Hive #2 Inspection May 28, 2011

We completed the first inspection of our new "Nucleus" Hive, which we brought home and placed in our Apiary on Friday, May 20th.  The Bees were calm and well behaved and we removed frames and took a look at the hive progress.  We didn't see any new eggs or Larvae, but they still have some capped brood that hasn't emerged yet.  They are doing a good job at drawing comb on the empty frames, and we did see the Queen, and she appeared healthy.  She may not be mated as of yet, which would explain the absence of eggs and larvae.  They are taking the syrup we are feeding them, and storing lots of it in the frame cells, so that's a good sign things are fine.  They are also foraging, and bringing in pollen and storing it for the brood.  Hopefully by next weekend she will be laying and beginning the process of building up the bee population.

We did notice that the bees have constructed 2 Queen cells in the middle of the center frame.  Often times the hive will build Queen cells, in case they need to raise another Queen.  Time will tell if the Queen that came with the hive will be productive, or replaced by one the colony raises.  If they need a Queen, they will raise one, if the current Queen starts laying, they will discard the Queen cells.  The Bees know what's best for their colony, so we will let them dictate the course of action.

Below is a photo of the Queen Cells.  They look like a peanut hanging from the comb.  Some people say they resemble a Morel Mushroom.  Pretty neat stuff!

Another shot of a Queen Cell.  It is amazing to witness the dynamics of a Bee Colony!

The photo's below show both hives in their new location at our property in the country.  They seem to be happy there, and it is a short 5 minute drive from home!

Hopefully, when we inspect Hive #2 next weekend, we will have a laying Queen, and some pictures of Eggs, Larvae, and a growing bee population!

Hive #1 Inspection - May 21, 2011

With some much needed sunshine this morning, we did a thorough inspection of Bee Hive #1.
Hive inspections are important for the Beekeeper, so they can keep an eye on what the Bees are doing inside the hive.  Any problems can be spotted and dealt with before they become a big problem down the road.  So far, this hive is doing fantastic!  The Queen is laying lots of eggs, and we spotted many egg, lots of Larvae, and a lot of capped brood.  I would estimate the size of this hive has doubled since we installed the 3 pound package on April 16th.  They are foraging well, and bringing in a lot of pollen and nectar.

Here is a picture of a frame of capped honey that they will use to feed the colony:

The photo below shows a picture perfect brood pattern.  The oval section in the center is where the Queen will lay eggs.  Surrounding this oval are stores of nectar and pollen, which is used to feed the developing eggs and larvae.  This is what it should look like in a good hive.  Ms. Queen, you and your workers are doing a great job!

The photo below show newly layed eggs.  In the center of the photo, you can see the tiny white objects.  They look like tiny grains of rice.  When you see these in your hive, you know your Queen is alive and well, and doing her job of laying eggs.  We are always excited to spot eggs...........they are a good sign!

The photo below shows a frame that is loaded with busy bees!  The dark, orange colored material you see in some of the cells is pollen.  They store pollen to feed the brood in the colony.  There is also capped brood in some of these cells, along with honey.  They were busy girls today, taking full advantage of the nice weather.

Next week, it will time to inspect Hive #2 which I placed in the Bee Yard on Friday afternoon.  They were working hard this morning, and I will be interested to see if the Queen is laying by next weekend.  Hopefully, this new hive will do as well as Hive #1!

It's Bee Moving Day.

Today is the day we relocate the Honey Bees to their new home in the country!  The plan is to prepare the area for the hive stand, get the hive stand set, and move the bees after dark when they have all returned home from their day of foraging.

Tomorrow morning when they wake up and go to work, they will have to re-orient themselves to their new location.  After thinking about the move, they will be better off in this rural location, with much more nectar and pollen to forage.  It won't be as satisfying as having the hives in the backyard, but the new location will satisfy the Zoning people, and make for more productive hives.  Basically, it's a win-win for the us and the Bees.

Once the move is complete, it's on to doing research and preparing a case for the Madison County Zoning Board to change their way of thinking about the importance of Honey Bees.  We do believe we can get the ordinances changed for the better, and we won't stop until we do.  It won't change our situation, but the goal is to make it better for future Beekeepers.  That alone will be worth the time and effort.  Paying it forward is what it's all about!

Honey Bees get a new home.

After a rather long, confusing ordeal with the Madison County Zoning Commission, it has been confirmed that we cannot keep our Honey Bee Hives on our property at our home.  I know........it makes no sense, considering that the City of Troy permits Beekeeping on city property that is zoned "Residential".  The City of Edwardsville also permits Beekeeping on city property that is zoned "Residential".  Go figure, huh?

We are not in the City "proper" of Troy, but I can throw a rock in any direction from our property and hit City property.  Yep, it makes NO sense!

All was well at our present location, after we discussed our intentions to keep 2 hives.  Well, all WAS well until a meddling, alcoholic neighbor placed a call ranting to the Madison County Zoning Commission.  At first, they said Beekeeping was fine at our location.  Then, we received a letter saying we needed to obtain a "special use permit" to keep the bees.  We prepared our defense, and applied for the permit, only to talk with someone else from the Zoning Office, who stated that we cannot apply for the permit, because we are not zoned for it.  Long story short........there are very few people that work at the Madison County Zoning office that know anything about the details of zoning ordinances in Madison County!  Our tax dollars at work, as usual!

So, we will be moving our Honey Bee Hives about 3 miles away, to property Angie and I own that IS zoned for this use.  The problem is solved, but the fight is far from over.  We are embarking on a mission to get the Madison County Zoning Ordinance changed.  It may not help us, but it will help others in the future, and we feel it is the right thing to do.

There is something fundamentally wrong with the system when folks are allowed to keep Bees in New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, and many other places more densely populated than Madison County, Illinois.
They even have a Honey Bee Hive on the south lawn of the White House!

The challenge has begun, and we won't stop until the ordinances are changed for the better.  The Madison County Board likes to use politically correct phrases like "Sustainability" and "Go Green".  It's one thing to "talk the talk", but we intend to see to it that they "walk the walk".  Honey Bee survival is at the very core of the sustainability issue.

All will be fine with our Honey Bees at their new location.  I will keep our Blog updated as this moves forward.  There is much work to do, and the process will be long, but Angie and I both love a challenge, and look forward to putting unfounded fears to rest, and change some minds regarding the importance of Honey Bees and Beekeeping!

In summary............it's GAME ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  :-)

At last........WE HAVE BEES!

After a rainy, 6+ hour road trip to Fairmont, IL this morning, we arrived home with our first package of Honey Bees!

These little Italian Honey Bees are a very pretty Bee, and they are known for being a relatively docile bee to work, and for their productivity.  We managed to dodge the rain long enough to get them placed in the hive, and with the sunshine this afternoon, they are busy taking their orientation and cleansing flights.  Bees don't poop in their hive, hence the "cleansing" flights.  Honey Bees have a built-in GPS navigational system, and after being introduced into a new hive, they will spend some time taking these orientation flights.  This helps them locate the hive, so they know exactly where they need to go when they return home from their foraging flights.  It is interesting in that you can have several hives within a few feet of each other, and even though the hives look identical, the bees from each hive know which one is home, just by this GPS instinct.  They really are amazing little creatures!

Here is a photo of Angie dumping the package of bees onto the frames in the hive body:

Here is a close up shot of the bees falling from the package, and beginning their new life in the hive.  They are laying on top of the frames, which are plastic frames with wax coated foundation.  The wax coating helps the bees get a start with drawing the wax comb, which will be used by the Queen for laying eggs.  This brood will enable the colony to build up bee population, so there are plenty of bees to forage, and support the various tasks inside the hive.
Here is a closer shot of the bees on the frames, before they settle in:

An finally, a shot of the assembled hive, with the new bees safely inside:

There are always a few straggler bees left inside the package after you do all you can do to shake them into the hive.  The open package is left in front of the hive for a few hours, and any remaining bees that weren't shaken into the hive will smell the pheromone from the queen, and enter the hive.  After a couple of hours, all bees are inside and safely beginning their new life in our backyard! 

All in all, this was an amazing experience and we are very happy we decided to start keeping Honey Bees.  I look forward to sharing more on our Blog in the days ahead.  Thanks for stopping by for a look!

Hive Stand ready for action.

With the arrival of our packaged bees scheduled for April 16th, it was time to get into gear and construct a hive stand.  Getting the hives off of the ground is helpful in several ways.  One, it provides better ventilation, and it also helps save your back when working the hives.  It looks good too, which is a plus if you are going to have hives in your backyard!  I built the hive stand using treated lumber, and it should provide years of low maintenance service.

Here is the area after the sod has been stripped, and the first support blocks are place and leveled.  This area is about 10' long, and 32" wide.

After some design thoughts, I went to the shop and constructed the hive stand.  The stand frame is 2x6 treated lumber, and 4x4 posts were used for the legs.  A full hive, with several medium supers full of honey can weigh several hundred pounds, so you have to build for strength, that's for sure!

Here is the completed hive stand.  It is 8' long, and 20" wide.  This should support the bottom boards under the hives just fine.  I added a stringer at each end for side support for the bottom boards.  This should comfortably and safely hold 4 bee hives.  Our plan is to have 3 or 4 hives at the most, so we are good to go!

After getting the stand set, and making sure everything was level, all that was left was to add mulch around the stand, and clean up the mess!  Here is the finished product, ready for hives and bees!

That about takes care of the preparation before the bees arrive.  I'll get a hive assembled and placed on the stand for my next post.  Then............all we need are BEES!!!!!!!!!!!

Bee Pickup date is set!

We received our confirmation letter from Long Lane Honey Bee Farm in the mail yesterday.  Our Honey Bees should be there, and ready for pickup on Saturday, April 16th.  Hopefully, the weather will moderate by then, and the bee delivery will be on target.  I still have to get the hive stand constructed and set, but I plan to accomplish that the weekend of April 2nd and 3rd.

It has been a LONG wait, since we placed our bee order last November.  But, the good news is it gave me ample time to get into the shop and build all the necessary hive components to hold the bee colonies.  Yesterday, I completed 2 hive top jar feeders.  These feeders will contain a 1 to 1 ratio of sugar and water, boiled to dissolve the sugar in the water.  This resulting syrup is what you feed the newly hive Honey Bees so you can encourage them to draw honeycomb on the brood frames.  The sooner the worker bees can get the comb drawn, the sooner the Queen can begin laying eggs, which results in new bees, to build up the strength of the colony.  Once the colony begins to grow, and the spring/summer bloom season is upon us, the worker bees will begin to forage the surrounding plants.  They will return to the hive with pollen and nectar, produce wax for building comb, then start to store honey.

Below is a picture of the hive top feeder, that holds 2 quart jars.  The intended use of this type of feeder will be more evident when I get some pictures of it placed on the hive.

Well, that's it for now.  It's off to Lowe's to get lumber and patio blocks for the hive stand.  I will post pictures of that project next weekend!