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.

Random Thoughts: Follow Through

I have an issue with follow through. OK, I said it. Happy? To explain further, it's not with everything. Also, if I allow myself an excuse/justification, eventually I finish most things... Eventually... Except when I don't.

Personality-wise, I see big projects like chess. I look ahead, assessing actions and results with steps along the way. Psychologically, my brain doesn't differentiate between completing a task vs. thinking about completing a task. This is especially true with leisure tasks.

It gets simultaneously depressing and overwhelming to think about the things undone. I have about 20 pages of a science fiction screen play; 6 parts (chapters?) of a story; a partially disassembled 1938 Cadillac; an unopened gallon of paint for the dining room; a gaping hole in my garage ceiling; the parts needed to make a cider press; etc., etc., etc.

One thing that makes my 'habit' particularly bad is that I am a jack of all trades. I never shy away from learning something new. I like to be self reliant. I don't like to pay someone else to do things that I could do myself. And without arrogance, I can pretty much do it all... electrical, painting, auto repair, writing, computer programming, etc. I see myself as a new Renaissance man.

So what is the point of all this? Damned if I know. I guess I'm just doing a self assessment of my accomplishments in life. I am looking to finish something lasting; a legacy of sorts. Although, I am also considering starting something new. In order to succeed at whatever I do, I need time and a goal plus ongoing motivation to keep progress moving. I need a deadline which I cannot allow to slip. It would also help if I had others awaiting my completion, but I realize that's a lot to expect. As I write this, I just decided that I'm going to brush the dust off some things. I don't want to deprive the universe from what I have to offer.

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.