Installing the Nucs

 

June 18, 2012

So I have some catching up to do. The last few weeks have been kind of a whirl wind. The end of the school year means a ton of work. Also throw in a trip to Denver, a camping trip, mowing lawns, and starting an awesome pizza delivery job, this adds up to not a lot of extra time to update the bee blog. I love being busy. It makes me feel more like a bee.

Anyway, I think I will start by briefly giving you the story of the nuc pickup and install. Then in another post I will tell the epic story of my first Connecticut Beekeepers Association meeting. To give you a glimpse, that meeting cemented for me that beekeeping people are my kind of people. Also any doubt I had that this was something I would do for a long while is gone. 

Cool sugar sifter

SIDE TRACK STORY: I went to the flea market two weekends ago and came across this gem. I plan on using the sugar shake technique when I have to treat for varroa mite. The sugar shake is simply shaking confectioners sugar into the hive and letting the bees eat the sugar off each other. In the process they groom off a lot of the mites that are attached to their backs. So when I saw this cool sifter for 2 dollars and the company's name was "Bromwell's Bee" I couldn't leave it there. It now lives in my bee bucket.

On May 27 Jack and I drove out to Granby to pick up our nucleus hives. I woke up really early because Gilman, the guy we were buying from, told us we could be there as early as we wanted. I was at Jack's earlier then I would normally be awake on a weekend, and we were on our way. The whole ride we talked about our expectations of Gilman, what we were going to ask him, and all the details of installing the hives that day. We weren't sure what to expect from Gilman, because Jack had spoken with him many times on the bee forum and couldn't seem to get a read on whether he was a cool guy or just a cold guy. Either way we were really excited.

Awesome empty jar for the Honey Money

It took an hour plus to get to Gilman's place. When we pulled up we saw an old tree stump with a few bottles of honey with a little for sale sign. We knew we were in the right place. We pulled up the driveway and Gilman met us out front. He is short in stature with the dark features of a Mediterranean kind of guy. He spoke with a subtle accent and had a very welcoming attitude about himself. I was put right at ease, this was my kind of guy, balanced and happy. Even if we didn't know exactly what we were doing, this guy was an expert.

When I got out of Jack's truck and looked around, I thought, this is a unique guy. Just about his entire lawn is a vineyard. There were probably over a hundred grape plants around his house. After we traded pleasantries he told us to, "pull through the trees towards the chickens and then back up." Jack didn't hear him, or maybe he was just thrown at chickens being a landmark so he asked him to repeat it. Gilman repeated his instructions. It was kind of a silly moment, we all kind of laughed at how ridiculous the directions seemed. Certain that we had his directions down we drove into his backyard and pulled up towards a rather large chicken coop and backed up to a small bee yard with probably 30 or so nucleus boxes surrounded by a white electric fence.

Gilman unhooks the fence and I ask him about the strips of bacon that are tied to the electric fence. He said something to the effect that he wasn't trying to slowly cook the bacon or anything. (I have found that most bee people are pretty good at corny jokes) The bacon acts as bait to get bears to bite down on the fence to shock them enough to keep them from ripping up the hives for honey. Apparently a little shock on the body isn't quite enough to keep a full sized bear from getting to the honey hole.

We talked about different beekeeping practices while he lit up his smoker. I asked him about installing the nucs and he gave me some tips. We talked about breaking up the brood nest to try to promote the bees drawing out all the comb. He didn't object in a huge way so I felt pretty good about doing it. We also saw a small snake under the nuc we picked up. He or she was just trying to find a warm place to sleep. We loaded up the nucs and were on our way.

Do they look infected?

On the way home we stopped at a guys house, not that far from Gilman's place, to pick up some used equipment. Jack knows the guy through one of his fish club buddies. He was moving and didn't want to bring the empty hive bodies with him. He told us that two seasons in a row his hives were destroyed by bears and he didn't want to keep throwing money to make really expensive bear food. I guess he didn't get the bacon baited electric fence lesson from Gilman. So we grabbed the boxes from the guys front lawn and we were out of there. 

I have read lots of bad things about used equipment. Mainly that if there has ever been foulbrood inside one of them that the spores can last something like five years. So using equipment that could be contaminated is a big no no. The guy we got them from I don't know at all, which doesn't help. Also some of the boxes are pretty old. So I'm thinking that I might just end up tossing them. However the frugal part of my soul says make it work. Some guys say you can torch the inside with a propane torch and that will kill any possible spores. I think I'll wait to see if I will ever actually need them.

Neither of us had eaten breakfast and all the time we spent at Gilman's discussing bees, bears, and making wine (the reason he has so many grape vines) it was time for an early lunch break. We stopped at a five guys and feasted on some hot fries and red meat.

New deep hives before paint

When we got home we loaded the used equipment into the garage and picked up all the wooden ware and stand equipment for the new hives. This includes for each hive: a hive stand, screened bottom board, one deep hive body, ten plastic foundation frames, an inner cover, and an outer cover. We also bought a few cinder blocks and some 2x4s as a way to place the hives off the ground so the back of the truck was pretty full with all of our equipment.When we bought the equipment it wasn't treated at all, it was bare wood. So Jack and I spent a few hours covering every part that will be exposed with high quality latex exterior paint.

Jack in the middle of the install

We drove out to Acorn Hill, and the work began. The hardest part of the day was getting all the equipment through the field. We first carried the cinder blocks and then decided to drive across the field to cut our trip in half. In hindsight I wish we hadn't, because I don't think Phil the farm guy really appreciated it. There are still two tire tracks across the field from where we drove, it has been almost 5 weeks.

After the foundation stand was in place we brought the nucs up and cracked them open. At first the thing that struck me most was the difference in the color of the bees. The nucs are Carniolan bees which are a different kind of honeybee then the Italians I have in the package hive. The next thing that struck me was how dark the wooden frames had become from all the seasons of propolis being spewed all over them. They looked cool.

Frame pattern: Jack painted this box

Nuc frame loaded with
bee food

We pulled the frames to put them into their new home. The frames were loaded with brood in all stages as well as some capped honey and pollen. They looked awesome. I was kind of in awe and I hope some day my frames look this way. Installing the nucs was a lot easier then I thought. It was just a matter of taking out frames and putting them in a different box. We did however kind of break up the pattern they had already laid out. We placed the three frames with mostly brood together in the middle, however we took the ones with mostly food in them and put an empty frame between the center three and the outer empty frames. I think the picture does it justice, and also the wild difference between new and seasoned wooden frames.

We closed up the boxes and that was that. If you notice in the picture I added one thing to each hive. I always see guys on the internet and in most of the new bee books they tell you to put something on top of the hive to keep the lid from blowing off. At first I thought it was a bit cray because the outer cover is pretty heavy, however I just read a bee forum post about a guy who had hives for 5 years with no lid and went to his yard to find two of his hives with no top and a devastated colony because of a bad rainy stretch. I figured, hey whats the harm in throwing some old heavy patio bricks on each top. Also they have served as a nice place to lay the smoker. I have been a little neurotic about the smoker on the ground. (maybe it is my safety minded father-in-law's influence)

 

With a little work, some investor money, and time, Acorn Hill Apiaries went from a one hive establishment to three. I was really happy with the strength of the nucs as well as no stings for the day. I will get into some of the things I learned at the Connecticut beekeepers association meeting next time so please stay tuned.

Mothers Day Inspection

Sunday, May 13, 2012 Mother's Day inspection. I thought it fitting to see the queen on mother's day. I decided to run out to Acorn Hill to check on the ladies to see if it was time yet for the second medium. The forecast was calling for rain Monday and Tuesday, so I went for it, kind of on a whim. Melissa and I showed up after eating a nice breakfast with the in-laws and before a visit with my side of the family.

I lit the smoker, which I think would be much easier with a small butane torch. I will be on the look out for an inexpensive one. I smoked the bees and checked them out. I saw the queen right away and lots of really good evidence of successful life. One frame of really good looking capped brood another frame with some eggs and another with some capped and some larvae. All of which were an epic sight.

The end frames however have yet to drawn out. The last frames that are drawn out have been filled with sugar syrup. Now thinking back on it I think I should have done a little checker boarding with the empty frames. That is, move the empty frames in between some that have already been drawn out. There a total of five full frames drawn out and one side of two more frames. So that is only 6 frames. I figured I will wait until next weekend to add the next super.

Also I came across a little bit of burr comb. (honey comb growing where it shouldn't be) One section was clearly coming straight out of the frame almost perpendicular. Also there was what might have been a queen sticking out of another frame. This worries me a little, but my newbee eyes couldn't tell the difference between burr comb and a queen cell. Considering the bees still have room in the hive and the queen is laying just fine, I don't know why they would consider a queen cell. However maybe it is something I don't know about yet. My internet is down right now, so when I post this I will also post a picture of my mystery cell on the forum and see what the experts say.

Wish I had this sweet Ruler/ Sign to give me advice before I burned a hole in my pants :)

All in all another fun inspection. No stings, all smiles! :)

Inspection round 2

Doing work.

Sunday, May 6, 2012 today I went to check on the ladies. I brought my friend and future co beekeeper Jack. We discussed the possibilities of this venture on the way there and back. The plan as it exists right now is an increase of two hives, both from nucs purchased from a beekeeper in Granby. We will ride out to the Boston Honey Company next weekend to buy all the wooden ware and frames we need, and then, if they are ready, pick up the nucs the weekend after.

Capped brood, lots of Larva if you look close

This move stops me from having all medium hives, because the nucs come with deep frames. However the possibility of growing without putting out any more money seems pretty awesome, and right now it is worth it. We will split the harvest from the hive, but I am going to be doing most of the "work." If you love doing something is it work? Either way I'm psyched to keep going with this adventure.

The report from the hive is that all is going well at Acorn Hill. I smoked the bees and looked through the frames. I thought I would have to put on another box this afternoon however they haven't drawn out enough frames to put on another box. I think I can attribute this to both the lack of queen for a while, which resulted in a dwindling population. As well as poor weather over the past week or so. It has been cool, mostly in the fifties, and rainy.

I did see a bunch of capped brood and uncapped larva. It was a majestic sight. I couldn't see any eggs, but I didn't want to shake off bees from the frame because Jack was with me and he didn't have a veil. I figured larva and capped cells was evidence enough that the queen was still around. I didn't come across her the way I did last time.

Also I used a new pair thick vinyl like gloves and they worked really well. No squished bees or stings and I could manipulate the frames much easier. I think I'll continue to use these instead of the thick lamb skin ones I have been using.

Syrup stored with some spots of pollen

With brood production in full swing I checked out general activity, which was awesome, lots of bees sticking their heads into cells doing their thing. There are many cells full of syrup, nectar, and pollen. The bees are amazing the way they organize themselves and work. It gives me an interesting perspective about life. If humans weren't around these girls would be doing their thing, maybe even more productively.

Another inspection in the books. No stings and I told my ladies to get ready for some company.

Expanding?

Things continue to develop. I have a friend Jack Miles who I brew beer with and have known since high school. He has become increasingly interested in beekeeping and lately has been asking if he could start a hive with me. I came across a man in Granby on beesource that has nucs available in may. So those two things came together to turn my little one hive apiary to a three hive one.

The attraction of the positive environmental impact and the prospect of honey has led to Jack and one of his coworkers to want to become 'investors' in the Acorn Hill apiary.  I am psyched because it gives me an opportunity to experience more beekeeping without putting out anymore money. Which, there really isn't any more of anyway. So I will keep my blog updated as this idea blossoms into real adventures.

I am hopeful that my next post will be about a trip to the Boston Honey Company to buy hive bodies and all the necessary equipment to triple my current production. Wish me luck.

Foraging around

Sunday, April 29, 2012 a quick visit. So I stopped by Acorn Hill just to check in on the ladies. I looked in the feeder to make sure there was enough syrup. There seemed liked there was plenty and there weren't many more new dead bees, and there is a good pollen flow so the syrup isn't wildly popular. I returned the covers and hung around the hive for a little while just to watch the activity. There was lots of foraging going on. Heaps of bees coming and going. It was incredible to watch how many bees were returning with bright yellow and orange sacs full of pollen on their legs.

If you watch the video you will see in just a very short time there are five or six bees loaded with pollen returning home. I can't wait to see what's going on inside next time I open up the hive. Hope you enjoy a short clip from Acorn Hill.

I see eggs!!!

 

Tuesday April 24, 2012 was my first happy inspection. I went to the hive on Tuesday and I just about jumped for joy about the results.

Tuesday morning before school I packed up all of my beekeeping stuff along with paper work and things for teaching. In every down moment of the day, which honestly there aren't many, my mind wandered to what may be happening in the hive. Maybe the old queen returned and there was regicide going down. Maybe the queen is already laying eggs. Maybe a raccoon knocked over the hive to get to the sugar water. My mind was racing. I did get to indulge a bit in the middle of the day though.

I lead a class at my school which is like an advisory type course. We do team building activities and discuss our academic character, lots of fun stuff. During my crew I shared all of the pictures Melissa took while we were doing the install on Saturday. My crew mates were amazed. They had a million questions about why I was doing this at all and a variety of questions about bees I hadn't ever even thought about. It wasn't just a show and tell I did have an awesome opportunity to talk about courage and sacrifice with my kids in connection to the bees. I asked them as a closure question, "What about the behavior of the bees expresses one of our 5 vital character traits, Courage, Humility, Integrity, Leadership, or Support?" There weren't a whole lot of responses but one quality answer gets at a point that I think is so cool about bees.

For one of my students, the idea that a bee dies once it stings, just didn't sit right with him. He went on to think through his point of view out loud, when I asked my question. He said, "Man, I guess those bees are really courageous because they stung you even though they were going to die. They didn't do it to make you mad or something, they did to because they thought they were protecting the hive. That is a real sacrifice, I think I would sting someone if my family was in danger."

This idea is what really intrigues me about bees. The difference between individual and collective choices. Bees make lots of individual choices, like which flower to go to, or whether they want to go to the feeder for some sugar water. However they make these choices with the collective in mind. They sting, not because they want to protect themselves, stinging is actually suicide. They sting to protect the hive they are a part of. Pretty awesome.

Fire hazard?

After my indulgence during crew I had a regular day at school and got to Acorn Hill a little before five. I pulled into the field and lit up my smoker. When I was veiled and headed over to the hive Rick the neighbor came out to meet me. I thought he was going to mention our late night excursion and how he was laughing at us through his window or something. Fortunately he was just really curious and wanted to check out the hive with me. We walked over together and I told him my whole queen fiasco and about our late night adventure. Lucky for me he didn't hear me running through the woods away from that devil deer.

Rick is an interesting and curious guy. He told me about how him and a friend used to get calls to catch swarms around town. He was really intrigued by my hive top feeder and the frame holder I have. He had never seen them before. He has been out of the game for some time now. It was cool sharing information with him, and at least trying to answer some of his questions. I think that is the coolest part of beekeeping so far, talking with other people about it. Both those people who don't know anything and others who are wise old beekeepers. Bees are a social insect and they seem to have invaded my social life in an interesting way.

While I was talking with Rick I smoked the hive and pulled out the couple of frames with bees on them. I noticed right away that the comb was more than half way drawn out on three hives, and there are pollen and nectar stored in a number of cells. I was looking for two things on this inspection, if I had a queen in the hive and if she had laid any eggs.

Eggs on the right pupae on the left (not my hive)

When I first opened up the hive I saw the queen cage was empty and had a small amount of comb drawn on the bottom. Which is pretty incredible considering It had been less than 24 hours since I placed it in the hive. I am really happy to report that I found the queen crawling around the second frame I pulled, and I saw A TON of eggs. It is incredible to see, they look like tiny grains of rice in the very bottom of the comb cell. When I saw the eggs I almost screamed out in joy. I think Rick might think I'm a little crazy. I was pumped. I tried to show him but he wasn't wearing a veil and he is a cautious guy.

After my initial excite over the eggs, my more rational brain kicked in and I packed the hive up without disturbing it any more. I placed the frames back in and closed her up. Before I put the lid on though I noticed there were a lot of dead bees floating in the feeder. Also there were almost no live bees in the feeder. I thought maybe all the dead girls are holding back everyone else from drinking. Or they are out drinking nectar instead, which is really likely. One way or the other I thought cleaning out the feeder would be a good idea. I started by swiping out dead bees with my hive tool. I upgraded my technique by using the floating board to skim off the dead bees and shake them onto the ground. I am just hoping that all the extra sugar water on the ground won't start robbing or attract unwanted evening guests.

So there it is for now. My bees are queen right and doing there thing. In three weeks those eggs will be brand new worker bees. I plan on returning a few times just to watch them fly, but I think I won't open the hive again for two weeks. Then only to see if I need to put on another medium hive body to accommodate new growth. I am going to wait until at least 7 frames are drawn out with comb. Until I add another box. 

I hope that however reads this finds it interesting and useful on some level. Drop a comment if you have a question or want me to add anything to my posts.

Picture of the eggs from www.honeybeesuite.com/

Road trip

Road trips rock

Tuesday April 24, 2012 was road trip day. I got on the road a little after four o'clock. I put the coordinates into the GPS and it said 2 hours and 15 minute drive time. I did the math and it was looking like a long night. I couldn't have predicted what that really even meant.

I tuned the radio to NPR and hit the road. About an hour and half into the ride I started getting really drowsy. My vision was super blurry and I just couldn't seem to keep my eyes open. I couldn't decide if it was the late night lesson planning or the taco bell meal to blame. I decided either way it would be a good idea to pull over and at least stretch a bit. I pulled off into one of the rest stops on I-84 and ended up sleeping for 30 minutes in the back seat. Kind of a weird experience. By the time I got back on the road I was feeling like a million bucks. I guess a roadside nap was exactly what I needed.

I pulled through the little town of Milford, Mass looking for a little dead end road where Nick lives. The place was exactly what one pictures a small Massachusetts town to be. I pulled up to a small two family house and Nick met me in the small yard with a queen cage in hand and sipping from a glass of barley wine. He looked like a hardworking guy. We stood in the yard talking about my clueless queen mishap and beekeeping in general. I got a little support for my current 'go it alone and learn from experience' attitude. We talked about how some many things in beekeeping lay in a gray area. What one person lives by, another thinks is hogwash.

He told me I could direct release the queen if I wanted to, but with my queen release record I thought doing a candy release would be best.

We walked to his backyard and he showed me his personal hive he had set up next to a little vegetable garden. It was really cool. I left thinking only about how I would go about installing queen number two. I had a few options; I could go directly to the hive and install her in the dark, I could wake up really early and do it the morning before work, or I could wait until the next afternoon. Considering how long the hive has been without a queen I went with my first choice with doing a night time excursion out to the farm. This may be the most important lesson I've learned yet.

I picked up Melissa, threw the dog in the backseat, and went on an evening drive out to Acorn Hill. We got there and it was kind of spooky. A bunch of wilderness at night, a box full of bees, and only one small led flashlight equals a weird kind of experience. I opened up the hive and went to work. I removed the cork from the candy side of the queen cage and squeezed it in the middle of the frames. Just as I was going to close things up I hear Melissa yelling and the flashlight is moving all over the place. I hear Melissa yell, "MY FACE!" and then many kinds of ouches and screams with a little crying in between.

It turns out bees are attracted to white light and they targeted Melissa as a threat. She got stung in the lower lip once and flailed around enough to avoid being stung a second time. This was a really freaky thing mainly because you can't see the bees that may or may not bee readying themselves for an attack.

I threw the hive together and we huffed it out of there as soon as possible. Some bees followed us but it was hard to wipe them off because it was so dark. The chaos of the walk back and getting in the car made us both really edgy. I was stung in the stomach as I was taking off my veil. We got in the car closed the doors and took a breath. Melissa was in pain from her lip sting and we were both STRESSED.

Before I pulled away though Melissa realized her cell phone was not in her pocket and must have fallen out somewhere between the hive and the car. "GREAT!" I take my phone out and call hers as I walk back with the flashlight. Luckily I wasn't stung on my retrieval mission but I felt like I was in a scene right out of a cheesy horror movie. On the way back to the car with her phone, which was right on the path, I heard some loud noises. I thought my mind was messing with me because of the horror movie mindset. I turned around and I saw two reflective eyes of a big deer staring at me through the trees.

You would have run too.

I ran back to the car.

We drove home, both of us were edgy and we argued a bit about what we could of and should of done to avoid all of this suffering. This is not where the stories ends however.

I pull into the Walgreens in Woodbridge thinking that we should get Melissa some benadryl soon to avoid her face swelling up like a balloon. Getting back into the car I noticed a bee on my sweatshirt. She hitchhiked a long way. I thought I would be nice and shoo her off in the parking lot to give a chance at life. Sitting back down in the car she did not return the favor, she stung me right in the hand.

New lesson, hand stings are the WORST.

We drove home both still heated. I suppose every night can't be awesome and perfect. These are the kinds of moments that make those perfect nights even more special. I have learned my lessons so far in my beekeeping adventure and they keep on coming. I hope I have gotten all the painful ones out of the way.

Tuesday was a really long night.

Inspection time

Monday April 23, 2012: the day of my first inspection. I went back to work for the first time since spring break. My day was mild and kind of nice. I enjoy routine and I missed all of my students. (I don't think many of them missed me)

Just as an aside to beekeeping, I teach at an inner city magnet school. I teach 3 freshmen world history classes and 2 senior psychology classes. I love my students and really enjoy my job. There are days when the long hours, disrespectful students, and difficult working environment becomes really taxing but all in all I love my job. I have been sharing some things about my bees with my students and they love hearing about it. Maybe they are only pretending because I'm not talking about history. :)

After school I get in the truck and drove out to Acorn hill. When I got there I fired up the smoker and headed out to the hive. So far this has been my most positive bee experience. I slowly and meaningfully open up the hive and pull out all of the frames that have bees on them. I really take my time and try to hunt down my missing queen. There is no sign of her. Although she may have just been hiding. A big sign to me that she hadn't returned was a whole bunch of bees fanning on the front porch. The bees do this by lifting the rear ends in the air and flap their wings. It is a cool sight. They do this to spread their smell in the air to attract the bees that are out foraging. Although because it was another gloomy drizzly day I think they were fanning for the queen to return.

Bees eating left over queen candy and doing some fanning

These signs led me to call Nick the guy from Boston. He was really nice and after I explained what was going on he assured me this kind of thing was not crazy uncommon. We agreed that I would come up on Tuesday and pick up another marked queen for 23 bucks. I was really happy they even had a queen because I had looked around and couldn't find another source on the internet.

I'll have to tell you my first experience holding frames full of bees up in the air and looking at them, was awesome! I mean hundreds of bees are cool looking and again no stings. I am going to have to get a second veil so I can have someone take pictures of my next inspection.

The queen has flown the coup

I should have stopped, dropped, and rolled!

Sunday April 22, 2012: the lessons just keep coming. When we got to Acorn Hill I lit the smoker in the truck because it was raining and I grabbed some extra fuel just in case and put it in my back pocket. We walked to the hive pushing the wheel barrow. I was lucky that Melissa came with me because this next lesson could have really hurt. She said, "Hey Bob that smoke isn't coming from the smoker... YOUR PANTS ARE ON FIRE!" I reached in my pocket and pulled out a smoldering wad of cotton smoker fuel. It burned a hole right through my jeans pocket. Man what a wild thing to have happen. This was just the start. I thought later, "Should I even be smoking a young package hive?"

The next lesson was another one of both carelessness and inexperience. Actually not really carelessness but mindlessness, because I care, I just go head first into things without really thinking it through. Melissa and I returned to Acorn Hill to "release" the queen. I left the cork in the cage on Saturday because I have read in multiple places it's good to let the bees really get used to the pheromone of the queen before you release her. So I pull the covers and the feeder off. By the way I am wearing a long sleeve shirt, gloves, a veil, and jeans. I pull the queen cage out and sweep off the bees who are clinging on. I look for a cork and go to town removing it. As soon as the cork is out, before I have a chance to cover the hole with my finger, the queen exits like a bullet from a gun. Straight into the gloomy mist. It was drizzling and rainy so I saw the blue dot on the queen's back for only a short time before she was too far to see.

I guess she didn't like her new home

That was a disheartening moment. As she flew away I was in a complete state of despair. I hadn't read anything about this happening. I didn't know what to do. Should I run after her with a net I'm supposed to have? Should I call after her? Do I send out a rescue team? I don't know what to do.

I did the only thing I could do, I waited... I stood there for a few minutes and she did not return. Things were looking dim. I closed up the hive and I placed the queen cage on the front porch of the hive in hopes that she might return to her own scent. We drove home with not much conversation. I really felt like I lost a friend. Even though the bees have stung me a few times, I have this feeling of responsibility for them, and I feel like I let them down.

Again I looked towards the wisdom of the internet. I explained my situation on the bee forum. Some wiser, more experienced beekeepers gave me varying advice. The plan I devised reading their posts and looking back at some material was simple. I thought I will check tomorrow to see if she has returned, if there is still no sign of her I will call the Boston Honey Company and see if I can get another queen.

The install

Wow! What a whirlwind of bee adventures I've had over the last 4 days. Since I last checked in I have installed my colony of bees, accidentally let my queen fly away, drove to Massachusetts, went on a night time queen install, Melissa (my wife) was stung on the lip, and my sting count is up to 9. This has been an out of the ordinary adventure to say the least.

So I think I will break up the last few days into a few chunks so I don’t ‘drone’ on about everything at once.

     

Saturday April 21, 2012. This was the day I was to pick up my bee package. I had it in mind, for some reason, that it was supposed to be Sunday. This led to a really hastened morning commute to South Hampton Mass. At about 11 AM I got a call from Nick the guy from the Boston Honey Company. He asked if I was planning on picking up my bees considering 12 was the cut off time. So I hightailed up 91. He called back and told me I can pick up my bees under an old flat top cart out on display out in front of the property. At this point I was happy that I would be getting them at all, so I was more then happy with a secret pick up spot. 

Awesome path

     

Melissa and I pulled up to this small farm stand on the side of the road. It looked like a place right out of 1950. There was big sign advertising honey for sale and an awesome secret garden looking path with a bunch of old hive bodies at the end with swarming bees. I grabbed my bee package, I had to clear off a couple of hitch hikers and I put the box in the backseat. We hiked home with A/C on for the ladies. On the way home I realized that getting my bees a day early has totally erased my previous worry about the weather. It was a beautiful afternoon. The sun was shining and it was nice and warm.

     

On the way home I was getting excited and anxious about the install. The bees were buzzing in the backseat and I was thinking about not all the things I’ve learned, but all the things I was uncertain about.

We went home and put all my gear in the pickup truck and took a ride out to acorn hill. All went rather according to plan. With a few exceptions. First, the stuff that went right: I removed the queen cage placed her in the center of the frames. Sprayed the bees with a bit of sugar syrup. I then poured all the bees on top on the hive frames. I brushed them into the hive and replaced the few frames I took out to make room. I put the feeder on top, filled it with sugar syrup and covered everything up and we left.

Melissa loving the bees

     

That story is true, however it has left out a few things that challenged me on my first install. First off my psychological state was not on point. I was in my pajama pants messing around on the guitar when I got the call to pick up the bees, so I was in a crazy rush in my head. Even though there was really no reason to be in fast forward I was feeling a lot of pressure. The first lesson I learned was about my attire. I wore a t-shirt and shorts. What was I thinking? I mean I have a veil and gloves, but come on. I was so off track that I didn't even think about it until I was stung the first time. I was stung 7 times that afternoon. All of which, I could tell you exactly why. The first was right on my thumb. When I took out the queen cage I had to return the lid to the package box. While doing so I squished a bee right in half. Almost immediately one of her friends exacted vengeance on the closest piece of flesh she could find. So I decided that was a good time to put my gloves on.

They are so ready

The second lesson of the day was a result of a careless streak. As I worked the bees and got things ready my adrenaline was moving at a pretty good pace. I had been stung once and I became a little careless in my movements. Which I have learned is a serious mistake. When I placed the feeder on top I didn't sweep the bees away from the top hive body. Which led to squishing some innocent bees. Which then led to me being stung multiple times on the back of my legs. I walked rather quickly away from the hive loudly cursing my new friends. I removed a few stingers, cursed myself for wearing shorts and went back to work. If there was an apex of frustration it was here. With some distance from the event I have changed my point of view a bit, I learned an awful lot in a short period of time. Experience is definitely the best teacher for me.

All of my bees were home and it was time to leave. We didn't leave the out yard until Melissa had a few moments of squealing and running away from a few bees who were head butting her. That was a fun sight for me, but she didn't like it too much.

I wheeled the wheel barrow back to the truck and went home. That afternoon I had a rather peaceful feeling. It was nice to know that things were done and the bee journey had officially begun. I think at this point I am real beekeeper.

Putting things in place

So two things to report on the bee-prep front.

First off, I placed the hive in its final location this afternoon. I thought I would put it out in the field so Phil can move it if he would like. This way he has a little control over where it ends up living for year one. Moving it when I expand might be necessary, this is the spot for now though. The hive is placed at the rear of the Acorn Hill property. It is pretty cool because most of the land is a rather long steep hill. There are about 12 acres of property and probably 10 of them are open meadow planted with hay. The hive is at the top of the hill overseeing all of that meadow goodness. It also has a bit of a wind break in the rear of the hive from an old fallen tree and some brush.The picture only shows some of the awesomeness of the place.

They will love the view

I went to Acorn hill this afternoon with my dog Neka and an old friend of mine Mike O'Brien. We brought all of the hive equipment and the wheelbarrow to cart my gear down the trail. There is something quite nice about riding out to Wood bridge and taking a short walk in the woods before coming upon my little apiary. It was a great day. I placed everything where it looked good and stable, then Mike and I took a short tour of the farm. We walked down the hill and saw the wildflowers and clover that has covered the hillside. The bees are going to love it there.

On the walk back we went down the trail along the old rock wall that separates the neighbors property. When we made it to the small field where the truck was parked we saw the neighbor outside mowing his lawn. When he saw us he disengaged his mower and cruised over on his little riding tractor. He shut it down when he got close and asked us in a very Clint Eastwood kind of way, "So... what are you boys doing out here?" Considering Phil's farm doesn't really get very much action, his tone was somewhat appropriate. Two stocky dudes, a little dog, and a wheel barrow coming through the woods must have looked fishy. (On a side note the wheel barrow worked awesome for carting. I plan on crafting a kind of work bench to make the wheel barrow like a portable work station, more on the planning and construction of this in another post.)

As friendly as I could, I explained what I was doing and that Phil had invited us. He turned to all smiles in an instant. He introduced himself as Rick and explained that he used to keep bees himself in his "younger days." He now has grand kids and has been considering getting back into it to teach them. We spoke for quite a while about bees and how great of an area it was. I explained that my bees might come by to sip from his pool from time to time. He shared that they have a small fish pond with a little waterfall that they will probably prefer, and that he was actually excited for the honeybee company. I left by saying I can't wait to share some of my honey bounty and I might come by and ask some advice. He was happy to hear he might have some honey from his own yard, and we left smiling. It's funny that sometimes the world gives you just what you need, and it is rarely what you are expecting.

SYRUP TIME!

The second report today is about sugar syrup. This afternoon I boiled up two batches of syrup to feed my ladies. For the first batch I placed 2 pitchers worth of sugar, about ten pounds, into my lobster pot. Then poured two pitchers worth of water on top. Stirred it up, added heat and let it dissolve. I couldn't get it to boil, I think it was too dense for my electric flat top stove to heat up. (or I'm too impatient) It came out with a sort of amber tint to it.

For the second batch I put the water in first and brought it to a boil. Then slowly added the sugar. This seemed to go much faster and I read that boiling the water lets the syrup last longer because you kill off some nasty stuff when you boil it. This is definitely the technique for next time. The second batch also was tinted amber. I will be consulting the beesource forum for more information on that. I also put some of the syrup in a spray bottle for install day. I plan to lightly spray them before I shake them out of the package. Also spraying them a bit if I have to wait for the rain.

Actually a third update on the bee-prep front. Mother nature is stirring up some bitterness for install day. The forecast says that it will be raining on and off on Sunday. So I hope that the rain will be off for install time. Honestly we really need the rain so I'm not too upset. My well has been acting funny, I bought a few gallons of Poland Springs water to make the syrup so I didn't have to drain the well unnecessarily.

That is it for now. Until next time, when I'm sure I will have a lot to share about the install and how it went, I will do my best to remember the important stuff. I can't wait to get my ladies home.

My 4 tenets of keeping bees

Today was the first time I saw a honey bee outside. She was headbutting the screen on one of the windows in my sun room. She was foraging for sure. It was exciting to see something I've been studying all winter in action. When I caught the beekeeping bug it was sometime in January. So I haven't been able to experience much real nature with my new bee point of view. It is pretty cool to think about a huge system that works in nature, and has been for eons, that you knew almost nothing about just a few weeks ago.

So things are revving up. I have been listening to lots of pod casts and am on my third book. The bees are coming one week from today. I've got my boxes all set, I finished the hive stand and I have conformation from Phil the guy over on Acorn Hill. This week is spring break for me and I plan on placing the hive stand out in the field a few days before the install to get approval about its location from Phil.

I am pumped. So I thought maybe I will outline some of the decisions I've made about how I plan on keeping my bees. It seems the more I research the more I find grey areas. There aren't too many topics of discussion in the bee world that have a clear answer to it. Most things are answered, "Well... it depends." So I plan on keeping an open mind and trying my best to make decisions that will be best for me and my bees. As well as keep a record of those kinds of decision so I know what works and what doesn't. When making choices I will keep a few tenets in mind as a guide:

1- I will leave the bees alone as much as possible.
2- I will do my best to avoid using chemicals, only in emergencies not as a preventative.
3- I will make decisions that are good for the hive not good for my honey yield.
4- Have fun and bee passionate, this a hobby not a job.
 
Now these things might change. I mean I'm writing this without a lick of actual beekeeping experience. With the exception of number 4 that's a given. Anyway I have to start somewhere, this seems like a pretty awesome place. 

Where it all began

My name is Bob Rhone. I live in North Haven Connecticut and thought this would be an awesome place to document my ongoing adventure to the wide world of beekeeping.

Where to start? I guess I don't know exactly where I caught the bug for keeping bees, but now that I'm into it I have become a sponge for information about bees and honey. The more I learn, the more reasons I find that keeping bees is a good choice. First of all, there are a variety of things that are hurting the population of Honey bees in North America. Most of these problems are hurting the large industrial bee keepers who have hundreds of hives. Considering that almost a third of the food the average person eats is pollinated by bees I figure having a hobby hive is a really good way to help the bees stay populated, healthy, and continue to keep veggies on our plate. Also some local honey harvested by me sounds pretty awesome.

So I bought the Beekeeping for dummies, got onto bee source the bee forum website, and read lots on Michael Bush's website. I tried to hunt down some hive boxes and material to start things up. I started on Craig's list, and I was really lucky because I found a woman in Hamden who lives in my parents neighborhood who was selling an unused hive setup. I went to her place and it turned out that she was really cool. She is a retired Social Studies teacher and an organic gardener. Her house was full of eccentric things, there are solar panels on the roof and her front yard had no lawn it was all shrubs and mulch. When I went into her house there was classical music playing and their was an antique dictionary open on the table. I ended up staying at her house and talking about gardening and bees and all  kinds of other interesting things. An hour later when I was driving home with my three medium supers, and all the equipment I would need to start my hive, I thought if these are the kinds of people and situations that beekeeping is going to introduce me to then I know this is going to be awesome. 

So, equipment in hand, I ordered my bee package from Reseska Apiaries in Mass which I will be picking up on April 20, 2012. In the mean time I thought I would prepare my backyard and build a stand. So I built the stand and had lots of conversations with my family and asked lots of questions on the forum and kept reading. With some thought and reflection I decided my backyard might not be the best place for my hive. Mainly because my town has a zoning law against keeping any animals in a yard less then 2 acres.

My next step was to find a place fit for my ladies. I placed an ad on Craig's list. I mean it worked well once, maybe I can get lucky twice. The inter-web Gods were looking down on me and sent me 5 responses which were all viable options. I picked the coolest one, a man in Woodbridge with a 12 acre hay farm. We met up and he gave me a tour of his place. It is pretty much bee heaven. There are 12 acres on his property and next door to him another 20 or so all of which is undeveloped. He is actively planting and growing garlic and might be planting some buckwheat in the spring.

Also his farm used to be the home of about a half dozen hives kept by an older man who isn't around anymore. Which is really just more confirmation that this is a great spot for my bees. Me and Phillip (the farm guy) picked out the spot on the northwest edge of his property where the bees will live, and my excitement levels have just about maxed out.

The next steps will happen over the upcoming weeks. I will install my bees on the 20th when they arrive and then I will be on the hunt for new hive bodies and frames so I can add honey supers when the time is right. I purchased three medium supers from the organic garden lady and that will suffice for the brood boxes. However I will need more mediums to collect honey for harvesting. So that is the next investment. As more things come up and I experiment keeping bees I will keep this thing going too.

I hope the pollen world is in my favor and I can't wait to start buzzing.