Langstroth Hive has Arrived

The Langstroth hive that I ordered from Long Lane Honey Bee Farms because it was a complete beginner's hive, fully assembled with two large supers (for the hive), one small super (for me), 30 frames ready to hang with wax inset and painted with a top has arrived here at 2-Dog Farm.  All for a little over $200.  I have scrubbed my top bar hive with bleach, killed a few overwintering japanese beetles in it and have it ready to go as well.  I will move both the Langstroth hive and the top bar hive into a permanent bee yard and set up a solar water fountain for them close by.

Yesterday I was up on top of our roof cleaning gutters.  We have sprung a leak in our kitchen ceiling.  This is the same place that the roof debris from winter storms gathers and sits.  Our gutters were completely clogged with leaves and sticks.  I am not a great heights person:  I have a fear of falling but it was a warm sunny day and you could see the creek below the bluff and it was such a gorgeous view.

Still waiting to get out to plant vegetables.  My clover is doing great.  Hope the nitrogen it adds to the soil really makes the garden take off once planted.

Beekeeping Symposium

Auburn University and the Alabama Cooperative Extension System hosted about 420 beekeepers from across the state on Saturday, 2/4/12.  In my opinion, it was wildly successful.  They had three tracks in each of the break-out sessions geared to the beginning beekeeper, to the backyard hobbyist and the more commercial beekeeper.  Vendors from several companies brought plenty of material for sale and the food was great.  I learned much and appreciated, in particular, Dr. Tew's dynamic opening session.  Beekeeping Symposium.

Auburn University is about 4 hours away from our home and the drive down through heavy, torrential rain and then again on the way home was made slightly better by the warm and sunny weather that greeted us in Auburn.  75 degrees and sunny is hard to beat.  Mike did antique hunting while I attended the beekeeping classes and then met me for lunch in Auburn's AgBusiness arena.   There was a live beehive demo during lunch that was great.  Beekeepers are friendly folks and love to mentor newbees like myself.

One of the county extension apiary agents will be in contact with me before I make the decision to burn my hive due to American foulbrood.  They were doubtful that this disease would manifest itself in a first year hive.  Only 2% of all hives contact foulbrood.  So I hope the apiary agent helps me rule out foulbrood so I can reuse my hive.

After all the Auburn sessions, I am ready to invest in more hives and bees.  My package bees from Draper's arrive the week of April 23rd.  I want to order two more top bar hives and at least one Langstroth_hive, which is geared more toward commercial beekeepers.  Commercial beekeeper is my description for any beekeeper who wants more honey than they can use themselves and they want to make a profit in producing it.

Mike and I stayed one night at the very well run The Hotel at Auburn University. I highly recommend it to any other travelers to Auburn University.  We managed to do a little sight-seeing; we found the Toomer's Corner trees that the man poisoned, Toomer's Corner Oak Trees in the news, and the famed Jordan-O'Hare football stadium and last but not least, Tiger Rags, where you can find unique Auburn Tiger T-shirts not found anywhere else.

All in all, excluding the heavy rain downpours, it was a great weekend!  I am armed with knowledge and ready to establish a new bee yard!

Hello World

My Mother, Polly, passed away October 26th.  In one year I have lost my Father, my Mother, three Aunts, an Uncle and my neighbor of 25 years.  It has been a very long and very sad year.  I am seeing a counselor to deal with the sadness, anger and hurt I am experiencing at the loss of so many this year.  I think if I could dig and work in the dirt and tend to my animals that I'd heal much quicker.   Rest in Peace, Mom and Dad.  You loved and were loved in return.  Thank you for everything - I will love you forever!

My bee colony did well up until the Alabama summer sizzled.  In early August, as I was spending more time helping care for my Mother in all my spare time, my bees were invaded by a yet to be determined predator.  Their honeycombs were blackened by the fecal material of the worm invader.  Had I been home and available maybe it would not have happened and I could have saved the colony.  It is disheartening to report the loss of  a one-time flourishing colony.

I will be very glad to see the end of 2011.  I want to sit and make plans for a bigger and better garden in 2012, to establish a couple of new bee colonies and to continue my plans for more self sufficiency.  God's Blessing to all for a safe and wonderful Holiday Season!

Bee-tastic!

Started my first hive this year - a cypress kenyan hive or top bar hive.  Ordered the Italian bees and queens from Rossman Apiaries in Georgia.  These are smaller and supposedly gentler bees - less aggressive.  I was very worried that I had killed the queen when I uncrated the hive but had to wait three weeks to find out if the hive was alive and well.  So on one of the hottest days this year I suited up in my beekeeping outfit ( a raincoat, heavy corduroy pants, long sleeve white t-shirt) and my elbow length gloves and baseball cap with beekeeper veil and took my hive tool and smoker and went to find out if the hive lived or not.  The result photos provided by family friend, Nikki, are below and I am happy to report a healthy hive with honey and babies and wax being produced on multiple bars.  They did it!

Bees are less aggressive toward a beekeeper in light colors.
Note the pants tucked into my heavy duty work boots.

Smoke is from cotton seed lint, bellow the smoke a bit away from the opening so as to not burn the bees.

Because I am a busy-bee-body, I purchased the top bar hive with the window so I could keep an eye on them without disrupting them.  Looking for problems with mites, no honeycomb, no bees - just to name a few problems. The bottom of the hive can be opened in the summer to increase ventilation and has a small wire covering that protects it from other varmits coming into the hive.

I love it.  Honey, honeycomb and bees.  The hive was empty when I uncrated the bees into it.  The only thing I did was take some bee balm mint and rub it on the top bars.

I moved the divider bar back to give them more room and inserted more top bars for them to begin honeycomb production.  Everything looks as it should.  By end of July or early August I should be able to take make a light harvest from this first year of capped honeycomb and leave the rest for them to winter-over.  Next year I should be able to make multiple harvests and I am considering a second hive and new queens.

This is one happy hive and beekeeper!