Random Thoughts: Feeling creative

Disclaimer: This post doesn't really have a point. I'm just going to ramble.

Lately, I have been feeling creative. I really would like to do something like paint or draw or photograph stuff. It was triggered by a recent trip to a Fine Arts museum. It's a tough thing for me to visit a Fine Arts museum. I walk from room to room, seeing great master works of art and think, "I wish I could make something like that." Then I go to the commercial/pop art and think, "I really don't like this crap hanging next to those masterpieces." The problem for me is I have no skills.

I have watched Bob Ross paint a landscape on PBS probably hundreds of times. I have even seen a few other painting shows now and then. I have even gone as far as buying canvas boards and actual canvases with the idea that I might try painting. That said, other than finger paints and paint by numbers painting when I was a kid, I've only painted houses, decks a shed and a chicken coop.

I don't know why I haven't ever sat down and tried it. I think it's because I know that my skill will not produce a painting that comes even remotely close to what my eyes (and brain) see. I know I could try it, learn techniques and build a set of skills that will produce a reasonable facsimile. That said, it would take patience, dedication and time... lots of time.

That's one of the benefits I really enjoy about photography. Photography allows you to capture a real instant of time. With proper development, it produces an almost exact duplicate of what you see. To toot my own horn for a second, I have always been good at seeing something that would make a good photo, framing it and capturing the exact moment just as I intend it. Of course, all of my photos are opportunistic. I am in a place. I see something. I take a photo of it. I don't wait for a day of perfect light and scene, set up with $2000 worth of equipment and snap 600 shots of something and then select the best one. I just have a camera and take a photo that I think will look nice. Lately, the problem is that I haven't gone anyplace or done anything that allows me to take photos other than candid shots of my kids.

OK, my ramble is over. As I said, there isn't really a point. If I had to make a conclusion, this would be it: I really want to try painting, but I think I might take the wife and kids out to the beach today or something, so I can go take some candid shots of my kids with nice backgrounds.

Garden: Fall Planting

This year, like every year, I have been planning to put in bulbs. Last year, I followed through on my plan. This year, I am doing the same. Last year, I planted something like 240ish bulbs, of varying kinds. The end result was well worth the cost and effort. If anything, I wished I planted more. So, this year, I'm going to do just that. I have purchased another 320 bulbs, which I will be planting over the next week or two.

I also picked up some tiny chrysanthemums for $.49 each. They probably won't come back next year, but if they do, it's far cheaper than paying $10 for mums which won't come back. I also theoretically have some garlic that I ordered which will need to be planted. After I write this, though, I'm going to go send an e-mail because it is supposed to ship in Sept., which is flying by. I had a bunch of perennial seeds which I was also planning on planting, but I don't know if I can get the bulbs in and seed beds prepared before it's too late. Theoretically, I should have planted them back in late August. Right now is about the latest I could expect them to survive. I suppose I could always save them to plant in Spring.

Finally, I planted some carrots, broccoli, kale, collards, lettuce and spinach. All are quite a bit behind where I would like them to be, except the carrots. We'll see how they turn out.

Bees: Inspection 05 September 2011

It's been a few weeks since I last inspected the bees. On the previous inspection, I had robbed a single frame of honey. I had a slight concern because it seemed like they were almost out of space. They had a few empty frames plus the outsides of the last frames. At the very least, I was concerned about how large (or small) the brood area was. That said, they seemed to be foraging like crazy.

In an ideal world, I would have put drawn foundation into another box so they could fill it with the fall flow. Sadly, being a first-year beekeeper, I don't have any drawn foundation. They are in really good shape, honey-wise, to go into winter but there is still another month and a half before first frost. At this point, it is really unreasonable to expect that they will draw out another box and fill it before winter sets in. I had considered robbing another frame or two, but they all had uncapped areas in the bottom, middle of the frame and I don't have a hydrometer to test for moisture content. So, I guess 1 frame is all I get this year. Oh well, they will hopefully be better off this winter because of it.

One neat thing to mention... When I robbed the frame of honey last time, I added a foundationless frame. I used a wedge frame and nailed and glued the wedge to the top bar. I was happy and surprised to see that the frame was mostly drawn out and being used for brood raising. It was neat to see a frame of totally fresh, clean comb created entirely from nothing. The only little issue is that it was slightly crooked. I suspect that my intricately leveled hive has settled, making it slightly out of level. Oh well, it will work perfectly fine. I'm planning of using only foundationless frames from now on though, so I will have to recheck for level in the Spring.

Almost completely capped frame. Probably OK, but why chance it.

A closer look at the uncapped section of comb

This comb is totally the work of the bees, done in about 2 weeks.

A close-up of the comb. A little more work and it will be done.

Bees: Honey! (Inspection - 12 August 2011)

I have been impatiently waiting to harvest honey. I have been uncertain how to go about it because I don't have an extractor. I used foundation, so cut comb or chunk honey are both out of the question as well. Three options were available to me. I could make, rent or borrow an extractor. I could do the crush and strain method or I could see what gravity could accomplish for extraction.

I don't know anyone who owns an extractor, so that option didn't work. I could rent an extractor from the RI Beekeepers Society, but I would have to join before I could rent, thereby doubling the cost. I could (and still might) make an extractor. I've seen a few plans and have some ideas of my own, but with all tinkering projects, time is a factor and I want honey now, damn it!

Crush and strain is exactly what it sounds like. You cut out all the comb, crush it in a pan or bowl and then put it all in a filtering bucket. It totally destroys all the hard work the bees have done making the comb, although the beekeeper (me) gets to keep the wax for other purposes. It seems a waste to go that route though.

Option three was the hands down winner... or so I thought. I figured that, although thick, you can still pour honey. The comb is angled down slightly to keep the thin nectar from spilling out. I figured it would be slow, but it should eventually drain, right? Well, no, not really. It may have worked better if I put it in the sun, but I didn't want the bees to rob the honey I had stolen from them. It was pretty warm in my house, though.

I grabbed a large bowl and mesh strainer for the cappings. I got a foil covered cookie sheet which fit the frame nicely. I grabbed my newly purchased uncapping knife and my scratching fork (which I didn't end up needing). I sliced the cappings off over the bowl. They came away from the rest of the comb nice and clean. Immediately, my kids wanted a taste of honey. A huge quantity of honey came away into the bowl, because the bees had drawn out the comb well past the stopping point. Apparently, the bees didn't read the same beekeeping books I read. I put the frame upside down for about half an hour.

Half an hour later, there was no real change. I thought, "Hmm. Maybe it would drain better with the frame on its side." Nope. After a while, I realized that the fruit flies would get the honey long before i did. I decided that I needed to do something. I couldn't very well leave an open dripping frame of honey somewhere, hoping that thieves with wings (or wingless with two legs) would steal it. Looking at the frame and my knife, I decided that the offset nature of the blade meant that I could successfully cut the comb off of the foundation, thereby leaving at least that intact for the bees next time.

I very carefully slid the knife into the comb down to the foundation. A slow sawing motion and a steady hand allowed me to keep from making any holes through to the other side. After straining through a mesh strainer, I poured the honey into a quart sized mason jar. I did the same to the other side. After the honey was extracted, I put the frame out for the bees to clean up. They seemed happy to oblige.

I collected a full quart plus an extra half pint mason jar from one medium frame.  The honey was extremely light in color. It's even lighter than the bottle of clover honey in the cabinet. Based on the time this comb was filled and the directions the bees were flying and the things that were blooming, I would make a SWAG* that this honey is a mix of Northern Catalpa, white clover, and chicory with some various wildflower nectar thrown in for fun. Of course, without a centrifuge, a microscope and a library of pollen samples, I can't be sure.

Anyway, here are a few photos. I don't have any of the actual extraction because I really don't particularly like the idea of a glazed camera.

Bees on top of the top box as I remove the inner cover.

A look down inside the hive at all that sweet honeycomb.

One sting (on the face) seems like a fair price for this beautiful comb.

Obviously, I left a lot of honey on this frame. I need an extractor.

* SWAG - Acronym meaning Stupid Wild-Ass Guess

Summer Fun

This is a mixed bag post. I did a little of everything today and just wanted to share. I inspected the bees today. It was my first inspection in two weeks. I had hope that I would be able to harvest some honey, but it was not to be. I'm guessing the bees are short on young wax-producing bees due to the supersedure of the queen. It also looks like they could use another box shortly, but I'm going to wait until there are new bees emerging. The new queen has been laying for a couple weeks, so that should be any day now.

After the hive inspection, I went to the beach with the family. I had a fun time. Both kids were enjoying the water thoroughly which is a special treat. Usually, one is being difficult and the other one wants to walk away and not listen. Occasionally, they mix it up and change roles. Today, however, both kids seemed more interested in just having fun. After a lunch of cold fried food and soggy pizza, we headed home for nap time.

I really needed to get my fall veggies planted. In order to do that, I need to clear out the spring veggie patch of the old plants plus all the giant weeds. Seriously, I almost have a hay crop growing in my raised beds. The nice thing about this is it makes weeding easy. You just grab everything and pull. I managed to get the purple peacock broccoli-kale bed ripped out. I'm thinking I'm going to try a fall crop of carrots with a row cover so that I can pick into December. I need to get some collard greens and broccoli in the ground too, so I have a bunch more work to do but given that I was soaked in sweat in a matter of seconds, I decided to leave that for tomorrow. My fall garden plans include carrots, broccoli, collards, spinach, lettuces, and peas, plus some beets for the chickens. I might throw in some turnips and swiss chard, if I have any seeds left from the spring.

Later, we're going to have a cookout with family friends. Tomorrow, we're going out on the water. After that, I will probably get my gardening tasks done. If I have any spare time, I might try to get my new hive boxes assembled and painted. I have so much stuff going on this weekend and all of it is fun!

Making Jam with the Fam

Today, we made raspberry jam. OK, technically, there were some blackberries and a few blueberries thrown in for filler. The blackberries made a nice addition of tartness. This should replenish our stock of raspberry jam. We still have about two dozen jars of jam, jelly, and preserves from last year, not to mention pickles, pizza sauce and applesauce. This year, we should get a boatload of tomatoes. In fact, we might even have enough to supply our year's worth of tomatoes if they start ripening soon. Now all I need to do is find something to do with cucumbers other than making pickles. Anyway, enjoy the photos.

Today's berries

Kids impatiently waiting to help make jam

Waiting with temptation

Mommy stirring jam; Kid trying to sneak some sugar

"I swear, I didn't eat any"

The end result; 5 jars of jam for about half an hour and a few cents for pectin and li

Bees: Inspection - 16 July 2011

This was a quick inspection. I opened the hive. One problem I continuously have with the simple act of opening the hive is that I have a pitched roof garden hive. I love the look, and I'm sure the copper cladding (which already looks nice) will look fantastic as it weathers to a nice green patina. That said, the standard practice is to flip the lid and put the cover and hive boxes on top, so any bees which fall off, land in the cover(s). With a pitched roof, it is a little challenging to balance things on top. To make matters worse, my hive is sitting on pitched ground. I manage, but it's a little concerning to be leaning over the bottom boxes while 2 boxes of honey and bees are teetering precariously right next to your foot. I'll have to do something about that. I'm thinking I might just make a flat, level platform and put the inner cover on it.We'll see.

Given that I had seen almost no brood and absolutely no eggs or larvae, I figured that I would pop in, see nothing and then get out and order a new queen. there were a good number of bees in the hive, so that's a plus. I haven't reached the tipping point of certain hive death. The top box is almost completely full of nectar/honey. It's probably about half capped. I think, when it is fully capped, I will harvest it. From what I understand, there is a really great fall flow of nectar around here of goldenrod and aster. I should be able to steal a box and they should still be able to build up for winter.

The second box was more of the same. There were some frames of totally new wax which were drawn out but empty because I checker-boarded the frames from the new fourth box into the rest of the boxes. Running out of time, I moved on to the next box. The second frame was all uncapped nectar. The the third frame, however, had a nice sampling of eggs. At the bottom of the cells were single eggs which were just starting to lay down. I had been concerned about the possibility of a laying worker or a failed mating so this was a welcome sign.

I'm a little concerned that they don't have enough space for eggs. When the old queen died, the workers back-filled most of the bottom two boxes with nectar. I may have to find an extractor to borrow so I can spin out some frames, leaving the comb intact. And speaking of an extractor, I have been considering my options. It is way too expensive to buy one. They start around $300, although you can get really cheap plastic 2-frame models for $200 if you want to throw your money away. You can rent them for $20 or $30 per day, but I don't know if I want to go that route. Although I really can't think why I wouldn't want to go that route. I had actually decided that I would either build my own extractor or just crush and strain, but my foundation is a mix of wired wax and coated plastic. The next box I put on will be foundationless so a lot of these concerns will go away. For now, though, I will have to consider my options.

Because of the rushed inspection, I didn't get any inside photos again. I really need to have a beekeeper's assistant to take photos. Until then, here are some bee's eye view shots.

Bees: Inspection - 10 July 2011

I opened the hive today. I wanted to see if the emergency queen cells had been opened. I was amazed and impressed how much honey/nectar the bees had put up in the last week. I don't know where they are getting it. I was under the impression that, in my area, there is a Spring flow and a Fall flow with a dearth in the middle. I think being across from a field and fairly close to a brook and pond causes a better situation for the bees. One week ago, they had some nectar filled frames in the second box, but hadn't touched the third box much at all. I had rearranged the frames in the lower boxes. My intent was to move the emergency queen cells down to the bottom and move the nectar up. Ideally, I want the upper two boxes to be mostly full of honey and the lower two boxes mostly open for brood with some pollen and honey. This would (in my opinion) be the best situation for the bees as they get ready to cluster for the winter. Of course, I am not a bee.

Today, the first frame I pulled was mostly empty and still waiting to be drawn out. The second frame, however, was drawn and filled to the brim with nectar. The third frame was draw, filled and beginning to be capped. In fact, every frame all the way to the last frame in the box was full and beginning to be capped. It's simply amazing what bees can do in a week.

Moving on to the next box, I saw more of the same. This box had been previously used for brood so there were many dark cells with honey/nectar and a bunch of pollen. There were almost no open cells. When pulling a frame about half way though this box, I was rewarded with my first sting. I was uncertain how I would react to this. I got stung right on the pad of my index finger. It felt a bit like getting shocked by household wall current (aka, 110 A.C.).* I quite literally brushed it off and continued.

The bottom box was much the same as the top two boxes. There was actually a very small patch of capped brood. I'm guessing this was the very last brood laid by the queen. Based on my best guesstimate, I figure I will have no brood left by next weekend. I plan to inspect and if I don't have a laying queen, I will order one post haste.

Speaking of the queen, during the last inspection I noted a few emergency queen cells. I had moved these to the bottom box. One of them was being cleaned out by a worker and had been totally broken down, except for the larger base. The other one was empty, but looked shredded. I'm not exactly sure what happened. From what I read, the first queen to emerge will seek out all other queen cells, rip through the side and sting the potential competition to death. I guess this may be what happened here, except that the cell was fully shredded.

I didn't get many photos because I wanted to make things quick and, other than nectar and honey, there was nothing much to see. Also, as I was trying to finish up the inspection, the bees started getting really testy. This is an unwelcome development for my previously docile-to-a-fault bees. As I was adding a fourth box and moving in some of the outer frames, I was granted my second sting. This one was on the outside of my pinkie and it hurt like hell. Instinctively, I yanked my hand and shook it which is a bad thing to do when standing in a swirl of hundreds of irritated bees. I quickly finished putting things back together and closed up the hive. Maybe next time, I will have to actually use a bit more smoke if they haven't requeened successfully.

A full frame of nectar.

Closeup shot of the same frame. I expect this to be capped in a week or two.

An Asiatic lily because I was taking photos of flowers since I had few of the bees.

* - I can't count the number of times I have been shocked by wall current. Something to do with changing outlets while they're still powered, I guess. That or the fact that I used to deliberately shock myself on the nightlight as a kid.

Bees: A new queen?

I am not exactly sure, but I think I may have seen a new queen's orientation flight. Generally, mid to late afternoon is orientation flying. There is always a ton of activity around the hive as new foragers are flying loops to identify their surroundings, allowing them to find their home. Even though the queen will only leave the hive for mating, swarming or death, she still needs to return from her mating flight. Hence, she must possess the same mental map of landmarks that the foragers have.

When I went to collect the eggs, I noticed the flurry of activity around the hive. I squatted down to watch for a minute or two. During that time, I saw numerous drones flying in and out of the hive. I also swear that I saw a queen fly in. Of course, they move quick and there was a lot of activity and there has been a LOT of activity in the last few days triggered by (I assume) a new nectar source. I plan to inspect the hive later today, but I don't know if I will get a chance.

In other semi-bee news, I have a noxious weed in my yard and garden. It is a neat little flower which looks almost orchid-like. It is called jewel weed. If you've never seen or heard of it, it has orange flowers which are apparently great sources of nectar. Every year, the hummingbirds hit my yard from July to early September for these flowers. From what I read, the bees like them too. The jewel weed in my yard has just started blooming, so I expect my bees will enjoy that.

Update: Here is a photo of Jewel Weed. It's not great, but it is surprisingly hard to take a picture in poor light, in a breeze, while holding a 22 month old.

Bees: The queen is dead

...probably. I got out of work early and did a hive inspection today (6/30). I was concerned right off the bat because the bees hadn't done anything much with the third box. I'm hoping they fill at least 4 boxes before winter. Ideally, they will fill 5 so I can get some honey, but that may be wishful thinking at this point. I don't know if my hive swarmed. If they did, they certainly left behind a good number of bees. More likely, the queen died of unnatural causes. I hadn't seen her in the last inspection, but I saw eggs. This inspection showed that there were a bunch of sealed brood, some sealed supersedure cells and a minimal amount of unsealed older brood.

Given that brood is sealed around day 9, I'm guessing that the bees felt the queen was failing a couple weeks ago. They let her live long enough to give them the resources (an egg) to make a new queen and then dispatched her. With any luck, my new queen will hatch in the next couple days, eliminate her sister competition and then go on her mating flight. I find it strange though. The queen was laying a really nice, dense pattern of eggs. She used almost every cell on every drawn frame. I've read that first year packages like this routinely re-queen themselves 2-3 times in their first season. Given how well she was laying, I had hoped my bees were the exception.

I suppose this is the exact reason why beekeepers insist that you should start with a minimum of 2 hives. If something goes wrong and my queen doesn't start laying eggs, I will have no queen. No queen, means no bees. If I had a second hive, I could put a frame of eggs in this hive for insurance. I'm definitely going to have to do something about that next year.

As an overambitious move on my part, I had brought the fourth hive box up, fully expecting that I would need it. As it turns out, not only did I not need it, but during the inspection I realized that I really didn't even need the third box for much right now. I added the second box when the first box was 80% full. I added the third box when the second box was about 75% full. The bees did draw out a bit of comb in the third box, but really weren't maximizing their space. The first box still had 1.5 frames mostly undrawn. The second box was the same way. Right or wrong, I decided to do something about that.

I am generally inclined to let the bees do whatever they feel is correct. That said, I don't want them to have empty, undrawn frames in their home when they winter over. While I had the whole hive open, I made a command decision. I moved frames around and generally screwed with the bee's world. Hopefully, I did OK. The bottom box now has half of one frame left to finish drawing out. Mostly, the box was full of capped brood and backfilled honey. The second box was a bit tougher to rearrange. I wanted to keep the brood in the center, more or less, but I didn't want to make the new queen honey bound right when she starts laying. When I moved drawn frames down, that left undrawn frames and nectar frames to take their places. I have a bit more nectar in the second box then I would prefer. Assuming the queen starts laying, I'll probably do another rearrangement later to keep the broodnest open and move the honey up. If they had drawn out (without filling) more of the upper box, I would have had more options.

Close-up shot of bees.

Full frame of capped brood.

Looking down into the hive

I watched the bee in the middle chew her way out of her cell. Awesome!

Random Thoughts: Little known facts about me

For a change, I thought I would write up a bunch of things that people might not know about me. I don't know if anyone cares, but here they are:

1. I never heat up leftovers. I eat them all the time, but I just can't be bothered heating them up. I have been known to eat cold pasta, soup, steak, and anything else you might consider eating as a leftover. 
2. And on the subject of food, I eat really strange stuff sometimes. I don't know why. Part of it is laziness. Most of it is cravings for certain things. This morning, I ate leftover (yes, cold) fettuccine with tomato sauce in a high-fiber wrap. Two days ago, I ate 3 hard boiled eggs in a wrap with cheese, mayo and yellow mustard. One time, I ate a whole head of red cabbage in a small room with two other people. Another time, I ate a jar of spaghetti sauce for dinner.
3. On a non-food related note, I walk through at least 3 spiderwebs every day. Every morning I walk out to the chicken coop and open the door. I walk through a corridor between my asparagus and my blueberries for the first web. The second one gets me between the deck and the coop. The third one is between the coop and the run. You would think I would learn and take a stick or something.
4. When I walk into the aforementioned spiderwebs, I am usually in my underwear. I used to open the chicken coop after I showered and dressed for work. As it got lighter in the mornings, the kids started waking up earlier. Rather than trying to open the pop door, fill the feeder and swish out the waterer while holding a struggling 1.5 year old, I opted to do all that before my shower. Large evergreens, shed, garage and fence pretty much conceal my shame (or lack thereof).
5. My brain contains a random assortment of some of the most bizarre thoughts and facts ever. I constantly think about all sorts of crazy crap. I don't know if it's a curse or a blessing. Given my level of retention, I'm inclined to think it's a curse. For instance, did you know that Greg Brady (from the Brady Bunch) saved up $109 dollars to buy his first car. He paid $100 for a busted down clunker. The episode did not mention what he did with the extra $9 which bugged me. The last time I saw the Brady Bunch was almost 20 years ago. 
6. I don't play any instruments. I always loved the piano. Something about the sound; the black and white keys; the shiny gloss of the case; always made me fascinated by it. I know the notes the keys make. I can play a couple random things with 1 finger. That's all. If I had limitless money, I would quit my job and take lessons. But I don't have limitless money...So, given that I don't play any instruments, why are there 3 guitars, a banjo and clarinet in my house?
7. I really like musicals. Bucking the stereotype, I'm not gay or even metro. I just really like the fun music and dancing and whatnot. I don't like all musicals. Whether they are stage productions or movies, they have to be fun and entertaining. I like Annie, The Sound of Music, Sweeny Todd, and many others. I just think it's a great thing to combine a good story, a great musical score and the energy that goes along with all of that.

Well, is 7 things enough? It is for me right now. I'm tired and want to go to bed.

Bees: My hands smell like honey

OK, more accurately, my hands smell like beeswax and propolis which have a slight smell of honey. I did a hive inspection today (June 18th) and all the frames were stuck together. As things stand right now, the last inspection was two weeks ago. I also added a third box a week ago. In hindsight, I wish I hadn't added the third box.

The bees seemed to slow down with our rain and cool/cold weather. We had one day where the temperature never crossed 60 and a couple others where it only just barely got above that point. As such, the bees were only minimally flying and trying to draw comb and everything else that they do. They seemed to have only just barely started to draw out the top box. I know it's only been a week, but they hadn't even drawn out a full frame. What they had drawn out was totally empty. In addition, the last frames in the second box were almost in the same condition as they were two weeks prior.

One interesting thing I noticed in this inspection... During the last inspection, I found a bunch of burr comb connecting the top and bottom frames which was full of brood. It looks like the bees were making space for the larger cells needed by the drones. When using foundation, the cells are a certain size, based on the size of the embossed honeycomb shape. In nature, bees will build smaller cells for workers and some larger ones for drones. I'm guessing that the bees felt they needed the drone comb. In the bottom box half the foundation are pure wax. It appears that the bees removed the previously drawn comb, foundation and all, and reconfigured the comb as larger drone cells. The bottom inch or two is now bigger drone comb and there are now a couple gaps on the bottom of the frame.

I didn't see the queen, but I did see lots of young larvae. Looking back at the photos, there are also eggs, which means her majesty is doing just fine. There was lots of capped brood. In another 1-2 weeks, this hive will be boiling over with bees. Hopefully, the town will get ambitious and mow the field across the street which is full of clover. It will give me a second summer flow if they cut it down and it blooms again. At the very least, there is a ton of jewelweed in my yard which must have good nectar because the hummingbirds love it. Plus, there is a ton of purple loosestrife around the pond and brook near my house. Oh, and they have all those veggie and flower gardens which should be overflowing with blooms in a month or so. If they can build up the third and fourth boxes before the end of July, I think there is a chance of getting a fall flow of honey. A whole lot of ducks will have to line up for that though.

Here is some eye candy for those that are interested:

Get to work lazy bees!

That's more like it!

Capped brood and uncapped larvae

Now that's a good queen!

You can just barely see eggs in some cells

A new bee chewing her way out of her cell (top center)

Bees: What's in a name?

It seems that most backyard beekeepers give names to their hives. I'm not sure what compels people to anthropomorphize their possessions. It seems most prominent with pets. My chickens don't have names. My oldest daughter named one of them Big Bock and another Little Chicky. I couldn't even guess which is which at this point. Right now naming the hives is not really an issue. I only have 1 hive, so it's not tough to figure out which one I am referring to.

However, it seems that this hobby is self-replicating. Even though all sources highly recommend starting with 2 hives, I really only have "good" space for 1. With some clever screening and accepting neighbors, I could probably squeeze in a total of 5, but I think I would get complaints. There is always the possibility that I could install hives at my in-laws' house. So should I name my first hive so that I could differentiate them in the future?

My first inclination is to just call it "hive #: 1." It seems fitting, but it's a little long and doesn't really roll off the mouth. I could call it something bee-related like "Honey" or "Buzz" but that seems a bit too corny, even for me. How about "Polly" because I really got it primarily for pollination? Maybe... I like it, but I really want to commemorate its significance as my first hive. So, here's my decision... My hive is called "Prime". It is my first (primary) hive and it references my love of Transformers when I was a kid.

Small progress today. It was supposed to be really hot, so I removed the entrance reducer. Also, I added a third medium box. Here is a photo:

Bees: Action shots

One of the primary reasons I got bees was because I need more pollination for my fruits and vegetables. Getting them the first week of May meant that they didn't have enough of a population of foragers to be able to exploit the blueberries, apples and pears. That said, I have a large patch of black and red raspberries plus some blackberries. The bees have been gorging themselves on this close, easy nectar. If we get some rain here and there throughout the summer, I might just be lucky and harvest some honey from this first year hive. Anyway, here are some action shots I took of the bees on the brambles.

Sweet, sweet nectar.

Another one of my girls.

A cousin bee. Big, fuzzy bumblebees are fun too.

Chickens: 1 Year And Counting

Hard to believe we have had chickens for a full year. We went through the cute, fluffy stage all the way to the squawking, egg laying stage in a few months. Now, it's been mostly just feed-water-collect eggs. The funny thing is that it seems like we have always had them.We did lose one out of six. I did a quick post-mortem external check. From what I could tell, her neck was broken. My nearest guess is that she tried to jump down from the roost, landed on one of her sisters and slammed her head and neck into the wall. She had no signs of parasites, was laying well, and seemed active the day before. Oh well, no one lives forever.

Anyway, here are a couple photos I took yesterday in honor of their couple days belated birthday.

A birds eye view of birds.

Strutting her stuff.

The stink-eye because I fed them all the swiss chard I had.

Bees: Inspection - 04 June 2007

At four weeks after installation, it was time to do another inspection. I gathered my stuff together to start working. Right off the bat, I learned something. I really need to put a shelf in my shed with all the stuff (newspaper, dry kindling, matches, smoker fuel, smoker, and hive tool) I need for an inspection. It took me 10 minutes just to get ready to begin because I had to walk back and forth and in and out numerous times. Organization is key.

I am still having some trouble getting the smoker started. My fire-starting has always been in open or semi-open places like pits or fireplaces or grills. Starting a fire and keeping it lit at the bottom of a stainless steel tube is tough. It's made even more difficult when you consider our typical windy conditions. One good breeze across the top of the open smoker snuffs the fire quicker than water. I think I am going to preset the smoker up with a layer of paper, twigs, sticks, and slightly thicker sticks now, so it's ready for next time. That should eliminate the struggle to find dry stuff of appropriate size.Also, I'm still not confident that the smoker fuel is worth much of anything. It does burn smokey, but I'm not sure how it's better than leaves or grass or shavings or whatnot. Whatever the case, I got the smoker going eventually. I found that a terracotta flower pot saucer with some kids play sand in the bottom makes a great hot plate for the smoker. It fit perfectly inside and was stable and secure and didn't burn the grass or table.

I began, like always* by removing the outer and inner covers. checked for the unlikely scenario of the queen being on either cover. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect for drawn comb. I've read accounts where people add a second box, only to find that the bees have done nothing after a couple weeks. The first frame I pulled was totally empty. The second frame, however, was full of bees, larvae and capped brood. By the fourth frame, I convinced my father to come closer to see a frame of baby bees and larvae, when who should pop over the frame but her royal highness, the queen. Apparently, I missed her on the first side, which offended her royal sensibilities. She gave me a second chance to notice though, and I couldn't be happier with her grace and charm (and egg laying).

The queen sporting her paint.

Frame after frame of this inspection showed a really prolific queen laying as fast as she can. They had a bit of nectar and pollen, although little was capped. I can only guess that they are using it almost as fast as they can bring it in. Given what my allergies are doing, I would have expected more pollen. One problematic issue that I found was that they were building bridge comb between the top and bottom frames. The last inspection showed the same thing, except that there was only 1 box at that point. I can only think that there is some impetus which I can't see that tells them they need to close the gap between the top center frame of the bottom box and whatever is above it. Unfortunately, there was capped brood in this bridge comb which tore open when I pulled out the middle frame. I had only intended to inspect the top box of frames, but that meant that I had to pull the box and scrape that comb off to prevent it from becoming a problem later.

The bridge comb between the top and bottom frames.

Two different sized bee larvae which fell out of the scraped comb. Looks like good eating... for the chickens.

The bees had drawn out five out of the eight frames in the new box. In the lower box, they still hadn't touched the outer most frames though. I swapped the lower box outer frames with its neighbor. Hopefully, with drawn comb on either side, the bees will feel compelled to draw out these frames. If this is still the case at the next inspection, I might move drawn frames down and put the undrawn comb up in their places. Otherwise, I don't know if they will ever draw them out. I'm probably going to check them in another week to see if they need another box. It will probably just be a quick peek just to see.

A couple One last things... Today (05 June), I notice the bees seem to have found a major nectar source. You can tell if a bee is full of nectar by watching them come in for a landing. They are flying in a bit lower than usual, struggling to stay in the air and just barely (or not) make it to the bottom edge of the landing board. They walk the last couple inches to their hive. Also, I have noticed that my bees have started changing from predominantly dark striped bees to a bright yellow which is indicates that my queen's hatched brood are starting to take over for the original package. If only it were that easy to transition security over to the Afghan Police Force.

Gratuitous bee photo with eggs, pollen and nectar.

* - Always meaning "like last time" since I've only done this twice.

Garden: Playing Catch-up

I've been playing catch-up in the garden. There were a whole ton of things going on this year in March and April this year. I have spent all of May trying to get done all the things from those months plus May's work. I still have dozens of plants to plant plus corn, squash and beans. It is getting to a concern point now. Hopefully, I will be able to knock the planting out plus do some.weeding this weekend. On a plus note, everything I planted (aside from basil) has done really well.

Bees: First Full Inspection

Last time, I wrote about checking for the release of the queen. While that was technically an inspection, I really didn't do anything to the frames other than slide them apart and push them back together again. Now that two weeks (May 20th) had passed, it was time to check and see how they were settling in to their new home.

When I did the queen check, I lit the smoker, got a coal bed and shoved in a fist full of damp leaves. Once it was going, I got some smoke, but it was kind of a pain. I happened to have some smoker fuel that I got as a gift from my loving wife, so I decided I would try that. This stuff looks like a packed cylinder of dryer lint. Supposedly it is cotton, but when it burned, it smelled like hemp. It didn't come with any instructions, so I began the process of building a coal bed. Unfortunately, it rained heavily the previous night so all the various twigs and sticks were wet. After a total failure to get the wood to light, I grabbed some finish wood scraps, split it into "twigs" and got the fire going in no time. The wood was so dry, however, that I got it going a little too well. I managed to keep from singing my eyebrows... just barely.

Once the coal bed was in place, I broke off a chunk of this fuel and dropped it in. Immediately, the smell of concerts (pot) filled my nose. As I said, supposedly this stuff is cotton, but it sure didn't smell like cotton. I was really unimpressed. I got even less smoke than the damp leaves and it took longer and it cost money and the smoke was warm instead of cool like it should be. After the inspection, I found something that said you just drop the whole cylinder in and light the top. I guess I'll try that next time. If it doesn't work, I guess refusing to rake leaves will finally pay off.

I gave a small amount of smoke to the entrance, plus under the inner and outer covers. I set the smoker down behind me and went to work. I carefully removed the outer cover and placed it on the ground. The first thing I noticed was that the bees decided to build burr comb in the hole in the inner cover. I'm guessing that is because their upper entrance is close and they just treated it like empty space. I didn't really care until I realized that the wax sealed the inner cover to the two center frames. Using my hive tool, I gently pushed the frames apart from the cover, hoping not to squish bees and make them angry. After removing the inner cover, I held it over the hive, carefully inspecting the bees on it to ensure none of them were the queen. I placed the inner cover on top of the outer cover at a 45 degree bias. Now that this was done, the real inspection could begin.

The first frame was relatively uninteresting. They hadn't touched it. There were probably only 10 bees on it total. Needless to say, the queen was not on this frame. To give myself space to work, I placed this frame on the inner cover. The next frame was much more impressive. It was almost entirely drawn out with comb.

The second frame mostly drawn out.

The next frame was jam packed with nectar (sugar syrup?) and pollen. It is pretty impressive. I didn't even notice them bringing pollen in to the hive until my wife pointed it out. Apparently, they have been busy as, well, bees. In the picture, below, you can see the pollen and nectar. I'm not sure where the red pollen came from. I watched them for about 20 minutes one day and saw them bring in bright yellow, light yellow, tan, and gray pollen. I'm also not sure where they are getting it from. I haven't seen a single bee on my blueberries, apples or pear tree which are all in full bloom.

Good stores of pollen and nectar.

When I pulled the next frame, I was shocked. I read that the queen would take a few days to be released and a few more days or even a week to start laying eggs. I figured I might see some eggs or even some larvae. I never figured I would see capped brood. Worker bees are capped around day 9 or 10. That means, worst (best) case scenario is that those eggs were laid four days after installing the package. There are also some almost-ready-to-be-capped larvae in the surrounding cells. Generally speaking, this seems like a good laying pattern to my untrained eye.

Capped brood.

So far, this inspection was going well. I had seen evidence of a good, strong starter colony. What I was really looking for was newly laid eggs or the queen herself. Ideally, I wanted to see both. Capped brood is a good sign, but all that really means is that 10 days earlier some bee was laying eggs. Well, on the next frame, I got one of those things. Almost every cell of both sides of the next frame had a single egg at the bottom of the cell. That means that I have a good, laying queen in the hive. I do not have a picture, however because a bee egg is about the size of a single grain of salt. I put the frame of eggs back and pulled out the next frame. One side was loaded with more eggs. As I flip the other side over, the queen is hanging out, just walking around looking for a good place to lay. She was easy to spot because I paid the extra couple bucks to have her marked. She was not that easy, however, for my wife to photograph.

Spot the queen. Look for the dot.

The next frame was as drawn out as the second frame on the other end. I didn't even bother to look at the last frame, figuring that bees build from the center towards the outside so there would likely be no difference between it and the first frame. If this were a 10-frame deep hive body which was always the "industry" standard, the bees would have drawn out 4 frames out of 10. This being an 8-frame medium hive, they were close to the 80% rule. Actually, "rule" is too strong a word. The rule I have seen says to add another box when the bees have drawn 7-10 frames of foundation out. My current plan is to inspect the hive every two weeks. Given that they were able to draw out 6+ frames in 14 days, they should have the remaining two drawn in 2 days or so. So, I quickly ran in the house, grabbed the second medium box with frames of foundation and added it on top. In the first box, I alternated between pure wax with vertical wires and black, wax coated plastic. The bees didn't seem to care which was which, so I just filled the second box with the pre-assembled black foundation. Hopefully, when I inspect the hive on the first weekend of June, they will have another 6 frames drawn out. If they do, theoretically, Father's Day weekend should be the point when I add another box.

Bees: Checking the queen

I read... A lot. I have a passion for knowledge. As such, doing new things give me a chance to learn all the different perspectives and ideas and theories around them. With "rural" things, there are overwhelming numbers of differing ideas. People are told something by someone who has always done it that way. It's amazing that there are so many different solutions.

The instructions that come with the package state explicitly that you should not disturb the bees for 6 full days after installation. I've read things that suggest 7-10 days is the appropriate length of time. I've also read things that suggest that you should release the queen immediately. The logic behind this last one suggests that, the bees will likely not kill the queen and if they do, you can just get another one.

The idea that made the most sense to me was to check for release after 4 days. That gives the bees the opportunity to get accustomed to the queen but not as much time to build insane amounts of burr comb to fill the extra space left by the cage. That was my plan. Of course, I forgot to tell the weather what my plan was.

The day I got the bees was beautiful, sunny and warm. The following 5 days were cold and windy and changed between showers and downpours. On day 6 (May 12th) it was sunny, although a little breezy. I happened to get home a little early from work and my wife had the kids at a playground. The bees were flying so I figured it was fine to open the hive even though all advice says never open the hive on a windy day.

I lit the smoker following the instructions in a book. I struggled to get it lit, keep it lit and when I finally did get it lit, there was very little smoke. What I learned is that I should rely on my instincts and skills instead of the book. The issue is that the book is written from someone who needs the smoker to stay lit all day while inspecting dozens or even hundreds of hives. I needed to inspect my single hive. I had copious amounts of billowing cool white smoke when trying to get a solid coal bed.

As it turned out, I didn't even need the smoke. These bees are ridiculously gentle. The bees didn't care in the slightest that a giant hand tore the roof off there home and reached in and stole there furniture. I know I would be pissed. I slid the frames apart slightly, removed the queen cage. Sure enough, she was free. I didn't want to risk too much disturbance to the hive, so I pushed the frames back together and put the inner cover back on. It was a little challenging, but I only squished one bee when I put the outer cover on. All in all, I would consider this a successful endeavor. Next time, I'll detail my first full inspection with more pictures. I didn't get any pictures by myself, but I'll include a picture of bee activity on the day after installation (May 7th).

The bees get adjusted to their new home and start foraging.

Bees: Package install

Well, I intended to post right when I received the bees. I intended to take lots of pics before, during and after the installation. I had nothing but the best of intentions. That said, good intentions and a nickle aren't even worth a nickle. What I have now is a story about my bees which may be of interest to someone other than me.

I ordered my bees back in January while we were on vacation in Puerto Rico. After a couple weeks, I got an e-mail with an estimated ship date of May 2nd. Now, maybe it's just my expectations are skewed by modern online ordering, but I have to say I was a little concerned when May 2nd rolled around and I didn't get a shipping confirmation. I was a little more concerned on May 3rd and I was downright nervous on May 4th. When buying bees, the earlier you order, the better your chances. If something went wrong and I got no bees, I would have had to wait until next Spring. I sent an e-mail to the company I ordered from and got a very pleasant reply which instilled no confidence in me. Here is the reply:

Things have been on schedule so you should expect them by the end of the
week.

Hope you have a Great Season!

It seemed to me that the guy who took my order had no knowledge of the guy shipping my order. As it turns out, the guy who replied to my e-mail is just a middleman. I found this out when my bees showed up on May 6th from Rossman Apiaries. I picked them up from the post office at lunch time and brought them home. Here is where I would have shown you the awesome photo of 3 lbs. of (roughly 10000) bees looks like in a tiny screened box. No idea why I didn't take a photo.

I sprayed them with a light spray of water and put them in my dark office. I read some advice that said to spray them with sugar syrup. Then I read some counter advice that pointed out that 1) they have a big can of syrup; and 2) too much syrup will kill bees but water will do no harm to them and will accomplish the same thing. After I got home from work, I got everything ready to do the install. What did I need to install them? Well, really just my hands, a spray bottle, a nail and a hive tool. I probably could have used a belt or some better fitting pants, but that was mostly to keep the neighbors from getting a crack shot when I bent over.

Bees are generally docile when in a package. I spritzed them with a little water before opening the package, but that was mostly to reduce the number of bees flying. They steps are as follows:

• Spritz the bees with water from a new spray bottle
• Use the hive tool to pry off the package cover
• Use fingernails and the hive tool to get the can of syrup and the queen cage out
• Immediately recover the package with the pried off cover
• Use the nail to pry out the cork out of the candy end of the cage
• Note: Don't try to use your hive tool to get the cork out. It will just break and you will say, "Why didn't the instructions say to use a pen or a nail or something." Then, when you go back to the instructions to make sure you did things right, you will realize that it did say to use a nail.
• Suspend or wedge the queen cage in such a way that the bees can gain access to the screen side of the cage. This is probably the most important, most critical step to make sure you do correctly. I wasn't really paying attention and faced it towards the foundation. Fortunately, I didn't press the frames super tight together, and since it was new foundation, the workers could get to the screen to feed the queen.
• Smack the package on the ground a couple times, pull the cover off and start pouring/shaking up and down and side to side so that the bees are falling into the hive between the frames. Keep shaking, pouring and smacking the package until you get most of the bees out. At this point, the bees are free to do what they want. Some will start flying. Most will just settle down among the frames or crawl around on the frame tops. That said, this is roughly 10000 bees. There were probably a couple hundred bees flying. Many were landing on my arms, legs, back, hair, and one curious bee decided my aforementioned butt crack was a good landing place.
• After the bees have settled in the frames a bit, grab the inner cover and slide it on so that the bees get the idea that they should move.
• Put on the outer cover, making sure to slide it back to cover the notch which will eventually be their upper entrance.
• Sit on the grass next to them and watch them fly.

That's pretty much all there is to it. You need to provide them some sugar water for food until they get established. Most sources suggest a 1:1 ratio of sugar to water in the Spring. I had intended (there's that word again) to get a hive top feeder but read a few things that gave me pause and then I just forgot about it. I had a Boardman feeder, which is essentially a small wooden box which hold a mason jar with tiny holes in the lid. With a new package, you need to use an entrance reducer so the bees have less space to protect. You can't use a Boardman feeder with a regular entrance reducer, so I (really, my wife) just put the feeder next to the hive.

I didn't get stung at all installing the bees. In fact, my four year old who was interested in watching didn't get stung either. As uncertain as I was about what I had to do, the only mistake I made was facing the queen cage screen towards the foundation. And as it turned out, that really wasn't an issue, although I did have to open the hive back up the next morning to make sure everything was alright.

The closed up hive and empty package at the end of the install.

No time

This isn't a typical "Poor me. I have no free time..." post. For what it's worth, I don't generally have any free time, but what parent does have any? Lately, though, I have had even less time. My wife is entrenched in a do-or-die situation trying to finish her Masters Degree. We've had a couple rounds of illness run through the family. Being in semi-single-father mode is pretty much sucking up all my free daylight hours.

Still, I've managed to get a lot done in a little time. I've got one 20'x5' garden bed full of onions and cole crops. As of today, I've got half of another 20'x5' bed full. Today, I planted broccoli. Seedlings are coming along nicely. I think I've figured out how to do this. The only thing I have trouble with is that my plants are a little small. I think the cold nighttime temperatures have stunted them a bit. That said, the plants I have planted have fantastic root systems, so I must have done something right.

I think next year, I will get a big bag of Pro-mix, as I think it would be cheaper than the smaller bags of seed starter. I suppose I could always make my own starter mix, but I don't think that would be any cheaper if I have to buy perlite and peat. I would also have to sterilize it in the oven, which I hear stinks pretty badly. I've noticed a distinct difference in the seedlings started in the Jiffy starter mix versus the Miracle Grow mix. The Miracle grow is far superior.

Next on the list of things to plant is collard greens and probably some perennials. I've got some nice looking lupines ready to plant in the next week or two, plus some Black-eyed Susans as well. In the next couple weeks, I expect that I will start squash/melon seeds and then I'll have the direct seeded things to plant. That will also be the time when I have to plant my main season veggies that I started from seed, so I expect to get much busier right when I get a little more free time.

On the "other stuff" front, my new time consumer project is about to get a lot more time consuming. I am getting bees delivered in a couple weeks. Initially, I was really disappointed that I wouldn't have the bees until after a bunch of flowers bloom. Now that I'm in the thick of it, I realize it was quite fortunate that I didn't get them delivered now. Otherwise, I would have bees without a home to put them in and no time to give them a home either. Getting them the first week of May will actually work out perfectly. I will have them in time for the brambles blooming, plus I will probably get the tail end of the fruit tree bloom period. Ideally, it would be nice to have them build up a good hive before those bloom periods, but I'll take what I can get.

April Showers

If April Showers bring May flowers, what do Mayflowers bring? 

...

Pilgrims.

That's an old joke that I remember from my childhood. I posted it here because I'm wondering what April snows bring. According to forecasts, we were supposed to get no more than 1/4" of snow, but we got the whole inch and maybe a little more. The weather has been totally uncooperative lately. We have had temperatures 5 degrees below normal. I have flats of seeds sprouted which I would like to leave out in their cold frames all night, but they wouldn't survive a below freezing night. Fortunately, it looks like we have turned a corner in that aspect.

I'm going well in my yard and garden goals so far. I've had much better results this year with my seed starting, but I've had a few setbacks as well. I'm not sure why, but my basil hasn't come up yet. I've never had trouble getting basil to sprout. Usually, I forget to water it at a critical time and it dies, but I've been much better with that this year. I've got a flat of tomatoes which are up nicely. I've also got eggplant, broccoli, kale, spinach, onions, a bunch of flowers and some herbs. I have a bunch more stuff to start and a bunch more stuff to direct seed, so baring an unexpected nuclear winter, I should have a productive garden this year.

Other than that, my hard work last fall planting almost 300 bulbs is paying off. I have stuff coming up everywhere. I still don't have one of those "garden tour" yards yet. Actually, I probably will never have one of those yards. I plant things where I have a space, near other things, in an environment which I think is right. As such, My garden areas get bigger, but look very piecemeal. If I had the money and time, I would construct the perfect yard which would be a combination of colors and smells and textures and whatnot. Given that I have a job and kids and a house and everything else, I'll stick with my approach.