A nice frame of brood from a Wilbanks Apiaries queen. You go Girl!!

Back again for 2014. 2 new packages of Italians from Wilbanks Apairies in Georgia, and a nuc of Carniolans coming this weekend. Hoping for the best this year.

One of the Carniolan queens absconded and other bees robbed out the syrup. I'm going to move one of the nucs into the 10 frame equipment this weekend. The other queen is building up slowly, as is the italian queen from this year's package. The large Carniolan hive has about 2.5 supers of honey so far.

An experiment with splits. One over-wintered hive and one new package were not building up as well as I thought they should be, so I put the queens in nuc boxes and re-queened the hives with Carniolans. We'll see how this goes ...

Well, it's a rainy June 7. The overwintered Italian hive is not building up well at all. Guess I'll have to requeen it - I have Carniolan queens ordered from Full Bloom Apiaries for the two new Italian packages, as they aren't building well either. I may put the Italian queens into nuc boxes just to see what happens. The Carniolan hive from last year is going great, starting to fill the first super.

February 2013 - a bit of snow !

We didn't have to "find" Nemo - it found us. More snow than we've gotten in a long time. The upper entrances were clear, so a few bees went for a flight but didn't make it back. Rain today, so it will be like cement.

Well, they are wrapped up for the winter. Out flying on good days, and even finding some pollen !

 

The ECBA hosted Randy Oliver last weekend. If I can retain about 5% of what he shared with us, I'll be amazed. 

Waiting for Spring

The 2 large hives and the nuc didn't survive (varroa in the 2 and the nuc froze). I didn't treat the 2 hives until October, so they were probably doomed at that point. The hive on the end survived and they seem to be doing well. Anyway, I have packages and a nuc of Carnis on order for spring, and have begun to set up the deeps. Still learning ...

Not like last year ...

Saturday, January 7 it was 52F here (??!!). Warm and sunny enough to open the hives for a quick check. Everybody looks fine, they are munching on the winter patties and flying around a bit. The Carnis are in a smaller cluster, but that is their nature. It's my first year with them, so still learning. The Italians all look good, one hive has moved up into the honey super that I had left for them.

Legacy

I knew that my Mother's Father had kept bees - that is where my Dad learned about them, but had not seen any photos of his apiary. In going through some old family things, I found a couple of pictures of him working his bees, probably in the 1930s. Guess it runs in the family, and I am proud to continue the tradition. (Now if I could only channel their knowledge).

8 inches of Halloween snow !!

After the October 29 snowfall. Lost the pear tree to the left, some branches from the apple trees and most of a large magnolia. Glad I insulated the hives last week !!

MAQS to the Rescue !

Well, after a lot of rain and no time, I finally did a sugar roll and found enough mites to warrant treatment. A quick call to Dadant brought me the MAQS, and I put them in last Friday. On Sunday, I checked the trays under the SBBs and WoW! The strips worked as advertised. Lots of dead mites on the trays. The hives need to left alone for 7 days after placing the strips, so I will check them thoroughly this weekend. (The dark area in the upper right is some pollen, wax and dirt.)

Try, try again ...

Well the first Carniolan queen I introduced to the nuc didn't work out. I saw her out at the 5 day point, but not after that. Then, bees from the other hives began robbing the feeder - I think they either killed her or drove her out. There was no new brood showing on any of the frames ( except for the brood that was there when I split into the nuc). So... picked up another queen, split two more frames of brood and moved the nuc about 75 feet from the hives. I also removed the division board feeder and placed two frames of honey and about 1/4 of a Mega-Bee patty in there for them. I put the queen cage in on Monday evening after I did the split, but left the cap on the candy port for a couple of days. Last night, I checked them and they seemed fine with her, so I removed the cap from the candy and will check them again this weekend. I really hope this takes, as I want to try the Carniolans.
The fourth hive, from a package installed on 6/18, is building up nicely. These are Italians, as are the other two hives.

Butterflies, too !

We are also a Monarch Butterfly Waystation through Monarch Watch (http://www.monarchwatch.org/). Here's a caterpillar transforming into a chrysalis, and a Monarch in full glory.

More Bees are Better !!

Attended a Hive Management Workshop put on by the Eastern CT Beekeepers Assn recently, and came home with another package. (I couldn't help it - they looked so pitiful with their little eyes pleading with me to take them home). That's the single hive body on the right. Then, I split a frame from each of my larger hives and put them into the 5 frame nuc and introduced a Carniolan queen the next day. Obsession? No!

So far, so good ...

Checked the hives yesterday. Both queens roaming around laying nice brood patterns. Still some chalkbrood showing up, hopefully that will clear up. One hive is working on filling the first honey super, the other hasn't started yet, but looks like they will soon. I have been using the green Pierco drone comb for mite control, removed both of them yesterday, as I don't like having to take the whole hive apart to change them once the honey supers are on. Went through them and found no varroa! Maybe I'll have a good year.

Brood !

Here's a nice brood pattern. Both queens are laying nicely, I'll probably add another hive body this weekend. Adding more plants to the "bee garden" - (I hope they appreciate it).

Inspections ...

Both queens are out and the bees seem to be settling in nicely. The weather has been a bit up and down, but they are flying about, checking out their new territory on nice days. (I have captioned the images for my niece's school class).

Bees have arrived !

The bees arrived on Sunday. There were about 25 people waiting at the pickup location for their bees, and they all looked like it was Christmas and their birthdays rolled into one.  It's grest to see so many folks excited about beekeeping, whether it's for their own enjoyment or to sell honey. Of the approximately 100 food crops we utilize, bees have something to do with about 70 of them, so thank a bee the next time you have a meal.