My first swarm catch of 2012? MY VERY OWN BEES!

Saturday started out really great. I already had my day planned; Mow the yard, reverse the hive chambers on all four honey bee colonies, get a haircut and follow up on my taxes. Well I made it through the yard mowing without a hitch, then went inside to make some sugar syrup for my hand sprayer. As soon as I finished, I went back outside and as I approached the building that houses my beekeeping supplies, I hear this really intense high-pitched buzzing. And when I looked up, the air was full of bees. You guessed it, one of my hives was in full swarm mode! It was the yellow hive which holds an Italian colony I bought in 2011.

Afraid to take my eyes off of them for fear I would lose their flight path, I just stood there and was prepared to say goodbye forever. I stood behind the yellow hive amongst the cloud of bees in a tee-shirt and track pants and carefully watched. And while bees were flying virtually everywhere, I noticed a lot of them flying towards the fence at my neighbors house. Continuing to watch them, I noticed that once they hovered in, they would fly to the middle of a wild crabapple bush at the corner of the fence. So I walked over to investigate, and sure enough, there they were.

20 feet from their former home, my traveling swarm landed on a couple of limbs in my next door neighbor's wild crabapple bush. How much luckier could I get? The only issue for me would be to make sure I could retrieve them since wild crabapple bushes are full of nasty thorns. So while it was a fine respite for them, it might be a pain for me. But thankful they were so close, I started gathering up my tools to get them back including the bottle of syrup, a cardboard nuc, a small step ladder and my bee brush.

While I was gathering my tools, the swarm settled down significantly into the customary ball. I then told my neighbor what was going on (her first words.."poor Mark"). Getting back to the swarm, it was easily three pounds of bees and they were on a prominent limb in the bush. The only real issue was trimming the smaller limbs away so I could get the box under the swarm ball and not get stuck by the thorns. After about 10 minutes of trimming, I could easily get the cardboard nuc under the swarm.

After giving them a healthy spraying of sugar syrup, and holding a tight grip on the box, I grabbed the limb and gave it a hefty downward jolt. Plop! The bees fell right into the box as planned. While quite a few went airborne, the majority were inside the box, so I felt like it was a success. But as I looked on the ground below the bush, there were quite a few there too. My fear was that the queen may be among the ones on the ground, so I immediately placed the nuc on the ground and placed the lid back on top. 

As soon as I placed the nuc near the bees on the ground, the parade began. I've always been in awe of watching swarms as they crawl their way into a hive, and I wasn't disappointed this time. Slowly and surely, the bees made their way to the small hole in the cardboard box. I was also hoping that if the queen did happen to miss the box, she would crawl with her daughters into the temporary mobile home. And after about an hour, most of the bees were inside the box with the exception of the ones fanning their wings outside to tell the rest of the crew, "Hey girls..we're over here!"

The next dilemma was..what was I going to put them in? All I had left was new shallow honey supers and no complete deep hive set ups. So knowing that two shallow supers was about the same size as a deep, I put two of them together. I did have two solid bottom boards, so after putting one on the bottom, I realized I didn't have a top. So I improvised by putting an inner cover over the two supers, then I made a temporary top with another bottom board turned upside down. To block up the top entrance, I put an entrance reducer there.

As you can see, it all fit together perfectly. With three frames of brood that I took from my other hives (to hopefully keep the swarm from absconding), and filling up the hive with plastic frames, I closed it all together and put three landscaping bricks on top to keep the lid from blowing off. I am especially curious about how this situation is going to work out. The swarm is only a few feet from where they left just hours before, so I was curious if the bees would travel back to the old hive to visit. I guess we'll see for sure, but I can tell you that 24-hours later, all is fine and the bees have been busy all day flying in and out just like normal. So I take that as a good sign that things will be okay.

I've been waiting to see if I would get a swarm call this year. And I really think it's funny that my first swarm for the year was for my very own bees. So now it looks like I'll be making the trip to nearby Dadant & Sons in Chatham, Virginia, to pick up some new hive set ups. After all, swarm season is very much underway, and I've learned an important lesson; Its better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. 

Yes, fellow beekeepers: I'm baaaack!

It has been seven months since my last post on this blog.  So needless to say, I am a little behind.  Nay, I'm way behind.  Even thought I had the best intentions of jumping online and update my blog, something would come along and my ambition would be set aside.  But I do appreciate the messages or emails from several of you who just wanted to make sure that I'm still alive and kicking. The good news is, yes, I'm very much alive and kicking.  The bad news is that the realities of life got in the way of me keeping everyone updated on what was going on.  So let me catch everyone up from then until now.

The last part of 2011 was somewhat of a mess for me.  I'm fond of telling people that I was wide awake on New Year's Eve, not so much to celebrate the grand entrance of 2012, but to make sure 2011 was gone for good (and good riddance too).  

My mom was sick quite a bit in 2011 which included several hospitalizations, so my brother and I had to make sure my dad was taken care of while she was away.  Plus there were countless trips to and from the hospital too.  Luckily she got well and was able to finally come home.  Once she was stable and settled at home again, we got to go on vacation in September and spent a great week at the beach.  But it seemed as if once I got back home, life got hectic with work and other things that took up a lot of my time so many things fell by the wayside.  From Labor Day to the New Year, especially during the holidays, it is a really busy time in the broadcasting business anyway. 

I started feeling really bad in mid October, physically ill, and thought I may have developed an ulcer.  But as the days passed, the pain I felt became more localized, so I finally went to see a doctor (after changing my self-diagnosis to a hernia).  Thank goodness I'm not a doctor.  It wasn't an ulcer or a hernia; it was my appendix which was at the point of rupture.  After having a CT scan, the doctor would not let me leave the hospital and they started pumping me full of antibiotics for an early surgery the next morning.  Thank goodness it all came out just fine and I only had to spend two and a half days in the hospital.  My only real pain afterward was the bills that started rolling in.  I think I received a bill from every doctor within 10 miles of the hospital.

But then November rolled around and more problems came along.  As I started feeling better, our beloved Fritz, a Dachshund we adopted from the local pound, started feeling poorly.  We took him for several visits to the veterinarian to find out what was wrong, but an ultrasound revealed the worst fears we had.  He had cancer of the liver.  In the thirteen years he was with us, he had been through so much.  He had survived several surgeries to remove stones in his bladder and various cysts here and there too.  In the last three years he became totally blind, but he did really well with it because he had learned his way around the house and was always with us.  But this cancerous tumor was something he couldn't fight and we knew time was running out and running out fast.  Two weeks after the diagnosis, old and weak, he lost his fight.  With us surrounding him with all the love we could muster, he drew his last breath and left us for good.  Truthfully, it was one of the toughest moments in my entire adult life. And four months later, it is still hard and not a day goes by when I don't think of him.  I plan to post more on him later.

The Christmas holidays rolled around on time, and while I had finished everything I needed to do (including shopping and cooking)..I started feeling really worn down on Christmas Eve.  Thinking that I was just physically and mentally tired from the holiday rush, I finished what I needed to do and had dinner that night with my family at my parent's home.  After dinner, I went back to my own home and was so tired that I just couldn't hold my head up so I went to bed.  You guessed it!  Just a few hours later, I was really, really sick.  I'll spare you the gory details, but it turned out to be a really nasty case of the flu.  I finally got to see my family doctor on the day after Christmas (being a cheapskate, I wasn't going to fork out $500+ for an emergency room visit) and one shot and two bottles of medicine later, I finally started to feel better. So much better that I stayed up on New Year's Eve to watch 2011 leave for good.  It was a really bad year and I'm glad it is gone forever.

I'll spare you January and February of this year other than to say they were pretty good months overall.  And March has been pretty darn good too.  My area of North Carolina was in spring weather way before it arrived officially on the calendar.  Luckily all four of my bee colonies survived the winter although I probably wasn't as attentive to them last fall as I should have been.  Over the last month, hardly a day goes by that I don't see a flurry of bees in front of each hive although one of them appears to be weaker than the rest.  I plan to spend some time over the next few days with them and see what is going on internally.  But as you can see from the picture, my girls are definitely taking advantage of the nice warm days of spring.  

So yes friends, I'm back.  I plan to try to post regularly and let you know what is happening with me and the bees at our humble apiary in the Triad area of North Carolina.  And once again, thanks to everyone who sent a message to check and see if I'm still around.  It means so much to know that even though I haven't met many of you personally, you still care.  Beekeepers are like that!   We're a special lot!

Bee good!

-Mark

New equipment for an expanding apiary!

Tis the season for beekeeping equipment. In the next couple of weeks, I plan to pick up a couple more complete hives to add to my backyard apiary. And to hold my new colonies, I just received my custom-built, all steel, three hive stand. It was built by a local welding shop, Amos Welding, and built to my specifications. Its 6 feet wide, 2 1/2 feet deep, and sits 24 inches off the ground. Click on the picture and you can see the heavy duty screen that covers the top (which combined with screened bottom board will aid in ventilation), and the legs have "feet" on the bottoms to keep them from sinking into the ground. The steel is heavy grade so it will safely hold the hives..even at their heaviest when full of honey honey in the fall.

Once it receives two coats of metal paint, I'll locate it at the back of my property and in close proximity to my current hives. I'll use post-hole diggers to plant the legs in the ground, then once its leveled, I'll use some Quikrete to secure the stand. Once it sets, I'll be able to locate my new colonies at their new home.

I have to have everything ready by April 11th when my new 3-pound package of bees arrives at Dadant and Sons. That will take one space. Then I'll use another space when I split the orange hive. Then the third will be ready to go for any swarms I may catch this spring. And if I get more swarms, I'm already thinking about alternate locations. After all, I have to keep the neighbors happy too!        

Recent visit to the hives (and a friendly word of warning)...

The weather has been absolutely beautiful the last couple of weeks. While March can come in like a lion and leave like a lamb, most of this month has been worthy of all the lambs in North Carolina.  As you can see, the flowers are blooming and the trees are budding. Here you can see the Bradford pear trees at my house as they open and show their blooms.  

This past Friday, the temperature made it to a balmy 80 degrees, perfect weather for foraging for pollen. Here you can see the girls in the orange hive as they come and go from their home. Deciding that it was nice enough to fully open up the entrance to the hive, I removed the wooden reducers to give the girls plenty of room to some and go. While the holes are small enough to keep mice out, they also create traffic jams for the girls coming and going.

Here the girls have all the room they need to come and go. This was just after I fully opened the entrance. While I had the hive open, I scraped all the burr comb off, and I added a green drone frame to keep the burr comb down to a minimum. I also put a honey super on to keep the girls busy. The bees are bringing in all sorts of pollen, so I know they'll soon fill up the brood nest with honey. So now they can go to work filling the honey super.

The ladies that inhabit the green hive were not to be undone when it came to foraging. Actually, the bees in this hive seemed to bring in more pollen than the orange hive. I could see that the bees were having to wait to get inside the hive, so I also took the entrance reducer off this one too.



Take a look now that the entrance reducer is gone. And if you click on the picture, you can actually see the different kinds of pollen that the bees found on their foraging trips. I found bees bringing in bright orange pollen and a pale green pollen too. The dandelions are in full bloom as well as all sorts of trees and bushes. If they're finding this much pollen already, I can only imagine what they'll find in a few weeks when the pollen hits full force.

As I mentioned earlier, I added a honey super to the orange hive. Because the green hive is slower, I didn't add a honey super to it, and that's because I don't want to stress them. The good news though, the queen in the green hive is working. I found four frames of capped brood and freshly laid eggs so the queen is alive and well. Once I see more honey production in the green hive, I'll add a super to it as well.

The ladies in the green hive came to the top of the frames to see what all the commotion was about. Since it was just me, they went right back to work and forgot about me. Unlike the orange hive, I haven't had to smoke this colony quite as much to work with them. While the orange hive is full of bees, this one is a little slower and their numbers lower. But with the queen laying a good pattern, I think it won't be long before this hive will be teaming like their next door neighbors.

A WORD TO THE WISE: This is the time of year when the grass and weeds start to grow. Many of you are like me and prefer to keep a neat bee yard, and that means keeping the grass down. Always remember to be careful and protect yourselves when mowing or trimming around bee hives. I always prefer to wear a veil and gloves or my overalls to work around my bees, especially with a lawn mower or Weedeater. Bees can easily become agitated by the vibration, the exhaust, fast movements and flying grass. And of course, when they become agitated, their behavior can become completely unpredictable -- but chances are they will go on the defense. This past Saturday, while mowing with the riding mower, my bees went into a frenzy because I made a fast, close sweep by the hives and they followed me to the street. I should have known better..but I was in a hurry. Most of the time I make slow motions with the push mower while trimming close to the hives, but I was trying to save time and that turned into a mistake. Luckily I didn't get stung. But next time I might not be so lucky. So remember, when you're mowing close to your hives, take your time and mind what you're doing. My neighbors chuckle when they see me in full gear while mowing near my bees, but I'd rather be the butt of their jokes than picking stingers out of my butt (or my head or somewhere else) while trying to be bold. We all have to remember that bees are wild and we have to respect that. When they go on the defense, that's their instinct. You can never predict what they're going to do, and yes, that includes even the gentlest of bees. Happy bees mean happy beekeepers. Remember friends, its better to be safe than sorry!

Bee good everybody!

Here's a story about the BIRDS and the BEES!

So for the second year in a row, an Eastern bluebird has decided to build her nest on top of the bird house at my parent's residence. That's right, on top! The bird house is attached to a pole under the metal awning that covers their basement door, and evidently it is just too cramped inside. So what does she decide to do? The next best thing...just build it on the roof. Honestly she is too big to go inside anyway, but since it is 7-feet off the ground and inaccessible to cats, she's pretty safe there. The problem is she is easily frightened. If you get within 20-feet of the nest, she flies away. I tried to wait her out and get a picture of her sitting on the nest, but she didn't come back, so I put the camera over the nest and snapped a picture of three eggs in the nest. As you can see, she has three beautiful eggs that she's tending. My dad says that she always comes back when the coast is clear. I'm going to keep a check to see when the babies hatch and maybe get a picture of them too.

And now the bees. Today was a nice, sunny, balmy 90-degrees with the humidity at over 60%! Yeah, we've gone from a hard winter to early summer, back to spring, and now back to summer..and its just the beginning of May. When I got home from dinner, I noticed a dark blob on the front of my hive, and when I checked it out, I found the ladies were having a front porch social. They were fanning so much that I could hear them while standing away from the hive -- it sounded like a fan running on low speed. While some might think this sight is unusual, actually it is the bee's way of keeping the hive cool since some of the bees come outside and avoid the congestion inside. This hive has a screened bottom board to aid in air circulation and pest management, and the inner cover has an air notch too. I have a feeling that I'll see lots of this throughout the next few months since I have a feeling it will be a long, hot summer.

In other news, the Busy Bee Apiary told me that their new queens won't be ready for pick-up for another couple of weeks. Meanwhile, I plan to break this hive down and look for queen cells, and if I find some, I plan to go ahead and split it. If I don't find any queen cells, I plan to put a queen excluder between the boxes in about a week -- that way I can corral the reigning queen and not move her in the transfer of frames to the new hive. That tip was given to me by beekeeping guru, Richard Underhill of the Peace Bee Farm. Then all I'll have to do is transfer the frames, wait for 24 hours so the new hive will realize its queenless, then I'll introduce the new queen in her cage. That method should make it easier for the new packaged queen to be accepted. I just hope I don't goof it up and do something wrong. I've practiced it over and over again in my head. Now if all will go according to plan, everything will be fine!

I'll update everyone when I do my inspection to let you know what's shaking.

Until next time everyone, BEE happy!

Updates from the busy, buzzing backyard!

Well I have to admit that although spring has sprung here, it has been relatively quiet around my house lately. My honey bees are busy enough; there is a flurry of activity outside of the hive every day although the tree pollens to gather is as close as their front entrance. The state department of environmental health reported the other day that this past week's pollen count was the highest here in seven years. While the bees have been enjoying the weather, I have to say that I haven't. Armed with Claritin to fight the burning eyes and sniffles, I trudge about my routine life while keeping my fingers crossed that my allergies will calm down soon enough. 

So the other day I decided to head over to the Virginia location of Dadant. As I've mentioned before, I'm lucky to be just under an hour from the Chatham, Virginia, Dadant warehouse, so if I need something, I can hop in my Xterra and pay them a visit. Plus I needed to return one of the plastic screened bottom boards I bought last year. It had never been used and was in storage all winter, but when I was putting together the components for my second hive, I noticed it was bowed. The hive body wouldn't set even on the bottom board, and because of the large gap in the back, the bees could easily slip out of the rear. So I called Mark Bennett, the manager of the Dadant office in Virginia, and he said he would gladly exchange it for me.

Before I go any further, let me say that although the postal code says Chatham, the Dadant warehouse is actually in a little community called Tightsqueeze, Virginia. No, I am not kidding, its called Tightsqueeze, and stop laughing. Whether its the hardware store, the shopping center or the golf shop, they all share the name of Tightsqueeze. While the name is funny, I have to admit its a beautiful little community that sits in the rolling hills of south-side Virginia. And its just miles north of Danville which was the last capital of the Confederacy just before the end of the American Civil War. Oh, and the reason its called Tightsqueeze? Supposedly it was because of the extremely narrow road between two stores on the path that connected Chatham and Danville many years ago. People would say that the road had a "tight squeeze" (meaning narrow) and it just stuck. And to this very day, people still call the area Tightsqueeze. By the way, even the locals snicker at the name...so don't feel bad. 

So I made the trip and Mark gladly exchanged my bottom board for a new one and I also bought a spare hive tool. And knowing that I blog and work in television broadcasting, Mark invited me to come up and make pictures and do interviews on "bee pick-up days" which happens twice this month at Dadant. On April 19th and 26th, Dadant gets shipments of bees for eager beekeepers who want to either broaden or replace their colonies. If I'm not mistaken, Mark said that each shipment will include 300 cages of bees that people have pre-ordered and already paid for, and they will make the trip to Tightsqueeze to pick up their new charges. But Mark warned me that bee pick-up days are madness, and he said it is hard to get close to the building for routine business. I definitely want to go up and make pictures and be a part of the thrill, but the problem is that both days fall on Monday, and that is the most hectic day in my work week. But if I have time to ride up with cameras, I'll do it. I have a feeling the air will be buzzing with lots of excitement that day! 

By the way, I have some upcoming posts that may interest some of you. One is about the ApiLife-Var, the all-natural remedy for varroa mites. I've done some reseach and you won't believe what I found. Not bad mind you, but I believe you could save yourself a lot of money by just running down to the health and beauty section at Walmart instead of ordering ApiLife which is expensive. And another post will be about the pending split of my current colony. My colony is doing well and it will be time to split soon, but I have to get a new queen to make it happen. I have one ordered from Busy Bee Apiary in Chapel Hill, but if that falls through, my friend Jared Watkins, who is helping a beekeeper with his queen rearing in nearby Winston Salem, has offered to get one for me if necessary.

More later! Until next time, enjoy your spring!

Check out the first Spring storm of 2010!

The first spring storm of 2010 hit here on Sunday night. While most people here were expecting a rain event, that soon changed.


The day was miserable anyway, cloudy and rainly the entire day long. But as the day turned into night, severe weather watches and warnings popped up all around the area. First came the flash flood warnings. Then came thunderstorm warnings which turned into tornado watches. Then after 7 o'clock, the first tornado warning was issued for Reidsville. I hate tornado watches and warnings anyway, but they bother me more when they come after dark. Thank goodness for my severe weather alert radio.

In the picture above, you see how the creek normally looks behind my house. This picture is a good representation of how it looks year round. This is the same creek that is the primary source of water for my honey bees. The stand that holds the hive is about 15-feet from the bank of the creek so it is very easy for my colony to access water all year. I made this picture just a few months ago.

Here is the creek at 7:30 on Sunday night, March 28th. This was around the time the first tornado warning was issued for my county because a tornado was sighted on National Weather Service radar a few miles out of town. I went out and put a heavy paving stone on top of my bee hive to keep it from blowing and I snapped this picture of the creek. As you can see, the rain was falling so hard, you can see the raindrops in front of the lens as I snapped the picture. Pay attention to how close the water is to the fresh water pipe that crosses the creek. This would soon change.

Here is the creek at 8:20 on Sunday night, 50-minutes later. As you can see, the pipe is completely gone now, covered up by flood water. I snapped this picture quickly because rain was pouring down and it was lightning pretty bad. Not long after this, a second storm system made its way over my area and the National Weather Service issued a second tornado warning. But we were lucky that the warning diminished quickly. But the rain didn't diminish because at one time it was raining so hard...I had to turn the television up.

Here in my city and county, we were rather fortunate that we didn't suffer serious injuries and damages. But to the south and southwest of us, people reported minor injuries and losses of homes and cars because of an unconfirmed tornado (unconfirmed as of yet by the National Weather Service). 

We've already had an awful winter with more snow that we've had in many years, and now the first storm of the spring was a doozy too. I'm just hoping that the weather for the rest of the spring and summer won't be foretold by the weather here in the last 24-hours. If so, its going to be a rough season for the bees (and their keepers too).

New hive bodies and a great first full inspection!

Introducing the lemon yellow hive! No, its the same colony of my girls, but they now have a delicious, lemon yellow exterior to their home. I was tired of looking at the plain white hive, so I decided to change it up a little. So I painted my second stand-by hive a bright, lemon yellow. And I have to admit that I really do like it. 

Well, I have to be honest and say that my reasoning was two-fold. One, I just wanted to make the hive boxes more colorful. But two, I wanted the bees to be able to recognize their own hive when I have two of them sitting side by side. I already have one that's bright yellow, and now I'm painting their old hive -- get this -- electric lime! Oh yeah, a bright lime green color. So now I can refer to my hives as lemon and lime. And when I have a new stand-by swarm hive, I plan to paint it orange. How I came about with all these citrus colors, I don't know, but they're the ones I liked best when I went to the paint department at Walmart.

While I was moving the frames into the yellow hive, I did a full inspection. The sun was bright and it was 76 degrees..the perfect day for doing it. While I did not find the queen, she is definitely there. I found an abundance of tiny, newly laid eggs with just about every cell filled. I also found larvae and pupae throughout the frames, so her highness is in residence and already laying. I also found drone cells through several frames too -- and thankfully, no swarm cells anywhere. Since this colony is already active, and it is full of bees -- that's been my biggest fear, that they're going to get the urge to swarm. But so far, so good. I plan to get a new queen so I can split this hive soon. While I could chance it and let them raise their own queen when I do the split, I'm not too hip on that idea. I'd rather buy a queen from a reputable dealer like Busy Bee Apiaries in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and know that chances are, she'll be as good as the one I have now. 

While I didn't see any hive beetles, varroa or wing issues, and this is still one booming colony even though we had a rough winter -- I did see some spotting on the front of the white hive that could be a possible indicator or Nosema. If its there, its slight, but I plan to make the trip to Dadant and pick up some Nozevit (all-natural) and give them a spring treatment. While I'm at the warehouse, I plan to pick another hive set-up just in case I get lucky and catch a swarm sometime this year.

Overall, I'm very pleased with my honey bees and how they've fared. Very pleased! I can't wait to split them soon and have my second colony in the electric lime hive. And as you can see in the picture above, my old hive is still in great shape, but I have a lot of propolis to scrape before I give it a fresh coat of paint. It gives me an excuse to get out and enjoy this wonderful spring weather!

Happy SPRING everyone (now that its official by the calendar)...

Getting ready for spring! My new building and painting hives...

Sorry it has been so long since my last post. The last couple of weeks have been really busy and I'm trying to get ready for the new beekeeping season, so that means I've had my hands full. So here's an update on my building and getting ready for spring.

My storage building is finally finished! After a month of delays, mostly weather related, the crew came to my house and had it up in a week. They actually had the four walls and roof up in three days, but with the windows and doors and the shingles and paint, it took a full week. But I'm not complaining. It looks great and I'm already putting stuff in there. All of my beekeeping supplies are there along with my yard tools, and I still have plenty of room for other goodies too. To be honest, I'm a little afraid that with all of that new space available, my storage building could end up like my garage...no room for anything. But I've made a pact with myself that I'll keep it neat and orderly...and we'll see how long that will last.

I did an inspection last last week and found my hive alive and doing very well. The sugar I poured on the wax paper and placed on top of the frames was halfway gone, the girls had eaten through the bottom and made a large hole in the sugar and had taken over half of it away. I really wasn't expecting that but its good to see that the method works and I won't hesitate to use it again next winter if needed. 

The top and bottom deeps were really active with a lot of bees. To be honest, it was a nice surprise. It took a few minutes but I finally pried one of the end frames out to see that the girls had seriously used up their winter store of honey. I also found three frames that still had honey, but all the other frames were completely empty and the cells cleaned up. As I pulled up some of the frames, I found where the queen had laid eggs in the burr comb. In that burr comb, I found larvae in all stages...so she's already busy at work getting ready for the spring. I figured she would be working since the daytime temperatures here are now in the 60s and those bees out foraging have been bringing in a lot of pollen. They're even storing the pollen all through the frames, its a yellow-greenish pollen they've put in cell after cell. One frame was completely covered on one side, and they were seriously working on the other side.

So after taking the top and bottom boxes apart and cleaning up all the burr comb (and there was a LOT of it) I put some 1:1 syrup in the feeder to get them through the next few weeks. Since there's no nectar sources available now and they can still starve, I decided to give them some thin syrup. After I put the feed bag on, I closed up shop. I'll go back at the end of this week to make sure they're doing okay with the syrup and that things look okay under the hood.

In preparation for splitting this hive, which I plan to do when the weather stays calm and I can get my hands on another queen, I've already painted the second hive. As you can see, its a very bright yellow. I figure that since my two hives will sit side-by-side, I'm hoping that the color difference will make it easy for my bees to differentiate their own home hive. And as soon as I get a third hive set up, I plan to paint it lime green -- then take the current two hive bodies (now in use) and keep it as a swarm hive...probably as the standard white. I realize that painting my hives probably makes them stick out more, but they're protected where they sit. Plus I believe we all need a little color in this sometimes drab world. I'm really looking forward to put the new colored hives to work. Next up...names for my colonies. I'm not sure what names I'll annoint them with, but I'm giving it serious consideration right now. It will be a lot better than yellow hive, lime green hive, white hive, etc. Stay tuned.

More later. Until then, I hope you're all doing well and planning for another banner year in this wonderful world of beekeeping!

Bee good!