This hive is huge. I checked the hive yesterday. Overall they look great. Tons of eggs, larve etc and stored food. Assuming I keep Hive 2.0 alive through the winter, these guys will produce some honey for the Honey Labs. As the bees have a two edge frames that are full of honey - estimate that the frame weighs 12 pounds.
Working this hive is very different than Hive 1.0. Due to the sheer volume of bees, I believe I will always be in the Homer suit. When I pull frames, I have bees everywhere. Additionally I need to place an equipment order, as the bottom board, top, and supers are in poor condition.
Weather- clear and hot. Humidity was tolerable for a late August day.
Earl
P.S. Some of you are rather funny in your responses to my ramblings.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Friday, August 20, 2010
The first check of Hive 2.0
Since hive 2.0 proved themselves to be a group of thugs from South Carolina by stinging me when I brought them home earlier in the week- I put the full Homer suit on tonight. The thugs probably lived in Summerville and graduated from USC. Hot day for the Homer suit, but my forearm is finally back to regular size and tommrow is the Lake Norman triathlon so I dont need any new stings. Being stung for the first time was a right of passage that I didnt enjoy.
During bee school the instructors stressed the importance of the bee keepers strenght when selecting equipment - eight frame versus 10 frame and deep versus medium. Being the fitness fanthat I am; I thought they where making a mountain out of a mole hill until tonight. The is a huge weight difference between an eight frame medium super and a 10 frame deep super. Hive 2.o is a 10 frame deep super set up and I estimate that each super weighs 70 -80 pounds. Heavy supers are good as that indicates a lot of bees and stored food.
Compare the size of these deep frames against the medium frames from the start of the blog. Big size difference.
Today I only unscrewed the hive as everything was screwed in place for the move and I also removed the entrance reducer that was installed for the move. I did not give the hive a through inspection today, as I have lost my hive tool. I will go to Home Depot after the race tommrow and buy a small nail puller , as this same thing as a hive tool. Purchased from H.D. it probably cost $5 , purchased from Brushy Mtn Bee Supply probably $20 since it has a bee on it.
Although I didnt give the hive a through inspection, I was very happy with what i saw. As you can see in the pictures, the frames are full of bees, pollen, and a little honey in the corners. I am glad I am a beekeeper again.
Hot humid summer day clear sky.
P.S. Our friend Janey Atkinson (Tom and Gigi's daughter) arrived in Chile today- she is a rotary exchange student for her junior year in Chile. Karen, Earl, Allison and Laura find this very exciting - A & L are very interested in being exchange students through the Rotary Club.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
I am not allergic to bee stings
The new hive has moved in and they expressed their displeasure in moving out of Myers Park and getting a begineer beekeeper. As I was stung four times in the process of moving the hive. Sting #1 was when we placed the hive in the Jeep and had a minor sting on a finger, sting #2 was on the neck while paying for the hive, #3was on the forearm and sting #4 was when a bee got in my shirt and stung me on the stomach. I was glad I did not get stung while driving.
Thus if you are going to move a full hive of bees, makes certain that you have some red wine at home. Advil will also take the sting out of the "sting" but Advil does not taste as good a red wine. I had no red wine, so I just have a swollen forearm from the sting. The sting on the forearm is the only one that I notice.
Once I got home, Karen and I placed the hive on the stand, ant then removed the tape from the opening and the bees began to explore their surrondings. Thursday, I will unscrew the supers and inspect the hive.
Thus if you are going to move a full hive of bees, makes certain that you have some red wine at home. Advil will also take the sting out of the "sting" but Advil does not taste as good a red wine. I had no red wine, so I just have a swollen forearm from the sting. The sting on the forearm is the only one that I notice.
Once I got home, Karen and I placed the hive on the stand, ant then removed the tape from the opening and the bees began to explore their surrondings. Thursday, I will unscrew the supers and inspect the hive.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
8:30 on Tuesday
I am back from Libby's house where we looked at the hive I am going to purchase. I was ready to give her the money and put the bees in the Jeep but it didnt work that way. She and Jerry (husband) suggested coming back later in the week as the weather was getting bad, and they wanted to let the foragers return. This is a huge hive, with plenty of capped brood, larve, and food. The frames are plastic. Plastic frames are favored by some beekeepers and disliked by others - Libby and Jerry dislike them thus the reason for selling the complete hive. They acquired this hive by random occurance as an estate executator from SC called them asking if they wanted it. They took the hive on July 4th, and now are looking to find a new beeker fot the hive - thats me. Overall its a great deal for me - $150 and I get a complete hive (2 deep brood supers, and a medium honey super and all of the other items that come with a complete hive). The brood supers are packed with bees. I wish I had stumbled across a deal like this in the spring, my bee packaga alone cost $100.
Libby and Jerry are semi-professional beekeeprs, they had bee gar all over the place and the license plate on their work truck said "Bee Truck". They keep three hives at their house and then have a plot of land where they keep the other hives. They never said how many hives they own but they did say that this year, they harvested 1,000 pounds of honey!
Libby and Jerry are semi-professional beekeeprs, they had bee gar all over the place and the license plate on their work truck said "Bee Truck". They keep three hives at their house and then have a plot of land where they keep the other hives. They never said how many hives they own but they did say that this year, they harvested 1,000 pounds of honey!
Saturday, August 14, 2010
What Happened with Hive 1.0
After a few days of thought, this is what I think occured to Hive 1.0
A few mistakes where made by the rookie beekeeper. The first mistake was my decision to stop feeding the bees. When I stopped feeding the bees, the hive was only 9 weeks into becoming an established hive. Thus they where just getting started in building their food stores. The scond mistakes that I made is when I didstart feeding again, I was using a front feeder. After a few books, I learned that front feeders attract robbers and pest such as Hornets and yellow jackets. I had a fair number of yellow jackets surrounding the hive. Thus I think the yellow jackets invaded the hive and robbed and killed some of Hive 1.0
Since Hive 1.0 perished, I have learned that many of my fellow bee school classmates, have also experienced hive failure, so I dont know if we all bought bad bees or if we just made enough errors that we killed our bees. NJEB feels the bees were somewhat defective, since they were not foraging and others had issues. I would like to blame the bees, but I think I made them weak when I stopped feeding them and then I assisted the yellow jackets by using a front feeder.
Beekeeper Kathy has stated and I agree with her that Obama is to blame for the death of Hive 1.0 - anything and everything that goes bad is Comrade Obama's fault. I am sure I will end up paying a dead bee tax.
I am will likely purchase a new hive on Sunday, as the bee school leader has a complete hive (bees and equipment ) that she is looking to sell. She has told me she has nine full frames of bees and food stores. Hopefully only a few hours until I am Beekeeper Earl again.
A few mistakes where made by the rookie beekeeper. The first mistake was my decision to stop feeding the bees. When I stopped feeding the bees, the hive was only 9 weeks into becoming an established hive. Thus they where just getting started in building their food stores. The scond mistakes that I made is when I didstart feeding again, I was using a front feeder. After a few books, I learned that front feeders attract robbers and pest such as Hornets and yellow jackets. I had a fair number of yellow jackets surrounding the hive. Thus I think the yellow jackets invaded the hive and robbed and killed some of Hive 1.0
Since Hive 1.0 perished, I have learned that many of my fellow bee school classmates, have also experienced hive failure, so I dont know if we all bought bad bees or if we just made enough errors that we killed our bees. NJEB feels the bees were somewhat defective, since they were not foraging and others had issues. I would like to blame the bees, but I think I made them weak when I stopped feeding them and then I assisted the yellow jackets by using a front feeder.
Beekeeper Kathy has stated and I agree with her that Obama is to blame for the death of Hive 1.0 - anything and everything that goes bad is Comrade Obama's fault. I am sure I will end up paying a dead bee tax.
I am will likely purchase a new hive on Sunday, as the bee school leader has a complete hive (bees and equipment ) that she is looking to sell. She has told me she has nine full frames of bees and food stores. Hopefully only a few hours until I am Beekeeper Earl again.
Friday, August 13, 2010
The Beekeeper Survey Reveals...
This weekend I am going to go look at purchasing a hive from the woman who ran bee school. This is an established hive, so they should have good food stores on the frames to help them through the winter. Later this weekend- I will post my findings on what went wrong and what went right with Hive 1.0
My buddy NJEB sent me this article, and my wife laughed because it is rather spot on.
Beekeeper Survey Reveals....
It has been several months and you have probably forgotten or given up on ever hearing about that beekeeper survey that we conducted back last winter.
We received over 1300 replies from 5 continents. Africa and Antarctica were the only continents left unrepresented. Results from Africa would have been interesting. We're pretty sure there aren't many beekeepers on Antarctica though.
Compiling the 1300 replies together we find the average beekeeper is a 52-year-old male who has been keeping bees for 9 years and maintains 4 hives. He used no treatments to fight mites last year, but is comfortable using essential oils, powdered sugar, or drone trapping to control Varroa mites. He is also comfortable with not treating for mites at all. Politically, he is a moderate; religiously, he believes in God and practices a religion semi-regularly. He conserves energy and recycles. He likes animals in general. He has a stable personality, is a conscientious introvert, and tends to be agreeable and open to new ideas. The "typical" however often describes no one particular person.
The average is of course an oversimplification of the data. Of our responses, 5% were Commercial beekeepers, 12.7% were Sideliners, and 82% were Hobbyists. The commercial beekeepers have kept bees for a mean of 23.4 years and maintain up to 16,000 hives, although 200 is the most frequently reported number. The sideliners have been keeping bees for 13 years and keep up to 700 hives, although 10 hives is the most frequently reported number for this group. The hobbyists have been keeping bees for an average of 7.3 years and keep 2 or 3 hives, although as many as 152 were reported.
Among the more interesting findings was how well educated beekeepers are. Only 1.2% reported their highest level of education being some high school or less; most of these beekeepers were too young to have graduated from high school. Another 5.8% indicated they had a high school degree, 28.7% had some college or a 2-year degree, and 19.7% had a 4-year college degree. Most impressive, 12.6% have some post-college education and a full 32% have earned a graduate degree. This pattern is fairly consistent across commercial, sideliner, and hobbyist beekeepers. The percentage of beekeepers with graduate degrees is over 3 times that of the general population.
A personality test was imbedded in the survey that measured Extroversion, Agreeableness, Emotional Stability, and Conscientiousness. Beekeepers differed from the general population on all but one of these traits – conscientiousness. Both beekeepers and the general population tend to score high on conscientiousness. On the other traits, beekeepers tend to be less extroverted, more open to new ideas, more emotionally stable, and more agreeable than the general population.
My buddy NJEB sent me this article, and my wife laughed because it is rather spot on.
Beekeeper Survey Reveals....
It has been several months and you have probably forgotten or given up on ever hearing about that beekeeper survey that we conducted back last winter.
We received over 1300 replies from 5 continents. Africa and Antarctica were the only continents left unrepresented. Results from Africa would have been interesting. We're pretty sure there aren't many beekeepers on Antarctica though.
Compiling the 1300 replies together we find the average beekeeper is a 52-year-old male who has been keeping bees for 9 years and maintains 4 hives. He used no treatments to fight mites last year, but is comfortable using essential oils, powdered sugar, or drone trapping to control Varroa mites. He is also comfortable with not treating for mites at all. Politically, he is a moderate; religiously, he believes in God and practices a religion semi-regularly. He conserves energy and recycles. He likes animals in general. He has a stable personality, is a conscientious introvert, and tends to be agreeable and open to new ideas. The "typical" however often describes no one particular person.
The average is of course an oversimplification of the data. Of our responses, 5% were Commercial beekeepers, 12.7% were Sideliners, and 82% were Hobbyists. The commercial beekeepers have kept bees for a mean of 23.4 years and maintain up to 16,000 hives, although 200 is the most frequently reported number. The sideliners have been keeping bees for 13 years and keep up to 700 hives, although 10 hives is the most frequently reported number for this group. The hobbyists have been keeping bees for an average of 7.3 years and keep 2 or 3 hives, although as many as 152 were reported.
Among the more interesting findings was how well educated beekeepers are. Only 1.2% reported their highest level of education being some high school or less; most of these beekeepers were too young to have graduated from high school. Another 5.8% indicated they had a high school degree, 28.7% had some college or a 2-year degree, and 19.7% had a 4-year college degree. Most impressive, 12.6% have some post-college education and a full 32% have earned a graduate degree. This pattern is fairly consistent across commercial, sideliner, and hobbyist beekeepers. The percentage of beekeepers with graduate degrees is over 3 times that of the general population.
A personality test was imbedded in the survey that measured Extroversion, Agreeableness, Emotional Stability, and Conscientiousness. Beekeepers differed from the general population on all but one of these traits – conscientiousness. Both beekeepers and the general population tend to score high on conscientiousness. On the other traits, beekeepers tend to be less extroverted, more open to new ideas, more emotionally stable, and more agreeable than the general population.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Probably the last post until spring
We returned fromt eh Curlin tournment last night and I made a quick check of the top feeder. feeder still had syrup in the holds so I thought things where good until tonight. Just got back from really checking the hive and things are fatal. The pollen patties had maggotts in them, the feeder had a ton of dead bees, the combs had spider webs on them and there where only about a 100 bees left. I left the 100 remainding where all trying to scrap what little syrup there was in the feeder out. I left the top off the stack, hoping that the remainding bees can quickly find a new hive otherwise they will likely be field bees by tommrow afternoon.
This is dissapointing to say the least. Perhaps if John and I go harvest the swarm from Doug Bradleys building on Saturday, I can get a nuc hive. In the meantime, I need to review the past four months, find my critical errors and determine what I was doing right so I will either be ready in the spring or will do better with a nuc colony.
I am dissapointed and sorry to post such discouraging news. I really enjoyed my short experiences as a beekeeper and hope to be back soon. Thanks for reading.
Earl
This is dissapointing to say the least. Perhaps if John and I go harvest the swarm from Doug Bradleys building on Saturday, I can get a nuc hive. In the meantime, I need to review the past four months, find my critical errors and determine what I was doing right so I will either be ready in the spring or will do better with a nuc colony.
I am dissapointed and sorry to post such discouraging news. I really enjoyed my short experiences as a beekeeper and hope to be back soon. Thanks for reading.
Earl
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Bee Curlin
Bobcat Doug and Bocat Claire stopped by the house this evening. The are the other pair in the big curlin tournment this weekend. Our team has shirts, so even if we dont have any clue how to curl we will look good.
The latest order from Brushy Mountain arrived today. I purchased some beattle traps, a larger front feeder and some pollen patties. Simliar to my first trip to Home Depot as a homeowner when I laughed at buying cow dirt, I found it rather funny that I purchased pollen. Hopefully I wont need a Zpack.
The bee continue to eat the sugar water like crazy.
The latest order from Brushy Mountain arrived today. I purchased some beattle traps, a larger front feeder and some pollen patties. Simliar to my first trip to Home Depot as a homeowner when I laughed at buying cow dirt, I found it rather funny that I purchased pollen. Hopefully I wont need a Zpack.
The bee continue to eat the sugar water like crazy.
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