End of the Week, Start of Another

This week has been slow, fun, and relaxed. After being out of yeast for "Dutch Oven" bread for almost a month, I am happily back in my bread-making rut. We are also a couple weeks away from planting time around here so not much is going on in the garden other than regular weekly rabbit fertilizer dumps.

Speaking of rabbits, Clementine (and maybe even Dandelion) has another three weeks before we need to start looking for a litter, so again, not much going on in the Rabbitry either. I groomed everyone today and it would seem that Dandelion is beginning to "blow" or shed her coat. Prime spinning wool to come. And Thistle, if you are reading this, I would really appreciate it if you wouldn't insist on getting mats on your side that I have to comb out 3x weekly. The girls stay tidy... Why can't you?

Trevor applied his second "powdered sugar" treatment to the bees while the wind was elsewhere yesterday and it seems to be working well at getting rid of the varroa mites. I only put the words "powdered sugar" in quotes because I know if I were reading this and knew very little about bees, I would think this "treatment" was "made up". I use "air quotes" a lot in real life too.

We may be getting another "storm" (see?) this week. I'm thinking it will be on the wimpy side considering the last four "big storms" to roll through the Sierra Nevada foothills have been no more than a few hours worth of pin-sized rain drops and light breezes. We're used to trees on houses, a few feet of snow, and week-long power outages. I am certainly not saying anyone wants these things, but this year's winter has left a lot of people scratching their heads.

I was looking forward to watching Netflix with hot cocoa and a sleepy toddler curled up next to the fire. I guess I'll have to settle for watching chickens free-range with iced tea and a running/skipping/jumping toddler while planting seeds. One is just as good as the other.

Anyone else craving a luscious green garden yet?

Hive Inspection :: March 2012

Two little snippets of video I took of Trevor doing his first hive inspection since closing it up for the winter. I'm missing the third part because the bees were very agitated after a 'powdered sugar treatment' for varroa mites. My daughter and I were not wearing appropriate beekeeper gear so we couldn't get too close.

Varroa mites can cause deformities and even death in a hive. We chose to treat them naturally and used powdered sugar in a shaker to sprinkle over the bees in the hive body. The sugar encourages the bees to clean each others hard to reach places on their backs where the mites hide. It also makes the bees too slippery for the mites to hold on.

Trevor checked back later and on the bottom board beneath the screen Trevor found many mites that fell off. Good sign! He will do another treatment and check the drone frame if the weather is nice and warm again later in the week.

Please excuse our neighbor's messy yard in the background... and the noisy and newly two-year old blabbering behind the camera.

Bees... In Winter?

Really, Trevor and I haven't written about our bees in awhile because there isn't supposed to be anything going on at the hive. It is winter after all. A time when most bees would be huddled around the queen trying to stave off the cold. The only reason they should leave is for "cleansing" flights (read: bee pee-pee-dance).

However, it has not been as cold as it should be around here. We literally have not had a decent cloudy day or even rain in two months which is weird, to say the least. As I type this, it is 60 degrees outside. The same as it's been for the last few weeks. The same as it's been since September.

But it's not September... it is January. Where is our snow?

I digress, back to the bees. So, our bees have obviously been out and about with the warmer temperatures and have been finding lots of pollen. This time of year there are quite a few daffodils to forage on. If you watch this video Trevor took yesterday afternoon, you will see four to five bees with huge amounts of pollen collected on their legs. It makes you wonder how they fly with all that weight.

Looks like we can look forward to a late-spring honey harvest!

Preparing the Apiary for Winter

Last week I got the hive ready for winter. This included wrapping the whole outside of the hive with black tar paper which absorbs heat and helps keep the hive (and bees) warm. This will help the bees keep the swarm between 90-95 degrees through the winter. Bees like to stay cozy.




I left the small entrance uncovered so that the bees could still go in and out if needed or if it's warm enough during the day to forage. In about another week or so, the bees will stay inside the hive (except to use the ladies' room) until about March as a type of hibernation. When the temperatures rise and show signs of spring, the bees will begin to come out and forage again.

The hive seems strong and should make it through the winter. We do get a few months of snow and freezing temperatures in our area so this will be the true test as to whether or not we prepared them well.


- Trevor

Hive Inspection :: October 2011

Checked in on the hive today. They seem to be doing well and the hive is very heavy. I was raising the back end so rain would run off, but could barely lift it. Rain was rolling off but dripping onto the landing board. So, I placed a small piece of plywood on top and put two 5lb weights on it to hold it down so it wouldn't blow off and made a kind of overhanging porch roof.

The bees were trying to fly and forage even though it was too cold. Some were having trouble because their wing muscles do not work well when it is below about 50 degrees. I filled the entrance feeder with a 2:1 ratio of sugar syrup and placed it on the hive yesterday. There wasn't much activity due to the rain, but as soon as the sun came out this evening, the bees made some short foraging journeys and cleansing flights.

A few hornets have been buzzing around but seem a little tentative about entering the hive to rob honey so the hive must be strong and defending itself well. I have also seen a few dead pupa outside the hive that the workers have removed. They may have just died of natural causes. I checked the pupa for any varroa destructor mites or signs pointing to why they did not hatch, but nothing unusual was detected. I will continue to monitor this.

All in all, I think the bees are strong and should make it through the winter unscathed. Their numbers naturally decrease in the winter when the queen stops laying and the drones are expelled from the hive. Honey stores are good and there are a lot of bees which should mean a strong hive.


- Trevor

Liquid Gold!

Isn't there something else called "liquid gold"? I think so... I just hope it's not dirty, because I am actually referring to honey. Anywho-- we secretly harvested one frame worth of honey from the hive today. Don't tell the bees.

We were just curious as to how our very own honey tasted and just couldn't wait until late spring or even next summer. Honey harvesting officially ended in August, but our hive was started a bit late (June) and we didn't get to harvest anything.

We won't be taking anymore until late spring since the bees will need it to get through the winter. And we are supposed to have a pretty harsh winter this year. Arg! That usually means lots of snow.

In the mean time, we will be holding on tight to our one tiny jar of honey.







- Sarah

A Beehive of Activity

The hive is about ten times busier now than it was in this video update from early August. I think it's a combination of new bees being hatched everyday and the hive's last foraging efforts as flowers die off for the year. Check out the video!

- Sarah

Hive Inspection :: September 2011

Today I did a scheduled hive inspection and discovered that I had a varroa mite problem. This is common in hives.
Most of my beekeeping books say the most common treatment is to generously sprinkle powdered sugar on all the bees. This keeps the mites from being able to climb on to the bees and prompts the bees to clean the sugar (and mites) off of eachother.
Then I inserted a white plastic board under the hive coated with vegetable oil. When the mites fall through the screened bottom board they will stick to the plastic oil coated board. This board should make it easier to keep track of whether or not the mite infestation has decreased to a number the bees can manage themselves.

- Trevor

Hive Inspection :: August 2011

I've completed my third hive inspection today and added a second hive body with ten frames of wired wax foundation. In total this gives me two hive "body" boxes (with ten frames each) and one shorter "super" box for honey collection, although I won't be collecting honey until after winter.

The colony is doing very well. There are many "c" shaped larva present which is a sign of healthy brood. If the larva were straight, it would be a sign of "foul brood", which is not curable. The top super box (a shallow 10 frame) is half full and weighed about ten pounds!

I actually saw two baby bees attempting to emerge from the cells during my inspection! So I have nymphs larva and hatching bees. I am very happy with the visibly healthy state of my new hive. The colony is also storing a lot of honey which will hopefully get them through the winter.

I removed the brace comb from between the frames the best I could and even saved some to show around. I was working rather quickly because the bees seemed a little testy. Most likely because of the heat and the young bees and larvae they were protecting. Although irritated, they didn't try to sting me and were actually licking honey from my glove and from my hive tool.

Everything appears to be going well with our colony of carneolan bees.


- Trevor

Happy Weekending!

photo by Trevor, Frühlingskabine Micro-Farm

Happy Weekending! Do something fun. Don't install hardwood floors like we're doing... which is quite un-fun.

- Sarah

Close-up

- Sarah

Bee Update... Video Style

- Sarah

It's a real apiary!

We officially have an apiary... because we officially have bees. A big thank you to Keith and Wendy who generously gave Trevor a nuc (a starter bee "nucleus"). See the bees by the entrance on the bottom front?









- Sarah

Finished!

All painted...



- Sarah

The Hive is Here!

Trevor received his bee hive kit in the mail Wednesday from Miller Bee Supply. The beginners kit comes with just about everything you need to get started: hive body parts, hive super parts, ten frames for the body, ten frames for the super, wax foundations for all frames, nails for assembly, hive tops, smoker, smoker fuel, Beekeeping DVD, bee brush, hive tool, hat and veil, gloves, screen bottom board, entrance reducer, and entrance feeder. We also bought a queen excluder for later.

Good deal!



Let me tell you that while the assembly itself is easy, it sure is time consuming. Especially when it comes down to putting together all of those wax frames. Ten for the hive body and another ten for the honey super. Arg!

And of course our daughter felt the need to sit right next to the hive. Practically ON the hive... You know, just incase the bees need a welcoming party.


- Sarah