Today we did some "improvements":
Pink 1 - We added the second deep to this hive.
Yellow - We added the second deep to this hive. The girls haven't drank anything from their top feeder.
Pink 2 - We put on a makeshift lid. This is a telescoping lid made of plywood, and 2 x 2's. It's much better than the original sheet of plywood that we had on there as an emergency.
Blue - We added a medium super to this hive. Apparently we didn't have enough frames for the deeps. A queen excluder was placed between the deep and the super.
We also did an inventory of what we have, and will make up a list of some equipment that we'll need to get in the very near future. 3 more queen excluders, and some frames will be necessary.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
April 27, 2011
Checked on the bees today. The first three hives (the ones that got the benefit of the frames from the dead-out hive) are making good progress. They seem to be moving the dead out the small openings that we left for them. I took a few pictures of this, and should post them from my cell phone later.
The pink hive has a mason jar feeder inside of it. They really haven't eaten much from that mason jar yet. Twice as much is missing from the fourth hive.
The pink hive has a mason jar feeder inside of it. They really haven't eaten much from that mason jar yet. Twice as much is missing from the fourth hive.
Monday, April 25, 2011
April 25, 2011
This will be our second year of beekeeping.
In our first year, we kept one hive. It consisted of 2 deeps, and was fully stocked to go into winter. The hive weighed in over 100 pounds, and there was a large cluster of bees, and a healthy laying queen. There were a few very cold storms in the winter, with one bad blizzard that we believe caused the bees to starve to death. Most of the honey was still left, and many of the bees were frozen head into the combs. There was a small hive beetle problem going into the winter, but it wasn't a bad problem. According to the literature I had read, all hives have the SHB, but the extent of the infestation is the true concern.
This year we will have four (4) hives. I have just returned from installing the last of the three pound packages. All of the queens were lively. No queen candy was present, so we used a mini-marshmallow instead. Three of the four hives have the benefit of having the honey and drawn out comb from the previous year's dead out. This should mean that these hives will do very well, and we hope will produce honey for us during this summer. The fourth package of bees was a bit unexpected, and we had not planned for it, so this hive will not have the benefit of having drawn out comb, or honey. We'll have to keep a careful watch on this hive.
The daffodils and tulips are already blooming. The onions are growing. The apple trees are ready to bloom in the next day or two, and the oaks look about the same. It should be a perfect time to be a honeybee!
Pictures to come soon.
In our first year, we kept one hive. It consisted of 2 deeps, and was fully stocked to go into winter. The hive weighed in over 100 pounds, and there was a large cluster of bees, and a healthy laying queen. There were a few very cold storms in the winter, with one bad blizzard that we believe caused the bees to starve to death. Most of the honey was still left, and many of the bees were frozen head into the combs. There was a small hive beetle problem going into the winter, but it wasn't a bad problem. According to the literature I had read, all hives have the SHB, but the extent of the infestation is the true concern.
This year we will have four (4) hives. I have just returned from installing the last of the three pound packages. All of the queens were lively. No queen candy was present, so we used a mini-marshmallow instead. Three of the four hives have the benefit of having the honey and drawn out comb from the previous year's dead out. This should mean that these hives will do very well, and we hope will produce honey for us during this summer. The fourth package of bees was a bit unexpected, and we had not planned for it, so this hive will not have the benefit of having drawn out comb, or honey. We'll have to keep a careful watch on this hive.
The daffodils and tulips are already blooming. The onions are growing. The apple trees are ready to bloom in the next day or two, and the oaks look about the same. It should be a perfect time to be a honeybee!
Pictures to come soon.
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