beekeeping

Jason · May 6, 2010

When I installed the two hives the day before, I noted that neither queen was marked. This is significant. I thought that was odd, but went ahead and installed them. First thing I did when I got home and before dealing with the ball of bees in the trees, was check both hives and sure enough, the bees were out of both of them. One queen was already released from her cage (presumably up in the tree now.) The other queen was still in her cage in the abandoned hive.

Jason · May 4, 2010

The post office called me at 6am and said my bees were in. After a rainy, gloomy weekend, I didn’t expect to have them in by now.

I ran down and picked them up and then hit up the weather channel to see what the day was looking like. “Partly cloudy!” Sweet! The sun was blazing down into the yard by 7:15 and I decided to get these babies hived before heading to work.

It worked out perfectly. We will have rain tonight and that would keep them in there a little longer to get used to their new quarters. Everything went off without a hitch and the bees were pretty calm after 5 days of being caged up and shipped. They were dying to get out.

I’m excited and can’t wait to get back in to be sure the queen was accepted and is laying.

More later.

Jason · April 18, 2010

Woke up Saturday morning after sleeping on the floor of the Hashienda in Rabbit Hash, KY. Socialized a bit, then loaded up the canoe and headed back across the Ohio River. Rising Sun, IN is just across the river from Rabbit Hash.

Grabbed some breakfast with the guys at Jacks and then headed to the tri-state beekeepers spring clinic. They were doing a package bee installation in Moores Hill, IN. They hosted a great event and I promised them these pictures back for their use.

An energetic and diverse bunch, I see a new face each time. It seems bees are the ones attracting us. I should be pretty prepared for my April 27th installations.

I headed back home and sunk another post to finish off the grape-vine trellising behind the house. Got pretty much done Saturday and will finish off everything Sunday afternoon.

Jason · April 6, 2010

Spring has sprung and my own bees will arrive at the end of April (a little late). But, I thought I’d get a good primer in by assisting Doug Nelson of Nelsons Apiary the day after Easter manage some of his bees. I met Doug at the Creation Museum in Petersburg, KY and there he manages about 6-8 hives behind the lake. Totally cool. Doug also conducts bee workshops there and is arranging for a May 1 event at the Creation Museum for families to come and see live bees in action. I believe he is setting up an observation hive to boot. I took a bunch of pictures and video and promised to stage the pics for him.

I had a great experience and now I’m anxious for my bees to get here.

After we installed 4 packages at the museum, we cruised over to an outyard in Dillsboro, IN to check about 6 more hives. After all the excitement, I gained motivation and stopped at Lowes on the way home to grab all the materials to build my new hive stands when I got home. I actually got them in and done before it started raining. So, it was a good weekend and I accomplished way more than I expected I would.

I look forward to providing a number of summer updates with plenty of commentary on the beekeeping endeavors. Until next time, do something great.

Jason · January 5, 2010

I’m not a complete new-bee when it comes to beekeeping. Growing up, my father kept bees for many years. When I was a teenager, I kept a hive for a year or two myself. Then, getting serious about school, girls and “life’s vision” got in the way. The bees either swarmed or died.

I’m almost certain that my own interests, if not genetically, are somehow how linked to my dads. I find myself drawn to about all the things he was into. Gardening, grape-growing, winemaking, woodworking, blacksmithing and of course beekeeping. After a few rare Facebook comments about beekeeping surfaced, I decided that the beekeeping equipment that has been laying around for year, has sat long enough!

The most common beehive today is called the Langstroth, named after Reverend Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth (1810-1895). Langstroth discovered that if a space of 1 cm (3/8 inch) is left in the hive for the bees to move around in, the bees will neither build comb in the space nor cement it shut. This he called “bee space,” and he revolutionized beekeeping by his discovery of it!

It only took one book to get me completely immersed in the thought of beekeeping. One only needs to read a book about honey bees to find the fascination. Hitting forums, I found other local beekeepers who I hope to catch up with at my first bee meeting at the end of January.

So, after such reading, I had two custom Langstroth hives built. An 8 frame hive and a 10 frame hive. Instead of the typical 2 deep boxes where the queen rears the brood, I went with ALL medium boxes in both hives. This offers optimum interchangeability of the frames. In addition, I am trying out the 8 frame hive for the thought of “lighter beekeeping“. Keep in mind, a single box with 10 frames of honey can weight up to 90lbs!

Anyway, I plan to put together some more pictures of the hives just to keep you, my visitor, informed. I only have until spring when the bees arrive. In the meantime, here’s a video.