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!

Completed Beekeeping Course

Last Saturday, February 19th, Angie and I completed the Beginners Beekeeping Course in Belleville.  The Instruction Course was presented by the St. Clair Beekeepers, and it was both entertaining and informative.  We met more pleasant, like-minded people that are either interested in, or are becoming new Beekeepers this spring.  We discussed buying a small, nucleus colony of bees from a local beekeeper, and placed our order for a "Nuc" this spring.  After mulling over the option of starting with a single hive, we decided that it would be better to follow the suggestion of starting with 2 hives, instead of one.  With 2 hives, you have another hive to compare with as the season progresses.  Also, a Nucleus Colony will build up to good strength faster than a "package" of bees, due to the fact that a Nucleus Colony comes with several frames of drawn honey comb, brood cells, and a mated and laying queen.  It is basically a small, established colony that is ready to grow when placed into your hive boxes.  If we have a good spring bloom season, we may actually get to extract some Honey from one or both of our hives this fall!  I am currently getting the rest of the hive boxes primed and painted, and all that is left is to construct the hive stand assembly and get it placed in the backyard.  We should have bees by the middle of April........and Angie and I can't wait!  We are both looking forward to watching the bees work, and learning about these industrious little creatures as the summer arrives.  The more we learn........the more we realize how much there is to know about Honey Bees, and Beekeeping!

First Beekeepers Meeting of 2011.

Angie and I attended our first St. Clair Beekeepers Association meeting.  The meeting was held at the Farm Bureau Building in Edwardsville, on Friday evening, January 28th.  We were both surprised, as there were a LOT of people there!  When Ken, the President, asked for a show of hand of new people attending the meeting, there were about a dozen of us. 

The meeting was conducted in a semi-informal fashion, but order was sustained, and things moved along pretty well.  They showed a great video presentation regarding the Small Hive Beetle.  This beetle has become a nuisance pest to Honey Bees, but a strong colony seems to be able to defend itself fairly well against this bug.  There were several long time SCBA members that reminisced about the past during the meeting, and it was interesting to hear Mr. Udell Meyer talk about how things have changed since he began keeping Honey Bees in the 1950's. 

We also signed up for the beginning beekeepers course that is organized and led by several members of the SCBA.  This course will be in February at the Farm Bureau building in Belleville.  Angie and I are both looking forward to this class, so we can learn more about this new adventure.

All in all, I was impressed with the number of people that are attending the meetings, and they all seemed to be nice, down home type of people.  We look forward to going to the upcoming class, and we can't wait until we start nurturing our first colony of Honey Bees this spring!

Hive Boxes are ready for Bees.

After another day in the shop, the Hive Boxes are complete, and ready for spring!  We found about a half of a gallon of exterior paint that was left over from painting the fireplace chimney chase, so we decided to use that for the hives.  I added a quart of white exterior paint I had, which lightened up the color, and put that white paint to good use, before it went bad.  I think they look pretty good!

Here's a shot of a complete hive setup:  A bottom board, 2 deep supers (sometimes called brood boxes, or hive bodies) 2 medium supers on top of the deeps (the medium supers will be where the bees store honey) and capping it off, the hive top.

I used Eastern Red Cedar for the bottom board for the hive.  I have quite a bit of this on hand, at it is more rot resistant than pine.  It should weather nicely, without the need for paint.

Angie and I decided we wanted something more than the standard "flat" roof for the hive.  We decided to go with the "garden" style roof.  It looks nice, and dresses up the hive.  I used FRP (Fiberglass Reinforced Panel) for the roofing "shingles", and I machined a nice cedar ridge cap.  It turned out good, and I like the look.

Now, once the rest of the Bee Supplies arrive, we should be ready to go!  I will be posting pictures of the other things that go along with the hive, and come the first of April, we should have BEES!!!!

Hive boxes primed, ready for paint.

I spent a few hours in the shop this morning, getting the various Bee Hive components primed, and ready for paint.  Once I got a routine established, the painting went pretty quick.  I need to prime the bottom edges of all the boxes, and I will do that later today when the top edge has dried well.

Hive Boxes - The deep boxes are brood boxes.  These go on the bottom of the hive stack, and this is where the Queen hangs out, laying eggs to build the colony numbers with new Bees.  Each hive will have 2 deep brood boxes. 

We decided that rather than just the standard "flat" hive top, we would add a little pizazz to our hives, and build a "garden hive" style roof.  We plan to use FRP (Fiberglass Reinforced Panel) for the roofing material, and I have machined a nice piece of Cedar to cap the roof peak.  It will look nice when it is done, and I hope the Bees appreciate the extra work!

That's about it for now.  I hope to get the finish color on the boxes sometime before the weekend is out.  I will be working on the hive top first, because I want to see how that looks when I get it done.  More pictures later...........for now, it's time to help Angie start getting the Christmas Decorations out.........and up!  See ya!

Honey bees secret world of heat revealed - Telegraph

Honey bees secret world of heat revealed - Telegraph

Very interesting article about how select Bees within the colony regulate temperature.  Honey Bees are amazing little creatures!

Bee Supplies ordered!

Angie and I compiled a list of Beekeeping supplies, chose the suppliers with the best prices, and placed orders on Friday, Nov. 23rd.  Many Beekeeping Suppliers are offering discounts or free shipping this time of year.  We took advantage of these offers, and saved well over $50.00 in shipping charges!  All of the suppliers I have spoken with on the phone have been extremely pleasant and very helpful.  It's really nice to talk with a real person when you phone a company looking for advice or information!

Today, it's back to the shop to complete a couple more brood boxes, and a couple of hive tops.  I will have to gather all of the complete hive components I have built and post a picture.  I have quite a stack of hive boxes and other components sitting in the shop.  These were really enjoyable to build, and I saved a bunch of money by doing it myself!  Sometimes, a shop full of woodworking equipment pays off in more ways than just enjoyment!