Saturday, May 29, 2010

What could go wrong?

Thursday night I tuned in to a webinar offered by Brushy Mountain Bee Farm, from which I've bought most of my beekeeping supplies. If anyone out there is interested in becoming a backyard beekeeper or just wants to learn more about beekeeping in general, Brushy Mountain is a great resource: www.brushymountainbeefarm.com.

The guest speaker for the webinar was Jennifer Berry, Apicultural Research Coordinator and Lab Manager at the University of Georgia. UGA has an excellent honey bee program in its Entomology department. (GO DAWGS 'n BEES!) Jennifer has done extensive research on almost everything that can go wrong (or right) with honeybees — from pests to genetics. I learned a lot — particularly that I should have started with two hives rather than one. Two hives would afford me some means of comparison. And if one hive seemed weak, I could equalize the two hives by adding brood or bees from the stronger to the weaker. There was also some scary info about pests, diseases and unfertilized queens who only lay drone eggs.

I logged off the webinar when I felt I'd absorbed as much bad news as I could take. And after thinking it over, I'm feeling philosophical today. If my bees don't make it this year, I'll certainly be better informed and prepared for what to do next year. In the meantime, I'll think positive. My bees seem pretty darned scrappy right now.

My mother and brother came over today to visit, meet Katie Scarlett, and see the bees. I wish I'd remembered to take along my camera so I could make some shots of the two of them tricked out in bee gear! We smoked and fed the bees, then opened the hive to observe them. Looks like the bees are working on all eight frames of the bottom box and are on all but two in the second box. They are drawing out comb and we could see lots of pollen in the cells. All appears well, at least to my inexperienced eyes.

As if all this weren't enough, Mom took us to Dreamland for a lunch of barbecue and iced tea. "Ain't nothing like 'em, nowhere!" as their slogan says.

An excellent day, all in all. So why worry about what could go wrong? Since I'm still in Scarlett O'Hara mode, I'll think about it tomorrow. After all, tomorrow is another day.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Of bees and bunnies



I'm going to digress from the bees for a moment to talk about the most recent addition to our family. Several months ago, we noticed a black bunny in a neighbor's front yard and realized that it had belonged to a family who'd rented a house around the corner. They'd moved out about a year ago, leaving the bunny behind to fend for herself. This courageous little rabbit survived for almost a year on her own, living under some decking in the back yard of another house that was in foreclosure.

I couldn't bear to let her keep living that way — we had to try to rescue her. Our next door neighbor reported that he had seen the rabbit in his front yard and she had taken a carrot from his hand. So, we began visiting the bunny almost every evening when she would be out foraging. I bought some bunny treats and soon she would hop over and gently take them from me. It took several weeks and a lot of patience, but I was able to coax the bunny into a pet carrier and bring her home a week ago.

We named the bunny Katie Scarlett after Scarlett O'Hara, the ultimate survivor. KS is settling into a routine. She has a nice hutch, plenty of fresh veggies and herbs and clean water, and she gets to roam around a rabbit-fenced area on our screen porch a couple of times a day and play with rabbit-y toys. The vet treated her ears for mites and infection, and she is otherwise in good health. We are allowed to scratch her ears and stroke her cheeks and back, and today, she actually let me pick her up and hold her in my arms. This is real progress for a domesticated bunny that had been living "in the wild" for a year. She is brave, spunky, smart, sweet and funny, and we love her.

Now, for the bees. I opened the hive last Saturday for a quick peek and saw that they have moved up into the second super and are drawing out comb. The frames in the bottom super appeared to be well on their way to being full of comb and brood (the queen is laying eggs and soon the size of the colony will increase). The bees continue to consume a lot of sugar-water, and I am down to my last bag of Aldi sugar. Time for another sugar run.

That's all for now, but I'll leave you with this memorable quote from Gone With the Wind:
"Do you mean to tell me, Katie Scarlett O'Hara, that Tara, that land doesn't mean anything to you? Why, land is the only thing in the world worth workin' for, worth fightin' for, worth dyin' for, because it's the only thing that lasts."
— Gerald O'Hara

Thursday, May 20, 2010

I am smokin'.

The bees have been a tad angry lately when I try to swap out their empty feeder for a full one. So today, I really smoked them (smoke confuses them and calms them, sending them back into the hive). And I mean SMOKED them.

To be perfectly honest, I had managed to get the smoker going really well and didn't want that good stuff to go to waste. I puffed those bellows for all I was worth. The bees went scrambling back inside as fast as they could. I know they were thinking: "That crazy woman's started a forest fire out there and we're going up in flames!"

The feeder swap was a breeze. And as I turned to go back to the house, I swear I heard the fluttering of wings...and tiny little coughs and wheezes.

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Sugar rush

Feeding the bees for several weeks is important. They like a 1:1 ratio solution of sugar to water. And at the rate they eat, I'm replenishing their feeder every day. This takes a LOT of sugar. Thankfully, I only have one hive to feed right now.

So, I made a trip to Aldi yesterday to stock up on sugar, where I found enormous savings over the regular grocery store. (Of course, I didn't stick to buying JUST sugar, so I'm not sure if that ultimately qualifies as "enormous savings.") Maybe I'll try Sam's for my next sugar shopping expedition. If you have suggestions for other places to save on sugar, send 'em. Before the bees bankrupt me, please.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Checked the hive for the first time today





I woke up excited this morning — it was time to open the hive for the first time and see if my bees are healthy and making progress. And they are!

When I removed the cover, there were bees all around the opening of the inner cover, a good sign. Taking off the inner cover, I looked down into the super and saw that the bees had made some comb in an area where it really shouldn't be, so I removed it. Note in the photo, there are a few yellow cells, showing that the bees are already collecting pollen. You can also see the empty queen's cage in the second photo. I didn't see her among the crowd, but I can tell she's in there and everyone seems busy and happy.

The next time I open the hive (in a few more days), I hope to see signs of brood comb on every frame, which means it's time to add another super.

I've finally figured out how to tie down my veil properly (Drea, you'd laugh at my struggles) and I need to wear a sweat band. Enough said.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

The beekeeping adventure begins



Monday, May 10, 2010 was the culmination of two years' worth of curiosity, research and deliberate intent to become a backyard beekeeper. I picked up my packaged bees — ordered from Rossman Apiaries in Moultrie, Ga. — at the post office, where a postal worker said, "Oh, thank GOD" when I told her why I was there. She brought out a plastic mail crate with the box of bees inside and handed it over. And thus, the real adventure began.

The "how-to" video that was included with the hive and bee supplies I'd ordered last year came in handy as I followed the instructions from memory on how to load a package of bees into the hive. I wore my veil, but found that gloves just got in the way. I didn't mind the soft feel of the little honeybees on my hands. They were confused and trying to figure out where their new home would be. I pulled out the cork in the queen's cage and placed her in the box, unceremoniously dumping the rest of the bees after her. They buzzed, but not in a bad way. I closed the hive, put in a feeder of sugar-water, and that was that.

For the past two days, the little winged creatures have been buzzing in and out of the hive just like they're supposed to. Thankfully, there weren't too many casualties along the way and they seem to be thriving. In fact, they are HUNGRY. Looks like I'll have to refill the feeder every day for the next several weeks.

No stings so far, and the dogs seem to have no interest in the bees. A very good thing.