I again have 4 hives this year, didn't have any survive last winter...which is my #1 goal this coming year. I left plenty of honey for their winter food but I dont think there were enough bees to cluster and stay warm enough to make it through the long winter here in seattle.
Anyway on april 19th, I hived the 4 new packages and left the queens in their little cages so the bees could get acquainted with them, and improve acceptance. A week later it was time to release the queens. My friend who hosts the Admiral hive discovered my queen, dead in her cage :-( The other three hives were just fine, so not sure what happened there...
I got a replacement queen- under "warranty" as a result of this death, so early after receipt.
I will go back and let her out this weekend, and check the other hives to make sure the queens that did live are laying eggs.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
I'm a lazy beekeeper
well, not really, I am behind on my chores though. Primarily due to not having enough equipment put together to manage 4 hives.
I scheduled the extractor rental for the last weekend in october. I need to go by my hives this weekend and pull off honey supers..which should have been done a few weeks ago.
Now, I need to recruit helpers and a place for extracting. Now that my mentor lives in the boonies, I need a place to do the extraction. I am halfway tempted to go rent one of those storage units 1) to place all my beekeeping gear in it year round, as well as 2) to perform the extraction there. hmmmm. another thing for my to do list.
I scheduled the extractor rental for the last weekend in october. I need to go by my hives this weekend and pull off honey supers..which should have been done a few weeks ago.
Now, I need to recruit helpers and a place for extracting. Now that my mentor lives in the boonies, I need a place to do the extraction. I am halfway tempted to go rent one of those storage units 1) to place all my beekeeping gear in it year round, as well as 2) to perform the extraction there. hmmmm. another thing for my to do list.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Moving of hives
This past weekend my beekeeping mentor moved his hives to his new residence...but not without assistance, which I truly owed him due to all his help to me. However, since I was recouping from recent surgery, the only assistance I could provide was the help in recruiting two strong and willing participants.
With extra beesuits in hand we arrived at Tim's old house on Saturday morning. We proceeded to his "backyard", which consists of a deck with an awesome view of seattle...and overlooking a very steep hillside, declining from his house, and where his bees live.
Since Tim is very experienced in managing the hives in this location, he had a contraption built on his deck which he'd previously used to hoist honey up to his house. Very ingenious and made the work of moving the hives as painless as it could get. (Of course, I was only observing. The sweat drenching the backs of those moving the hives was very apparent).
Here are the pics of the adventure of getting the hives into his van for the long journey to his new home.
With extra beesuits in hand we arrived at Tim's old house on Saturday morning. We proceeded to his "backyard", which consists of a deck with an awesome view of seattle...and overlooking a very steep hillside, declining from his house, and where his bees live.
Since Tim is very experienced in managing the hives in this location, he had a contraption built on his deck which he'd previously used to hoist honey up to his house. Very ingenious and made the work of moving the hives as painless as it could get. (Of course, I was only observing. The sweat drenching the backs of those moving the hives was very apparent).
Here are the pics of the adventure of getting the hives into his van for the long journey to his new home.
Cool link
http://www.vanishingbees.com/
great little film and information on ccd and the state of our bees. check it out.
great little film and information on ccd and the state of our bees. check it out.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
lotsa bee stuff
been so busy I haven't had time to post.
The four hives are going well...the admiral hive lost its queen but then the hive created a new one. Last week's check indicated the queen is laying, so it is back on track now.
The two queen anne hives are moving along nicely, given they were started with drawn comb. I have them up to 4 boxes high now. The admiral hive and vonveyville hive are only three boxes high now.
This weekend should prove exciting. My mentor is moving his bees. I've recruited some strong backs to assist in getting the hives up his steep hill. I will be sure to take lots of pictures.
The four hives are going well...the admiral hive lost its queen but then the hive created a new one. Last week's check indicated the queen is laying, so it is back on track now.
The two queen anne hives are moving along nicely, given they were started with drawn comb. I have them up to 4 boxes high now. The admiral hive and vonveyville hive are only three boxes high now.
This weekend should prove exciting. My mentor is moving his bees. I've recruited some strong backs to assist in getting the hives up his steep hill. I will be sure to take lots of pictures.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Update and pictures
I now have 4 hives, two in the same location as last year (queen ann) and two in west seattle- different properties.
Last sunday was decently warm so I checked all 4 hives...saw eggs and brood in all four, and got a visual on the queen in the von veyville hive (property name). This one I was particularly worried about since I received a call last week saying ALL the bees were outside the hive. Upon my arrival I found a big cluster of bees hanging out beneath the hive, sitting on the cinder block which I used to support the hive.
I gently scooped most of them in a bucket, but quickly realized that the majority were UNDER the hive, down in the cinderblock, not just on the outside of it...this was likely where the queen was. I feared that I would kill her in my scooping, but had little choice. I eventually took the hive apart, off the cinderblocks and got them all dumped back in the hive. I assumed I got the queen as they stayed in the hive. Thankfully, having gotten to see her this past sunday confirmed I didn't squash her in my bee rescue.
This was a time that it would have been good to have one of those bee vacuums my mentor had used for swarm catching. AND, It just so happens that a fellow condo dweller threw away one of the 5 gal watercooler bottles needed for a beevac. I will convert it after some thrift shop scavenging for parts.
Here are some pics of the hiving of the admiral hill hive- my friend's boys are pictured as I am telling one of them to shake the bees out of the package/cage.
Shake Shake Shake!
Dumping the bees out of the cage
The queen's cage
Putting the queen's cage in- left in for a day so the bees get used to her pheromones.
Last sunday was decently warm so I checked all 4 hives...saw eggs and brood in all four, and got a visual on the queen in the von veyville hive (property name). This one I was particularly worried about since I received a call last week saying ALL the bees were outside the hive. Upon my arrival I found a big cluster of bees hanging out beneath the hive, sitting on the cinder block which I used to support the hive.
I gently scooped most of them in a bucket, but quickly realized that the majority were UNDER the hive, down in the cinderblock, not just on the outside of it...this was likely where the queen was. I feared that I would kill her in my scooping, but had little choice. I eventually took the hive apart, off the cinderblocks and got them all dumped back in the hive. I assumed I got the queen as they stayed in the hive. Thankfully, having gotten to see her this past sunday confirmed I didn't squash her in my bee rescue.
This was a time that it would have been good to have one of those bee vacuums my mentor had used for swarm catching. AND, It just so happens that a fellow condo dweller threw away one of the 5 gal watercooler bottles needed for a beevac. I will convert it after some thrift shop scavenging for parts.
Here are some pics of the hiving of the admiral hill hive- my friend's boys are pictured as I am telling one of them to shake the bees out of the package/cage.
Shake Shake Shake!
Dumping the bees out of the cage
The queen's cage
Putting the queen's cage in- left in for a day so the bees get used to her pheromones.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
