February has made the corner and it's looking girls (bees) are going to make it through the their first Winter.
Samantha has been feeding my small hive and Teresa makes sure the small light is on during the cold days. Team work is the name of the game. I'm sure my girls appreciate the effort and will become real producers in the Spring.
Making new brood boxes and putting new frames together in the next few weeks to make the splits and homes for new Queens not to far off...
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Jan. 2013 Has Arrived
Ya....! Welcome 2013...Working on my first full year of beekeeping. Still loving every chance I get to visit with them. They are remarkable little creatures.
Looking forward to making some splits and setting out several new hives this year...
So far my hive box #3 has survived the winter months. With help from my daughter Sam who looks
after them while I'm on the road.
She got stung the other day checking on one of the larger hives for me. She learned a good lesson and became an official beekeeper after being stung several times.. She a tough lady though. Didn't give up and never complained much at all...She an all around good girl and daughter to me...
Will soon start to put some new boxes together for the Spring days coming soon. Want to be ready to get in all the time I can so my bee's can make as much honey for me as they can...
Can't wait to see them in action for the first time. Hope to extract honey by April to check the flavor of the honey...Have corn,soy and cotton growing close by.
Looking forward to making some splits and setting out several new hives this year...
So far my hive box #3 has survived the winter months. With help from my daughter Sam who looks
after them while I'm on the road.
She got stung the other day checking on one of the larger hives for me. She learned a good lesson and became an official beekeeper after being stung several times.. She a tough lady though. Didn't give up and never complained much at all...She an all around good girl and daughter to me...
Will soon start to put some new boxes together for the Spring days coming soon. Want to be ready to get in all the time I can so my bee's can make as much honey for me as they can...
Can't wait to see them in action for the first time. Hope to extract honey by April to check the flavor of the honey...Have corn,soy and cotton growing close by.
Thursday, November 22, 2012
So Far So Good
So far my small hive#3 is hanging in there.
The weather has gotten down to the low 30's. But, they are still in the hive buzzing around.
Had to put some sugar syrup in the top of the hive to help out. I really want to see them make the winter
and turn that little hive into a much larger hive in the Spring.
It's been fun starting my hives this year...
The weather has gotten down to the low 30's. But, they are still in the hive buzzing around.
Had to put some sugar syrup in the top of the hive to help out. I really want to see them make the winter
and turn that little hive into a much larger hive in the Spring.
It's been fun starting my hives this year...
Monday, November 5, 2012
My Bees This Winter
Checked on my bees this time while home off the road.
They are looking pretty good so far but, the real cold hasn't hit this area as of yet..
Had to put an inside feeder in Box#3. The smallest hive of the three.
They are my latest hive and was put out later then the others this year. By feeding them
I am hoping they survive the Winter and become a good honey producing hive for me.
My plans are to split my hives and add a few more shortly after Spring hits...
They are looking pretty good so far but, the real cold hasn't hit this area as of yet..
Had to put an inside feeder in Box#3. The smallest hive of the three.
They are my latest hive and was put out later then the others this year. By feeding them
I am hoping they survive the Winter and become a good honey producing hive for me.
My plans are to split my hives and add a few more shortly after Spring hits...
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Checked Out The Hives 09/23/2012
Checked out all three hives this past weekend. They are looking pretty good so far.
The cool weather has the workers pushing the drones out of the hive as they prepare for winter coming.
Hive #3 has the least number of bees but they look strong and have a good number of bees on each frame.
I put 4 new frames on top of the brood box to see if that would help encourage them to make new
cells to store sugar syrup or pollen in so they could eat in the winter..
Looking forward to the spring when I can start making splits to increase the number of hives I have..
The cool weather has the workers pushing the drones out of the hive as they prepare for winter coming.
Hive #3 has the least number of bees but they look strong and have a good number of bees on each frame.
I put 4 new frames on top of the brood box to see if that would help encourage them to make new
cells to store sugar syrup or pollen in so they could eat in the winter..
Looking forward to the spring when I can start making splits to increase the number of hives I have..
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Little Concern Hive #3
Things have been for the most part going well with all my hives this year...
I had to re-queen hive#3 because the queen had such an erratic brood pattern. It could have
caused the hive be become weak and susceptible to attack by other bees and mites.
I went into the hive last Saturday ( 09-01-2012) and located the queen quickly on the brood
frame. She looked pretty active but, I think she is having trouble locating empty cells to lay her
eggs. The reason for that is, I believe the old queen was working so slow that the workers were
filling the cells with sugar syrup before she got to them to lay her eggs/brood.
I have been giving them all bee vitamins added to the syrup to help strengthen the hive and
hopefully build the hive a little quicker in number.
I will check on them (hive#3) in the morning (09-10-2012) to see if the queen is doing better now
that she has been in there for two weeks.
If, she looks like she may need more help. I may take a frame of brood from my stronger hive#2
and place it in hive#3 in an effort to help the new queen hatch out more brood strengthening the hive.
So far this year I have really enjoyed taking care of my hives and can't wait till Spring of the year to
hopefully make some splits and add to my hives.
I had to re-queen hive#3 because the queen had such an erratic brood pattern. It could have
caused the hive be become weak and susceptible to attack by other bees and mites.
I went into the hive last Saturday ( 09-01-2012) and located the queen quickly on the brood
frame. She looked pretty active but, I think she is having trouble locating empty cells to lay her
eggs. The reason for that is, I believe the old queen was working so slow that the workers were
filling the cells with sugar syrup before she got to them to lay her eggs/brood.
I have been giving them all bee vitamins added to the syrup to help strengthen the hive and
hopefully build the hive a little quicker in number.
I will check on them (hive#3) in the morning (09-10-2012) to see if the queen is doing better now
that she has been in there for two weeks.
If, she looks like she may need more help. I may take a frame of brood from my stronger hive#2
and place it in hive#3 in an effort to help the new queen hatch out more brood strengthening the hive.
So far this year I have really enjoyed taking care of my hives and can't wait till Spring of the year to
hopefully make some splits and add to my hives.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Queen Cell
This queen cell was removed from hive #3 before re-queening the hive... 3/4" long and about 1/2" wide..
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