Adding another deep hive

For a week, I've been wondering when to add another deep hive.  My bees have been out of the hive quite a lot so I wondered how crowded it might be in the hive and was anxious to have another look yesterday.  Which I did.

They seem to have about 7 frames filled with brood cells, capped, and pollen cells, honey and nectar.  I also spotted a few queen cells.  I've read that this is nothing to worry about but if I see 8 of them, I should worry about the hive swarming.  I only saw about 3 of them but enough to wonder about it.  I also read that the timing of adding another deep hive is critical.  If you do it too late, the bees may swarm.  If you do it too early, they may get too cold and die. Eeeks.  I was nervous so before I did it, I came in and did a search on adding nucs to hives and how long before another box needed to be added for additional space.

The timing for someone buying a bee package seemed to be about 5 weeks.  It's only been a little over 3 weeks for me, but I bought a five-frame nuc so it should be earlier for me.  That is what decided me to add the box yesterday.  They are still there because I see a bunch outside the hive this morning already so I know it's not too cold for them.  Plus we're in a warm spell all week so the timing of this, I think, will be okay.

So now I have two deep hives and the top feeder.  You can see that they like to be outside when it's hot as the entrance reducer is only open about an inch (for a few more weeks).  Then I can give them a larger hole to come in and go out.

Yesterday, I had a mishap.  I dropped the first frame I had taken out, or partially dropped it and the bees were not happy at all!  I tried to use the tool to handle the frame, but lost control.  For all the rest of the frames, I used my hands and the tool only to separate each frame from the rest.  Then lifted it enough to be able to grab hold.  I don't want to drop another one again!

I also learned that I probably am not feeding them enough.  I generally make a batch of sugar syrup which I use 5 lbs. sugar and 2 quarts and 2 cups of water.  That makes enough for about 2.5 days.  Yet I've been waiting a week until I go back into the hive.  So now, I've already made more syrup and on Thursday, I will refill it, and then refill it again on Sunday.  That should be enough and they should begin making comb even faster.

One last thing.  The other night, I sat watching them with my binoculars and saw some of the bees wiggling real fast and that's the first time I saw this.  It's what they do to cool each other off.

A week after adding the new deep hive, I went to check my bees and they have already moved up and are actively building comb in the new deep hive.

Mowing the lawn or not

Because of my bees and my love of flowers, mowing the lawn becomes painful at times.  I fluctuate between wanting a neat lawn and wanting all blooming weeds to be there to feed the bees. And to look at.

So, as I mow, I am on the lookout for plants that might be starting to grow.  Today I mowed around many wild daisy clumps so that they are there for me to pick and the bees to pollinate.  You can see that  my lawn has lots of weeds. :)

I have a groundcover weed on my lawn that is now blooming a pretty blue flower, so I mowed around those patches too. And then there's this yellow flowering weed I mowed around in a few spots as well.

And this delicate white and blue flower is all over my lawn so I didn't mow half the lawn waiting for these to pass by.  They are so pretty.

Meanwhile I've planted clover so that when that blooms, it will attract the bees and I will avoid mowing as long as I can to leave that food for the bees.

I understand that bees fly up to three miles away gathering pollen and nectar but it's still difficult to mow down flowers they could use.

I think I found the queen

Yesterday, I did my weekly check on the bees and they seem to be making comb, lots of pupae, lots of pollen in cells...everything seems to be in order. 

This time, I followed the instructions in Beekeeping for Dummies and took out the first frame, put it aside while checking all the other frames.  (It will be the last frame to go back into the hive and its removal made it easier to remove and insert loaded frames back into the hive without crushing any bees). 

I then checked every frame in there one at a time, putting each back where they came from.  It was about 5 or 6 frames in when I saw this bee that was long and skinny and different than all the others.  I do believe that was the queen.  I didn't want to spend too much time in there looking so would look quickly on each frame.  I think I was 6 frames in before I saw her, and that frame is one that was not completely built out with comb etc.

Next time, I'd like to bring a camera but I guess I really need another person to take the pictures since I can't put down a frame (other than that first one) once it's in hand.  I may have to enlist some help soon so I can show more of the progress visually.

On birds and pear trees

Sitting on the porch this morning, thinking about looking at email, and drinking a nice strong cup of coffee, I look up and a pair of Cardinals is sitting on one of my yard chairs.  A male and a female (or child). I can't tell the difference but can pick out the male.

It makes me think that my yard is beginning to attract more birds.  I remember when I first moved here, I didn't seem to have many birds at all! I was used to their chatter in the morning.  But now, as I continue to plant shrubs and flowers and small trees, I'm seeing a variety of birds pass through here. 

I had a few bluebirds here a few weeks ago.  For a few minutes I thought they were living in this new birdhouse I put up in the early spring.  But no one seems to be living there yet.  I do plan to plant a vine to grow up the pole under that birdhouse so maybe birds will like it better when there is also some coverage.

Here, let me just add that to my list of things I want to do.

Yesterday, I planted two pear trees.  I had to buy two because pear trees, at least most of them, need another pear tree to cross pollinate. I had bought one in the past, but never got around to buying the other one. So the first one never did well.  I finally dug it up in Kennebunk where I have a house I rent, and moved it here, because I thought it might do better here.  But when I dug it up, it had barely any root system left.  I planted it anyway, but don't hold much hope it'll rebound.  But we'll try it for a few years.  I planted the new ones in front of what now looks like a stick in the ground.  There should be good cross pollination now!  But probably too late for the stick.

Next to go into the ground, as soon as I stop writing, will be a pair of elderberry bushes.  They are from Miller Nurseries that I ordered last fall.  I am probably not going to buy from them much anymore.  When their plants arrive, they are smaller than anything I can buy down at Agway down the street.  These looks like more sticks in the ground with one tiny piece of growth coming out of one of them.  I can buy a bush down at Agway and have it look like a bush, not a stick. Maybe it's because I'm getting old enough to think of the end and I want to be able to see the fruits of these plants I'm buying and planting. I need to buy more mature plants for this mature lady. 

On getting stung on Mother's Day

Well, it wasn't me that got stung.  It was my daughter.  My grandson wanted to see the bees so we went over to the fence (that I had turned off so he wouldn't get a jolt) and watched them buzzing around the entrance to the hive and he was asking me questions.

My daughter comes over and is watching too, but she's not been a fan of this project of mine because she sees bees as 'just bugs'. She's skeptical about the whole endeavor.

A few minutes later, I wandered off to go get my granddaughter and all of a sudden, I see my daughter running and waving her arms and onto my porch and into the house screaming "get it off"!

Sure enough, she had a bee on her back and got stung as a result (from her flailing around, most likely).  I felt terrible but also thought it was kind of funny.  I guess you'd have to know my brilliant, smart, beautiful daughter...but she's very strong-minded and when she gets it into her head that she doesn't like something...well watch out!  Anyway...she got stung.

What I would do differently next time is this.  We should never have been standing right in front of the hive, even though we were 6 feet away from it.  That's their traveling route.  We should have been off to the side of the hive, out of their path.  That's the main lesson here.  Don't stand in front of the hive!  And maybe I'd better get another bee outfit for guests who want to get close to the bees.  I just hope this didn't traumatize them too much.

No harm done.  My grandson was very calm through it all.  My granddaughter was clueless and never knew what happened.  But she's only two :).

First bee checkup

Today I can go into the hive and check the status of the bees!  I've had them in the hive 8 days now.  So I'll get ready and do this shortly, before the bees come back into the hive.  I'm told it's best to do this during the day while the bees are out gathering.

For the past several days, I've been watching the bees drink the water I left for them.  I used an old leaky birdbath, that is low to the ground.  I lined it with a plastic plant tray so it will hold water.  Then I added a bunch of rocks, making sure some of them rise above the water line so the bees can stand on the rock while drinking.  Or they can stand on the ledge to drink.  They can't swim so you need to provide them with something to stand on so they can drink.  There is always at least one bee drinking from their "bowl". See how this little guy is on the ledge? I need to remember to keep this filled.  I do have a stream down the hill where they can find water.  I also have a small garden pond that they can use in a pinch.  But my birdbath bowl will be their safest bet.

These scattered rocks give them enough places to stand where they can safely drink.

This week the bees drank all the syrup water I put into the top of the hive.  On Thursday, I felt I needed to check on the syrup to make sure they had enough to eat. It was totally gone.  So I added the rest that I had in the fridge and went out to buy more sugar.  Then I made another batch that is in the refrigerator waiting to add.  I'm sure I'll need to add all of it today.  And then I'll need to make some more.  Perhaps I'd better start buying sugar in bulk...at least, for this year.  This year, they'll need the diet supplement.

Ok.  It's 3PM and I just finished checking my bees.  Then, I came in and read Beekeeping for Dummies and I did the inspection all wrong!

I was supposed to remove the first frame and put it aside, to leave space for maneuvering the other 9 frames.  Instead, I removed about 3 frames toward the middle.  I used the smoker successfully this time as well, thanks to Jody and Dean Turner at Imagine that honey in Swanzy, NH.   Dean did a great demonstration last week that was very helpful.

I need to read my book PRIOR to going to the hives!  But I still feel like it was a good visit.  I saw capped brood.  I saw plenty of larvae.  I didn't see the queen though.  Maybe I would have if I had looked at every frame.

I did see some extra comb "growing" out of the top of the frames so I used my hive tool and got rid of it.  I've put it in a plastic bag...this is the beginning of my honeycomb collection that I hope to use over the winter to make candles.

It's odd that I don't feel fearful at all.  There was a time when I never would have imagined myself doing this.  But so far, I've enjoyed it a lot. 

And I do think I'll have a honey crop this year.  Stay tuned.

Random thoughts on a rainy day

I'm watching this flowering cherry tree I planted a few years ago.  It's leaning towards the sun so that is telling me that it's too shady where it is.  I struggle with enough sunlight here on the side of a hill, surrounded by forest. I cleared more trees out this year to give a bit more sun, but it didn't affect that particular spot.  So, I'm going to move it, hopefully later today.  It's to the right of my pond now.  It's going to move about 35 feet to the east where it will get more sun.  As it grows, it'll fill in some open space without really shading anything too much.  It's quite beautiful in the spring when in bloom so it'll be fun watching that grow up. The one I planted in Kennebunk , below,  has matured and is just lovely, surrounded simply by lavender now.  And the lavender has matured too. In this shot, probably 5 years ago, I had iris's and something else that is pink and I have no idea what that was right now.  So that's the type of tree that will move today.

I want the tree in the right spot so it will flower and be a source of pollen and nectar for the bees.  Underneath this little tree to be transplanted, there's a spreading flowering strawberry plant that blooms in hot pink.  I will move that along with the tree which will provide some color on that slope.  I'm trying to add as much ground cover as possible on the slope so that I won't have to mow it anymore...someday.

May 5th - Added bees to hive

Well, it's done.  I officially have bees in the hive.

I traveled down to Holliston, MA to get my Nuc and brought it home earlier this afternoon. Then I proceeded to get things ready to put them into the hive. Here's how it was given to me. 

The nuc box is a heavy cardboard box and it's disposable. It was strapped down with some sort of packing tape and had vents on either side. Boy, could I hear the bees in there wanting to get out of that box.  The people I purchased them from told me they'd been in there just since the day before.

My hive was already in place, but I needed to add the top hive feeder so brought that outside.  I brought out my hive tools and the smoker as well as the sugar water for the top hive feeder...and a bucket to put everything in.

Then I went to start the smoker.  Next time I will prepare better for the smoker.  I hadn't planned to use it  but it was recommended  by the sellers of the bees.  I tried to rush making the fire in the smoker so it went right out.  I should know by now never to rush making a fire or skipping steps.  When I try to rush it, it doesn't work out. I think the smoker only it provided one or two puffs. I started with pine needles that were a little too damp from all the rain we got over the past week.  So when that didn't work very well, I used one of those pellets that came with the smoker..  Perhaps I should have used a few because that went out right away too. Actually tomorrow is another beekeeper class and using the smoker is part of that class so I'll do better with that next time.  I think I was just a bit too anxious.

This is something I'll run into time and time again, I suspect.  Different people giving different instructions.  I had instructions to spray the bees with sugar water when putting them into the hive from the demonstration a few weeks ago...and not to use a smoker when adding bees to the hive.  Most other times, the smoker is used. So, in the end, I relied mostly on spraying the bees lightly with the sugar water when the smoker failed.  It all worked out fine I think.

Then I did as I was instructed. I removed 5 frames from my hive box and put two empty ones in...then add the 5 frames from the nuc, one at a time, in the order that they were in within the nuc.  They did say one empty frame could go in the middle.  So I did this:

empty frame
empty frame
nuc frame
nuc frame
empty frame
nuc frame
nuc frame
nuc frame
empty frame
empty frame

Then I added the top hive feeder above the bee chamber, and added sugar water.

Then I added the inside cover

Then I added the top outer cover

After that, I thought I was done and brought things into the house.  Then I reread the instructions and saw that I had the entrance reducer wrong.  The small opening needed to be at the top instead of the bottom so I had to go adjust that.

Also the top inner cover has a hole in it...a slot about 3/4" wide and 3" long...but the instructions said to close that off with something...so in my second visit to the hive, I used a clump of grass to block the hole and will leave it there until the bees are acclimated to their new home. 

I feel a sense of accomplishment.  I was very nervous but kept my cool and didn't panic when bees were swarming around me.  I did panic a bit before opening the box at the start though.  They were humming away in there and I could picture them all coming after me.  But nothing like that happened.

Now I see bees outside the box...hanging around the entrance.  I've seen bees come in with yellow or orange stuff and enter the hole.  I'm thinking it must be pollen but really?  Is that happening already?  I was a bit worried about all the bees on the outside of the box.  But a little research on the web assured me they'd go into the box when it got colder last night...and sure enough, by nightfall, there were no longer any bees outside!

I set up a chair and have a small pair of binoculars so that I can observe, which I did just for a while earlier last night.  I think it will become a ritual for nice evenings.  I found it very relaxing.