Bees Were Out Today!

I went to the farm today to check on the bees' food status before the big winter storm tomorrow.  It was 50 degrees and beautiful today.  The hives all looked good, and I only added sugar to one hive.  One section of the yard had a strong buzzing sound, so I went to investigate.  I found tiny flowers around the yard and was able to snap this photo of a busy bee gathering nectar.  I do admit that I was surprised at the amount of nectar the bees have been able to collect and store away this spring.

Bee Log Attempted Transfer

I checked on the log today and with the warm weather every bee in the area was robbing it!  I had Aaron's hive that died out but still had comb and honey in it, so I tried transferring the log to it.  Some bees I shook into the hive, the the others that were on the inside of the log, I decided to try sitting the log on top of the hive.  It's a long shot, but I figure that without a queen and a long winter they don't have much of a chance anyway.  Oh, I also found two emergency queen cells on a piece of comb in the log...unfortunately, there isn't a drone in a hundred miles!

UPDATE: On March 16th I checked on the bees and they were all dead...some in the log and others in the hive.

March Bee Call?!?!

Two days ago (March 6th) I received a bee call about a tree hive that needed removing.   A tree was cut down at Court 5 at Lake Sara, and about 20 feet up in the tree was a wild hive.  Of course, when the tree came crashing down, so did the bees' world!  I stopped by that night to survey the damage,but with light fading I decided to return the next day.  Thursday it looked like quite a few bees were present and it might be worth a try to put them in a hive with comb and honey that died out this winter.  So, today Aaron and I picked up the log and took it to the farm to see what happens.

Little Half-Bee

When I stopped by the bee tree on Court 5, I grabbed some loose honey comb to enjoy at home, and I found a tag-along bee.  However, this bee was a bit unusual in that it's abdomen was gone!  It was still alive and walking around on the table, and I had some fun playing with for over an hour.  By then she wasn't doing well, and my playing with a dying bee was not sitting well with my wife, so I took care of her.  But I did take quite a few photos of her, and this one looks pretty good!

Thoughts for 2013

Well, yesterday I sold the last of my honey from 2012.  What a great honey year it was inspite of the drought.  I believe Aaron has a few bottles left, with at least one needing to be delivered.  I'm not 100% sure how much honey I harvested, but I believe I bottled around 260 pounds with profits going into more equipment.  Beekeeping can become an expensive hobby, especially when you look at buying frames.  While the wood to make a hive box isn't too expensive, the frames are over $2 a piece.  So, a beehive with two deep supers and two honey supers will cost just under $100 just for the frames!  At present, I am assembling 20 deep hive boxes to expand the apiary this year.  Next, I need to make 10 more bottom boards, inner covers, and telescopic lids.  That should give me the opportunity to expand to approximately 25 hives.  Next I need to build more honey supers to maximize honey production.  If all goes well, I hope to produce 40 gallons of honey in 2013.  So, what does one do with 40 gallons or 480 pounds of honey?  Expand markets!  Ah, but let's not put the cart before the horse, because it is still winter, it is actually snowing as I type, and the bees have to make it through winter yet, and now is the time that some face starvation....time to feed!

Hive Box Assembly

Prepping for the 2013 bee season.  The other day, my grandson Elijah was helping me cut wood for the new deep boxes.  Here you can see where my son Aaron and I have been assembling some of the 20 boxes to fill with bees this spring.

Winter Update

Well, I haven't written here for a while, and I need to give a winter update.  Unfortunately, two of my week hives died out earlier this winter.  Also, Aaron's hive died out again...it is a bit of a mystery because he had lots of honey, but the dead bees were in a section where they had eaten all the honey.  I'm thinking they got stuck there when a cold snap hit.

Plans are in gear for this coming season with goals for expansion of the bee operation.  Elijah wanted to become a beekeeper this year, so we spent last Sunday building his two deep boxes, and cutting out the pieces for 20 deep boxes for me.  We are looking at expansion to around 20 hives through swarm captures, splits, and queen rearing.  I will need to replace almost all my queens this year, so a focus on successful queen rearing is a big part of the plan.  I also broke a gear on my extractor, so I will try to find a part this spring. 
In addition, with a larger operation I will need a honey house and an integrated honey processing system.  That will take a fair amount of financial investment, so I am counting on Queens and honey sales to help with that endeavor. 

With yesterday's snow and ice, Spring feels like it is many months away, but I am counting on an early Spring similar to last year.  According the US Farm Report we will have a continuation of the drought, but it is not suppose to be as severe.  We will have to wait and see how the nectar flow pans out.

A New Beekeeper

Our grandson Elijah wants to become a beekeeper, so we made him a deal....we will help him, but he has to make his own hive!  Step one is completed...2 hive boxes cut and assembled.  Next is bottom board, inner cover, lid and painting.

Preparing for Winter

I realize that it is only September, but in the bee world it is time to start preparing for winter.  This means making sure that all hives are strong and have enough honey to make it through winter, combining weak hives so they have the strength of numbers and food, feeding 2:1 sugar solution, pulling off the last of the honey supers for extraction, repositioning hives for winter weather, and preparing to build equipment over the winter months.  I still have four supers on my hives and Aaron has one for fall honey flow (goldenrod and ragweed). 

Neoga External Hive

Terry Hopper and I had fun this afternoon removing an external hive from under the eave of an old 2-story house.  The bees were gentle and cooperative, but the challenge was that the hive was about 30 foot up!  However, with the assistance of a very long extension ladder and scaffolding we were able to remove this hive and place the bees in a nuc box at the farm.  Update: a couple of days later I checked on the bees and they had swarmed on me....oh well, hard come easy go!

Renshaw Hive

My long time friend, Anita Renshaw, had a problem with a hive in a backyard tree.  Unfortunately, it had become quite a nuisance and needed to be removed.  Because she wanted to save the tree, the plan was to save as many bees as possible for relocation into other hives and then humanely destroy and seal the existing holes in the tree.  I always hate having to destroy bees, but at times it is a necessity.  Below is a photo of how the bees were bearding on the tree and also a photo of Anita and myself with the bees we were able to save.

Route 32 Cut Out

Today, I woke Dawn up before dawn (no pun intended) to cut out a hive of bees from a large limb cut from a tree just off Route 32 between Shumway and Stewardson.  We eventually had to expose about 8 foot of the hollow chamber to remove the hive of bees.  Unfortunately, the queen was apparently killed along with many other bees when the limb fell.  I ended up combining the bees into my other existing hives.  Below is a photo of Dawn vacuuming bees and another photo showing the original cut into the limb.

Summer Ag Institute

The Summer Ag Institute took a tour of the bee farm today, which was a lot of fun for Dad and I, and hopefully a fun learning experience for the 27 teachers who participated in the event. I took the day off from work, so I could get set-up for the 90 minute program. I taught on the biology and behaviors of bees, bee hives structure and equipment, and finally honey production. We concluded the program by touring the bee yards where I suited up a teacher to help me pull frames from the hive and allow everyone to dig out a spoonful of the honey straight from the frame. Below is the article from the Effingham Daily News published on August 9, 2012.

Terry Hopper Swarm

Today, Dawn & I received a call from my old friend Terry Hopper who reported a small swarm from his wild bee hive in a tree on his property.  So, before dinner we drove out to check it out.  After a few minutes of discussion and pursuation I had Terry suited up to capture his first hive of bees.

Here is the small swarm hanging on a branch about 50 feet from the mother hive.

Terry & Larry are getting ready to shake the bees into the traveling nuc box.

Terry's first photo as a beekeeper, followed by the question....Now What???

New Queens for Hive #4

The other day I discovered that Hive #4, the original East Hive, was without a queen.  So, I ordered two new queens from Long Lane and installed them this morning.  I split the hive into two, and gave each a queen.  Unfortunately, I would later learn that one was not accepted, so I was left with one hive accepting the queen and recombined the hive boxes.  As of last look, this queen is doing well and laying lots of eggs!