Two new queens and one old queen are in residence...

As you can see my own little back yard apiary is expanding. It hasn't been easy, but with baby steps, we've done pretty darn good. And I do have to admit I'm proud.  

It was this time last year I started my beekeeping voyage with one package of bees from Georgia, most of them dead and the rest struggling for life. But with some quick thinking, a new queen, two frames of brood from another apiary and lots of TLC, it became the thriving colony it is today.

As I mentioned awhile back, I found all kinds of swarm cells in the yellow hive, so I moved those over to a new hive (green) with brood and bees to start a new colony. My inspection about a week later indicated that the swarm cells were gone and a lot of supersedure cells had popped up -- a situation that perplexed me and more experienced beekeepers too. But I decided to wait it out because I wanted to see if a virgin queen might be there...and see if she may fly away to mate, come back, then come home to begin her own family.

That never happened it seems. Apparently the queen (if there was one) never returned and so my worst fears came true. When I opened the green hive, I found eggs alright. Two or three eggs per cell. Some had one, but many of them had two and three eggs -- meaning that I now had evidence of a laying worker. Since that means the colony is headed for disaster, I had to act quickly -- so I took the hive to the other side of the yard, almost a couple hundred feet away -- and I shook every single bee off every frame. And when I got back to the hive stand where the green hive rests, a swarm of the bees from the hive had covered the entire inner cover which I propped up. And as I sat the hive back up where it belongs, the bees started marching back into their home. It was a great sight to see. I'm just hoping the young laying worker wasn't able to find her way back to the hive.

I ordered two new queens from an apiary in Winston Salem, North Carolina, called Tate's Apiaries (on Union Cross Road, 336-788-4554). Larry and Janice Tate raise Carniolan and Italian queens, and since my good friend Jared Watkins had such great success with his, I decided to get two Carniolan queens. There they are on the right, and although they're hard to see, if you click the picture to enlarge it you can almost see the blue marks on their backs. 

The colony in the green hive had been queenless for weeks, so I went ahead and introduced one of the new queens that same day. But since I was doing a second split (making it my third hive) -- I decided to move frames of brood and pollen and nectar into the newer orange hive, wait for 24-hours for them to realize they're queenless, then introduce the new caged queen and let them slowly get used to her. As you can see, there are quite a few bees from the mother hive in the new orange hive. And after making a small hole in the candy with a nail, I tightly wedged the cage between the frames so the workers can take care of the new queen and her attendants.

Take a good look at one of the brood frames I moved into the new orange hive. Nice, huh? This is from the mother hive or the yellow hive. As you can see, the queen is a laying machine, so I had enough frames to move into the green hive and the orange hive. And guess what? While I was busy looking to make sure I wouldn't move the queen from the mother hive, through the corner of my eye, I happened to see something green lumbering across the frame. It was the original queen I introduced in 2009! For the first time since last October, there she was moving ever so graciously through her daughters on the frame. Her green dot (indicating she was a 2009 queen) was worn but still there. Am I planning to replace her this year? No way. If she continues to do this well, she's got a home for as long as she wants. I was very careful to make sure she stayed in the yellow hive because I separated the frame she was on from the colony...and was careful to put it back when I was done.  

As soon as I put the cage with the new queen in the orange hive, the bees went to work checking her out. No aggression or anything to indicate they wanted to harm her. They just appeared to be curious and even started working on the candy stopper. I'm hoping that she'll be released in the next few days, and as it stands, I'll give them the standard five days to see if she's out and hopefully laying eggs. I'm hoping I'll find pleasant surprises in both hives in the next few days.

As you can see...this is a happy update and I'm excited. My mother hive is ruled by an Italian queen, and the two new hives will be dominated by Carniolan queens. I am looking forward to working with this race of bee since I've heard good things about them. I hear they're hard workers, gentle, and adapt to local conditions better than Italians. And besides, if it doesn't work out with them, Larry and Janice Tate sell Italian queens too.

So it looks like my apiary is moving right along and now I'm thinking about at least one more hive behind the house. If I decide to expand beyond the four, I think I'll have to find another location. My neighbors seems to be very cool with my backyard apiary so far -- and I just want to keep them that way.

Expect an update soon with the details of how my new colonies are faring.

My storage building is up, up, and away!

For some of you, you know I've been talking about putting a storage building behind the house for quite awhile. My garage is so jam-packed with stuff, well, I just need more space. I am one of those people that will get something and say, "you know, I might need that sometime" -- and hang on to it. Now I find myself tight on space..and two things must happen; I need a place to store my beekeeping equipment and other things like lawnmowers and lawn equipment..and I'm having one heck of a yard sale this spring. This building will be very convenient since it is mere yards from my bees, so I can keep all of my equipment there.

We have an excellent contractor of storage buildings here in my city. About a month ago, he came over and gave me an estimate which was a really great deal. He told me he could jump on the work now because its winter and business is slow, and while we had it scheduled for a month ago, the winter weather of snow and ice kept setting the start date back. But to my surprise and delight, the work started on Thursday, February 25th, and they're going really fast to have it finished next week. So I thought I would share some of the progress they've made over two days.

They started the building (which is 12x20) at around 11 o'clock on Thursday morning. Here you see the contractor, John Brown, and two of his guys and they dig the footings for the building. What you can't tell in the picture is that the wind was blowing hard..gusts up to 40mph. But after they dug the footings and leveled everything out, they started on the floor.  

This is how it looked by 3 o'clock Thursday afternoon. As you can see, the floor is finished. The guys stopped for the day since the wind was blowing like crazy and the temperature was only 41 degrees. Its days like this that I appreciate my office job and not having to stay outside to make my living. But when summer rolls around, I'll wish I could get outside and curse being inside all the time.

Here it is at 10 o'clock on Friday morning, a little less that 24-hours from the start. Even though the wind was just as bad as Thursday, the guys worked hard to make this much progress. Three of the walls are up now, and it looks like the roof may be on before the end of the day. Once they get the last wall and roof on, then they can put the double doors, windows, and a good paint job on it.

Here's what the inside looks like as of now. I don't have plans to finish the interior walls, after all, its a storage building. But I do plan to have it outfitted for electricity so I can put a heater in it when I'm working in there in winter. And who knows, I may have to put an air conditioner in there so I can cool off on the days I work my hives! And it will have a wireless burglar alarm sensor on it which will work with my home system in case anyone breaks in while I'm asleep or away from home.

More updates later as the progress continues!    

I installed my custom made two hive stand. Take a look!

So I mentioned earlier that I was having a custom made two hive metal stand made. And here it is. I took the dimensions to a local welding shop here in town, Amos Welding and Machine Shop, and asked Wesley Amos what he could do for me. I told him I needed something wide enough for two hives, 4-feet wide by 2-1/2 feet deep, and the legs 24 inches long. And to help with debris, mites and ventilation, I asked him to include heavy duty screen for the top. Well, in about 15-minutes, Wes had it all figured out, and I really liked his design. Instead of four legs, he decided to go with six to give extra strength in the middle. On Tuesday, when I ordered it, he said it would be the end of the week and it would be ready. On Wednesday morning at 8:45, he called and said "come and get it" and so I did. I was very impressed with the design and the craftsmanship and know that this will last for many years.
To install my new two hive stand, I would have to move the colony I have now which was sitting on a concrete pedestal I created. That would be no problem but I was concerned about confusing my girls who were returning back and found the hive moved. When Don Hopkins, the state apiary inspector was here this past week, I asked if he thought it would be a problem, and he said no. His advice was to move the hive a few feet forward and that way, when foragers return, they would find the hive missing, but still be close enough to drift to the new location once they see it. So I moved it five-feet forward of the old location, and things went extremely well. The girls were well behaved and I used about four puffs of smoke from the beginning to the end of the move. While I was digging the holes for the legs of the stand, I had a few foragers buzz around me, but I watched them do just as Don said they would do..they flew around me and then eventually found the temporary location. By dark, I only saw a few bees flying where the hive was before.
After I moved the hive to its temporary location, I decided to put something over the entrance so they would have to re-orient themselves to the short move. So I used a couple of bamboo reeds with some foliage at the top to cover the entrance. Wihin a few minutes, they were all over the bamboo, crawling up the front of the hive, and then taking very short flying manuevers and returning. The bees that returned to the original location would fly around, then fly back to the temporary spot, so I knew they were getting it. You can see the hive top feeder on the ground. I will refill it tomorrow with sugar syrup so they can get back to building comb in the top chamber.
Next to my bee colony, I think this is my pride and joy. My new two hive metal stand with a fresh coat of paint. Under it, I planted some kind of creeping Japanese ground cover (the name escapes me) to control weeds. And to make sure it doesn't sink in the ground, I put Quikrete (fast acting concrete) in the holes I dug out for the legs. At the far end, closest to my smoker, the legs stick up 14-inches out of the ground, and almost 21-inches at the end closest to the camera. And it is perfectly level, front and back and side to side. After allowing the Quikrete to cure overnight, I'll put the hive back in the original location at around lunchtime tomorrow.

So there you have it, my brand new metal bee hive stand. Since I'm thinking about next spring already, I'll have a place ready for my second colony of bees. And just think, if I grow tired of beekeeping, I can always use the metal stand as a huge barbecue grill -- large enough for a whole side of beef! Ya'll come!

When I put the colony back tomorrow, I plan to do an inspection to see if my queen is back to laying and maintaining her duties. If not, I'll order a new queen from Busy Bee this week and requeen and get things going before I leave on vacation in September. But I hope she's back to normal..and I'm sure the girls will be glad to get back to their original location -- and with a new and improved hive stand to boot!

Not only beer on the White House lawn. How about a bee hive too?

In case you've been in a cave, the major news talk this past week has been about the President having beers on the White House with a police officer and a college professor who had a conflict with one another. I mean on all the stations, television and radio, and in all the newspapers too. These three men sat down on the lawn and had beers and a lot of talk about conflict. Of course, the media went nuts and made all sorts of pictures in the yard at the White House.

But I didn't see this picture until tonight. While I was doing some research on building bee hive stands, I happened to come across this photo of the White House bee hive from fellow beekeeper Mistress Beek. That's right, ladies and gents...the very hobby that we all adore has made it all the way to the big white house at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue! And all started by a fairly new beekeeper too! And based on the picture, those are some busy bees working at the nation's capitol! If you study the picture carefully, you can see two brood boxes and three honey supers. Busy girls indeed!

U.S. News and Word Report reports that the hive was installed in March of this year.

It says: "Charlie Brandts, a White House carpenter for 25 years, is now the First Beekeeper. He got the ball rolling when he told some of the East Wing staff about his hobby. "I was thinking about how cool it would be to bring bees to the White House," Brandts says. Word made it to chef Sam Kass, who asked Brandts if he could make White House honey to use in Obama family recipes. On Tuesday, Brandts brought in one of his hives and put it near the garden.

While he's been in beekeeping for only three years, Brandts sounds like a longtime pro. "I'm trying to promote beekeeping," he tells Whispers. He started raising bees for the same reason the first lady dug her garden: "I wanted to eat healthier," he says. That meant shifting from sugar to honey. "But it kind of gets expensive," he says, "and I thought it can't be too hard to put together a few hives in my yard" in nearby Fairland, Md.

While the hive has been welcomed by the first family, Brandts concedes that some workers had to be convinced that honeybees are largely harmless. (Ironically, it was some of the security staff who worried about getting stung.) As with many people with access to hives, the first family might get hooked on bees, and Brandts hopes to bring more hives in. "And if they don't like them, we can always take them out."

Just think. The President could have an ice cold beer (or maybe some mead) while sitting on the White House lawn and watch the bees work their magic!

Pictures while inspecting my hive. And lookin' good (the hive, not me)..

So the sun was out today, and I was tired of looking for the elusive yellow jacket's nest. Being that my colony has been hived for almost a month now, I make it a habit to check them on Saturdays to see how they're doing. And as you can see, they're "busy as bees" on the frames. By the way, the powder you see on the top of the frames is pollen substitute. Since I got started so late, I am feeding them pollen, and they're using it too.




For a colony that was mostly dead after being shipped from Georgia in early June (and since I added a queen and some capped brood from Busy Bee Apiaries, you can see that my girls are doing fine. They're good natured and stay busy all day going to and fro the hive. Since I have a creek just below the hive, they get plenty of water, plus I feed them syrup and pollen substitute. A lot of the capped brood has hatched, but look to the right of the frame and you can see that there's more babies waiting to emerge.





Take a look at that frame! Both sides hold larvae, some nectar and pollen. And on the back side, even more capped brood. And her majesty, the queen, is on this side of the frame. Can you see her? Take a really good look and try not to cheat. Still can't see her? HINT: Look almost halfway down and to the far right. See her now? She's encircled by her attendants.




Okay, did you see her without the help of this picture? Take a good look to the left. There she is. You can see some of her green dot, but an even better indicator would be the attendants that have circled her. She is doing a great job!




Inspection is over. Time to put more syrup for the girls. This is a two quart feeder that I made myself. It once held caramel popcorn from Target. I took a picture nail, made tiny holes in the lid, put the syrup in, and put in in the hive. It rests on two pieces of wood for easy access, and then I put the empty hive body back on, then the inner cover and the top..weight it down with a landscaping paver, and all is done. And I have to admit, the girls were in a great mood today, all expect when I brushed the excess pollen off the frames, but other than that, they were fine and barely noticed me.




I am so keeping my fingers crossed that this colony is going to make it though this winter. So far, so good. Every time I inspect the hive, I get a better feeling about it. I think this buch may make it after all!




Until next time, my friends, bee cool!

They're back! The yellow jackets are back!

Okay, so I thought I had totally gotten rid of the yellow jacket's that I found in my yard this week. I was pretty proud of myself for destroying the nest and getting rid of the angry yellow menace. Boy was I wrong..

Yesterday, thinking that I would go out and see if the ground was sinking where the entrance hole was located, I peeped out of the laundry room window, which is about 20 feet from the nest. As my eyes settled to the location of the hole, and I see one, then two, then five yellow devils, all flying around. Thinking they could be stragglers, the ones out foraging on the day I poured gasoline down the hole, I didn't give it much thought, and figured they would go away.

Wrong. This morning I look out and there they are again, about five to ten of them, flying over the old entrance hole (which was filled in when I poured gasoline down the hole). So now I realize that they must have a second entrance/exit hole somewhere, but I can't find it. I have watched and waited, but they fly around...land here, land there...but for the life of me, I can't see one point where they are coming and going. I just don't know where it is, and it is irritating me. I've encountered yellow jackets in years past, matter of fact, last year I had one within feet of where my bee hive is now, but this is the first nest I've run into that I couldn't destroy.

Now I'm a man on a mission. I plan to watch the ground to see what they're doing, then when I find the suckers, I'll go Dirty Harry on them. I hate yellow jackets. I got into a nest of them as a kid and they stung me repeatedly, getting in my clothes and hair and going crazy on me. I plan to return the favor.

Stay tuned!

The layout of my hive and back yard...

Well it is a gloomy day here with lots of drizzle and slightly humid, so I thought I would update my new blog. I have so many things I want to talk about, and one was the location of my hive.

Before I purchased my beekeeping equipment, I put a lot of thought into just where I should locate my hive. Although I have a spacious yard, there were several considerations. Most important in the process was considering my neighbor's feelings about my new venture, and then the best location for the hive itself.

My property butts against a creek, which is perfect as a constant source of fresh water for my girls. So I wanted to make sure it was near that. But the dirt near the creek is too soft, plus there is this hateful bamboo that the previous owner allowed to get out of hand, and I knew that eventually, my hive would be swallowed up by the Asian weed. So that was out. So I decided my best option was the corner of my yard, at least six feet from my neighbor's fence, and off the city's right-of-way (the creek bank is part of their R-O-W). That was it, the corner of my yard was the perfect location, and so I started planning.

My yard gently slopes, so I had to make sure that my hive would be level from side-to-side, but a slight lean to the front so water would run out the front of the hive. So I went to Lowe's Home Improvement and bought two large concrete landscaping pavers, then I got three cinderblocks from my dad. After I banked and tamped the dirt so it would be firm, I put the first paver down, leveled it, the put three cinderblocks on top. Then I topped the cinderblocks with another concrete pad, basically making a concrete pedestal. Total money spent: $16 and some change. It looks good, plus there's no wood to rot.

Oh, and to keep the bottom board from sitting in water on top of the concrete pad, I put some screws on the bottom, that way, it sits about a quarter inch off the concrete, air can circulate underneath, and it will dry out quickly after it rains. I thought that one up myself!

The hive front faces the southeast to take advantage of the sun, plus it will keep the north winds out this winter. On both sides of the hive, I planted Blue Ice Blue Star plants, which get about 12"-15" and bloom in spring. Then along the entire length of my back yard, I planted crepe myrtles, alternating the red and whites. Then directly against the fence, to make a nice hedge, I planted Euonymus shrubs, alternating the whites and golds. And while you can't tell it in the picture above, I sowed new grass all around the hive and my lower back yard. With more days like today (and last week where we got 2.5 inches in one day), the grass should be coming in any day now.

I'll have more on my yard layout a little later. Off to catch up on some work.

Until next time, my friends, bee-have yourselves!

Beekeeping? What was I thinking?

I have to admit that there are days that I wonder why I became a back yard beekeeper. But then, after I go out and take my time and work my hive behind the house, I'm glad that I stick with it.

It wasn't so rosy at the beginning. I got a rocky start in my venture as a beekeeper, once the bees arrived anyway.

The month or more before that was as smooth as silk. I bought by hive, built the pedestal to put my hive on, had some stumps ground down and planted new trees, and even had a few dry runs of putting my equipment together. I have to admit that things were great and I was excited, even though some of my friends, family members and neighbors looked at me as if I had lost my mind. After all, bees sting, and some people tend to lump all bees together, to them the honey bee is no different than a hornet, a wasp, or a yellow-jacket. All they know is that bees have wings, they're small, and they sting.

Then my bees finally arrived..and it was a total disaster. It wasn't the apiary's fault, it was the shipper, and it was a total mess. But more on that later in a different post. It is quite the story indeed.

But not all was lost and I'm finally having some fun with my small colony of girls. I have fun watching them come out of the hive in the morning, fly over the creek nearby, check me out when I'm working in the yard, and fly out around the hive after being cooped up after rain storms. It is amazing.

So stay tuned. I plan to post on my trials and tribulations as a new beekeeper, and what works for me and what didn't. Even though I have books and access to unlimited information on the Internet (and don't forget YouTube), I've found out that some things just don't work, least not for me.

I hope you enjoy my blog and if you have questions or suggestions, please hit me up with an email.