Beekeeping, Gardening and Quilting in Eastern Wake County, North Carolina









Friday, September 30, 2011

Bee Checkup

Thursday afternoon, Mr. Ellis and Jess (my favorite beekeepers) came over and we opened all the hives.  Our fall inspection - we might do one more in 3-4 weeks but everything looked really good.  All the hives had lots of brood and bees.  Couple of minor changes - put a super on #6 from #4 - they had 3 supers and two brood boxes so moved the top super over to #6 and that gives them more food for the winter. Also in #4, we took 4 frames with brood from the Swarm Hive and put in the second brood box.  There were several frames that had nothing on them.  Nuc #3, Nuc #1 and Nuc #4 - no changes were made.  In the Swarm Hive, we took off the top brood box - they were working but only 4 frames had any honey or brood so they were moved to #6.
It was great to have help and made quick work of checking the hives.  The bees are bringing in lots of pollen - goldenrod and aster.  I don't know what else but they are really busy.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Little Chicks
















Steven and Sara have little baby chicks at the river.

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Hurricane Irene

I was fortunate and had no damage from Hurricane Irene but some of my neighbors at the river were not so lucky.
Lots of big trees down but nobody was injured - nothing that can't be repaired or replaced. 
Lots of firewood for Steven.

Friday, September 2, 2011

Checking Bees

This afternoon I opened all the hives and checked to see how much food they have after the hot, hot summer we've had and the earthquake and Hurricane Irene - we've had lots of different weather lately.
All the hives have plenty of food but I did move some frames around and took a super off the Swarm Hive and put on Nuc #4.  Some of the hives have empty frames and I'll rearrange those before cold weather.  They're still bringing in some pollen.