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.

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.