The Neighborhood

I got three little chicks back in July - a Bielefelder for Vivian, a Silver Laced Orpington for Knox, and a Salmon Favorelle for Tiny.  They live in the big house now with the twins but still working on the pecking order.  They're now teenagers and have decided to broaden their horizons and have started sitting on the deck.  Little Kitty, bless her heart, has to put up with the new kids on the block and also the two older (not laying) hens and Lily.  They're cute and funny little things and hopefully I'll be getting some eggs in the near future.

Well, it's been a day or two . . .

Yep, it's been awhile and I have no excuse except this is time consuming and I've been piddling around a lot lately.  So, that said, here's some of what I've been doing - went across the pond - yep, a trip to England - 11 (yes, eleven) days away from home.  I went with a group on a garden tour with the J.C. Raulston Arboretum and it was wonderful.  Every day was another garden that was better than the one before - big, little, in between sizes, public and private gardens.  But I was glad to get back to the flat land of eastern North Carolina.  That's the longest I've ever been gone from home. And yes I took lots of photos but who wants to look at somebody else's trip photos - not me!
But I did see bees and beehives and there were bees in the walls of this chapel which is still used for services.  It was lovely.



1700's Chapel

Bees in the wall of the Chapel

Trip to Bald Head Island with the grandkids which is always great.  I love that place - even with bad weather it's a great place to visit.  Lots of trips to the river.

Trying to keep ahead of grass and weeds and I just gave up in the garden.

Beeyard - September 23, 2018

So today I checked the bees.  I didn't take any honey this summer.  Just not enough and I wanted to be sure the bees would have enough for the winter.  I have started feeding again - front feeders on two hives and inside feeders on two.  They don't have enough honey to last the winter and I'll just keep feeding.  Hurricane Florence dropped a lot of rain here and this has been a weird weather year. The Farmer's Almanac is calling for a mild winter but that is neither a good or bad situation.  If they don't have enough honey stored in the hive, they'll starve cold weather or not.
 

New Bees

Bees May 2018

This photo was taken around the first of May when I was checking the hives.  Lots of new bees - a  beautiful sight.
I checked all the hives on May 5th and saw the queen in three of the hives.  Did not see the queen in 2017 Hive but there was brood.  I quickly checked the hives yesterday and added a super to Hive #2 less two empty frames that I put in 0318 Hive. I took part of the entrance reducers off so the bees could come and go easier. Did not change entrance reducer on 2017 Hive - they are not as strong the other hives but there is brood in the hive.  I'm continuing to feed all the hives even though they are bringing in pollen and we're finally having rain.
I've already had requests for honey and truthfully I don't know if I'll have any to share.  Since three of the hives are new, I have to be sure they have plenty of food to last thru the winter and I don't want to give folks sugar syrup which is what is in the hive now.


Funerals and Manners

Well, it has come to my attention that with the Internet, social media and cell phones attached to your ear that manners and common sense have fallen by the wayside.  Yes, I'm talking about all those folks out there (and there are many) that feel they can't live without their cell phone in their hand. 

I have been to three funerals in the past month - my aunt, a neighbor from home, and a cousin's husband.  At the last funeral during the service a cell phone rang - not once but twice (I do think they were different phones cause you know how everybody has those crazy songs for their ringer).  It was beyond inappropriate!  Now the preacher just kept right on and he didn't stop and ask that person to leave but he should have.  What is wrong with folks? 

My Great, Great Grandfather

Now you know when they had his funeral everybody minded their manners.
So when I go to the great beyond and if you happen to be at my service - leave your cellphone OFF.  If you're so important that you can't turn it off, you surely do not need to be at my funeral.  And for goodness sakes, close that casket!

Requeening

April 12, 2018 Update - I checked 2017 Hive and 0318 Hive.  0318 Hive was doing fine but the 2017 Hive did not have brood and did not see a queen.  I called Mr. Ellis and he came by late afternoon with a queen and to help me check both hives.  Neither of us saw a queen in 2017 Hive and he agreed she must be gone.  So we put the new queen in the 2017 Hive.  Sat her on top of the super and put a small frame box (about 1-2") on top and closed the hive.  This will give the bees room to take care of the queen, get the candy from the box and release the queen.
We did see the queen in 0318 Hive - it's always exciting (nerd alert!).  
The weather has been cold and very windy so I have not checked the hive.  Will do tomorrow (the 18th) since the temps will be in the 70's or higher. I'm still continuing to feed all the hives.  They are slowly taking the sugar syrup.
April 20, 2018 Update - On Wednesday, I opened 2017 Hive, the queen was still in her little box so I took the screened top off and she went inside the hive.  I was more careful when opening and releasing since I lost a queen last year - didn't want to make the same mistake again. 

Queen Bee

So all the hives are working, still feeding and hope we have warmer and more consistent weather soon.  I covered my ferns again last night and will tonight since it'll be in the 30's again.  Have a couple of tomato plants but will wait another week or so before putting them out.

2018 Marked Queen

When buying a Queen, they are marked  with a dot of paint on their thorax.  The color code indicates the birth year of the queen  - red is the color for queen bees for 2018.  Makes the Queen a little easier to find in the hive.

These are photos from the internet.  Just wanted to have an example of what the queen cage looks like and also a marked queen. 

Two Packages

Packages of bees are measured by the pound.  There are 3-4,000 bees per pound so Monday I got two 3-lb packages of about 10,000 bees in each package and a mated queen. Packages consist of bees who didn't know that they were leaving home when they woke up on the morning they were poured into a box (package) with a bunch of other bees with a queen who wasn't their mother. If they were swarming bees, they would have filled their bellies with honey in preparation for the swarm. So it's like leaving home with no luggage. They have to draw wax and get started the minute they are installed but without honey in their honey stomachs so they have no resources to make wax. Even with the honey flow and stuff out there, they have to be fed and continue feeding until they stop taking the sugar syrup.

The initial worker bees in the package are not offspring of the queen, and may be any breed. They are usually Italian, as Italians are known to build up fast. The bees and queen have to become accustomed to each other and that's why she is separated at the beginning of this journey. The worker bees will eat thru the candy in her little box so she can get out and get busy laying eggs.

The worker bees draw out comb, collect nectar and pollen, and the queen begins laying eggs, and those eggs begin to mature and emerge. It takes about 21 days for the egg to grow into a bee. Meanwhile, the initial work force will slowly die off, hopefully to be replaced by young bees. The emerging bees are offspring of the queen, and will be true to the queen and her mates. 

0418 Hive #1

0418 Hive #2

Bee Yard April 2018

Yesterday I quickly opened each hive and took out the package bee box and put in the remaining 5 frames.  The bees are working and have settled down.
Bees are amazing just like all the insects, birds, animals - we take so much for granted in our little world.

 

Two for One or One for Two

Well, I'm not sure which is which . . . but last Wednesday I checked Hive #2.  I thought they might need a super and just to see what was going on inside the hive.  This is the first day we've had in a long time that was warm (above 50 degrees).

So there were two supers and a deep.  I took off the two supers and looked in the deep - guess what!  A queen - yes, there she was so I put the frame back in the deep and put the first super on and checked that super.  Everything looked okay and then I put the top super back on the hive and checked the frames on that super.  Well, lo and behold, there was another queen!  

Inside 2017 Hive

I put everything back together and thought about what I needed to do - this gave the bees times to settle down and when I took the super off to move, I didn't smoke the bees.  I wanted as many bees in the top super as possible. I checked to make sure there was a queen in the super after moving and put a jar of sugar water on the hive.  


0318 Hive

Fast forward to today and the bees are doing fine in both hives.  Feeding both hives and they are bringing in pollen - red, orange, yellow.   

The package bees were delayed a couple of weeks.  Should get them around income tax time. I feel very fortunate or lucky that I found both queens.  So with the packages, I'll have four hives.  Good way to start the new beekeeping year.