Our exploits in Beekeeping!

(To see a picture larger, click on it!)

Preparing frames and 4.9mm foundation, May 2002

Using a battery charger to embed wire into foundation. Necessary to keep wire separate otherwise charger will not heat wire. Nails make for an easy and solid connection. Tried to use cardboard to seat wires but finger pressure did a better job. Turned the charger on and off with the surge protector strip. Thought it also added a margin of safety.

Saturday, 20 April to Saturday 27 April

Brought the bees home from Brushy Mountain, NC and hived them Saturday evening. Checked them the following Saturday. The queen was out and 3 frames were being drawn out. About 1/4 done on each. Tomorrow I'll be giving the 3rd quart of feed but we've seen bees returning with pollen and there is much coming and going. No propolis on the frames as yet, everything surprisingly free and loose.

Installing ant guards on the hive, 27 April 2002

Saw an ant guard at Brushy Mountain and figured I could do something similar with flashing and grease. The ants may not have been an issue for the bees but they were for me. It sure would have been easier to do before the bees were in.

Water plant planter and bee waterer, 27 April 2002

Have some border plants surrounding the 1/2 barrel that should hide it in time. The plants and their containers should allow plenty of landing space for the bees.

June, 2005

Sure have come a long way since 2002! Hived a swarm from that first hive to make a second. Both those colonies overwintered and made a good crop of honey for us in 2003.

But in the learning of management, both those colonies failed to make it through the winter into 2004. So to make a new effort packages were puchased along with a nuc and we started 2004 with 3 colonies. I had plenty of pictures but a CD-R failed and those pics were lost!

Of the 3 colonies, one was lost in the winter and then the other two were so weak that I combined them into one. So to make a renewed effort in 2005, 4 complete hives were purchased from out in western Virginia and relocated here. Now we have 5 colonies plus 2 splits that I'm hoping will strengthen for overwintering. Two of the hives are 20 miles away at a woodland site.

February, 2006

Well not every plan succeeds! By November of 2005 we were down to 5 colonies, 4 hives and a nuc. All went well until February of 2006. In those up and down warm and cold days we'd see bees flying and I even opened hives to check on stores. All looked well but 2 hives were lost during a cold snap. Now we're down to 3, 2 hives and that nuc is still hanging in there.

The two dead hives are the center 2 in the row. The fence was a fall addition put up specifically to provide a wind break. We moved the hives in early November to be closer to the fence. The plastic on the backside of the fence really stops that north wind and allows the area to be a few degrees warmer on the coldest days.

February, 2007

Went into winter with eight colonies. One was a NUC, seven frames with follower boards in a super. The other seven were two packages from spring, two hives from last year, two swarms and one colony from a tree.

On 09 February I went through all the hives checking stores and adding table sugar as emergency feed. Lost a 7 frame nuc that I was trying to bring through winter like I did last year but the other 7 all had bees and had ample stores . The weather is supposed to warm up later this week and I'll get a chance to see if I've lost anymore. That plastic is about shot but I'll wait until April to remove it!

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