Friday, May 23, 2014

Honey Bees 3.0

This is the start of my third year as a beekeeper. Year One was about Learning and Firsts and getting comfortable with the bees. Year Two was about disappointment and confusion and learning even more, while I watched two separate hives dwindle and die. Year Three is going to be the Year of Survival. I am determined to have at least one colony survive into next spring, and in order to stack the odds in my favor I went a little overboard. I purchased 3 packages of Italians. That’s right. THREE. They came in this Monday. I picked them up, setup my equipment, and got everything ready. Then, while I was installing them, I got a call from the swarm coordinator with the PPBA saying that I was next on the swarm list and they had one for me if I was still interested. Umm, yes! In case you aren’t counting, that makes FOUR colonies of bees for me now. So in three years I’ve gone from none to one to none to one to none to four!

While I’m excited about all these hives, I had to find a place to put them. I’m making a tough decision and deciding not to put any bees out at Dick’s place again. While it was a nice spot, and Dick was great about us doing inspections, it was just too far of a drive. So no bees at Dick’s place. Instead, I went across the street to Homestake Nursery and spoke with the manager. They were very amenable to me keeping some bees at the back of the property in exchange for some honey. So I have the swarm (Queen Dulce) and two of the packages (Queens Elena and Fiona) installed at Homestake Nursery. While I’m concerned about the bees having enough resources with three hives in one location, it will make supplemental feeding easy, if necessary.
Swarm installed in hive, using improvised bottom and top cover (from my beevac)
The final package (Queen Gwendolyn) I installed at a very nice couples place. Judy and Arney called last year about me moving their hive because they couldn’t take care of it anymore. So I moved their hive to my place, and they ended up dying anyway. My husband calls me The Queen Killer. Not this year! I called Judy this week and asked if they’d like to have a hive in their yard again, but I’d take care of it for them and do all the work. They really liked the idea, and I like all the mature blooming things in their neighborhood. Plus, it’s not that far from me.

There is a reason behind me wanting multiple hives, and yes, I should have listened and done two the first year. With more than one hive, I am able to make comparisons to watch for really strong or weak hives. I have the resources to pull frames of brood from one hive and introduce to another if necessary, like if a hive goes queenless and I need them to make a new queen. This might have saved our hive last year.
Two packages after installing in hives
A few comments about installing the packages; it was so easy this year! It took Sarah and I such a long time to do the install our first year, they wouldn’t come out of the box for anything. This year, I did the installations by myself, and it took no time at all. I removed two frames, pulled the feed jar out, removed the queen cage and sat it to the side, then dumped the bees in with only a few shakes. Then I gently replaced the frames. There wasn’t any candy in the queen cage, just the cork, and I didn’t have any marshmallows with me, so I took a chance and did a direct release into the hive. I figured the bees had already been with their queens for a few days, and they weren’t attacking the queen cage, so I gambled on them not wanting to kill her. Also, with frames already having comb on them, I’m hoping she starts laying immediately. That will make the bees happy, too. And keep them from absconding. In all cases, she walked right out of the cage and into the hive. Keeping my fingers crossed that I find some eggs and maybe even larva when I check on them Saturday.


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