Honey, I bought a Beehive!

Beeks in January, what to do?

2013-01-02T14:06:00.003-08:00

Hello! Happy New Year! It's 2013! WOW where did 2012 go?

It's a slow time for beeks right now. Time to read up on some articles or books, talk to other bee keepers, read blogs, go to a class or club connect. Make plans for the upcoming bee season. This time of year it maybe a good time to plan for what you want to do next year. Are you a brand new bee keeper? Or are you an old timer or maybe somewhere in between?

For myself? I'm hoping my girls over-winter well. My hive is quiet, no activities around the hive since it's in the 20's and 30's here. But my hive sits in the sun all day and from time to time I see a bee or two flying around. There is a massive pile of dead bees (which surprises me since we have chickens) at the entrance. This is not unusual it happens every-time we get a sudden cold snap and snow. Not really sure why that happens but it doesn't seem to have harmed the hive any, just seem to me that the dead ones didn't make it back inside before they died.

I've gone over to the hive and listened, there seems to be a constant hum. I'm not feeding them just leaving them alone. When we have a warm day or two they come on out.

I got a new bee suit for Christmas (Purple! AND made in the USA!) I also got new boots to go with it. I'm hoping my bees over winter well enough to be able to split next year. If not, my plan is to have 2 more hives in friend's yards. That way I can help them get set up, I'll work the hives, they can reap the benefits of the wonderful bees in their gardens and we will split any honey up at the end. I'm excited to give the T-bar hive a try.

One of my main gifts that I gave this year for the holiday was Lip balm. I made close to 40 containers of it. It's THE best lip balm I've ever used! Here is my recipe.

1 oz bee wax, clean
1 tbs honey
4 oz coconut oil
(optional... flavoring, I used honey)

in double boiler melt the wax, add the honey and oil mix well and let heat until smooth, using a turkey baster or large syringe extract the mixture and add to lip balm containers. Let set till firm.

Well, that's really all that we can do this time of year, just enjoy some home made bread with a slather of honey. Happy New Year!

Reclaiming their honey

2012-12-07T11:00:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting at my desk looking out the window and I noticed something, bees. It's been unseasonably warm where we live. (CO) So it's not unusual to see bees buzzing round the hive. As ou may have seen from my prior post that I finished up my honey processing a couple weeks ago. I put out all my tools and tubs for the bees to reclaim what I couldn't get. I don't have an extractor, so it 'was a lot of sticky hand work, boiling down the jars and straining again and again. I had a lot of very sticky honey coated buckets, jars and frames.

Being the responsible bee Mom that I am, I put them out by the hive. I also stored all my frames and bases along with my extra supers etc... for next spring. I sealed mine up in plastic tubs so that they would over-winter without visitors such as mice. I'm not so naive as to think that they won't gnaw into them if they get the chance, but I put out rat poison around my property because we have a neighbor that feeds the rats, and well, we have chickens so I don't particularly want them in my yard. Some people think it's mean to kill the rats, but with a huge compost heap in my yard I really don't need to feed the rats and raccoons, and honestly I don't want them in my feed etc... So if you're squeamish or feel that is mean, please don't comment to me on it. I'm an animal lover, yet I find it easy to rid myself of mice and rats. Thanks.
Also, note that I added a screen over the front of the hive for a mouse guard, it's just wire that is stapled down quite nicely so as not to allow any mice or rats access.

OK back to the bees. I have left out the piles of comb from the frames, around 5 lbs or so in a flat left over from canning, so that the bees can clean out that wax. I am sending it down to a friend in Texas who makes candles. I reserved a bit back to make into lip balm. Those adventures to come. I promise pictures of that crazy adventure as I plan on working on that this week. Hey, Christmas is coming!

Because I'm insane or just can't help myself, I had to go out and watch the bees while it was warm. I sat out by the hive, tempting fate that they wouldn't swarm my head again. But they were busy. It was really cool to sit out in the sunshine and listen to the bees lightly buzz as they did their work. I had a few random girls come sit on my hand walk around, decide I was no threat and fly off. I was really amazed at the sound they made. I've had bees all summer, but not once have they been outside the hive in such numbers gathering up the honey from the frames and buckets. They were so loud and busy! I really enjoyed it. Here are some pictures I took. Enjoy!

Sticky to my armpits, worth it?

2012-11-23T19:15:00.002-08:00

No one prepared me for this part of beeing a BEEK. I had thought about the end result of the year's worth of work & expense. Let's face it, of course you do! Since I had only 5 frames that I kept out, I thought how much work can this be to extract. My first thought as a TOTALLY self absorbed, instant gratification-drive-through-happy-meal American is, well, I'll take it somewhere and have it done. Now, where's the fun in that? Or the stickiness for that matter. Ha.
I pulled that honey about 3 weeks ago, and kept him-hawing about with it. Opening it, looking at it, making some phone calls or posts to friends (beeks) about how to go about processing it.... Finally, I was told for the small amount I have it's simply not worth it to go have it extracted. Uh-Oh.... now what? SO.... I got the instructions (out of a book, off of boards and asked my friend Greg @ Dakota bees) on how to do this. I assembled my equipment. Which consists of a sturdy kitchen spatula, a food grade bucket with a spigot (what do you know I had one from my days in the wine business!), a painter's screen, a large glass bowl, colander, a tub that I stored the frames in, and elbow grease. I'm not all the way done, but here's the deal. Did I mention this is sticky sticky messy work? Well, it is.

I'm OVER it! Seriously. I've been fooling with it for 5 days now, because it gets cold and I have to stop because DUH... I couldn't figure out why it wasn't flowing, until Greg casually mentioned a space heater.... well, shoot, no wonder, my honey was cold. So.... take 2 or 3 I forget which. I finally decided that I will sacrifice the comb, I hate to do that since I really wanted to try to let my girls have it for next year or seed a new hive, but can't be helped. This year I'll start feeding them early so they can get going on the comb. I digress...

My Sainted son, Christopher took some amazing pictures as I've been dealing with this. So rather than bore the pants off you, here are the pictures. I will say I'm still not to the jarring point, I have yet to finish this monstrous job, and we had a holiday and I forgot to buy jars before black friday, not going out!

on try one, I tried cutting the caps off the top of the comb and letting gravity have it... em, nope.

So, as you can see, I scraped it off the frame to the base.

Really pretty!

now I smooshed it onto the painter's screen

I was captivated at how pretty it was

add more elbow grease, you're not done yet!

it's harder than it looks.

sitting in the sun it dripped really nicely

this is what was left on the frame, can't leave that.

Yep, I'm very very sticky.

gotta little jar from the stuff in the bottom of the tub

afore mentioned sainted child who loves honey and I did this for
him because he has such bad allergies. Let's see if the raw honey works!

big pile of comb that is sitting on top of the painter's sceen
atop the bucket, atop hot oven to drip

And it's dripping quite well now

I have about 3 gallons of honey so far, and the spent comb is in the colander still dripping what I can get out of that into the big bowl. Once the comb is as clean as I can get it, debating if I should press it through a new pair of panty hose (washed once to rid them of chemicals) or not. Once the comb is as clean as I can get it, I'll put in the tub for the bees to reclaim what they can. I plan on using the comb for lotion and lip balm. I'll post about that later. I'm dedicated to only giving local and home made gifts this year, at "worst" things made in the USA, because if you're gonna talk the talk, walk the walk. Somehow given the number of requests for honey I have gotten, I really don't think people will mind a gift I worked so hard on and is clearly full of love. You can't smell my house through this blog, but if you could you'd be amazed at how GOOD fresh raw honey actually smells.

Till next time when we foray into the adventures of lip balm and lotion....

First year costs for New Beekeepers

2012-11-07T16:32:00.001-08:00

The hive I got for free

Tyvex suit

I've been out of the loop so I apologize it's been a bit since I blogged about the bees. A couple of things, first off, I'm developing an allergy to the bees, which is not good. I've taken a lot of stings this year especially in the past couple months. I have broken down and bought a Tyvex suit until I can raise the funds for a real suit. I've found some online for around $70, so it's on the Christmas list. So far the Tyvex (around $10) works great, but it's FAR too hot for use during the summer months, if I am going to have bees next year (and I plan on it) I will HAVE to have a protective suit due to the reactions I've had to the stings, more on that further down.

OK, so when I last left you in my bee blog I was off my feet. Had on a cast about half the summer! :(
I'm concerned that my bottom box is going to be a bit of a mess when I dig in once it's spring, but at this point, it's too late in the year to open and do one more cleaning. Even though we are 77 degrees in Denver by the way. I likely could get in there but I will opt not to since we do have a storm moving in tomorrow and I'd rather not disturb my girls. I am putting my mouse guard on today also because even though I have 3 cats, everyone I've talked to has warned me that mice are wily and they WILL get in, and they can ruin your hive! I'm simply waiting on a run over to pick one up when the store here in town opens. My husband says he can make me one, but they are so inexpensive and he's been traveling that I am going to put it on myself. Hopefully I'll post a picture of that.

As I ended up with 2 deep supers and 1 med super of honey I took only 4 frames of honey out. I know that I could have taken more, but I decided to err on the side of caution as a first time bee keeper who really wants my hive to thrive and hopefully split it next year. I am going to try out a top bar hive next year. What I really want to convey in this blog entry is my experience with my first year of beekeeping.

In that spirit I'm doing a loose breakdown of the return on investment. Mind you, my investment was not based on what I could sell honey or honey products for. This is strictly a hobby for me, but I have many friends who have asked me about how much I've spent on this little hobby and also it's a good breakdown for someone who is thinking of giving it a whirl.

So, way back in January of last year my overworked holiday brain started thinking of ways to annoy the heck outta my husband. Given that we have a small house with a smallish yard, we opted to pull out the back yard 5 years ago and put in a full vegetable garden. Which we have done successfully and enjoy our oasis every year. Each year I like to sit in the garden and watch bees do their thing. Well, being January, Tree put up for a whole year, I decided to check out some books on beekeeping and peruse the internet. I ended up buying 3 books on bees, I figure about $30 worth. Then, well, if I was going to have books I then decided I had to have magazines, such as Grit, which added another $20 so all in all publications, $50

I wanted to take a class, which I found online Craig's list for FREE :) Awesome!

I ordered my bees, a package of local bees here from a longmont beekeeper with 30+ yrs of beekeeping and queen rearing experience. $120 for the package + marked queen.

Then, I got very stressed out because money became a BIG issue due to a lay off, so I had bees on the way, but OMG, NO HIVE.... SO, I put an add on Craig'slist asking if anyone had an old hive they would be willing to give me, AND SHAZAM! I got an old hive. All med supers pretty beat up, but I put it in the oven on low heat made sure there were no lingering parasites, blow torched the pieces that were too big for the oven. The frames had no base, so I was going to need to get that but otherwise... pretty good.

Well...then my hubby got a job and I was able to afford a new hive, saving the old one for hopefully a split next year. The new hive cost $250 that included a front feeder, 2 deep supers, inner lids, a base and an outer lid.

I got some cinderblocks to keep the hive on, $5 for 2
I needed a strap to keep the box tight and closed, $12
So far I've used 2 25 lb bags of sugar + 2 5 lb bags, for about $40 worth of sugar
My tools I ordered online, a hive tool, a smoker, a frame holder, brush, 2 veils, a pair of sheepskin gloves $120
I also ordered an extra set of med super frames with bases for the old frame, which as it turns out I didn't even need, but now I have them for next year. $100 (10 of them)
I had to buy jars 12 for $10 (8oz)
I needed a tub and a bucket for collecting the honey, I don't have an extractor. $15
Mouse guard $5
I have moved to a top feeder, but I made it myself, so it was only $2 or so.
Tyvex suit $10 (I recommend you get a bee suit, you can make it to start with a Tyvex or long pats and light colored hoodie, but you NEED a veil)
I also have a spray bottle for sugar water $2

I think that's about it. So my total outlay so far has been $714 (wow, that is a lot more than I thought!)
Right now, I have 4 frames of honey, I'd say about 30lbs to process. I haven't been able to get to the extractor and the honey is still capped in a tub in the cold garage. I will have to process that and so far I've accounted for what all I will spend. I do have to get some little containers for homemade lip balm.

So there you have it, $714 and hours of entertainment, enjoyment and fun. Totally worth it.
Now, before some of you gasp, remember I have 2 hives, and totally plan on either buying a second package of bees or splitting mine, my hive IS strong.
I know I will also buy a bee suit for $75 or so. Maybe I'll see if there is a used one online I can find over the winter.

So, I am not selling any honey this year, I have gifts for the holidays of balms and jars of honey.

Now, I talked about getting stung a lot this fall, and it's true, even with a lot of smoke and the tyvex suit I 've taken a lot of stings in the past month. I took 7 in one day, which was SO random! As you can see, I got one RIGHT in the face, and I'm totally swelled up! Insane!

Well, I hope to post again sooner than later when I get my lip balm and honey put up. If not I'll try to keep other new'bees" posted on my progress as the winter goes along. Not much to do really. I'll certainly post when I start working them again in the spring.

Happy Holidays!

Hey dude? wanna smoke?

2012-07-10T16:09:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been a few days, it's been a madhouse! I last left you all hanging off a cliff dying to know if I was going to be beekeeping in my Birthday suit or not. As it turns out YES! I did get a "bee suit" for my Bday. I got the $ for one, but my husband and a bunch of research led me to a Tyvex painter suit first. I already have a couple of veils, but I got a smoker and new vented gloves. I'll say right up front, this suit is NOT chill.... It has been unmercifully hot across the mid-west area including Denver, which is where I am.

hey hey Macarena!

So here's what's new.... I was getting robbed something fierce from the wasps & ants. The wasps were a real problem, they are still everywhere in the yard, especially close to the hive and the water, but not ON the hive now that I moved the feeder. So it's been like 2.5 weeks since my last blog, so there's a lot to tell. First and foremost I did make a top feeder, which I simply did by using two craft sticks and taking the jar off my front feeder putting the sticks above the hole on the inner cover, then inverting the jar on the top, since it was a big enough hole I did two jars & then put a med super on top of the cover and put a second inner cover and the outer lid on. Worked like a charm. The bees seemed a bit confused as to where the feeder was at first but I suspect when the drips of feed found their way down, they were off to the races.

Shortly after I moved their feeder I noticed the wasps really weren't as aggressive on the hive, but were simply buzzing around it here and there, and drinking the bee water, can't really fault them for wanting a drink, it's been HOT!

hey dude, wanna smoke?

Finally on the 3rd I got my smoker, we were to have a big party on the 4th, so that morning, before it got terribly hot I got my suit, smoker and tools all ready for my inspection. I had to check on my brood. I was getting a lot stressed about it. The last time I inspected my hive I was about 1/2-3/4 drawn out on the second deep super. I've had several exchanges with some other beekeepers (beeks, as they call themselves) both online, on the phone and in person. I knew I was getting close to A) adding a honey super and B) pulling the feeder.
I decided that the morning of the 4th sounded like a glorious time to do my inspection. Especially since I will be having foot surgery in less than a week and I really want to do one more inspection before the hive sits to it's own devices for at least 2 weeks, I know it will be OK, I just need to not freak out about it! Bees will do what bees will do.... they've been around a lot longer than I have.

you can see the larvae, they look like maggots at the bottom of the cells

Back to the inspection.... I got all dolled up in my new outfit, man, times have changed from the days of high heels and mini-skirts. Now, I think my bee suit is all dolled up! haha. I'm indeed a "BEEK". I also had never used the smoker before, which incidentally didn't come with instructions nor anything to put in it. I used some cardboard all torn up and a few pieces of wood slivers out of a bag we use for BBQ (Mesquite bees). I was able to get the feeder off, it was empty. I set the med super off to the side, along with the tops and the (feeder) jars. I worked quickly, trying not to invite more robber wasps. I did a full inspection on the top box, it turns out it's 100% drawn out. I got the first frame out and then slid the others out one at a time. I was shocked to see that there was a TON of brood in there! I'm talking 2 of the frames had nice big patches of day old larvae. I was not expecting to see that much! But lo and behold, my queen is a layin' machine! I cleaned up the burr comb and some of the glue that was all over holding frames in. Lots of capped cells. Even a couple that looked oddly shaped, again, not the actual "peanut" shaped queen cells that you would find at the bottom of the frame, these were more like just the size of a pencil eraser in the middle of the frame, I have no clue what it is. I did note they were a bit darker than the rest of the wax and it just now occurred to me that it might be propolis, perhaps it's the body of a wasp or beetle they glued in? I don't really know. I was still working with purpose, trying to finish up my inspection. I mention that because when I work the bees I work at a steady clip but try not to make crazy fast movements, they don't like that. Just then, as I'm thinking this, the grip I had on the frame I was holding, full of bees.... gave! I dropped the frame! HOLY COW BATMAN! about a million bees (pissed off ones too!) came flying at me! Wow, they DID NOT like being dropped. Lucky for me I had the smoker, oh... FOOEY! It went out! OK, second line of defense.. I had on my bee suit, veil and gloves. Thank God. I surely would have taken a boatload of stings that day! The experiment of the tyvex suit certainly was a success, a few girls tried to sting but they didn't make it through the tough suit. These are available from the paint department of Lowes or Home Depot for about $10 or online in more bulk for around $8. I honestly think that the one will last me a good long while. When I am done I hang it up in the garage, so I can foresee this being a way to go on the cheap. I finished up checking the bottom brood box, and again found that my queen has been earning her keep! LOTS of day old brood. I was very happy to see that. My only question is should I get a queen excluder for the top boxes? I've read the pros and cons of these.... I am up in the air. I do know I will be buying one for a little side project I plan but that's only because I don't want brood in my honey jars (more on that later...cliff hanger!)

about 2 seconds before I dropped it!

So I shut up the hive after I got it all cleaned up, removed spare comb hangin' around, dealt with the excessive propolis and did my general hive maintenance. Over-all I'm pretty thrilled that I have 2 full boxes! So, I went ahead and added a 3rd medium super. I also finished up the feed I had left that was already made up which only was 1 jar, and have decided that they are good to go on their own for foraging. Given the info I've gotten from other beekeepers when 2 supers are drawn out that's good, they can sustain until winter, and they should be starting to fill "MY" supers with honey soon!

As an aside, we got some chickens and I will likely start a blog about those little chicks, cause they are funny! Most of my friends who know me as this very professional entrepreneurial and kind of girlie girl for the past 20 yrs are vastly amused that I've become Green Acres in the middle of the city! All I lack are a pig, an alpaca and a goat... I would get one but my husband might have a cow.... hey... I think I'm onto something there....

I did notice some VERY irregular behavior in my bees yesterday, so I've taken a precaution of adding a hive with some "queen pheromone" close to my hive. My son and I were outside weeding, and I have left the weeds by the hive intact. OK, so come on here, they are practically trees (ok, maybe not really) but certainly too big! So I carefully weeded the front of the hive area. About 5 minutes later the bees went totally berserk, it really did look like a huge swarm (see video). The bees were so agitated flying in all directions in vast numbers! I've never seen a thing like it, and mind you I dropped a frame of bees on the ground the other day! Certainly that was a ruckus! At any rate, I will be getting back into the hive today to take off the feeder and do a cursory check. After yesterday's crazy activity I just feel like I need to take a peek. I'll let you know how it goes. In the meantime, here are some pics of the hive and also the larvae. I also will edit the video and add it to the blog in the next day or so.

Inspector Gadget!

2012-06-27T13:04:00.003-07:00

I say inspector (Gadget) because I really had to inspect the hive today. I didn't want to actually. It's about a million degrees here (OK, slight exaggeration, but just SLIGHT!) fires are burning all over and the whole city smells like a campfire. Ironically I'm still waiting on my smoker... I had a conversation with a fellow bee keeper and he suggested I look for day old larvae so I had to do it. I put on jeans, with socks up over my jeans, my hiking boots, a sweatshirt and gloves with bands around the end of the sleeves. I was going in! Oh, also my veil. I thought about putting a bit of tinder in a can for smoke, but opted for a bottle of sugar water, my luck I'd burn down the hive. and given the fires in our state I'll just wait for the smoker!

The wasp was in trouble, these bees covered it.
Likely killing it with body heat

I also decided to pull the front feeder, which turned out to be of a good decision today because there were a ton of yellow jackets trying to rob the hive today! I think my girls put up a good defense though, as you can see from some of the pics I took. I also noticed that I have a good number of ants, so I will be doing something about that too. Likely I will go with some vaseline or grease on the base. More on that at a later date.

These dang things are in the water dish too!

So after suiting up like I was going skiing, I gathered my tools, hive tool, frame grabber thinggie, (hey it's technical), spray bottle of sugar water, empty med super, inner top, and feed. I have to tell you with the stings I've taken lately, and how really cranky the bees have been I really didn't want to inspect today! Also I have been doing morning or evening inspections, because of the heat, but since everyone has told me that daytime is best when the foragers are out I sucked it up and went to do the inspection. Feeling like I was on the surface of the sun because it was so hot, I figured I'd get this done!

Another wasp that fled ASAP

I used my hive tool to pry off the inner lid, which of course has been stuck to the hive with propolis. I gave the girls a little spritz of sugar water. The top super is only about 1/4 drawn out. It looks like they started in the middle and are going on from there. I removed one of the outer frames and checked the rest of the frames quickly. They are looking good. At that point I had to pry the top box off the bottom brood box, due to again, the bee glue. I gently set the top box onto the blocks behind me and began the inspection and search for larvae. I had to spritz a few more times because they were riled up (duh, I'm in their house! MAKE MY DAY LAW with a stinger!). Once I had the first frame out I was able to move around in the box and check for brood. This box is full, completely drawn out, there are no blank spots at all on the frames, which I take to be good. The outer frames were mostly capped, it wasn't until I got to the inner frames I found day old larvae. Which I had trouble locating at first, because even though I've looked at a million images via books or google, I wasn't sure what I was looking for!

One of the top super frames

Let's not forget I'm brand new at this! I located several rows of what looked like tiny maggots, but rolled up in a C at the bottom of cells. I think I also had trouble locating them because my eyeballs were not co-operating in the sunlight through the veil. It's a learning curve! Once I found those I breathed a sigh or relief! My queen is working and laying. :) that makes me happy! I didn't doubt that she was since it's evident to me that the hive is thriving actually, but still, I needed to be sure. I'm confident that even though I didn't see the queen, again, the sun & veil it's hard to see.... I'm sure she's there. I'm also always super careful not to smash the frames when I'm in the hive, don't want to damage the queen! So even though I found those larvae I went ahead and pulled out the rest of the frames one at a time and checked them. I found other fresh larvae as well on a couple other frames. I did see some strange looking cells, which I am not sure what they were, not queen cells since they were in the middle of the frame, and not as big as a peanut, just sort of bulgy. I'll try to research those.... I wish I could have taken a picture but my hands were occupied and I wasn't letting my son too close this go round. My GoPro is on loan, but next time I inspect I am wearing it on the headband I think.

The new look of the hive.
Note, no strap yet!

the front feeder now on top bees still in there
Top is vented this is a view from the back

bees on a plant in the garden post sugar spray

I was pleasantly surprised that not being as fearful of the stings due to the precautions, I quite enjoyed checking out the bees today! I got the hive back together utilizing a few more spritzes of the sugar water here and again. Once it was all together, I put the med super on top and put a jar with holes for food on top of the inner cover. I need to get a real top feeder but this will work totally fine until I give Greg a call about it this week. (I buy all my supplies that are hand made right here in Denver from Greg at Dakota bees http://dakotabees.com) I put the second inner cover on the feeder and then vented the hive as I added the telescopic cover. I'm a bit concerned that I my strap is at capacity and I need to add a second one. If you have read my blog before, you know I'm kinda a ditz about these and my husband and to help me on it before. I am hoping that the top feeder will be a better fit for my hive and that it will cut down on the wasps and robbers. And even though I've lost 10 lbs sweating to death in my sweatshirt in 100 degree weather, it was worth it! And, I might add that I will likely buy a bee suit, cause dang it all, it was much more enjoyable to work the bees without worrying about being stung and the days of itching and swelling that comes along with them. I'm not so naive as to think I'll never get stung again, but let's face it, no smoke, no suit wasn't working.

http://blogs.reuters.com/russell-boyce/2011/07/18/asia-a-week-in-pictures-17-july-2011/

I was becoming afraid and that is no good! The smoker should be here today along with my new vented gloves and I'm going to ask my hubby for a suit for my birthday, Ha! A BIRTHDAY SUIT! perfect! I can work my bees in my birthday suit! Spectacular! I'll keep you posted on the top feeder and ant situation!

I'm no expert, so I asked for directions

2012-06-25T20:39:00.000-07:00

So just what I said! I am at a loss. After my last post I was stung two more times, once right in the face! Luckily I the reaction wasn't as bad as my leg. I have one sting on my arm right now that is very itchy! It's been really really hot here, and my bees have been very aggressive. I am just too new at this to know what to do, I'm still feeding them, as they are still taking the food. I don't know the level of flow right now here, I have a huge garden and berry bushes, all blooming, but pollen is not nectar! I just don't know! I'm way too green! I belong to a couple of bee keeping boards, one of which is http://www.beesource.com I put out a call for some info. I got a lot! Whew! I also put in a call to Tim, who I got my bees from, as I know if anyone knows, he will know about MY bees. He gave me some great advice! So, things are gonna change around here with the bees.
Here's what I learned today.
1) They could be more aggressive because the queen is dead. (I don't think this is the case, but need to do a full inspection to check for day old larvae)
2) They could be agitated because of predators, again, don't think so because I have 3 cats in the back yard, who keep out visitors, I have also seen no evidence of anything messing with the hive, even though I have vented it.
3) I NEED TO SMOKE MY BEES! I didn't want to, but let's face it, the a'natural way isn't really working out
4) Smoking the bees won't hurt them
5) I need a top feeder, the front feeder is too hard to deal with and they keep "glueing" it to the hive with propolis
6) I need to work my bees during the day, during the heat of the day when most of them are out foraging
7) being a little afraid is HEALTHY!
8) I will likely wear more protection, ie, pants when I work the hive
9) my hive has doubled (at least!) in size and it was easier to work when it was half the size, so I was more "confident" now, I need to learn more!
10) I probably should join a bee club, although I'm not that social....

So that's what I learned today. I need to do an inspection, but before I do I ordered a smoker and some new vented gloves. Likely I will also get a new white jacket for working the hive, as my white one now is just worn out and the zipper is shot, I've been wearing my light green one, but I am not sure the bees love the bright colors. It's a learning process!
After I inspect the hive I will give Tim a call back and discuss some findings with him, I shall report back.
I have to admit, I feel somewhat defeated that I couldn't do it all by myself, but I realize that I am learning and everyone needs help! I want to do right by my bees and make sure that my hive thrives, so I won't be afraid to ask for help! In the meantime, here is a picture of my hive last night, it's clear my bees are HOT this is an example of bearding. They were dripping out of the hive. Actually, pretty cool.

I'll keep ya posted!

That stings!

2012-06-19T09:46:00.001-07:00

As a new bee keeper one of the things you worry about is getting stung of course. I've been stung a total of 6 times since I've had my hive, and one of them was simply because I sat on a bee while going out to watch my hive. I normally just sit on a little bench out there by the hive and watch. I call it getting lost in the bees. It's very soothing and meditative. Since that time however, I've been more careful to look before I plant my butt...even though it was my upper leg that got stung!

A special consideration in our house is that my husband thought he was allergic to bees, or he used to be, he hasn't been stung in a long time. He used to carry an Epi-pen because he was so alergic. Of course prior to getting a hive, I read everything book under the sun, and every one says the same thing. NOT JUST THE BEEKEEPER WILL GET STUNG! We discussed and decided it was a risk we could take, with some precautions. He stays away from the hive for one, and for another we have an epi-pen. We've had the hive for about a month and a half almost two now, and until last night I was the only one who's been stung.

Normally, when I get stung it's like a mosquito bite on crack. I'm not gonna lie and say it feels like a massage, but it's not so painful I can't stand it either. I was stung the last time I did an inspection about a week ago. I don't know if I got an especially toxic (to me) bee or what! It took me a bit longer to remove the stinger since I had on a hoodie that covered my glove tops, so I had to whip off a glove and remove the stinger, which I did. It was less than a minute, not too shabby. I also washed it and put some baking soda on the site, it didn't hurt more than normal, so I went about my business. Shortly after I was done with the hive I felt like my leg was on fire and noticed I was swelled up around the sting site about the size of a half dollar. Not too unusual.

it's a little hard to see how bad it was swollen

The next day I was swelled the size of my palm and MAN O MAN did I itch! It kept swelling for another day, finally ending up the size of my palm around and a good half inch above my skin! Oy! The picture here is my sting the second day. On the 3rd day it was pretty much the same, even though I'd taken some Benadryl. On the 4th day it went down, but still itched, although not as bad. It's still itching today, although not as much.

Jump to last night. It's been super hot here in CO, record breaking days of heat for Denver. We live in a modest home, with no air, so it's a fan in the window! Our bedroom faces the back of the house, were the hive is. We were laying in bed watching television before we zonked out, and out of the blue my husband jumped out of bed like he's been stung... which as it turns out he had been! At first I was convinced it was a wasp, because the stinger didn't look like a bee at all! Forgive the graphic nature here, but there were no entrails, only a hard spiky singer. However, we couldn't find a bee, a wasp etc.. in the room, only then did I find half a bee on my side of the room, on the floor. It didn't look like a bee who'd just stung, it looked like a bee that had been cut in half, but was still alive. My husband, was stung on the foot, near the ankle. He didn't seem to have any issues, no breathing problems, no swelling, nothing. As a precaution we gave him a dose of benadryl but all it did was make him sleepy. I'm relieved that he didn't have a reaction! I'm not wholly convinced it was a bee sting.

Geddy Images, off the web I didn't take this!

Since I've been keeping the bees I've been asked a dozen times, aren't you afraid of being stung? YES! it hurts! I doesn't feel terrific, and the last time sort of freaked me out with the swelling. I am a bit worried that perhaps I have developed an allergy myself. This is one reason I'm not working the hive again until someone is home with me. I was more afraid of my husband being stung and thankfully he is fine, but if you are following along and maybe thinking of keeping bees, I thought perhaps I'd answer the question of what a sting feels like, what it looks like etc... I hope you find this helpful!

Just a look at the hive today.

2012-06-17T18:25:00.000-07:00

Do a little song, do a little dance get down tonight! A look at my hive today from the "bee's eye view"
(yes, Daddy got a new toy a GoPro, so we will have some fun vids!)

Enjoy! Happy Father's day!

What's all the buzz?

2012-06-14T19:49:00.001-07:00

Whew, so it's been fairly hot here in Colorful Colorado! I've seem some bearding on my hive, not extensive but enough that I can recognize this behavior from my reading. I like to sit to the side of my hive on a little rolling bench I have installed there to watch the bees daily. I think it's one of the most relaxing activities I've ever found in my life. I have mentioned before that I like to watch them fly in with yellow or white pollen sometimes they just sit on the edge of the entrance and just flap their wings for all they are worth, it makes a really relaxing sound! The quiet buzz that emanates from the hive while I sit and watch is very soothing. It's made about 10X better because my cats seem to have no fear of the hive, they just cozy up to me while I'm watching and curl up and purr, so it's a double dip in the relaxation bucket!

Tonight, it's a bit cooler, but still fairly warm. I have been putting off opening the hive since I replaced the second super, I had taken it back off after I felt I was a little premature in putting it on the first time. It's been on about 7 days now again. I had been putting off opening the hive a bit because really, bees do what bees do, so who am I to open up the hive and disrupt their work? However, the past few times I've fed them I've had to wiggle the feeder off the front of the hive because it's been "glued' to the hive with propolis. I was a little concerned about what I'd find when I opened the hive! I wasn't disappointed! Boy, those girls have been working their stingers off! Well, at least one of them did because I did get a sting tonight. I guess all things considered not too bad. The brood box on the bottom is FULL and I don't mean like halfway, it's doggone stuffed with bees! The comb is totally drawn out, a TON of capped cells, lots of larvae, and bees! Just check out these pics! The two boxes were glued together and a lot of comb between them. I cleaned it up, much to the chagrin of the bees. They seemed to get a little riled up, and I'd step back. As usual for me, I didn't use smoke and I didn't use sugar spray. I just had on my normal shorts, hoodie, gloves, veil and just my garden shoes. I got one sting on my upper leg, right were I stood up against the brood box. I have noticed my bees being a bit more aggressive the past few days, I think it is the heat.

Once I had the bottom brood box checked and cleaned up, I went for the top box. I checked the frames inside, there are just a few frames with comb starting, it's clearly just in it's start phase, which maybe why my bees are eating an entire jar of food per day of 1:1 ratio sugar syrup. I feel like I'm just going through it like wildfire! I have to take a trip to Sam's tomorrow to buy a second 25 bag of sugar. I may just pick up two so I won't have to make another trip anytime soon. As I mentioned I have noticed my bees being a bit aggressive. I put this down to hot days, which is why I choose to work my hive in the evening, when it's getting cool for the night. They were not too aggressive tonight. I am happy with the fact that I cleaned up the hive

Christopher, my son, the honey hound. Robbing the bees way too soon!

*don't be concerned, it's just a burr comb!

Inspection time!

2012-06-10T14:03:00.000-07:00

It's been a week or so, and it's time to open the hive & see what the girls are up to. It's been pretty hot here and we've had some wicked hail along the way as well. My hive has some hail damage on the telescopic cover, as it's got a tin cover. Bees did fine, but the hive did get some dents and dings on the top. (see pic)
The wood wasn't damaged on the hive itself and the bees are fine!

It was was time to check out the inside of the hive, on my weekly inspection. My Husband and youngest son were on-hand as I did the inspection.

I have opted to wear shorts for my dealings with the open hive since it's less likely I'm going to get stung, it seems the couple times I have on my legs it's been because I've had a crawling bee up my jeans. I could probably tuck my jeans into my boots but it's been quite hot, and it's just easier to wear shorts.

I have been wearing a hoodie, my veil and gloves for inspections, for routine maintenance stuff, like feeding I don't do that.

So, after pulling one of the frames to make room, I set the removed frame off to the side on top of a box so that it wouldn't touch the ground. The frame I pulled first was almost all drawn out with comb, I could see the larvae, the capped cells and LOTS of bees! I scooted it over after I used my bee brush to sweep some of the bees out of the way. For the record, this should be done gently and slowly, I think I got a bit overzealous in my first sweep, as that buzzzzzzz was not a happy one! So, I took a step back to let them settle down. I've mentioned this before, but I don't use smoke. I have a spray bottle of sugar water but I've yet to actually use it. I just take a break whenever they seem to be agitated or in a frenzy.

Each of the frames I pulled were not only heavy, but also had full capped cells. I saw larvae, and even some cells that had bees coming out of them. I'm not sure if they were coming in and out of the cells because they were feeding larvae or what. Not really sure, heck, they could have been being "born" so, interesting. I did see my queen an inner frame, she has a yellow dot on her, and she looked different from the other bees with her elongated belly.

The day I did the inspection it was overcast and looking ready to storm, so, I did a little bit of clean up with my hive tool, I scrapped the hive the bees had built that was on the inner cover, I moved the frames a bit to make sure they weren't glued down with proplolis, did a visual inspection of all frames. At this time, I also noticed that even though I'd added the second super, I had been a bit premature, no comb had been drawn and the brood box was only about 3/4 full on it's frames. I opted to remove the second super. It had some comb on it, but not much, and only at the bottom of the frames where it looked like the bees had drawn up from the frames below.

I put the inner top and the outter top on the hive. I put the extra super away again.
My bees seem to be eating at a break neck rate, I'm replacing the 1:1 ratio pint of syrup once a day.

I have also been watching the bees do this cool little dance, where they sit on the end of the entrace to the hive, and wiggle their behinds and flap their wings like mad, but never leave. I'm not sure what they are doing, but it's neat to watch.

I also have seen that on the days when we are have been close to 100 degrees that they are bearding, not the whole hive, but a good part. Haven't had chance to catch that on pics yet.

I will be doing an inspection again this week or maybe a the start of next week.

That's SUPER (says the Valley girl)

2012-05-28T13:33:00.001-07:00

After driving in from VA, in 2.5 days, I was pretty dang tired, but I suppose I couldn't really complain too much since the bees are always working their little tookuses off. Given the average life of a bee is somewhere around 60 days I can't complain I suppose. I mean, really? 21 days as an egg/larvae then 21 or so as a hive worker and then 21 or so as a forager if you don't get killed before that! Whew... my paltry 2.5 day trip in the cab of a moving truck seems trivial...
Anyway, as soon as I got home I checked on my hive visually inspecting the outside to see if there was anything amiss, all looked well. My son had fed them two jars of syrup while I was gone, which seemed like a lot given that they had not been eating that much, but it was full when I got home and I noticed this AM that it's down a quarter to about 3/4 this morning. I have noticed more ants in the area, the large red ones, so I am going to pick up some ant traps today when I run to the store. The ants are not excessive but I see a few stray ones on the feeder when I fill it, I would like to head off any ant problems now. If it's one bug I can't stand, it's really ants, they just heeb me out, it seems that they are a sign of a dirty house, which I know isn't really true, since I keep a tidy ship and I get them every spring.
So, after I visually inspected the hive last night, I decided to check on what was going on inside, so I donned my veil and gloves, grabbed my hive tool and brush. I took off the top and WOWSERS! these little girls have been BUSY! The inner cover was a bit hard to get off because heck if they hadn't built a big comb into it! I did remove it, and saw that almost all the frames were covered with bees and comb on a good part of them! So, I decided to add a second super to the hive. I pulled a couple frames to check for the queen, in the fading light of twilight I wasn't able to see her, but she is for certain in there working, lots of capped cells and larvae present. I didn't stay fooling around in the hive for long, just a quick peek really. I put the inner vented top back on and went over and got the other super that was ready to go. I also retrieved a soup cup. When I got back to the hive I again removed the inner lid, and brushed the bees off of it, into the hive. I set the new super (a deep) onto the top and made sure it lined up right. Then I used my hive tool to scrape off the comb the bees had created on the inner cover into the soup cup. Quite a lot of honey in there! I then put the cover back on the top of the new super and added the outer cover.

Since I have now mastered the strap, I let the strap out and snapped it into place. We have evidently had a lot of wind here in the past few days. I took my raided honey comb and left the bees to explore the new digs.

Now, as a nice sort of gesture. I thought it would be nice to let the kids in the hood get a taste of the delightful bounty that my bees produce, given that I will be sharing any honey I end up with. I took the bowl of comb (with the honey) out to the front yard where the kids were playing. They can usually count on me for popsicles in the summer, so when I came out offering treats on a warm afternoon they were thrilled. There was plenty for everyone to get a piece and they were all like, WOW MS LISA! you grew this? I laughed but said yes, (they are all pretty young). One boy didn't care for the wax so he just sucked on his. But my son was happy for his, which he is in love with! Granted its' still the honey that has been produced by sugar water mostly, but I'm getting excited because it seems my colony is really getting a move on! My pics here are not too exciting this go round, let's face it. I was just worn out from a long trip, and this was a purely utilitarian check! I will note that since the hive effectively doubled in side (physically) it "LOOKS" so much more like a bee hive now...

watching the bees dance

2012-05-20T16:09:00.001-07:00

It's just time to watch the bees do what bees do right now. I have cleaned the comb and propolis from the other set of hives and supers I have sitting on my back deck. Who knew they would try to make a home here? I had been turning on the hose close to the empty hive and heard a buzzzzzz.... I opened it up and there was comb and stray bees... I actually don't think these were from my hive, they looked different more black, less like mine. I have decided to move the extra hive I have over onto cinderblocks and "bait" it for a swarm. We'll see if anything pops. I am putting queen pheromones inside it to try to attract one. Keep ya posted. Here are a few pics of me working the comb off the hive where they had put it on the lid.

removing wax from the lid

As you can see I scraped out off the wax they had put in and then re-stacked the hive boxes and put the lid on. If there is an "opening" it's not an easy one to access.

Right now I'm just letting the bees work. I assume all is well inside the hive from the activity I've been watching on the outside. It was cold and dreary here the past couple of days. Not so cold that sitting outside in a hoodie was impossible or that I had my garden was in danger of freezing. Honestly we have been getting seasonal weather rather than the extra warm weather we've been

enjoying most of the late winter and spring. We got buckets of rain on Friday night, it was nice. On Thursday it was in the 80's, go figure. I'm curious about the bees though, and while I know better than to open the hive too often, I have set a bench on wheels next to it so I can watch and take pictures as they go in and out. On Wednesday it was also quite warm, and while sitting watching them go in and out of the door guard I decided it was time to take it off. There was a line of several bees at a time awaiting getting in, and I noticed that they had pulled one side of it out so they could squeeze in. My opinion on this was that if they were wiggling in and out of the space they created, the hive was strong enough to take the door guard off. I have been continuing to feed them a 1:1 ratio of sugar syrup. They seem to be going through a pint of it every few days.

with entrance guard

without entrance guard

I have been taking about 45 minutes to an hour each day to sit on my bench and just watch them. I'm not a drooling idiot, I promise. I'm actually sitting quietly counting. Of course not the amount of bees, that would be highly unproductive. What I have been doing is counting in groups of 10 to 100, and in those counts I make note of how many bees have been foraging and are coming back with loaded pollen sacks on their legs. I also have been checking out the color of the pollen, just for kicks. I note that the bees coming from the South side of the yard (likely over the fence) are covered in yellow pollen, I also note that some over the fence to the North have yellow.

The bees who have been to the West and East seem to have white. I think the bees to the West are collecting
pollen from my raspberry bushes, which is white,

Bee foraging in the raspberries

I know because I sat on the deck and watched the bees on the bushes become covered in white pollen. It's also interesting to note that many of the bees that were not honey bees in the bushes.
I began to take count o the bees who came back with pollen before I took off the entrance guard.

I counted (estimated of course) around 10 per
100 on about Tuesday, maybe 15-20 onWednesday and as soon as I took off the entrance guard, it seemed like it doubled in a day! Then we had the cold snap on Saturday, with nothing but rain, the hive was not as active.

However, today, Sunday, we've been busy in the garden finishing up the herb boxes and potato boxes my darling man has built for me, I took the opportunity to take a break sitting on

the bench with the camera. I was able to do my count and visual assessment of the hive. Today's count on the bees with pollen was WAY UP! It's every other bee today! Yay! I was a bit worried about my bees to be frank when I was doing my "count" earlier this week with the very low amount of bees I saw with pollen on them, today I'm MUCH more enthusiastic! So I of course took some snap shots. I will also give you a couple pieces of advice. First and foremost, bees usually just make a "bee-line" to their door! So, if you are gonna sit and watch them, it is likely a good idea to sit to the side. I didn't bother with any gear of any sort, since I'm setting around 3 feet from the hive, and just sitting quietly watching them. The biggest deal was the cats who wanted to sit by me and were intrigued by the bees. But you want to sit back a bit so that the bees don't get confused and land on you, so don't sit in front of the entrance :) I am again going to be out of town a few days again and feel confident that they will be fine while I'm gone. I'll feed them before I leave and if they need to be refilled I'll leave it for my husband or son to fill. It's a front feeder, so it's easy to take off and fill.

So, everyone have a safe and happy Memorial day, see ya on the flip!

Pablo Picasso never drew comb!

2012-05-16T11:45:00.000-07:00

Well, I was out of town for a week, days after I installed my bees. This quite stressed me out to be honest. However, my son is in the Navy, and needed his car. It was a lovely visit. But after a week of being gone, I'll bee honest, I was glad to bee home. I did get a chance to see a few bee hives along my travels, many were actually at some of the wineries I visited. Have I ever mentioned that I am a wine lover? :) Turns out that many of the vineyards we stopped at along the way had a nice amount of hives! I even chatted a bit with some of the proprietors about the bees. Of course some of them use the honey for Mead and some just to pollinate the flowers in the orchards and vineyards. I digress...

So I got home in the nick of time! My bees were down to the last dregs of food in their feeder (since my husband is allergic I am the only one who can mess with them), so I got them fed yesterday morning, and observed that they were buzzing around nicely. I opted not to open the hive in the morning. I had so much to do, getting caught up on stuff around my house. So, I went ahead and got most things done during the day. In the evening I put on my hoodie, hat, gloves and veil. Armed with my bee brush, hive tool and frame grip went ahead and opened the hive to look for larvae and comb.
Not wanting to keep the hive open very long I moved in determined quick movements, and let's face it I really don't have much of a clue what I was really looking for. I didn't locate the queen in the waning light, but I did see that they had drawn out comb and that many of the cells were sealed. I took this to be a good sign. I looked at several frames finding the same thing. It seems there are only small clumps of comb here and there, and in one spot it seemed to have a big long comb drawn on the frame, that didn't really look like a regular comb, I've never seen a queen cell, but would be what I imagine it would look like. I'm a bit stressed out about it, but not so much that I am going to do anything rash. I may try to locate the queen again, and if I can't find her also have some pics of the strange comb, to send it to one or two of the bee folks I've met to see if they can tell me what it is. I'm just so inexperienced I don't really know.

I noticed this morning that my stack of extra supers and second hive has generated a lot of interest of my bees, or some bees anyway. It was buzzing with them, I did a little digging around of the extras to make sure that my bees aren't migrating over. Honestly, I think they were just checking it out. There were no bees inside, just looked like they were just being curious, part of it was the used hive and did have some old wax in it, which I am thinking perhaps had some old honey. I'm going to keep and eye on it just in case. The trees behind our house are in bloom looks like perhaps pears or some other fruit, bees abound! I'm wondering if it's time to take out the entrance blocker. I think it maybe OK now that they are it appears they are doing what they are supposed to be doing and I am confident that we have larvae and comb. I am going to continue to feed. I put in my garden before I left, and while some of my plants didn't make it, looks like a good many did and so therefore I am anticipating replanting some new stuff and waiting for some of the other goodies I just sewed in the ground directly to take root. I anticipate my bees having plenty of food in the next months. Today, back to the nursery to add in more plants. I will let you know what I discover about the strange cells in the hive and try to shoot some pics of it so that if you have a similar one you can either tell me what it is or know what yours is! See you in a few days!

New-Bee-doo-bee-do... where are you?

2012-05-09T13:57:00.001-07:00

Day five into the hive...
So since I my last entry it's been pretty jazzy around here! 24 hours after I put the bees in, the queen was ready to make her regal appearance. The grande Madame was ready to get to work. Being that I've never done this before I was unsure how long to wait the papers & books disagreed so I put in a call to Tim the lovely man whom I bought the bees from. He assured me that 24 hours was fine, and not to worry about the weather we were having since bees have been around for a darn long time and I was doing fine. I felt greatly reassured by his wisdom, so I went ahead and got myself ready to release the the queen. Given it was about 60 degrees and overcast I was wearing jeans, uggs and a hoodie. I decided to keep that gear on and just added gloves, a veil and a hat. Again, I am not using a smoker. So, out I trekked across the freshly tilled garden (ie, mudd) to get to the hive. Confidence in hand, or mind, I should correct, I looked at the strap on the hive. At this point it occurred to me that I had no idea how this thing worked. I gave it a try but all I ended up doing was pissing off the hive by shaking the hive a bit... that was not a good BUZZ noise... At that point I decided that I had better take a moment to let them calm down and use good ol' fashioned ingenuity to figure out that strap...
Hello Youtube! I came in stripped down the hat, gloves and veil and got myself situated on the computer. Three or four videos later I figured I had a better grip on it, just about that time my 14 yr old son came in. Ah-ha... a MALE.. certainly he'd know about a strap-release... right?

So HE put on the gear and off he went to try to fool with the strap. No luck. So we switched back, I am certainly investing in a second veil... Evidently after looking at this stupid strap for a while longer, careful not to jostle anything I noticed a black button on the black handle... could this be? a RELEASE?! Why yes it was! Hallelujah! I got the strap undone and lifted the lid, and then the inner lid, my bees were looking good! Just chillin' doin' what bees do. It was clear that I was going to need to remove a frame in order to get the queen out of her box. I removed a frame with few bees on it. I pulled the last frame and moved the others to give myself some room. I checked the queen she looked lively and well, a little yellow dot on her head. I will make mention that the entire queen box was covered by other bees, who didn't seem too happy that I was messing with her. At this time my entire hands were covered with bees! It was about this time I realized that the cork in the box was really lodged in there and would require a pair of needle nosed pliers to get it out. Here I am, covered in bees thinking, hu... not good planning Lees! My son grabbed a set for me and I carefully leaned over the hive and took out the cork, I'd read about queens flying off so I was careful to have her over the box in case she decided to fly. She did not. I reattached the box to the inner frame and put the frame I'd taken out back in. OUCH! Bee sting... right on my knee... really? I'm wearing jeans! OK, I looked, no bee... I finished up doing what bee keepers do... put the lids back on, but left that infernal strap off because dang if it wasn't just as confusing to put it ON! Plus, I'm not gonna lie, my knee was stinging because I had not been able to just scrape out the stinger so I could feel it in my leg. It isn't so painful that I feel like I'm going to die, certainly not anything that's terribly pleasant. I think I would liken the sensation of being stung to a mosquito bite on steroids, a little more painful but not all that bad. I'd rather have a bee sting any day than in itchy bite from a mosquito.
I went back in the house took off the gear and then removed my jeans to see what was up, and there was a bee... the little bugger that stung me. I had totally forgotten that bees crawl, and crawl up my leg this one did, right up under my jeans and over my boots. Note to self on that one!
Clearly no longer a danger of being a stinger, I called my son up to my room and handed it to him. Here are some of the pics he took. He was sad it was going to die, but it was a great learning tool for him to hold a bee and feel how they feel on your skin. He was quite fascinated by it.

So skip ahead now a couple days. It was time to check the hive for activity and making sure that the queen was doing her queenly duties. I also needed to replenish my bees food. I was able to do all these things because thankfully my husband recognized my frustration with the strap and replaced it with a new one, that is much easier to use. THANK YOU HONEY FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
As you can see, I pulled several frames, checked for wax and larvae, which I didn't see too much of, but I do see good activity, and I did spot the queen. That was what I going for. As an aside, you will also note I have some new tools. I bought a bee brush, a hive tool, a frame clip and a
queen catcher, all as a package deal for less than $15 on Amazon. I wouldn't have gotten the other two items the clip and the catcher unless it was just a part of the set, and it was, so hey? why not? That is a significantly lower $ amount than here in town at the store, amazingly it got here in 24 hours! I was thrilled! I did use the brush and I also tried out the frame clip.

Last of all since I am going to be gone a few days I filled up the bee food, and after I spilled an entire gallon of it on the ground by the hive, oops. I did get it all settled. Alls well that ends well. So the hive is on it's own for a week or so, I will leave them alone to let them BEE....

Houston, the hive has landed!

2012-05-05T17:24:00.000-07:00

It's Cinco De Mayo for some, for other's it's Derby day, and for me?! It's bee day. Our bees had been pushed back from the seller for a couple weeks, which for me was actually a blessing. I wasn't ready yet! However in the past few days I was able to get myself all sorted out and my new hive all ready to go! I didn't get to paint it, long story there, but I figure the bees won't much care one way or the other.
Given that I was not feeling all that well last night a friend was kind enough to help me out with my hive and getting the last pieces into place. This morning my son, my Mom and I put the hive together. Got the Cinderblocks in place, then the base, the brood box, the feeder, and the lids. All ready to go, a brand new bee home. I watched anxiously as the time for the scheduled bee pick up grew closer. Finally I got in the car and headed off to pick up my bees. Tim Brod who is the beekeeper who I bought my Colorado bees from, has been a beekeeper since he was about 4, given that he's a little older than myself, that's a good long while! I've been told over and over by anyone who knows about bees in Denver that he's the go-to guy! So I "went-to". I followed the GPS to the warehouse district off of the highway out in Downtown Denver. The parking lot was packed with all of the people picking up bees today. I was a tad early for my grouping, but it was perfect because I needed a veil at the shop anyway.
To Bee or not to Bee is a small store in the back of an industrial area off of 39th and I-25. When you open the door it smells of lumber. The store is small and was full of busy bee shoppers. I made my way to the back of the store, passing by the pretty painted hives, the plastic frame bases, the queen excluders and smokers. I saw tables of books, and packages of seed for bee friendly flowers. In the back along the wall I found the beekeeper's suits. Possibly because it was so hot today or maybe because I just was feeling brave but I have opted to go without a costly suit that frankly looks like one of those things that you buy because you "should" and then later go, "WOW, why did I spend $160?" So... I got a veil that goes over a baseball cap for $20.

yes I'm making a goofy "scared" face!

I looked at the hive tools and bee brushes but was put off by the price. I'm normally not the world's most frugal person when it comes to hobby supplies, but when I saw these tools I was like, really? I see things that look just like that at the hardware store for $5 not $16, so I opted out, and I have a drafting brush that is actually much nicer and softer than the bee brush I saw there, now it was only $6.50, but the line to check out was so long that I didn't get it because I'd already bought the veil and remembered I needed a tool and brush as I was leaving the store and I didn't feel like waiting again. I figure I can always order my goodies online if I need or want them later. I completely had made up my mind that I didn't want a smoker before I even went in, so I didn't even price them. I may at sometime in the future go that route but not today.
After I did a little lap around the shop, I headed out for my bees. I stood back and observed the handing out to some other folks and everyone was very nice. It got to be my turn, I stepped up and gave my name to a helper, to his right was standing Tim, who remembered me from our conversation on the phone and was so very nice! The helper (didn't catch his name) looked me up and was like "OH, WOW! Tim must like you! He gave you the best ones!" Which made me happy! Tim's best bees! YAY! I'm super excited now! The instructions that Tim had sent out had reminded us to bring some gloves if you were worried about the bees crawling on you when you carried the package. I had made up my mind that I was NOT going to be afraid of them crawling on me, this was not the way to start out a relationship. I did bring my gloves but left them in my purse. I chatted with Tim for a few min and he told me some basics about where to put the bees in my car etc... We shook hands and he put the package of buzzing bees into my bare hands. There were about 100 loose ones buzzing on the outside and one decided to take a ride on my bare arm to the car. I was a bit freaked out because hey, we're always taught BEES STING! But I very calmly walked to the car with 25 or so loose bees flying around and one hitch-hiking on my arm. I could feel it's prickly legs walking on my skin. I had left the windows open in the car so I simply leaned in and set the bees in the front passenger seat. Bees were ridin' shotgun!
Since its only May, we haven't charged up the air in the blue jeep, and bees need to be kept at a good temp, cause let's face it they are riding in a box with about 3,000 of their closest friends... I left the windows down and had the fan on for them. Soon, I found myself with a few of those loose bees buzzing around the car, I have to say, a little freaky, cause how wants to ride with a bee in the car? But it was all good, we got home safe and sound. But now what? I was on my own!

I got the bees into the house and and set them in the kitchen. Of course I snapped off a couple shots for my blog :)

I had made the bees food before I left mixing 4 cups sugar into a gallon jug and then filling the jug with hot water. Giving me a good syrup. (NOT a gallon of water, but fill the rest of the gallon jug with water) So, I filled the feeder at this point, not having done so before, so as not to attract robber bees when I had an empty hive. Now was the moment of truth. I got my new veil out of the package and put it on. I had opted not to do a whole big deal of cloths in the heat of the day, so I wore my tank top, shorts and flip flops to put my bees in the hive. I did of course wear gloves and the veil. I had a tool that looked a lot like the one they had called a hive tool so I used that to pry the feeder can out of the package box, this was trickier than I thought it was going to be BTW... and took me 3 tries it was wedged in there pretty good. It was also sort of freaky because the sound the bees made was a direct line to their mood! They made a cool buzzing noise all as one, it was really a soothing noise, until they sounded pissed! I had knocked the side of the package and they clearly didn't like that! So I stepped away and let them calm down for about 5 min. Then I went back and was able to remove the can. No one can actually prepare you for the sight of about 1000 bees coming at you out of a box.... it was intense! It was around this time I was rethinking my decision to wear a tank top and shorts to do this... But I was in for a penny, in for a pound! The box was open, so I turned it upside down and did what the books all told me to do, gave it a good shake, dumping the bees into the waiting hive. I'd taken out 3 frames like the books said. A big pile of bees fell into the hive, but the box was still half full! So, I gave them another shake, and then one more. The box was still about 1/4 to 1/8 full, and I decided that was good. I then took out the queen in her box, made sure to put her in with the screened side facing out so the bees can feed her. Right about then, OUCH! I got stung under my arm, and then 2 seconds later OUCH! another sting on my leg... OK I feel ya bees...

I put the frames in, the lid on and walked away. I scraped out the stingers with my sharp nail after I had gotten a few steps away and took off my glove. I was still in a cloud of bees I could hear them buzzing around me. I wasn't afraid though, I know they only actually stung me because one got under my arm stuck in my armpit and the other must have been between the leg above the knee but both most likely got squished my me as I was moving around. I tried to make slow deliberate movements as I worked with them. All in all I think it went pretty well. I just went back out a little while ago and put the package they came in and the feeder can on top of the hive, most of the bees are gone out of the package now. I did notice that there was a big "line" to get in the hive since I have the entrance blocker on but now they are all in except for the scouts who are flying around checking out what's to eat around here....
So, that's my first day as a Bee-Ma-Ma.... I do think when I release the queen in the next day or so I will wear long sleeves and probably jeans or yoga pants, not because I'm afraid of being stung, but I think that I would have been fine and gotten through sting free if I hadn't smooshed one or two bees in body creases... I am pretty dang happy and self satisfied right now and keep going over to peek at the beehive out the window. Just seein' what's up with them. I'll be posting again when I release the queen and hopefully have someone at home so that they can take some pictures of me doing it rather than being alone for it!

The calm before the swarm....

2012-04-24T10:00:00.003-07:00

Ok, not really a swarm... but I pick up my bees on May 5th, a little delayed from the 21st we were supposed to pick up but that's OK too. It has actually given me a little more time to think about what I want to do. So many decisions to make. I know that I'm going with the Langstroth hive, but was unsure if I wanted med or deep supers. Let's face it, I'm not as strong as I used to be and honestly the thought of lifting full supers was daunting. Then we have had some challenges with closing out our business and me converting to stay home Mommy. Sometimes the best laid plans don't want to iron out right!
SO.... I ended up putting an appeal for a used or extra hive on Craig's list. LO and BEHOLD! Greg, the VERY same gentleman who owns Dakota Bees hit me back, he has a hive for me! He didn't even know it was me! Just out of the goodness of his heart. So, I would like to give him a total high five! I was worried I would't be able to have my hive, and now I will! I am CERTAINLY going to pay it forward by doing something VERY cool involving kids and a class once I get this bee thing going!
Since I don't have anything really new to report (yet) I thought I'd actually just share a little about these amazing creatures that I've learned. First of all, even if you are no beekeeper, but are a gardener, as some that have emailed me are, you can help out! You don't need a honeybee hive to keep bees. There are lots of other sorts of bees, and actually some are even BETTER pollinators than honey bees! Such as, the mason bee, the Cutter bee and Bumble bees of course! (click on the links for more info!) I guess I didn't even know this but, mason bees, cutter bees and bumble bees rarely sting, I mean really, you can put your hand right over their hive and they won't do a thing. Let's be a bit selfish for a second here, let's face it, as gardeners I am always interested in ways to improve my crop yield. Just think a 30% bump just for putting up some bee habitats. Here are some examples;

I found these images online.

I am going to make my own version of these because you can have bees that are honey bees and also other types as well. Heck, I'm all for helping out the bees and helping my own crops too! I have just put in a small area on the side of the house of nothing but wild flowers from a bee-friendly packet of seeds. Bees forage miles away from the hive so I'm not worried that my little fuzzy friends won't have enough to eat. I live in the burbs and we have just a ton of trees, grasses, flowers, manicured lawns and even some wetlands about 2 blocks away! I pick up my hive this week, and will hopefully be up to setting it up before the weekend, but it may not be until Sunday since we are tilling and planting this weekend. I have decided to put my hive in the midst of the garden, facing south getting some nice exposure to the sun and hopefully being able to keep the harsh winds we've had all season at bay. I will of course post some lovely pictures of how this momentous event goes down! I will leave you with this idea, if you decide that a hive is a good idea for you, I urge you to give Greg a call, he not only does the honey hives, but he also does the Mason bee hives as well. He makes them by hand and they come apart so you can even preserve the larva for next year! Clever! Here is his link the price is lower than a lot of seen online, and I really feel like even though he's done me a good turn, he's done the bees one better.

http://dakotabees.com/Beekeeping_Supplies.html

See ya next week when I hopefully will post my pics and experience of not only setting up the hive, but also adding my bees!

Class time!

2012-04-10T12:41:00.002-07:00

I awoke to dreams of bees in my brain, because it was Sunday. FINALLY! The day of my (our) bee class had arrived! Even without a cup of coffee I woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed. I had no idea what to expect as far as the class, I didn't think we'd be actually doing anything in a hive, but I didn't have a whole lot of knowledge as to what we were doing. I'd dutifully placed my order for my first package of bees earlier in the week, from a man who has been raising bees in the CO area a long time. He is a generational bee farmer. Excellent! Now, the class!

We dressed fairly carefully, but it was a warm day and wouldn't you know it, I had gotten a sunburn the day before just sitting outside reading. A bee book of all things! I ended up wearing a tank top and shorts, but I remembered to put on my hiking boots and socks. These are my fishing boots so they lace tight against any intruders. Probably not the ideal beekeeping outfit but I also had a hoodie in case we actually got into the hives. As you can see Sean wore a button down, he's a brave soul, because he is allergic to bees. This is a concern, but he's been a good sport and gone along for the ride.
Notebook in hand, we arrived on the other side of town a little late, it took about 30 min to get there. The class was gathered around a couple of empty hives. I arrived in time to hear Greg from Dakota Bees (that was our teacher), start talking about releasing a package into a hive, releasing the queen, and the initial feeding. So, first off, you want to take the bee package the queen will be in a small box that resembles a matchbox, more oblong in shape with a metal end piece that bends to hang off a frame. The bottom has a hole in it, but it's got a cork in it. Then you put the box the bees comee in on top of the box with the opening open, and then shake the bees into the hive. Don't worry about the stragglers they will smell the queen and find their way in, just leave the box open and over to the side of the hive. Mind you, that I have not done this yet, but will be doing it on the 21st, when I pick up my bees. I'm going to basically go over what I was told, and then I will compare it to what I actually do. I've found that in life, these can often be totally different things! OK, so here's a little tidbit that I didn't read in any book, which is exactly why I want to be someone's apprentice for a year. Unfortunately I have been unable to find anyone in my area of town that wants a slave, em, er, an apprentice. Here's the info on the queen, first off a lot of books tell you it's OK to clip a wing even encourage it, when I brought this up, Greg looked fairly appalled to be honest, then told me that was a bad bad idea, because if you damage the queen she could die or be unable to do her job, the hive would reject her, leaving your hive queenless and therefore vulnerable! So, that nixed the idea of cutting a wing to keep her in the hive for me! Make sure you feed your bees! [ put a 1.5 lb bag of sugar into an empty gallon jug, and fill the rest with hot water, don't boil it first, shake until well mixed, note that is NOT a gallon of water, that is fill the rest of the gallon with water] He showed us how to install a bee feeder, either side feeder or a top feeder inside. You want to keep away the robber bees, the colony isn't strong, so you put your entrance reducer to the small side, so they only have the little hole to go in and out, therefore leaving a small space for them to defend as an entrance.

Next, once you have the queen in the hive, hanging in her box with her bees, the bottom of the little box has the cork still in it, you check the hive in a day to make sure all is well. In many books it tells you to now put a piece of "bee candy" in the bottom of the box, so the bees can chew through it and release the queen. What works just as well, rather than making candy, cause it looks sort of like a pain in the butt if I'm honest, and making candy for me is a holiday thing, is use a piece of marshmallow, just take a small piece and roll it like you would for an earplug and then stick it in the end where the cork was. MAKE SURE TO COVER THE END OF THE BOX WITH THE HOLE! It's OK to use your finger, as the queen won't sting you, they only sting other queens. Queens can fly off! Now the bees can chew through the marshmallow and release the queen.

Wait a couple of days and then go back into the hive and check the inner frames for larvae, you want to make sure the queen is doing her job. They will also have started building up the comb, even when the queen is in the box because they know she will need to lay eggs soon. The queen should come already fertilized, and will start laying her eggs, so there should be larvae when you check. If not, you should look for the queen and make sure she's in there. I ordered my queen marked because honestly I'm a bit worried about futzing around in a hive of bees looking for a queen! Let's face it, I haven't done this yet and am a bit nervous about it!!!!

So, according to Greg (who isn't the be all and end all, and doesn't claim to be! we all will find our way!) a smoker isn't needed. He doesn't use one, and he goes out and collect swarms. This sort of freaked me out, why? Because EVERY book says BUY A SMOKER! Frankly it sounds like a pain to me, and his solution sounds pretty good. He said first off, go buy a $1 empty, clean spray bottle, then make the same syrup you use for feeding your bees and give them a spritz, only if they bounce off you, because that means they are agitated. If they are really pissy, walk away and come back later, maybe 10-15 min. I liked that because even though I don't particularly think that smoke hurts them, but again, I admit it, I may be lazy, but lighting a smoker and fiddling with all that seems like a pain. I will probably buy a smoker but I am going to go with the sugar spray first. It makes sense to me. If you give them something to do (other than gorge themselves on honey because of a natural fear of smoke) say, lick sugar off themselves and other bees, they can't sting you. It also makes sense that it may help with the control of mites. After all, you can sugar treat your bees for mites, why not spray them? He did say don't overspray them. Just my thought, and again, I haven't actually DONE this yet! :) But it makes sense to me that if they are agitated, walk away!
As to the outfit, yes, you can buy a bee suit, spend a ton of $, like $50-100 depending on the suit. But again, why? What makes sense is a light colored wind breaker or hoodie, gloves, and of course the most important thing is a veil. This is the one thing I think you just can't scrimp on. But the gloves can be ordinary gloves, I have some leather ones I love that I work in the garden with, they are light weight and they fit very nicely on my hands, light leather! Of course logically bees can get anywhere there is a crease! One of the things Greg said in his lecture was to take an old pair of tube socks, cut off the toe and slip it over your hand, it will cover the space between your glove and your sleeve, keeping you free from bee stings at the wrist, OUCH!

Since I live in Colorado, it's been a bit difficult to figure out what sort of equipment I was going to need, and what sort of financial outlay it's going to be. There is also the fact that no book can tell me where to put my hive because every state & area is different, although I think the basics are the same for everywhere. The books I've read haven't really address this. This class was very helpful in that I was able to get some info on that too! Since this blog is pretty long, I'm going to go ahead and break this into the next part (this is the part known as the CLIFF HANGER so you will come back!).

Blessed BEE

2012-04-05T12:49:00.004-07:00

Beehive. That word gives humans pause. Since Hollywood got a hold of the concept of killer bees that word has really freaked out some people. When I, who live in the suburbs and am certainly a "girlie-girl" decided I wanted to keep bees people couldn't have been more astonished. I have always thought bees were these amazing creatures, but kept my distance, you know they sting right? I took up gardening about 4 years ago, and have since become obsessed with the sowing, growing, watering, feeding and nurturing of my garden.
In the course of my gardening, I got up close and personal with one of my favorite & important parts of the garden, the bees. Every year for the past 3 years I have planted specific plants for the bees. I had heard about something called CCD, (Colony Collapse Disorder) which at the time I didn't know the name, just that the world's bee population was in danger. Let's face it, I'm not the most socially conscious person on the planet, I'm not MISS GREEN, heck, I don't even recycle. I won't lie, I garden because it relaxes me, wards off depression, it's my hobby! I'd love to be able to say that all the food I grow saves me oodles at the store, but that's simply not true. It probably costs me more to grow one tomato than buying an entire container of them in the summer. That's not what it's about for me. I will however admit that every single thing I grow tastes 100X better than anything I bought. As my kids say, I grew it with love. Maybe that's why.
About 4 years ago during the honeymoon phase of my first garden, I was a little over-zealous on my facebook page about how much I loved my garden and watching the bees. A "friend" made a snarky comment "enough about your garden & the bees already". For the next few weeks I was embarrassed and didn't say a peep about the garden, my cats or much less the bees! As the summer wore on and my love for the garden and all it's creatures encompassed me. I couldn't help it, I "unfriended" said "friend" and went on about my business and felt a little better about talking about my garden. In the back of my head lurked the comment, that maybe this ONE person had the gumption to say what others were thinking. Maybe I had become boring and annoying with my talk of flowering pumpkins, cats chasing butterflies, grapes and bees... It has stuck in my craw for 4 years.
As and aside, in that 4 years, and during this time, I was a part time gardener, this has been a sanity saving hobby because I have built a business, sold that business and am now retired and I'm not even middle aged. Well, it's garden time again, and for the past six months all I have thought about is the garden and the buzz of the bees in it. Enough of this pussy-footing around! I read up on urban beekeeping. First just some blogs, did a few Google searches, then I approached my husband with the idea of a hive. I did my research and it seems we are in an area there are no prohibitions for beekeeping. YAY! I have signed up for a class (this Sunday, cannot wait!). I have ordered my first nuc of bees, and am feeling elated!

I have been thinking about my first garden a lot as the season progresses, and that comment, made so offhand, which embarrassed me so much. I want to thank that "friend" because of that comment, I am going to actually step up and start beekeeping. Is that the only reason? Of course not. I am delighted that I will be helping the bees, that I get to watch them and photograph them. I'm completely thrilled that I will get to learn something new that gets me out and something that I can share. I am not going to be ashamed to share on facebook or twitter as I progress. As a matter of fact, I decided to blog about my experience as a brand new beekeeper in the city. So, here it is! For the record, I've never even been near a beehive, I've never pulled a frame or collected honey or fed a bee (other than planting wild flowers for them). I have never seen a Queen, or scraped honey or even seen propolis or royal jelly. I just learned what a queen excluder is and how a hive actually works via some books. I'm a bit worried that you know, I'll get stung (which is pretty much a given), that I will freak out when I feel bees crawling on me, or that they could swarm. I don't think these are unfounded fears, but the excitement I'm feeling is overriding every one of these fears.
I have no desire to sell honey or comb. I don't think I care much about making stuff out of the comb, but you never know with me. I may get a passion for candles or something. Could happen. I am excited about my new adventure! I'll keep you posted. So hopefully you'll hit "follow" and come along with me on my journey as an urban beekeeper.