Hives and Queens and Honey -- Oh My!

I've been keeping bees for two years and I am still such a novice.  The perfect example? My Lotus hive.

This summer something wasn't quite right with the Lotus gals; they were crabby whereas previously they had been gentle and easy. A hive inspection revealed several supercedure cells. These cells are meant to replace a queen; either because something has happened to her or because she hasn't been performing up to expectations (i.e. you're fired!).

I put on a honey super thereby giving them more room and otherwise left the bees alone.  My hope was that the hive would produce a new queen and continue on its merry way.  In retrospect that was a bit naive.  Live and learn. 

Three weeks ago the bees swarmed.  This is awful late in the season for a swarm.  I tried to catch them but they absconded.  Shortly thereafter I noticed a significant decrease in activity from the Lotus hive.  Hmmm.  

Today, with a little motivational nudge from Soulemama, I once again inspected the hive.  NOT good.  There were only two frames of bees with no eggs and no brood. They had a small amount of uncapped honey but not much.  It appears they've been queenless for some time and I should have intervened much earlier.  So much for hands off.  I took down the top super bringing the hive down to a single box and decided to inspect the Dragonfly hive.

The Dragonfly gals were thriving.  They'd filled two deep supers and were in need of more room.  I pulled two frames of capped honey from this box and replaced them with two frames of uncapped honey from the Lotus hive. Then I put the cover back on.

Of course the capped frames were still swarming with bees. I shook the bees off the frames in front of the hive and brushed off any remaining bees.  This maneuver was surprisingly successful and the bees didn't seem particularly upset. I placed the beeless frames in an empty cardboard nuc brought them inside for extracting.

I don't have an extractor and it looked like this was all the honey I was going to get. Therefore I decided to go with the crush and strain method of extraction.  All the honey and wax was scraped down into a pan.  Then it was strained through a standard kitchen strainer set over a large pyrex measuring cup (eight cup capacity).  The strained honey was poured into the jars you see above; a mishmash of what I had available.

During the extraction process I saw a varroa mite which did not make me happy.  

After extraction the better part of my afternoon was spent online researching mite infestations and queenlessness. As for the queenlessness my best bet appears to be to combine the two hives for the winter.  Even with a new queen the weak hive likely won't be able to build enough stores to survive.  Thus I'll combine them tomorrow using newspaper.

As for the mites?   I need to control the mites but would like to be as natural as possible.  I'm going with hops and essential oils. I ordered a set of hop guard strips and a Winter Bee Kind Candy Board which is infused with Honey B Healthy.  We shall see how that goes.

Next spring I'll have to decide if I want to split the hives or simply order a new set of bees.  Decisions, decisions.  

Beekeeping has not been a profitable endeavor.  However I enjoy keeping bees and feel like I'm doing something positive for the environment.  The honey I've harvested makes me terribly proud (as if I had anything to do with its production).

Harvesting makes me want to put up several more hives.  Unfortunately only two are allowed per suburban lot.  I briefly thought about putting a couple of hives at my parent's place but they didn't seem to keen on the idea.

For now I'll keep on keeping and keep on learning.  And perhaps in years to come I'll add more hives; maybe even on my own small farm.

xo.

Two Hives Are Better Than One

As you can see the second hive is up and running. The bees have yet to complain about the dragonfly stencil; apparently it's copacetic.  The new hive is quite active and appears to be doing well.

I had hoped for good weather in which to move the bees. No such luck.  Rather they were moved during a light rain.  I did not look for or see the queen.  I was in too much of a hurry to get the girls from one box to the other.  Nor did I smoke the bees though I did suit up.  They were somewhat perturbed so I was glad for the protection.  My daughter stood, unprotected, five feet away and was not bothered.  She'd like her own bee suit.  I think I'll keep an eye out for one -- I'd love for her to experience the bees firsthand.

Now that the hive is installed I must wait for the flowers to bloom.  Right now the hives look a bit bare.  Oh Spring where for art thou?

In other news we went for a drive in the country and found the PERFECT house -- 4.5 acres, close to town, fenced for livestock, a small barn, an out-building, four bedrooms, a fenced in garden, a greenhouse, a pond *and* a treehouse ... everything we could ever want.  Except for that elephant in the room.  Money.

Actually the property prices are quite reasonable as are the interest rates.  A loan on a new house would be the same that we are paying now (or less). But. And it's a big but.  We are upside down in our house with little hope of being able to sell until the market turns around.  Additionally we can't refinance because no one will touch our second mortgage.

I have been wracking my brains trying to come up with a solution.  Could we rent out our house and get a loan for the new one?  No.  Not with negative equity.  Could we sell our cars?  Our furniture?  Anything to pull ourselves into positive territory?   We'd still come up short. Should we tap into our retirement?  Not too smart (plus I'd actually like to retire someday).  Is there anyone who might be able and willing to loan us money?  Everyone has been hit hard by this economy.

Alas I have not found a solution.  Rather I will continue to hope and dream and heavily fantasize (you never know when a winning lottery ticket is going to float down from the heavens).  And I'll continue to maximize the space we currently have.  Oh my poor neighbors.  When they complain I'll simply blame the economy.

xo.

The bees have arrived and I'm scrambling!

Do you remember me saying I had a beehive to assemble?  Because bees were coming?  Yup.  That was a project I put off.  That is until yesterday when I listened to my messages and realized my bees were on their way.  As in THAT DAY.

Ack!  That little bit of news got me off my duff rather quickly -- hammer, glue and nails in hand.  I needed at least one deep super, a couple more frames and a top.  I already had two frames from my other hive, the nuc comes with five so I needed (need) to build three more.  Fortunately my hive came with two tops so my plan is to use the less fancy top until I am able to finish painting the fancy one.

Yesterday was productive.  Before I found out about the bees I'd borrowed Mr. Peculiar's truck with the intent of cleaning up the backyard (part of my scheme but shhhh! don't tell -- my first plan of action is to get and keep the yard clean thereby making Mr. Peculiar and the neighbors happy.  Then when I spring goats on them they'll all jump for joy -- or something like that).  Anyway I had already hauled one load of pine needles to the recycling center and was just beginning on the second when I found out the bees were arriving toute suite.

I only had the truck for a day (today my car goes to the shop and Mr. Peculiar needs his truck for work).  Therefore I decided to go ahead and finish my yard project before building the bee box. After filling the truck a second time I took a break and built the first box (this sounds more difficult than it is -- all I had to do was fit the pieces together and then attach with glue and nails).

After the box was built I had just enough time to take one more dump run before picking up Little.   Then I came home, swapped out cars with the mister, dropped off Little and conned the Boy into going for a ride.

The bees came from the valley and a member of our local beekeeping club was kind enough to pick them up for me.  All I had to do was meet him at his house for the exchange.  We pulled up to his property and were dazzled by the number of hives he had (it had to have been at least 30).  Everywhere you looked there were bees a buzzing.  The Boy was a bit hesitant to get out of the car.  But no worries -- the bees didn't care one ioda about us. They had more important things to do.

We loaded our buzzing box into the car and headed home.  I didn't let the Boy drive as I was afraid how he'd react should one of the bees get loose.  Fortunately nary a bee escaped.

We got home just in time for him to go to Lacrosse.  As he changed I unloaded the bees leaving them in their nuc overnight. The I began painting my boxes.  I left them out in the driveway to dry.  Of course it rained.  So now they are sitting on my porch waiting to be finished.  I need to transfer the bees this afternoon rain or shine, box complete or not.

As I said I have two tops for this hive -- one fancy and one not so much.  The fancy one has a copper roof and it simply makes me happy.  My first hive has a stenciled lotus flower.  I'd like to stencil something on the second hive as well.  I'm leaning towards a dragonfly but wonder if it's weird to stencil one insect on the hive of another.   I need something relatively simple as I'll be cutting out the stencil myself.  I also considered a crown or, oh so original, a bee.  I'd best decide soon.

Now it's time to get Little up, take her to school and take my car to the shop.  Then back to work around the homestead.  It might sound busy but these are the days that make me happy -- it feels so good to have purpose and drive.  I'll love it if and when I get that farm!  But for now back to today.

xo.

Everything's a buzz

Well the ringing in my ear is back.  I knew it would be though I thoroughly enjoyed my two month respite.  We've had some odd weather, quite a bit of rain, and I can't help but wonder if it's related.  I just might be a walking weather gauge.  Who needs weathermen when you have Meniere's.

The ringing (which correlates with concurrent deafness) often precedes a bout of vertigo.  My left ear has been ringing for a solid week now and I've been walking around on pins and needles.  Vertigo is rather incapacitating and I have no idea when or where it might happen.  Thankfully I worked the weekend without incident.

I'm much happier at home because, if needed,  I can stop what I'm doing and lay down.  This is more challenging when a I have a sick animal in need of care.  But, even at home,  there are things to be done.

As such I've been running around like a crazy person trying to accomplish all I need to before the vertigo hits.  Today that meant yard work.

This morning the weather was truly gorgeous.  I tackled some weeding then decided I'd better check on my bee hive.  I'd not gotten into the hive since a put a candy board down last November.  They've been out flying on all good weather days so I wasn't too worried about them.  But last November I decreased their hive to one hive body and I wanted to make sure they had enough room and enough food.

My bees are definitely finding pollen -- all the workers are coming home with their legs laden with yellow.   Can you see the yellow tufts in the photo?  Pretty cool 'eh?

All appears to be well in the hive.  I did not see the queen but saw some larvae (which is just as good).  

They still had some sugar left on the top insulation board so I decided to leave it for them to munch on.  Plus I figure they might appreciate the additional insulation.  Despite today's 60 degree weather it will only be 18 degrees F tonight.  

I did add an additional 10 frame hive body (giving them two total) so that they have plenty of room and *hopefully* won't think about swarming.  

I'm so pleased these bees over-wintered well and hope to get some honey from them this year.  I've also gone and ordered a second set of bees which should arrive sometime this month.  My second hive is sitting ever so patiently in my living room waiting to be assembled and painted.  I think I'll tackle that project tomorrow; assuming I'm standing.   

So yes -- everything is a buzz; the bees and my ear alike.  It might truly be spring.  

xo.  

A Bee Story and Other Tales

I may have mentioned I am easily distracted.  Today was no exception. My day started at 1:00 pm; I'd worked the night shift and took a necessary nap. My hope was to get up while there was still daylight so I could snap some photos for the shop (I have many typewriters and cameras that need a new home).

Around 2:00 pm, after coffee and some puttering,  I got around to said photos.  Of course, in the middle, I was interrupted by my daughter who wanted me to walk her to a friend's house.  While taking the my break I noticed it was quite warm outside (quite warm meaning above freezing i.e. mid forties).  It occurred to me this might be my one and only opportunity to open up the bee hive and give the girls their new insulated top/candy board.

As this was a last minute decision and I was still groggy from the night shift I didn't think the whole thing through.  I simply threw on my bee suit and my cowboy boots and marched outside to change tops.  My plan was to have the project done snippity snap and get back to my photos.  What I hadn't factored in was the propolis -- that lovely bee glue that sticks everything together.

Plus I hadn't been into the hive for a while and once the top was open I realized they'd built their lives in the middle of two ten frame boxes (rather than fill the bottom box and then the top).  I decided to remove the top box and place the full frames into the bottom box.  This way there would be less hive for the bees to keep warm and they'd be closer to the candy source.

Given this I also decided I'd better get my smoker and do things properly.  So I ran to the garage grabbing the smoker and fuel.  Then I booked it to the kitchen to get a lighter.  Now, of course, the lighter was not in the drawer where it belonged.  So I went to the cupboard and stood precariously on my tip toes shuffling through the liquor bottles on the top shelf.  For some reason this is where we keep our spare matches.  Just as I found the matches a bottle of kahlua leapt off the shelf.  The cap wasn't screwed on which resulted in complete drenching; alcohol on my suit, in my hair and soaked through my clothes.

As I'd left the top cover off the bees and didn't want them to freeze I ignored this alcoholic transgression and continued on my merry way.  I smoked the bees, replaced the frames and tucked the girls in for the winter.

At this point my left ear was ringing and I was feeling moderately stressed.  Subsequently I was swaying a touch, as I have been all week, oh Menieres you lovely gal you.

What my neighbors likely saw was a woman in an alien suit, accessorized with cowboy boots, smelling of liquor and swerving as she walked.  I'm expecting the men with the nice white jacket to arrive at my doorstep any moment now.

I did have one frame with some capped honey that would not fit into the bee box.  I brought it inside and harvested the honey -- wax and all.  It's surprisingly sweet with a slight floral hint.  The reward for a job well done.

Then I discovered I'd also brought a bee in with me.  She was less than pleased and trying desperately to escape out the window.  I trapped her in a mason jar and returned her to her brood.

Now I have photos to develop and items to list.  I've not yet come up with a plan for dinner. As I type I am freshly showered and no longer smell like alcohol.  This may have to be remedied with a margarita and some mexican food.  It just seems like that kind of day.

xo.

We Have Bees! Beekeeping 101

I've had my hive all set up. My equipment ready. And no bees. Turns out this was a challenging year to start beekeeping. Our spring has been wet, gloomy and late. Bees were in short supply. I'd all but given up. And then.

Thursday afternoon I got an email from a gentlemen in our local beekeeping club. He had an extra nucleus hive. Yippee! I contacted him immediately and we had a source of bees.

Last night, at 10:00 pm, we drove out to his place to get our girls. Me, Mr. Peculiar and two of our kids on a late night adventure. Going to the house of someone we've never met to buy a box of bees.

Ed, the man who kindly sold us the bees, drove up shortly after we'd gotten there. He'd just picked up the bees from the breeder (do you call it a breeder? I have no idea.) Anyway when he opened the back of his truck a bee immediately flew out and landed on my shirt. Whoo boy. I stood nice and still, calm as can be, until she flew away.

Because here's the thing. I have *no idea* whether or not I am allergic to bees. I am allergic to many other things so it is plausible that I could also be allergic to bees. And, as far as I know, in nearly forty years, I've never been stung.

There was the one time, in college, when I was stung behind the ear by something. But it never really swelled and so I doubt it was a honey bee.

Now I've talked to my allergist and testing is apparently controversial. There are quite a few false positives when testing for bee sting allergies. And so he suggested I wait, get stung and see what happens. As such I have benadryl and epinephrine at home in case any horrific reactions occur.

So back to the bees. They arrived in a BUZZING cardboard box. Cardboard. And the lid was not taped to boot. We taped that lid before placing it in the car. Indeed we did. And then I drove 45 miles per hour all the way home. Cars behind me were perturbed. I did not care.

When we got home we put the box next to the hive and left it overnight. My initial plan was to open the entrance this morning and let the bees stay in the box and acclimate to their new surroundings. However this morning it was looking like rain. I was nervous to leave them in the waxed cardboard. And yet I had to go to work.

So, at 6:00 am, I suited up and went about transferring the bees to the hive. The advantage of working the bees so early in the morning? Most of the neighbors are still asleep and therefore aren't yet alerted the the presence of the hive.

Now keep in mind I am a total novice here. And my family was not interested in being out with me. I was on my own (my son came out and took a few pictures before I opened the hive and then hid back in the house).

Given my unknown allergies I went with a full suit, gloves and boots (check out the fashion statement of cowboy boots and bee suit. Fancy!)

I lit my smoker which worked on the first try. Hooray! I used pine bedding material as fuel. It worked nicely though burned quickly and might not have lasted for a full hive inspection.

Then I went for it. I smoked them lightly and opened the box. The bees were wonderfully cooperative. They buzzed around a bit but not too much. I looked for but didn't see the queen. There were a couple of bees that were larger than the rest but I wasn't quite sure.

I placed the frames in a deep super, added additional frames, the interior cover, a feeder with a 1:1 sugar solution and the outer cover. There were only a handful of bees left in the nuc box so I simply placed that in front of the hive. Happily those bees began to move inside.

There were a few dead bees on the bottom of the nuc box and one larger than the others. I really hope that wasn't the queen. And now I wait.

I must wait a week before going in to check on the hive's progress. Hopefully a member of the beekeeping club will open the hive with me and help me assess it's health. *Fingers crossed* for a happy healthy productive queen.

In the meantime I need a name for the hive. Any suggestions?

xo.

Oh yes -- and Mr. Peculiar says this should be the song of the day.

Sanctuary by Grant Lee Buffalo