As I promised in my diary two weeks ago, Help me help the bees, I'm writing to give a little update on my progress with my little contribution to help the bees. Although I still don't really have the extra funds to do what I need to do, time was running out to start my beehive this year, and I had to strike while the iron was hot. Special thanks to those who did donate to my initial start up costs.
Shortly after I wrote the diary, I went to my beekeeper mentor/supplier and purchased the initial 3 layers of my beehive. I will still need to purchase a few more boxes as they expand, but it was good enough to get them started. Bees should ideally be moved to a new hive in late April, early May, so they have ample time to begin building comb and laying eggs. Given that this was a late spring for Michigan, that sort of worked in my favor. I still needed to purchase the raw materials in order to build the hive, and that would take a little time. Thankfully, my son was able to help as a Lupus flare has made my hands so swollen and sore, swinging a hammer wasn't in my future.
I promised to share photos and updates with those who donated (and anyone who'd like to follow along) right below the jump.
This is the pile I came home with, It doesn't look like much, but it will be the beginning of a (hopefully) thriving beehive!
I had no idea how we were going to start, but we had to start somewhere. So we just dug in.
Three hive bodies complete.
Building the frames for the bees to begin building comb. The frames have plastic inserts that are stamped with a honeycomb pattern, then sprayed with bees wax. This encourages them to build a uniform comb. I would like to experiment later with free building comb, but I want success in my first try, so I'm going with tried and true.
This is what a completed frame looks like. I'm only using medium hive boxes as they can get very heavy when loaded with comb and honey. Deep boxes are approximately 9 1/2" deep and the frames are about 9" or so. The medium boxes are about 6 1/2" deep and the frames are only about 6". It cuts approximately 40 pounds from the loaded weight. Back in the day I wouldn't have had a problem, but lifting so much now is very difficult, and knowing that if I drop it, my bees are in danger, I don't want to take chances.
Finally there. Completed the three hive bodies purchased so far, the bottom board, the top board and all the frames needed.
To paint or not to paint? It's a debated topic. Most beekeepers paint their hives to extend the life of the wood. It's best to only paint the exterior with nothing that the bees build or live on being painted. I was careful to get low fume acrylic paint.
Bee delivery day is finally here! This is how bees are delivered. It's kind of creepy driving 30 miles down the road with 15,000 bees humming behind your seat. I imagine it's worse for my son who has had a life long bee phobia. So much so that as a kindergartner, he had to be carried to the school bus each day because he would have a melt down if he saw a bee and would refuse to go out and get on the bus.
Locating and preparing the hive for "bee installation".
Here I am putting on the bee veil and gloves. Sorry the photos are from so far away, my son is taking them. But I have to give him props, he rode in the car with them just fine, even bracing the box full of bees on the corners so it wouldn't tip over. And here he was about 20 - 30 feet away. On the table you see a spray bottle full of sugar water, and a jar full of sugar water. The spray bottle is useful in the beginning to spray the bees in the bee package to keep them busy when you let them loose. A smoker is helpful, too, but not that necessary at this stage. They have no hive to protect yet, so they're not terribly aggressive.
Dumping the bees. There is a queen cage inside as well that holds the queen which will be released in a few days to allow the bees to accept her. I will leave the package that they came in because there are still about a hundred or so bees that don't want to come out. Over the next hour or so they will find their way to the hive on their own.
Time to close up the hive and let them settle for a few days. Good thing, too, because it's about to rain for nearly a week strait.
I installed the bees on Saturday, and it was too hot to go out on Sunday to check on them, and they really didn't need to be bothered anyway. It takes a couple days for the queen to be released. There are two attendants in the cage with her, and there is a candy cork in the end that they slowly eat through. The attendants use the candy to make "royal jelly" to feed the queen. But Monday was a downpour with severe weather, so I couldn't get out to check on them which made for a very anxious wait for the weather to break. Tuesday was more of the same in the forecast, but there was a slight break in the weather for a few hours. My son's car broke down on his way to work (4 am) so I had to get him on his way which was a perfect opportunity for me to be up early and watch the weather. At about 7 am, it was nearly perfect, so I went out to check on them. They were "humming along" nicely. They were almost completely out of sugar water because they have no significant pollen source as yet, and no way to leave the hive to collect it with the weather. Refilled the feeder jar, I hope it's enough for the next 2 days.
This is a great sign! Only a few dead bees in the bottom of the bee package. It's not unusual to have dead bees a layer or two deep coating the bottom from transportation and stress. I'm very pleased!
And finally, the queen cage. It's empty, as I hoped it would be. I didn't find her in the hive, but I didn't want to disturb them too much as it was cold and damp and I have a few days to make sure she's okay before I have to panic and get a new queen if she's not. But I'm glad to see she was released. And there is new comb attached to the cage with plenty more, about 2-3 frames worth, already in place. They're doing exactly what they're supposed to be doing.
So, there we are so far. I'm hoping for a break in the weather this afternoon to do a quick hive inspection, look for the queen and replenish their sugar water. Not too much because it's STILL cold and wet. Soon I will be putting another box on top. You only put a layer at a time to get them to build and start to produce honey or they'll jump from frame to frame and it will be too sporadic, plus, the weather is still sporadic, with a high of only 50 degrees today, it keeps them contained and warmer. At this point, of the three hive bodies I've completed, only two are on the hive. One contains frames, one is in place, frame less, to cover the sugar water.
Hoping to see eggs from the queen soon. Then, even if she does fail, the workers will raise a new queen. Without queen's eggs, there is no way to survive. They will either leave the hive to find a new queen, or they'll lay sterile eggs.
I hope you enjoyed this. I'll try to pop in now and again to update. Post more photos, etc. It's difficult to get photos as I have heavy leather gloves on, and can only minimally work the camera or my phone. And with my son being afraid to get too close, he can't help there. I'm hoping to get him a bee veil as well. He really wants to get more involved, but can't get too close without equipment. I hope to one day get as gutsy as some of the folks I've seen who work without any equipment. It's good to have, but very difficult to work with.
I also have a diary I'd like to write about a bee swarm that my daughter found outside her building on base. She knew I was starting the hive, and called for advice. She then called a local beekeeper to come and capture it. Some of the guys thought it should just be sprayed with Raid, but my daughter knew I'd have a cow, and she didn't want to go that route, either. She got some good pics and a video of a swarm capture. I'll post that later this week.
I still have some more hive bodies to purchase and assemble, as well as equipment. I'd ideally like to start a second hive as that makes it easier to keep strong hives in case one becomes weak, but finances don't allow that at this time. If you're interested in making a donation, I'd happily accept it. My PayPal email is beesquaredbees (at) gmail (dot) com. I will be sending a jar of honey to anyone who helps out, when I am at the point of being able to gather honey. I may not get any this year as the honey goes to the bees first.
Thanks for reading.