Saturday, September 12, 2009
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Bee-mergency!
We got a call from a friend Frank T who lives not far from here. He noticed what he thinks are honeybees coming and going from the eaves of his house. He's hoping I can come out and take the bees away and put them to work in a hive. We have a couple of problems, though: First, to get the bees out, we might have to tear off some siding or fascia boards, etc. Most homeowners are not too thrilled about that. Second, this late in the season, it would be very difficult to get a new hive established before winter sets in.
We decided to wait until the weekend when I can take a drive out to his farmette with my equipment and see what we can do. Professional bee removal services usually use big vacuum cleaners to remove all the bees in such situations. I don't have anything like that. I am also not thrilled about pulling honeycomb and bees out of a house whilst standing on a rung of a ladder.
We'll see....and I'll let you know what happens.
My girls are getting lazier with the cooler weather. I need to get some sugar water feed on them soon....
We decided to wait until the weekend when I can take a drive out to his farmette with my equipment and see what we can do. Professional bee removal services usually use big vacuum cleaners to remove all the bees in such situations. I don't have anything like that. I am also not thrilled about pulling honeycomb and bees out of a house whilst standing on a rung of a ladder.
We'll see....and I'll let you know what happens.
My girls are getting lazier with the cooler weather. I need to get some sugar water feed on them soon....
Friday, August 28, 2009
Decisions, decisions
Okay, according to the most recent newsletter from the Eastern Panhandle Beekeepers Association (EPBA), to ensure that a hive can make it through the winter, it should contain about 35,000 to 50,000 bees and consist of two hive boxes (usually called hive bodies), which should have a combined weight of about 90 pounds (bees, brood, honey, and pollen stores). So, two of my hives definitely meet those criteria, but the third one does not.
The third hive is one I am especially proud of because it was a wild swarm that I caught and hived myself back in July. My husband Roger spotted the bees one day, way up high in a tall tree. At first I was concerned that one of my hives might have absconded, but all was well with my bees. Nevertheless, the wild swarm was too high for me to take any action. Two days later, however, I looked out the kitchen window to see a tornado of bees swirling around by our fruit trees. The noise was incredible! I was afraid that someone would come walking by and call the police or something!
About an hour later, though, all was calm. I walked outside and discovered that the bees had settled in a calm cluster on a low limb of a peach tree. The swarm was about 2.25 feet long and about 10 inches across at the widest point. Swarming bees pose very little threat to any living thing. First, the bees are all full of honey. Before they leave one home, they fill up for the journey and for setting up a new household. Second, they are singularly focused on just staying by their queen. So, when a friendly beekeeper shows up with a lovely new 2-bedroom colonial hive with a white picket fence (ha-ha), they are perfectly happy to move in. So, that's what I did. First, I had to frantically search through my bee hive equipment (called woodenware) to cobble together a hive box for them. I only had a few frames of beeswax, though; I hoped it would be enough to keep them happy and busy until I could go buy some more frames. Then, I suited up and headed out to the orchard with my pruning shears.
With all the care I could muster, I trimmed off all the extraneous branches around the swarm. Then, I anchored one end of the shears against my abdomen, took hold of the branch with my left hand, and cut off the branch right below the swarm. I was now holding the entire swarm in my left hand! It was surprisingly heavy and as I moved, the mass of bees waved back and forth, rather like a curtain in a breeze. Slowly I lowered the branch and held it over the empty hive. Then, I gave the branch a vigorous shake or two to dislodge the bees into the hive body. Just like that, I became the owner of THREE beehives! Woo-hoo!
Now, here's the dilemma I face. This third hive, my very own swarm, does not meet the criteria for being able to make it through the winter. The queen is excellent--she's laying lots of eggs and obviously stimulating the bees to do good work, but in the short time I've had them, they have not built up sufficient stores of honey and pollen. I could try to help them limp through by feeding the hive sugar water and a pollen substitute (based on soy flour as a protein source). Or, I could combine this hive with one of my other two hives. If I combine hives, it means I have to destroy one of the queens first, a task I don't look forward to because I am really terrible at finding my queens and because it's sad.
I guess I will make my decision this weekend.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Bees: Are they worth the trouble???
Friend Isabelle asks whether the quantity of honey harvested justifies the work involved. That's an easy question. The answer is "no." This is my third year keeping bees but the first one that allowed me to harvest honey. Beekeeping is about much more than the honey. Sure, the honey is a sweet reward, but the real payoff has been in the learning about bees, manipulating and watching the bees, observing what's blooming, and becoming much more aware about the vanishing clover and alfalfa fields while corn and soybeans take over (due to the false demand being created through stilted government incentives). It is a real adrenalin rush to open the hive and be surrounded by tens of thousands of bees! It is fun being a local folk hero. Friends like Isabelle give me bee jewelry, bee books, clippings about bees, bee bumper stickers, etc., etc.
Getting started in beekeeping was quite a bit of work: researching types of equipment, lots of boxes to assemble, stuff to order, lots of reading to do, consulting with other beekeepers, finding sources to buy bees from. And, it was expensive. To get the equipment for a couple of hives was probably about $700. If I had it all to do all over again, I would take a short beekeeping course first, but I could not find one locally that didn't conflict with Masterworks rehearsals. Oh well...
My first year, I ordered what are called package bees. You order them online (usually 3 pounds of bees) and they arrive a few weeks later in the mail. Did you know that post-office workers arrive at work around 6:30 am? I know this because that's when they call you to tell you to come and pick up your bees! I guess they don't like to have buzzing boxes around very long. So, the box is somewhat smaller than, say, a standard encyclopedia volume. It's screened on two sides and the queen is in a matchbox-sized box inside the larger one. The first thing you do is spray the screened sides with sugar water to cool the bees and provide them with some nutrition. Then, you get to don your new bee suit and veil and shake the bees inside the new hive boxes. If all goes well, they will venture out and start to find nectar sources and build new honeycomb in the hive. Worst case scenario: the bees abscond, meaning they fly off in search of better quarters....
Well, it's getting late now and I am getting cross-eyed from staring at computer screens all day. More info tomorrow. Stay tuned to My bees 'n' me!
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Why is it a bad time to bee blog?
In the autumn, things are winding down with the hives. I may have a bit more honey to harvest, but there is little nectar flow (few flowers) around for the bees. They are still working hard and collecting plenty of pollen (their sole protein source). Because there is so little nectar available, I will soon have to provide them with lots of sugar water to sustain them. Luckily, clever beekeepers have designed special hive-top feeders just for this purpose. They are boxes that sit atop the hive to contain the sugar water so the bees can climb up through the hive boxes to fill up any time they wish. The local beekeeping club (of which I am a card-carrying member) recommends feeding a solution consisting of two parts sugar to one part water. Each hivetop feeder holds about a gallon. Multiply that times three hives and you can see that I need a lot of sugar! Luckily the club sells sugar for 25 cents per pound.
The other interesting thing going on with the hives is the efforts the bees go to to keep the hives cool. They cluster on the front of the hive, especially in the evening and use their wings like fans to cool the hive. It looks a bit alarming to see tens of thousands of bees hanging out on their front "porches" on warm evenings!
The other interesting thing going on with the hives is the efforts the bees go to to keep the hives cool. They cluster on the front of the hive, especially in the evening and use their wings like fans to cool the hive. It looks a bit alarming to see tens of thousands of bees hanging out on their front "porches" on warm evenings!
A bad time to start a bee blog maybe
Hello friends and family,
My friend Nora Flynn Hebert, who lives in Brest, France, with her delightful husband Tomas and children Tristan and Maureen, suggested I start a blog to document what's going on with my beehives.
Just a couple of weeks ago, Nora and her family came to visit us, and Nora had the opportunity to help open the hives and manipulate the frames. Tristan was very good at identifying the boy bees (the drones).
Also inspired by my talented blogging daughter Maddie and my Twittering son Dan, I have now leaped into the world of blogging. We'll see how it goes.
My friend Nora Flynn Hebert, who lives in Brest, France, with her delightful husband Tomas and children Tristan and Maureen, suggested I start a blog to document what's going on with my beehives.
Just a couple of weeks ago, Nora and her family came to visit us, and Nora had the opportunity to help open the hives and manipulate the frames. Tristan was very good at identifying the boy bees (the drones).
Also inspired by my talented blogging daughter Maddie and my Twittering son Dan, I have now leaped into the world of blogging. We'll see how it goes.
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