In Search of the Queen...

So tomorrow will mark the three week mark for Hive # 2 (you can read about the latest adventure with Hive #1 HERE!) and according to our favorite resources thus far this day should be a milestone of sorts. By this time we should see some evidence of a laying queen as well as see enough comb within the hive to believe the bees are settling in to their new digs. Courtney's phrase to me as we stood over the hive was "I've been thinking about this all day!" and I will admit I've been pretty excited about it myself! Prior to today, we've essentially left the hive alone except for a quick (and I mean quick!) opening of the hive one afternoon to remove the empty queen cage. That particular day was in the midst of what felt like the second coming of the flood and I had put it off for as long as I felt I could but I didn't linger in the hive due to the damp, coolness of the day.

So needless to say, I've looked forward to today...it is my first thorough inspection of our hive and I couldn't wait to take a peek!

Books, beekeepers and experts will tell you it's best to start a new package of bees with frames of old (but healthy) honey comb. There are several reasons for this. One is that bees like the stinky smell of old honey comb and have an easier time accepting their new home (kinda like us bringing mementos to unfamiliar places.) Another is simply a time issue. If a package of bees already has a place to begin laying eggs and storing food, then they can take advantage of the spring nectar flow much quicker and will ultimately allow for the possibility of getting a little bit of honey during the first year. But since we are brand new beekeepers we did not have the luxury of providing our bees with established frames of comb with which to get started. We had to start off with brand new frames and brand new wax foundation. What this means for us is that the process of brood building is going to be slower in the beginning. But considering this, I was still pleased with how things are progressing-take a look!

 

This is what we saw when we first opened the hive. Notice that the bulk of the bees are to one side. This tells me the queen is likely in this area.

 

 

We removed the frames in order and this was the third frame. Notice how the bees are building comb. They must do this before anything else can happen. You can see pollen in some of the cells. This pollen will be used to feed the baby bee larva.

 

 

 

When foraging bees bring the pollen back to the hive they scrape it off their legs and place it into an empty cell within the honeycomb (you can see the pollen on a foraging bees legs in the picture above.) Another bee will come by and pack down the pollen where it will begin to breakdown. Nurse bees will use this "bee bread" to convert it to royal jelly and feed it to the young larva for three days.

 

 

Look in the middle of this photo. Do you see the TINY, TINY rice like dot in the middle of a cell? That is a newly laid bee egg! These eggs are between 1 and 3 days old. Seeing this tells me there has been a queen laying eggs here within the last 36 hours...a great sign!

 

 

If you look inside these cells you can see the next stage of a bees development, called a larva. These bees are between 4-9 days old. Interesting fact: these bees will shed their skin five different times between hatching and emerging!

 

After the ninth day, these cells will be covered over with what will look like cardboard (it's actually wax and pollen) and the bees will go through the third stage of development, called a pupa. We saw no evidence of this stage inside the hive so this tells me the queen has been laying for less than nine days. This information is important to a beekeeper because it offers clues to the overall state of the hive.

 

 

I wanted to include this photo because the other pictures were close up shots of the activity within the hive. This is what one single frame looks like. There are ten of these inside the hive. Right now, the bees are working both sides of four of them. You can see the comb taking shape towards the bottom of the frame.

 

During our inspection today, we did not physically see the queen but we saw lots of evidence of her activity. For right now, this is enough. To our inexperienced eye, it is still difficult to spot her...so the search will continue!  We'll check the bees in a few days to see if we have bees in the pupal stage and to see if we see further evidence of the queen (and hopefully find the queen!) Until then, we'll simply keep feeding them a 1:1 sugar syrup mixture and give them some peace and quiet!

 

 

Our First Challenge

When Courtney and I began connecting with other beekeepers I kept hearing stories of "...we lost 4 hives last year to mites" or "...all but one hive absconded" or "...bears got them all" yet I never really considered the possibility of such disappointments happening to us. I had this vision of us doing our research, spending the money on all the right equipment and then our bees settling in and making their home in our backyard. Simple. Straightforward. And....wrong.

We installed our bees on a Saturday. The installation went great and without incident. It was a great learning experience for me and for Courtney and I was thrilled to finally have our bees here. To me, the journey could finally, truly begin! During the first week or so, any book or experienced beekeeper will tell you to leave the hive alone and let the bees become accustomed to their new home and to become acquainted with their new queen. So that's what we intended to do. While we did leave them alone, I will admit I found myself routinely being drawn down to the hives to just watch and observe.  It was almost hypnotic in a way. Seeing the methodical way of the bees coming and going to and from the hive was exciting and kept me wondering about the drama may or may not be taking place inside each hive. Almost immediately after the installation I noticed that one hive behaved differently than the other (reason #692 that all beginning beekeepers should begin with at least two hives!) Hive #1 seemed kinda laid back, relaxed and relatively calm while Hive #2 seemed much more active and busy...almost rushed. Being a new beekeeper I wasn't sure what to make of the difference but I knew that in a week I'd get to peek inside the hive to really inspect the two hives and admire their handiwork.

Fast forward to Wednesday (four days after installation) when I just happened to step outside and discover this:

This is what I not so lovingly described as a "change in plans for the day." The bees from Hive #1 (the calmer hive) had absconded their box and were on a branch about 8 feet up in our live oak tree. The term absconded in the world of beekeeping means that all of the bees leave the hive in search of a new home. Hmph....An inspection of the inside of the hive box revealed this:

The frames were all empty, the queen had been released and some burr comb had been built around the queen cage. Here's a closer look at the queen cage (after I removed it):

 

 

 

The bees had been originally installed into a 10 frame box with wax foundation, an entrance reducer and a screened bottom board. The frames revealed the bees had begun drawing out comb on two of the frames and the queen had actually started laying a few eggs as you can see in this next photo (look for the small dot like grains of rice in the middle of each cell):

 



Thinking that the bees may have been unhappy with their new home for some reason, I opted to get the swarm and place it in what is called a "nuke" or a nucleus hive box. A nuke is just a smaller box that will only hold 5 frames (versus the 10 I had.) The idea behind a nuke is that the bees can stay warmer and don't feel quite as overwhelmed with the huge amount of space of a larger 8 or ten frame box.

So...we caught the bees, put them in the nuke and stood anxiously while we waited to see if they would give us some indication the queen was still present. After about 10 minutes, we saw this:

 

If you look closely you can see several of the bees standing at the entrance of the nuke with their rear ends "up in the air"...this action tells the other bees "This is home. The queen is here. Come on in!" Since I saw this, I was fairly encouraged. I felt like we had caught the bees attempting to abscond their hive and moved them to a smaller, cozier hive in time...but I was wrong.

 

By Thursday afternoon, the bees had absconded again and this time they were long gone. We had lost a hive. $80 just flew away after five short, honey less days. Hmph. I consider this my official initiation into the wonderful world of beekeeping.

 

So, after standing outside feeling totally discouraged and wondering why in the world I had talked myself into this expensive hobby I pulled my boot straps up (so to speak) and went inside to research what may have happened. Here's what I've learned:

 

Newly packaged bees abscond for many different reasons. Sometimes it's a lack of food, sometimes it's overheating and sometimes it's because of frequent disturbance. Other times they just don't like their new home for some reason. Our hive boxes were brand new and since we are new beekeepers we had to use new wax foundation so there was no real reason for our bees to "know" this was home.

 

When bees abscond, they will likely swarm together while scouts are sent out to search for a new home for the colony. Information I've gathered advises that perhaps we should have physically moved the nuke to a different location from where our original hive was so that when the scouts came back to tell the colony where their new home was, the bees would have been gone.

 

Other sources have suggested that it would have been a good idea to recage the queen or to have used a queen includer in the bottom of the box itself so that it would have been impossible for the queen to leave the hive. This would have given the bees a greater chance to build comb, for the queen to lay eggs and for everyone to have some time to make things feel like home.

 

Either way, this has been a great (although costly!) lesson in beekeeping. I am super thankful however for this lesson. It has given me the chance to learn more about bee behavior, to connect with other beekeepers and to understand a little more about what a new package of bees requires.

 

Ultimately, Courtney and I plan to keep bees for the long haul and so even though this was a painful loss so soon into our journey we are not deterred! We've learned our lessons and are moving on to the next adventure...

 



The Bees Have Arrived!

Courtney at Bee Well picking up our bees!

As beginners, we opted to purchase two packages of Italian bees. Italian bees are said to be a great "starter" bee since they are generally gentle and known to be good producers. There are many other varieties of bees in North America including Carniolan, Russian, Cordovan, and Buckfast (just to name a few!) (Note: if we had gotten our orders in earlier, I think I would have purchased nucleus hives versus the packages since a nucleus hive already has drawn wax and typically strengthens faster but we didn't know that at the time...we're learning!)


Once we picked up our bees and got them home, our bee mentor came over to help us with our first installation (reason #482 to find a bee mentor!) Typically, an installation really wouldn't take very long, but our mentor went step by step with us explaining the hows and whys of what we were doing during each step of the process and I believe that really helped me and Courtney to feel more confident about what we were doing and will help us with future installations!



         

                            Courtney pried the protective cover from the package and then placed the lid back over the opening.

 



Then Courtney removed the can of sugar syrup from the package and then quickly placed the lid back onto the opening!

 

The Queen was in a small cage inside the package. We had to carefully remove the cage (it has a small strap attached to it that was stapled to the package box.) You can see our bee mentor holding the queen cage and educating Courtney on the reasons the Queen is kept in the cage.

 

Courtney and our bee mentor removed about half of the frames to make room for the bees.

 

 

Then Courtney secured the Queen inside the hive box with the candy end facing up (so that there wasn't a potential for one of the worker bees inside the cage to die and clog up the exit hole and trapping the queen.)

 

 

 

After spraying the bees with a few squirts of sugar syrup (we opted to NOT soak them as some websites suggested) we poured them in!

 

 

 

You can see in this picture why we needed to remove a few of the frames! (You can also see where we've secured the Queen.)

 

 

It only took a few minutes for the bees to locate the Queen-this was amazing to me!

 

 

 

In about 30 minutes or so the bees that had been flying around made their way to the hive and began going in to check on the Queen!

 

 

 

After that, we placed the lid back on and left them alone for a week!

(And then repeated the whole process for the second package :)

Getting Started: First Things First!

Courtney all suited up!

I think it’s important to note that whenever Courtney (my daughter) and I first started to think about becoming beekeepers, we knew absolutely NOTHING about beekeeping. We had never known anyone who kept bees, had never been around bee hives and had no practical knowledge whatsoever of beekeeping. So to say that we have started from scratch is no understatement! We are still VERY new to beekeeping but ever since we’ve begun keeping bees my friends keep asking me “How did you get started?” This post is a brief summary of how we’ve gotten underway and advice I would give to others thinking about becoming a beekeeper. I’m sure as we go along we’ll adapt and expand this list because we’re learning more and more everyday but for now, here’s what I’d advise anyone with a desire to get into beekeeping:

1.       Do your research. I’m learning that beekeeping isn’t exactly a poor man’s hobby and it contains a large potential for mess ups and failures along the way. Bees are a fascinating, addicting creature that will suck you in before you know it so before you dive into the expense of hives, suits, tools, etc. it will pay you to research all that is involved before committing. One of the first things we did was to purchase a book by Kim Flottum entitled The Backyard Beekeeper. This book has proved invaluable to us and Courtney and I have referenced it many times in the short time we’ve had bees. Another basic book we’ve purchased has been Beekeeping for Dummies by Howland Blackiston that offers practical, hands on advice for any novice. There are other great beekeeping guides out there but these have been our choices and are working so far!  Additionally, I would advise anyone interested in beekeeping to do research online. I know that I have only tapped the tip of iceberg but some of great websites I have found so far include: Brushy Mountain Bee Farm, NC State’s BEES Apiculture Program, and Honey Bees Online.

2.       Shop local. I have quickly learned that beekeeping varies by region. Issues beekeepers battle here in hot, humid South Carolina may not be the same things encountered by beekeepers in cool, wet Washington state. As you do research online, keep your particular region in mind and find some locals to talk to and learn from. We quickly figured out the need to connect to other people in our area who were battling the same conditions we were so we opted to join our local beekeepers association and to connect with a local beekeeping store, Bee Well. These two steps has been such a smart move! We can’t do life alone and we certainly can’t become beekeepers alone! Find local people, local associations, and local businesses that can support your new hobby and all of the questions that are certain to come with it.

3.       Find a mentor. We kinda stumbled onto a mentor and I will be the first to admit I never had any idea just what a smart move this was. I have quickly learned that there are two kinds of beekeepers: one that wants to keep all of their beekeeping secrets to themselves and the one that wants to share them all. Find you an individual who has a few years of beekeeping under their belts and shadow them for a while. Courtney and I actually helped our mentor work his hives several times before ever actually committing to becoming beekeepers ourselves. Doing this helped us to know whether or not we were cut out for the adrenaline rush of hundreds of bees swarming and buzzing around you all at once! Our mentor came out and helped us install our first hive and has been there for the countless questions we’ve had along the way. Becoming a successful beekeeper includes finding a mentor for sure!

4.       Keep an open mind. As I have read all of these beekeeping books, done research online, connected with our local beekeepers association and stores and worked alongside our mentor I have discovered one consistent thing. EVERY BEEKEEPER DOES THINGS JUST A LITTLE BIT DIFFERENTLY. Some beekeepers prefer 10 frame hives, others 8 frame. Some beekeepers prefer top bar feeders, others entrance feeders….and the list goes on. For me, this is one of the unique mysteries of beekeeping that I find terribly intriguing. Everyone seems to have established their own little special way to keep bees and it encourages me to know that I may not have to do things “just like the book says” to be a successful beekeeper. It also causes me to be stop and listen to any conversation taking place about bees. I am finding that I learn something new everyday and that in itself is a reason to become a beekeeper!

5.       Be patient. Whenever I first began this journey, I felt terribly overwhelmed because as any beginning beekeeper will tell you, there’s a lot to learn! It would have been very easy to quit before even really beginning because of the enormity of it all, but I would encourage you to simply be patient. Take it slow. Understand there are going to be challenges, disappointments, and lots of questions but also lots of accomplishments and rewards. Take a deep breath and just go for it!

Why Bees?



Me with my papa.

I suppose I should start out with the question I get asked a lot here recently...why bees? Most people who know me understand that I love to garden and enjoy piddling around in my yard (and they love the fact that whenever they want lettuce or a few tomatoes they know who to call!) What people may not know, however, is just HOW MUCH I love to garden. At a very young age I can remember walking with my papa in his own garden and listening to him sing and pray and talk to his plants. I can remember him pointing out different plants and explaining the importance of having a place where one could come to and feel at peace with the world around them. Watching him as I grew up instilled in me a deep love of gardening and of the actual garden itself. There are times very early in the morning when I walk alone in my garden that I would swear to you it is something almost magical. It is so peaceful and serene that I feel it would be disrespectful to speak out loud when I'm there. So for me, the idea of bees came not necessarily out of a desire to "be a beekeeper" but more out of a love of my garden and an understanding of the importance of bees to our own existence.

So...fast forward to about two years ago when I first began "Phase 1" of what my husband not so lovingly calls the Garden Project That Never Ends...and I began having these visions of living solely off of what I could grow in my little raised bed garden. While I haven't gotten quite THERE yet, I did discover along the way that if I was truly interested in increasing the yield of my garden then there was one thing I absolutely MUST have in my garden. Yep, you guessed it, BEES.

And so the journey began...




The beginning of Phase 1 back in 2009.
 



Phase 1 Present Day.