What I Learned In This Year of Beekeeping

Every fall since starting this blog, I take some time on this blog to examine what I've learned during the past year of beekeeping. So keeping with that tradition, here are some of the things I've learned:

1. The Importance of ventilation and moisture absorption in wintering hives-- Two years ago none of my hives survived the winter. Last year, all my hives survived and one of the key differences in my approach between the two years was how I prepared my hives for winter. (I recognize that the nature of each winter could also accounted for differing survival rates!) Last year, I placed a quilt box on the top of each hive to assure more ventilation and moisture absorption.
2. How to Use a Cloake Board--  Using sources found on the internet, I taught myself how to raise queens through the Cloake Board method. I found this method to be more suitable to the small size of my operation than other approaches I have learned.
3. Successfully Grafted Larvae--  Two summers ago I learned to graft at the University of Minnesota. This spring, I was able to successfully apply that technique to my own operation.
4. Develop a Contingency Plan for How to Use Created Nucs-- In my enthusiasm for raising my own queens, I failed to really think through what I was going to actually do with the nucs I created. I did finally give my extra nucs to a beekeeping friend with some room on his farm but not until one of the nucs swarmed. This failure led to my battle with the city council. (see next point)
5. Squeaky Wheels in the Neighborhood--  I learned that no matter how many people are supportive and understanding about your beekeeping endeavors in town, it only takes one "squeaky wheel" to set in motion a movement to either ban or regulate beekeeping.

Grafting Again

Yesterday afternoon I did some more grafting of larvae taken from Worker Bees..., the hive I started last July from a queen cell raised in one of Gary Reuter's hives. The cells were placed in a queenless box of Bee Glad...

Two Hives Inspected

I was finally able to inspect Lib-Bee-taria and Worker Bees... yesterday. The temperature was in the upper 60s (F) with a partially sunny sky. Both hives were very active, having been essentially cooped up inside for the last 5 days with cold, cloudy weather, and occasional showers.

Both hives were doing fine. I found the queen in both. Eggs laying seems very good as I found evidence of brood in all stages of development. I also noticed that the bees' temperament was much calmer and "gentler". I moved some frames around in each to get the bees to draw on empty frames and dusted both with powdered sugar. I also exchanged drone brood frames. I put a queen excluder and honey super on Worker Bees...

While I was in the yard, I placed the Cloake Board's queen excluder back on Bee Glad... between the 2nd and 3rd boxes. I will again do some queen rearing.

Step Three: Grafting Larvae

Today I grafted larvae from a frame found in the Worker Bees... hive. The queen in this hive came from a queen cell I brought back from my queen rearing course last summer at the University of Minnesota. After grafting, I placed the frame in the top box of Bee Glad... which I made queenless yesterday by inserting the slide into the Cloak Board. Hopefully, the queenless young workers will start raising a few queens.

Step Two: Sliding

Yesterday was step two in my great Cloake Board experiment. I removed the frames of open brood from the top box and inserted the slide between the top box and the middle box. I also opened the bottom entrance. The top box is now queenless and filled with young nurse bees; already for the grafts I will make from larvae in the Worker Bees... hive.

Drones Are Flying!

Drones have begun to fly out of Beelandia during the day. I will take this as an indication that my queen rearing project can begin. On Friday, I will turn the bottom entrance of Bee Glad... around 180 degrees, move the queen to the two bottom boxes, place a Cloake Board between the second and top boxes, and move frames of open brood into the top box. This weekend, the process of grafting from the Worker Bees hive will begin in earnest.

I plan simply to walk-away splits to the top bar hives when and if queen cells appear in either hive.


For more information on queen rearing, check out the following books:

Bee Glad... for the Hive is Packed With Workers

Thursday was a beautiful, almost summer-like day in Winona with temperatures in the high 70s F. I couldn't pass up this day without looking into the hive that seems jam-packed with bees: Bee Glad...

I knew this hive was thriving but I wasn't aware of just how well it was doing. It already has three box filled with bees though most of the egg-laying is going on in the top two. The top box was heavy with honey as well. (Where the bees got this I don't know!) I did do a partial reverse, placed another pollen patty on top of the brood nest and closed it up. I have definitely decided that this colony will serve as my cell builder and finisher when I begin queen rearing with my Cloake Board in a few weeks.