive was a little tricky. This hive was the top bar hive. Everything went well till I forgot to remove the cork from the queen cage after dumping the package of bees on top of her.  So I had to dig her out and remove the cork so she could be released.
Second and Third hive went well and this time I remembered to remove the cork! lol


This season started out with a great experience.  Looking forward to learn how to work a top bar hive and hopefully be able to harvest some honey this year.
The Second and Third hive have mostly drawn out comb, so that helps with them getting started.
The next time to check on them will be in 4 days to check if the ladies like their new queen and released her. Pics of the new hives will be up as soon as I get some taken.  I left the camera at home.  

Starting Over

Well this winter was a total disaster! Got Mice in all my hives.  I learned a few valuable lessons.

One, I need to elevate my hives higher.
Two, I need to add a mouse guard
Three, Never move your hives just a couple hundred feet, if you need to move them move them miles.

So I am starting over! This time Dad and I are going to get 3 hives.  We get our Bees on the 16th of April. Im so excited!

This year I will be experimenting with a Top Bar Hive.
Here is a pic of it.

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.

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.

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

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!

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.

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. 

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.

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.