Closing Up for the Fall

I was very proud of my girls and all the surplus honey they collected. I walked around my hive the other day to get a feel for what was happening with the nectar flow. Clovers were present upon the ground but no bees were foraging from them. I still had some flowering plants in the garden, yet again, no bees were found. I decided it was time to reduce my hive entrance and let the bees have the rest of the honey frames.

Now that the nectar flow has finished, it is time to begin feeding and checking for mites. I will not begin mite treatments until the end of August/ beginning of September but with the cease of the nectar flow, it is very important that I supply my bees with food as soon as possible. I will also want to prevent robbing as best I can by closing off any upper entrances and reducing the main entrance.

Entrance Reducer

I will be using a hive top feeder and a sugar water feed for the fall that will consist of a 2:1 ratio of sugar to water. Other suitable methods of feeding your bees would be: pollen patties, fondant or high fructose corn syrup. I want to include a feeding stimulant to insure my bees will be healthy going into the winter months, therefore, I need a liquid solution for feeding my bees.

Combined ingredients together and mixed in a 1 gallon jug. Added 4 tbsp of Honey B Healthy and ensured that all the sugar had dissolved.

Bees at Entrance

Out at my hive, the entrance appeared very crowded but nothing threatening was happening. No signs of robbing was a relief but I was intrigued at all the activity that was happening at the entrance. When discussing the issue with another beekeeper, she said that newer bees will need to go on a navigation flight in order to orient themselves with their hive. They will fly out making loops back toward the hive and after every pass, they will extend their distance a little further.

Opened my hive and started to do a quick pass through my supers. I pulled out one of the outside frames in order to work toward the middle frames, and as I was checking the frame, I notice a small hive beetle crawling along the edge. I know that a strong colony will send them into hiding but every hive is bound to have one or two slip out and roam around, right? That was the only downside while going through my hive. Everything seemed normal and none of my bees appeared to be deformed or had bad wings.

Small Hive Beetle

After working my hive, I added the wooden hive top feeder and filled each side with my healthy sugar water mixture. Placed one end of the float down into the mixture and slowly lowered the other end. Floats fit perfectly and were floating properly.

Pouring Sugar Water Mixture

Dropping Float

Dropping Float

I know its not sweet nectar but I hope my girls enjoy their new diet. Having this hive top feeder will allow me to easily check and make sure the feed is topped off and add more if needed. 

Just taking care of my Girls!

Checking on my Queen

At the end of last week I finally had a chance to go back to my hive. I wanted to go back and remove the queen cage that I had bound to a frame. I removed my inner cover and noticed the rubber band was missing that I had used to secure the queen cage with ... I was a little scared that it broke and the cage had dropped. I did notice, before I began removing frames, some of the worker bees were sticking there tail ends in the air and beating there wings. They were fanning out pheromones signaling  their sisters to come to them.

A Lady Fanning Her Pheromones 

I slowly began removing frames and was checking thoroughly for my queen. With the first frame removed I was able to see the queen cage and it was empty (thank goodness). I knew the queen had been released but was she laying? As I started turning over the frame in my hand I noticed a queen cell. This was just my luck to  install a new hive and have the queen already replaced. I didn't know how this had already happened and what it meant for my colony. Set the frame down and gave my mentor a quick call (would highly recommend attending a bee meeting and make some friends).  As to what was going on: 

When a colony is first installed into the hive, the queen is still in her cage and will not be laying for a couple of days. During this time that she is caged, the colony has interpreted her as being weak, therefore the begin to develop queen cells. When she is finally released and begins to lay she will go through and kill off the queen cells that were produced. I was told not to worry, scrap off the queen cells and go through my frames and check for eggs and larva. I was also told that as a newbie I was to remove the queen cell and taste the royal jelly that it held..."It is a delicacy and is the initiation into beekeeping". Lets just say I'm a beekeeper.

He also mentioned that if the queen hadn't been released and I was still seeing queen cells, the package that I had received had a queen already in it. In this case I had many different options.

I removed the queen cell from the frame and began looking for eggs. While looking over the frame I noticed that the bees were already storing food and out of the glimpse of my eye, I saw her!

My Queen Bee

I was really excited to be able to spot my queen and see that she was doing great. I checked some other frames and noticed patches of laid eggs and larva. I concluded that the bees must have chewed through the rubber band and everything was okay. 

My hive was looking great, the colony strong and I was happy.

Installing My Package

My Package of Bees

On March 28th I picked up my package of bees from Brushy Mountain Bee Farm. I had watched an instructional video and read information on installing a package but holding my package, with hundreds of bees, made me a little nervous. The day was looking great and I had my hive ready... it was time to install my package.

Before I brought out my bees I wanted to double check and make sure that I had everything prepared for the installation ( I would hate to be pouring out my bees and forget something at the house). Double checked my equipment: spray bottle with sugar water mix, hive tool, rubber bands (3), protective clothing and the cell phone in case I needed to call someone. For the other newbies that are installing their packages I would check out the Brushy Mountain Video first to make sure you have all the steps down and feel comfortable during the process.

Spraying Down My Bees

Brought out my package and began spraying the bees down with sugar water. They fall so nicely when you bump them against your hive. Removed the feeder can and the queen; she looked pretty and all the attendance were alive as well. Gave one last spraying, took a deep breath and removed the wood plank covering the hole.  Now I braved the installation by only wearing  a veil with no gloves or jacket (again it was a nice day out) so when I started pouring hundreds of bees into my hive and they started buzzing around me, a cold chill ran straight up my back. I was ready to close up shop and get out of there but , with the reference video in mind, I took a deep breath and slowly lowered my frames back into the hive.

Successful Installation

Beekeeping from the Beginning

To give a background on me and what I hope to develop this blog into I will start with:

My name is Daniel and I recently joined Brushy Mountain Bee Farm's team. I have to admit, before I was employed at the Bee Farm, I had no idea what beekeeping consisted of. After reading through catalogs and checking into books, and yes I did read Beekeeping for Dummies, I felt like I had a grasp on what it would to be a beekeeper. After being employed for a month and a half I felt like it was in my best interest to go beyond the books and see what the hype was all about.

This is going to be a blog about Beekeeping from the Beginning. I am starting my first beehive, with no experience at all, and through my blog postings I hope you the reader will gain some insight through any problems that I might run into.

Starting from the very beginning: I placed an order for my Bee Package. I had the option of purchasing a NUC (nucleus hive) that would give me five drawn frames, an already laying queen and a NUC box if I ever needed it for future use. I skipped out on the NUC and went with a package instead because I wanted to start at square one. With my package of bees ordered and ready for pickup at the end of March, I need to get my hive setup before they come.

English Garden Bee-Ginner's Kit

Materials List:

• English Garden 8-Frame Bee-Ginner's Kit 
• Inner Cover
• Copper Top
• 2 Medium Depth Cypress Supers
• 16 Grooved top/bottom Medium Frames
• I.P.M. Bottom Board
• 16 Sheets 'no hook' Crimp Wire Foundation
• Hatless Veil
• Plastic Gloves
• Brushy Mountain Smoker with fuel
• Bee Brush
• Hive Tool
• Plastic Entrance Feeder
• Beginner's Book
• Instructional DVD
• White Paint and Paint Brush (purchased at Lowe's)