May Day Installation

Yesterday did not seem like the first day of May, even for Minnesota. The temperature hovered in the 40s; it was rainy and overcast with a brisk wind. Not the type of day you'd expect to install bees in.

John and I went down early to B and B Honey Farm to pick up our bees. John was getting two 2 lb. packages and I was getting 4. With the chill in the air, the bees were rather quiet in the packages, all huddled together around the queen cage.

Installation of my four packages went without a hitch. I installed two of the packages in two top bar hives, and the other two in two langstroths. Except for dropping a jar of sugar syrup on the only cement in the beeyard, there were no major disasters.

I will be going home this afternoon to take a look at the hives and see how they're fairing. I don't expect to see much. May 2nd has temperatures in the mid 30s.

Winter's Been Tough

I was just speaking to my friend and fellow beekeeper, Chris, about our honeybees. He has experienced the same losses as I have, ending up with one hive as I did. Anecdotally, our experiences are pretty similar to many in the area. One person in the know stated that close to 90% of the hives have been lost. The general consensus says that last year's heavy rains has much to do with it.

I've just called B and B and ordered two more hives.

Minnesota Winter is Beekeeper's Ally

I believe Kirk Webster said that it would be more beneficial to see the varroa mite as a beekeeper's ally than as an enemy. The varroa mite "selects" the survivor hives for the bee breeder, allowing the most adaptable bees to survive. I am trying to see Minnesota winters in much the same fashion, as only one of my hives has survived thus far.

In some sense, my survival rate ( one out of seven) does not surprise me. The two top bar colonies went into August with little stores and no amount of feeding seemed to help. The Metpropolis hive was never very strong throughout the season. I was hoping that the two hives I developed from my own mating nucs would survive but they never quite built up either. Surviving the winter depends on building up during the summer and the constant rain during last summer kept that from happening. The surviving hive this winter was also the strongest last summer and the hive with the most surplus honey in the fall. The survival rate is somewhat predictable then.

Friday, I will call B & B Honey Farm and order two more packages. I will use my surviving hive to start one or two others. Hopefully, if this year's weather cooperates, this survivor hive can produce some real solid stock.

Order Two Packages From B and B

I failed to record that I ordered two packages of Hygienic Italian bees for the spring from B and B Honey Farm. These will go to replacing the bees in the two top bar hives which I am sure are dead.

I have spent much of the winter recovering from surgery but, on those days when I can, I have been building 5 frame wooden nucs for spring expansion. I was not impressed by the cardboard nucs I used last year. Those I have left will be used for transport and any sales I have.

Winterization-- Part II

Yesterday I continued the winterization of Beelandia's hives. It was very difficult to think that cold weather is around the corner with the temperature reaching into the 60s (F) but the pre-winter tasks needed to be done.

I placed hive-wrap material (purchased from B and B Honey Farm) around each hive. The hives were generally cooperative, even though the weather was warm enough for foragers to come and go in significant numbers. As usual, I struggled a bit with the top bar hives. They are just not as easy to wrap as nice Langstroth boxes.

No stings and the task was finished.

Finally

Today's weather was finally summer-like: muggy, bright sun, and bees were out flying. All the hives had activity at the entrance. A few are just chock-full of bees.

I inspected the langstroth hives today. Bee Glad... has eggs layed in all three boxes. The queen is on the move. The brood pattern was fairly solid, and the bees themselves were very gentle. I pulled a capped drone brood frame, and replaced it with one that had been in the freezer for two weeks. (It was thawed!)

I cannot say that Lib-BEE-taria was not all that gentle. They were flightly, defensive, and running all over the comb. They still act queenless, and there was very little activity in the top box. I put some young open brood from one of the crowded nucs into this hive and will hope for the best.

Worker Bees... is doing fine. The queen is also laying in all three boxes, and they were as gentle as Bee Glad.... I also extracted some capped drone brood and replaced it with a formerly frozen frame. There were a few open queen cells in the hive but nothing was laid in them. I dusted this hive with powdered sugar as well.

I finished off inspecting the hive I created last week from one of the nucs I started in April. This hive is thriving. The bees were working on all 10 frames, and there was some crowding already. I decided to add a second box to the hive.

Aside: Any suggestions on what to name this new hive? Or am I getting large enough that I need to brand them with numbers?

I have run out of deep hive boxes so I will need to make a trip to B and B Honey Farm sometime this week.

Odds and Ends

Just a short post on a few things done today:

1. I ordered some bird's foot trefoil seeds today from Seedland.com. Last summer, as a I biked up to Saint Mary's, I noticed honeybees foraging all over the yellow flowers of this legume in a large field. I've decided to plant some in our yard. Not only will the bees have another plant to forage, but this plant, as a legume, adds nitrogen to the soil.

2. I recently bought a frame cleaning tool from B and B Honey Farm and am really impressed with how much easier it has made my life this winter. I can be very cheap and not buy labor saving tools, but this tool has made my life so much simpler.

Two Packages Ordered (Just in Case)

The honeybees in my five hives seem to be doing fine this winter, however, the next six weeks are a critical time in the life of a hive. Yes, my over-wintering hives look good today, but who knows what will happen in those weeks approaching spring. As a precaution, I've ordered two 3 lb. packages of bees from B and B. If all my hives survive then I will use the packages to start colonies at other out areas or give them to my beekeeping friends in the area whose colonies may not have survived.

Busy Two Days

Beelandia has been a busy place the last two days. The bees, of course, are truly active right now, and I spent some time inspecting them.

Yesterday I had an opportunity to look in on the nuc I set up last week when I took a queen cell from Plan Bee... I was surprise at their activity and did get a glimpse of the virgin queen scurrying on one of the frames. All goes well here!

I went next into Plan Bee.. to get a sense of how well they are doing since they swarmed. I could not find a queen, and they seemed rather testy. I closed up the hive and made a note to watch them closely over the next few days. There was still one capped queen cell, so they might be waiting like I am.

I went next to Lib-BEE-taria, the langstroth having carniolan bees. They are storing much honey in the top deep, but are not yet interested in the shallow super above. These bees were also a bit testy, though I did receive a sting.

This morning I went to B & B Honey Farm to buy some equipment. I am like a Boy Scout when it comes to preparation. I bought another deep box, two frame feeders (for the double nuc), and they were nice enough to give me a few used queen cages for free. While none of this equipment is needed immediately, I do not want to be caught without it.

This afternoon I inspected Metpropolis, the top bar hive filled with Italian bees. These honey bees were much calmer than the carniolans I inspected the day before. They are also extremely productive. I harvested one bar of capped honey. I also had a slight accident with a fragile comb filled with capped worker brood. Luckily the queen was not on this comb and the bees didn't get too upset. Anyway, Metpropolis is booming! It seems to have a good laying queen and productive workers.

I am happy to report only one sting during this two day inspection.

Report from Rushford

I spent this afternoon helping my friend Chris with his bees on his farm in Rushford, Minnesota. Chris had a slight and embarrassing accident with the new queens he purchased yesterday at B and B Honey Farm in Houston, Minnesota. He went back to purchase some new ones today and place them in the splits he made from two of his hives. He did have to take a little teasing from the staff at B and B. Chris successfully placed queens in two of his eight.

We went on to inspect the other six hives. Two of those contained the queens from last year's package. They were active and seemed healthy, though Chris took the advice of a local beekeeper and treated them both with formic acid. They had not been treated before.

The other 4 hives contained newly hived packages purchased two weeks ago. We saw the marked queens in each, and the drawing of comb on at least 4 frames in each hive. The really interesting thing was to see the color of this drawn comb. Chris' bees have been foraging on wild mustard all throughout his farm, and the comb reflects this foraging; it is bright yellow in color.

One concern was the appearance of a good number of dead bees in front of the entrance to one hive. These dead bees had their probosces extended, possibly indicating poisoning. This is a mystery. Where does the poison come from?

Installation of More Bees

Yesterday, I installed two more packages of bees (Minnesota Hygienic), one in Metpropolis, and the other in Bee Glad... I was in the middle of grading finals so the bees came at a very busy time. I was in my office yesterday morning, around ten, when I received the call from B and B Honey Farms. I left immediately with my friend Joyce to pick the 3 pound packages up.

The installation went without a hitch. I took a bit of time to make last minute adjustments to each hive, while I waited for Monta to return from work to photograph the process. The actual installation took just a few minutes. Quite a difference from all the fumbling and tentativeness that went on my first year!

Bees Ordered

I just placed my order with B and B Honey Farms for two three pound packages of bees for the spring. Thinking about spring with the bees just warms me up on this morning of below zero temperatures. 

Everyone might check out B and B's new website. They can't take  internet orders yet but they soon will be able to.

Wrapping Up

Today, Monta and I wrapped up Bee Glad... and Metpropolis. We used some hive quilts we purchased at B&B Honey Farm in Houston Minnesota. The entrances had been narrowed and "mouse-proofed" a few weeks ago. We did two treatments of Apiguard for mites in August and September as our counts were extremely high.

This is one of those things I've really felt like I've done blindly, since packing up the hive for the onset of winter is such a local thing. We have a rather unique local climate in Winona being that on the Mississippi in a valley protected by bluffs on each side. We had a good deal of snow last year but in the previous three or four very little. I hope the Beekeeping in Northern Climates manual applies to Winona and is transferable to Top Bar Hives. I spent the day fretting. I've grown attached to the bees and feel a very deep responsibility toward them.

I also removed the fish from Lake No Bee Gone. Only one of the koi survived but the white clouds multiplied. They are now in winter quarters in my home office.

Day One: The First Day of Beekeeping

Yesterday, I became a beekeeper in earnest. I've read books, talked to beekeepers, monitored email lists, and perused websites. But on April 29th it finally occurred: I picked up my bees and installed them in my two hives.

The day started normal enough, teaching my Political and Social Thought class at 8:50a.m. After class, I took a 45 minute drive down to Houston, Minnesota to pick up my two packages from B & B Honey Farm. It was a pretty uneventful drive except for the last mile or so. B & B is located on a narrow, winding, dirt road with trees and gullies on each side. I "white-knuckled" the last mile in the pick-up, just hoping I wouldn't run into another vehicle coming the other way.

I was the only customer at B & B's when I got there but they still seemed like they were scrambling. Houston had an inch or so of snow two days before. While the snow had melted, they must have been backed up filling their orders.

The man who waited on me was helpful and kind, giving me a "mini-lesson" in package installation and carrying the packages right to the pick-up. I panicked a bit when I discovered that the queen cages were simply plugged with corks-- no candy. I hadn't anticipated this eventuality and, while the bees seemed "enamored" with their queens, I was really concerned about directly releasing the queen into the hive.

I left B & B, not without having a near collision with another motorist on that dirt road. I could just imagine the accident report..."minor neck injuries and a thousand stings from the angry bees let loose in the cab."

When I got home, I placed the packages on the back porch, sprayed them with sugar water and waited for Monta to return from work to take some photos of the installation. In the meantime, I got all my tools, implements, syrups, etc. I had prepared and set up in "Beelandia".







I installed the first package in the top bar hive (Metpropolis). The feeder baggie and pollen paddie were already placed in the hive. I was unbelievably calm opening the package, extracting the queen cage, and then shaking the bees into the hive. I did have an adrenalin "high" working with this first package, though, which might have caused me to be a little too fast in my movements. One bee got caught in my hair and promptly stung me on the side of the head. I believe another got caught between my fingers and let me know that she was there with another sting. I calmly finished closing up "Metpropolis", took a deep breath, and assessed my wounds.








I am happy to report absolutely no allergic reactions to the stings. The stings burned for about 15 minutes with no swelling or long term pain.

I went through the same process, this time with the Langstroth hive, "Bee Glad for the Hum has no ending...". This time things went much smoother, I took it slower, and there were no stings at all.



After Monta went back to work, I spent an hour or so simply watching the bees behavior, as they began the process of adjusting to their new digs. I also began my adjustment to them as well. As if to prove Walter Brennan right (watch the movie "To Have or Have Not"), I found out that dead bees can truly sting, after I got on my hands and knees to observe the behavior at the entrance to "Bee Glad...". When I tried to observe the entrance of "Metpropolis" a little too close, I also discovered that guard bees can be pretty direct in their attacks. (A sting right above the eye!) In all, though, it was an exhilarating experience I will never forget. I look forward to many similar experiences.

Happenings today

Two bee-related activities went on today before lunch was even served. I ordered two packages of bees (Minnesota Hygenic) from B & B Honey Farm in Houston, Minnesota. I have to say I was a bit nervous about making this call. Even when I am the most confident, I do not do well over the phone to begin with and had further anxiety because I was essentially making my first "bee order". The woman who took my order put me right at ease though. She explained things clearly, and was very knowledgable. She knew my "newbie" status and made me feel quite comfortable through the whole process. I want to visit their "showroom" in the near future.

As soon as I finished my phonecall to B & B and conducted my Public Policy class, I went to the university mailboxes and found that Betterbee had sent me my order of unassembled deep frames. Monta is planning to make a Langstroth hive as well and wanted to get an idea about how frames were structured before she built the boxes using some plans we found online. The wood smelled so fine.

By the end of next week, the Top Bar Hive should be constructed as well.

Where Do I Go From Here?

I'm slowly getting over the humiliation and depression caused by the rejection of my sabbatical proposal. I've had to begin to ask: where do I go from here?

I will continue my project even without university support. Yes, I will have to be less ambitious, and the project will take more time but I feel it is a legitimate project even if some adminstrators don't think so. The last few days I've slowly got back into my research "discipline", examining and coding messages on the Bee-l and Organic Beekeeper email lists. I have been reading some old 19th century beekeeping manuals as well.

I called to order two 3 lb. packages of bees from B & B Honey Farm in Houston MN on the 21st of December. I don't know why but I was a bit nervous making the phonecall. I know people are usually helpful but I really hate requesting things for the first time. I also hate talking on the phone. I will have to call again in a few weeks as the people at B & B don't know how much packages will cost until January.

I have my small beeyard planned atleast in my head. The yard will be approximately 20 feet by 20 feet. The south side will be mostly bordered by an 8 foot fence. The east side totally fenced. The west side is our house and the north side will be a strip of legumes (soy beans and alfalfa). Against the inside of the fence I will be growing plants in flower pots. I will plant some borage, bee balm, chives, sage, catnip, and peppermint. A small, small pond of water will be located near the legumes. A standard Lang. hive will face south and be located near the house. A top bar hive, 5 feet in length, will be perpendicular to the east fence.