First Blog

This is my hive, or "Apiary" if you will











My hive is a simple 10 frame "Lang" hive. This is a new package installation so for now I only have one box or "super" in use. As the bees expand in numbers I will add at least one super for the bees to rear young bees in. For honey collecting I will use two standard shallow suppers, but that is a ways off. My package was installed on May 5th, 2008 by my mentor, George Harris of Beaufort NC. He's a mean looking old codger, but he is actually pretty friendly. :) He GAVE me the bee boxes and through some trading of labor, he bought me the bees. My, cough-cough, "apiary" consists of an old indoor throw rug laid on the ground and covered with pine bark mulch. I did this to limit how close I have to get with the mower/weed eater. I set the hive on three concrete blocks with pieces of tar paper on top to limit how much moisture contacts the bottom of my hive. The bottom board is all screen. I will use a piece of cardboard to cover the bottom in the winter to help the girls stay warm. There are two feeders because I was out of town the week my bees were installed. I wasn't happy about it, but I couldnt avoid it. I bought two metal entrance feeders ( I don't recommend those by the way) and had them ready so that they wouldn't run out before I got back. They serve double duty as an entrance reducer and feeders for right now. The hive is located in the back corner of my property, far from my house, but close to my neighbor's! lol Oh, and the large jar to the right of the hive is my version of a bee watering hole. Its a large flower pot base filled with decorative gravel topped with a pickle jar. I just poked some large holes in the lid, filled the tray and jar with water, and set the jar upside down on the rocks. Gravity keeps the tray full of water and the rocks let the bees land all around the water without drowning. Im hoping it keeps them out of the pools in the area.

Approx 5/13/2008- My first time EVER in a hive. Lucky for me they are sooo gentle. This is one of the lesser developed frames. Not sure how much detail is lost in the upload to this blog, but the original shot shows the transition from foundation to comb when magnified.






So, I have a hive, I have bees, they have been busy and its time to take a look. You can imagine the pressure I was feeling. I had never opened a hive myself, much less been there when one was opened. I fired up the smoker, tightened up the veil, and just stood there imagining how bad it could get. No bee suit. No gloves. Just me, a shaky hand, and no mentor to help out. I sucked it up and opened the hive. I was very surprised at just how gentle bees are. The didnt show the least interest in me. No bumps, no stings, and very few fly-bys. They had maybe 3-4 frames started with comb with minimal food storage and obviously no eggs. I found the queen. I was worried sick because I found the beginnings of a queen cell and the queen I found wasnt marked. I learned more about this and will comment on that on the next picture.

Approx 5/23/08 - Things are looking better











This is my third visit to the hive. Just a note, I didnt get stung, but they seemed testier than before. There was an obvious roar in front of the hive. Im new, so maybe its normal. That is going to take some getting used to. They were still just as gentle as the first day. I was tickled to find capped brood and honey. If you have seen this blog on myspace, I mentioned that the frame with the queen cell almost broke apart on the first opening. The wax foundation came lose from the bottom of the frame and was swinging free. Luckily no damage was done to the comb and the foundation didnt come completely off. It was a real close call because the queen was on that frame. I initially destroyed the queen cell and worried a lot about why I had one. I was able to find that sometimes the workers start queen cells or queen cups to stimulate the queen to lay. I was instructed by some to keep cutting it out, and by others to let it go. Im no tree hugging liberal hippy, but I do tend to lean towards more bio-friendly beekeeping, so Im opting to leave the queen cell. People may have lots of opinions on why the bees are doing this, but the bees KNOW why they are doing it. I figure Ill trust them on this one. They have since repaired the queen cup but not developed it into a full fledged cell. They have also repaired the frame by gluing the foundation to the frame so it cant move. When I add the second super, I am going to space the foundation evenly between the boxes and will cut that foundation loose and then fix it so it can hang straight. Ill just let them fix it after that.


Thats where Im at for now. Im planning on opening them again soon to see how the brood are doing. It should be getting on time to add the super, so Im prepping for that. Ill add another blog or thread and post my pics.