Bees: What ever can go wrong...

Yesterday was one of those "whatever can go wrong, will go wrong" days for me, as beekeeping is concerned*. Back in January, I decided I wanted to ensure that I would still have bees. With care, about 33% of hives die in the winter. Without treatment, losses are typically 50%. Figuring that I would be unlucky, I decided to purchase another package. I had to pick it up in Northern MA, right on the NH border. It was a haul, but it seemed worth it to get bees this early. After it stopped raining, it was a pleasant drive.

I was a little concerned about hiving the bees in the cold, but really didn't have a choice. When I got the bees home, I sprayed them with a little mist of water. They settled down a bit, but still seemed a little on edge. As dinner time approached, I drove over to my hive that I set up on Sunday. I went through the process of hiving the package, but unfortunately a bunch of things went wrong. First, it was a little cool, so the bees were testy. Shouldn't be a huge deal because they should be a passive swarm. Well, passive they were not. Even after a little spritz with water, they were buzzing loudly.

Second, as I said, it was cool so I still had on my dark green fleece over my t-shirt. This, of course violates the first rule of bee-appropriate clothing which is to wear white or light colors because dark colors upset them. Oh, and speaking of bad clothing choices, I had lose-fitting pants and ankle socks which provides a nice patch of bare skin to angry bees. After realizing my fleece mistake, I took it off, thereby allowing access to my t-shirt sleeves which also make nice hiding spots for angry bees.

So, at this point, other than angry bees and bad clothing choices, things weren't too terrible. Well, I forgot to knock the bees to the bottom of the package cage, so as soon as I lifted the cover, the (angry) bees all swarm up and into my face and hair. Oh, a little side note... I don't own a bee hat/veil. My first hive was so docile that I never needed one before. I got one of those bug nets from WalMart, but expecting passive bees, I left it at home.

So, to recap up to this point, thousands of angry bees flying in my face, hair, and everywhere all around me. I figure, I just need to get them in the hive, close it up and get out of here. Well, in the rush, the queen cage fell to the bottom of the hive, resting on the screened bottom board. Figuring, I'll just grab it with the hive tool when I get the rest of the bees dumped out, I continue. Well, that's when the stings started.

First, they were stuck in my hair and started stinging my scalp. Then, they moved onto my back and face. After a couple dozen or so, I abandon the idea of doing anything else other than getting away. I got a few more stings trying to get away, but nothing as bad as the first round. I did, however knock off my glasses trying to get an angry stinging bee out of my temple.

Once safely away, I try to come up with a plan to get the two missing frames back into the hive, secure the queen cage and close it up considering the fact that I now must reek of hive invader smells from all the stings. Of course, the most useful tool aside from a full bee suit would be my smoker which was also securely stored in my shed. I figure, if I'm careful, I can generate a good amount of smoke with newspaper and arborvitae leaves (fronds, needles?).

I return to the hive with smoke and a spray bottle of water with my shirt tucked in and my fleece over my head to keep the bees from stinging my scalp any more. I slowly move up to where I dropped my glasses and promptly step on them. Fortunately, I was able to bend them back into shape and get the lens back in place. So, as I approach the side of the hive, the bees resume their attack against everything moving. A half dozen or so attacked the burning newspaper in a kamikaze raid. The smoke seemed to confuse them more than settle them, which I guess is an improvement. At the very least, I was only getting the occasional sting.

If all went well, I should have been able to scoop out the queen cage, secure it and put the two missing frames back. That, however, would require something to go right. Well, I decided to go with unwired "cut comb" foundation. That way, I could just crush and strain the comb to extract the honey. The wired stuff I started my other hive with needed no addition support or securing. This stuff was so light and thin that it just collapsed with the weight of the bees. The queen cage was now under a sandwich of 3 lbs. of angry, defensive bees and 5 medium foundation sheets. And, since I can't catch a break, it wasn't just a regular sandwich. It was a multi-layered club sandwich of angry bees/foundation/angry bees/foundation/etc. I tried to salvage the install, but the bees were now picking their attack back up. I had to retreat several times.

I almost wish I had just left the hive as is and let these bees die. I managed to get several of the sheets of foundation out, but darkness was approaching. I figured it would be better to lose the queen and let the bees settle down. I couldn't even find the cage under all that mess. I pushed the three frames with intact foundation together, put the empty frames in as well, put the feeder and cover on and left with two more ankle stings and an armpit sting for good measure.

I decided there were two highly remote possibilities that the workers could get to the queen and keep her from freezing to death. I went back today (with smoker and netting and light colored clothes and better frames) to see if they had calmed down. They were, if anything, angrier than yesterday. I couldn't get within about 15 feet of the side of the hive without being dive-bombed. I didn't even manage to get close enough to see if there was any hope of salvaging things. In reality, I don't know if I even want to salvage them. I ended up with somewhere between two and three dozen stings. I know they will be replaced by the queen's offspring, if she is released, but she likely didn't even survive the night given that she would be outside the cluster and it was just above freezing last night. Still, given they behavior, I suspect these bees have been somewhat Africanized. If that's the case, a queen from the same area would likely be just as Africanized. I'm going to give them a couple more days to see if they calm down. If not, I'll suit up in bee-proof clothes and exterminate them. Worst case scenario, I'm going to try to make a split or capture a swarm if these bees don't survive the installation.



* - Also, my car thermostat stuck open, I stepped on my glasses, and burned myself in the sink.

Honeybees: Step 2 - Parts, and pieces and a plan

Part of my plan was decided for me. My loving wife got me a beginnings of my bee empire. Using her normal careful review and selection process, she bought me an 8-Frame English Garden Hive from Brushy Mountain Bee Farm. I love the look of it. I especially love the copper clad roof. The only downside of the roof is that it is pitched. I've read that the lack of flat roof means that you can't rest your beer on top of it while you work.

Traditionally (the last 100+ years), beekeepers use what is called a Langstroth hive. The typical setup consists of 2 boxes known as deeps (or deep supers or hive bodies) with 10 removable frames each. Once the bees are established in their hive, a shallow super (Latin for above) is placed on top. The frames are either wax with embedded wire or plastic coated with wax. The bees draw out the honeycomb cells and use them for raising brood, collecting nectar and storing pollen. In recent years, the trend has been to move towards more manageable hives. Enter the 8-frame medium hive...

A 10 frame deep hive body weighs up to 100 lbs. An 8 frame medium hive body weighs around 43 lbs. The other advantage is that all frames are interchangeable. If the bees build up instead of out, frames can be swapped. The advantage of interchangeability are more prominent when you consider multiple hives. A weaker hive can be enhanced with the resources of a stronger one. Currently, I only intend to have 1 hive, but I could see getting a second one. Still, it would be much easier to handle 43 lbs of tens of thousands of agitated bees and frenzy-inducing honey.

One problem with all medium equipment is the start-up cost is about 150% of what it would be using deep and shallow equipment. Three medium supers are equivalent to 2 deeps. 8 frame hives are 20% smaller than 10 frame hives, so I'll need to compensate there too. The hive that my wife bought me came with 2 medium bodies. I picked up and assembled 2 more medium bodies and before I'm done, I'll probably buy or make 2 more. In a good year, I probably wont need more than 5 medium bodies. In a great year, I would expect to use the 6th super though. This year, though, I don't anticipate using more than 3 mediums, but it doesn't hurt to be prepared.

As for other equipment, I have a landing board (not really needed), a screened bottom board, an inner cover and the (previously mentioned) copper clad outer cover. My wife also got me a really nice smoker to go along with the hive. I decided to paint the hive a cream color. I would have used a natural finish, except the first two bodies are cypress and the second two are pine. I chose cream because of the copper. Any paint has to match new copper plus weathered green copper. I still need to pick up a hat and veil, although I am toying with the idea of using a bug net from Walmart with my wide brimmed camel leather hat from India. I still have to decide on that one though.

Honeybees: Step 1 - Knowledge

I suppose "Knowledge" is really step 2. Step 1 is really "Desire." That said, I desire a lot of things. If I counted desire as step 1, I would be on step 1 for many things in my life. That's such a depressing outlook on life that I choose to discount it. If anyone disagrees with me, we can just call "Desire" step 0 and move on.

OK, so I know nothing about keeping bees. I don't know anyone who currently keeps or previously kept bees. I need knowledge and there are only 2 possible options. Option 1 is going to the source of beekeeping knowledge in my area. Specifically, I am referring to the RI Beekeepers Association. Like most beekeeping groups, they offer a bee school for beginning beekeepers. It's a viable option for most, but with a wife and kids, I don't feel like devoting hours of time to the classes.

Option 2 is my forte... Book learning. Somewhere in my boxes of books is a copy of The Backyard Beekeeper. Unfortunately, I have a severe lack of book shelves. As such, I have 12 file boxes of books stacked in a corner. Instead of trying to find it, I went to the bookstore and picked up a copy of Beekeeping for Dummies. It is straight forward and direct. It expresses one perspective of typical beekeeping with some alternate theories and ideas presented as well. Some of the information is dated even though it was revised in 2009.

The next source of information is the Internet. While the Internet has many facts, figures, parts, and pieces of information, there isn't a huge single point repository of information about individual subjects. I could search for a specific topic and find millions of entries, but most would be useless. That said, once I know a single good site, it is a short step to find other useful cross-linked sites. I started on the beesource.com forums. I found a few useful blog sites through the signature lines of posts. I found a totally different approach to beekeeping on Michael Bush's Bush Farms beekeeping site. He advocates for a natural course of actions.

I'm probably more of a nature, hands-off kind of person, but not to the extreme. I like my actions to be fact/cause driven. Most traditional approaches require a standard, unchanging routine. That's all well and good if you are a commercial beekeeper who can't afford to take many hive losses. As a backyard keeper, I have to luxury of screwing up. I really like the idea of Integrated Pest Management (IPM). In all my gardening, I follow an IPM approach, so beekeeping should be no different. If I run into a problem like a mite infestation, I will treat, but until then, I will just wait and see. Next time, I'll lay out my plan of action and the parts and pieces I have bought and the reasons.

Busy as a bee

... Or should that be "bees?" Specifically, I'm talking about my newest endeavor. I am becoming a beekeeper (or beek). Thanks to my loving wife, I have a very pretty 8-frame English Garden Hive. The boxes are cypress and the roof is copper clad. If nothing else, I'm sure the bees will appreciate their top quality, split level home in the high rent district.

It's strange. Keeping chickens seems like a much more intuitive task. You shelter them, feed them and water them and they give you eggs. Bees, on the other hand, are more self sufficient. You dump them in a box, give them a little sugar water to get started and walk away. Typical advice suggests that you inspect their hive every couple weeks. From what I've read, though, there isn't much you can do but hope for the best.

That just seems foreign to me. I pay a couple hundred bucks, then 6-18 months later, I get 50-200 lbs. of honey. It almost feels like planting a fruit tree. I feel like I should have to earn my reward. Maybe there is more to it that I don't see yet. Only time will tell.

So why would I start keeping bees? Well, I really like the prospect of increased crop yields from my yard/gardens. I suppose the honey will make nice Xmas presents too. Mostly, though, I can't help but feel that my kids are missing something I got as a kid. I remember going out to the crab apple tree in my parent's yard with a baby food jar. I would see how many bees I could catch. Usually I would only get 3 or 4. One time, I managed to get 11 in a peanut butter jar. When I look at my back yard fruits, all I see are carpenter bees, mason bees and other tiny bees, flies, etc. I rarely see a honeybee. My kids need the option of catching bees in jars. It just seems to make the world a more magical place.