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Post by cff on Mar 15, 2008 20:47:26 GMT -5
March and April are my two favorite months for beekeeping. I was standing out in my apiary yesterday and a swarm of bees came rushing out of one of my hives. The sky filled up with bees over an area as big as a foot ball field. I started to the shop to get an empty hive but they began to settle back into the hive they came out of. This event lasted about six or eight minutes total and it's what I call a pre swarm test run. Today I opened the hive and it was boiling over with bees, our mild winter has allowed them to build up in a major way so far this spring. While doing the hive inspection I found three frames with ripe swarm cells. I used each frame with a swarm cell to split this single hive into three Nucs. In a few moths I'll have three brand new hives or three $80.00 Nucs for sale.  It also gave me an opportunity to check the drone population in the hive, the boys are plentiful so I'll graft my first queens this coming week, I'll used the grafted queens to split the rest of the hives in a few weeks. Population boom coming on the farm ;D ;D ;D |
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Post by plantsnobin on Mar 16, 2008 8:33:38 GMT -5
It is good to hear that your numbers are increasing, with all the bad news about bees in decline. Have people in your area had trouble with CCD?
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Post by cff on Mar 16, 2008 17:36:30 GMT -5
I have heard of several suspected cases of CCD around my area and I know of several people who had heavy loses this winter. I lost two hives this winter, one starved to death and one was apparently queen less at the beginning of winter very few bees in the hive and no sign of a queen. I must have missed this one during the final fall inspection but overall mine have done well |
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Post by canadamike on Mar 16, 2008 23:06:28 GMT -5
Hayne, have you heard of the Warré natural system?
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Post by cff on Mar 17, 2008 5:33:31 GMT -5
I haven't heard the name Warré but this concept is common in organic beekeeping
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Post by cff on Mar 30, 2008 20:46:27 GMT -5
One tree with two swarms   |
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Post by cff on Mar 30, 2008 20:48:34 GMT -5
My son working to catch em while ol dad was at work  |
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Post by cff on Mar 30, 2008 21:06:51 GMT -5
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Post by durandal on Apr 1, 2008 7:38:10 GMT -5
Nice photos.
I have a cut out planned later this week if the temps and the clear weather hold.
Fingers crossed.
Making syrup tonight and getting gear together. GOing to stop down at the location today to see what's up and if they are still humming.
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Post by moonlilyhead on Apr 1, 2008 19:57:33 GMT -5
cff, who (company?) do you recommend buying the hive boxes/supers and stuff from? I'm hoping to get two hives soon, after I learn more about it. Isn't this the time of year to do it, though?
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Post by moonlilyhead on Apr 1, 2008 22:40:54 GMT -5
This is one of my all time favorite poems by James Wright. I thought I would share it here, especially since it is poetry month:
The First Days
The first thing I saw in the morning
Was a huge golden bee ploughing
His burly right shoulder into the belly
Of a sleek yellow pear
Low on a bough.
Before he could find that sudden black honey
That squirms around in there
Inside the seed, the tree could not bear any more.
The pear fell to the ground,
With the bee still half alive
Inside its body.
He would have died if I hadn't knelt down
And sliced the pear gently
A little more open.
The bee shuddered, and returned.
Maybe I should have left him alone there,
Drowning in his own delight.
The best days are the first
To flee, sang the lovely
Musician born in this town
So like my own.
I let the bee go
Among the gas works at the edge of Mantua.
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Post by cff on Apr 2, 2008 5:06:02 GMT -5
cff, who (company?) do you recommend buying the hive boxes/supers and stuff from? I'm hoping to get two hives soon, after I learn more about it. Isn't this the time of year to do it, though? It's hard to say who the best is; for me it's the one with the best prices at the time I need something This is the busy season for most bee keeping supply companies, sometimes during the slow time in the winter they will have a few deals or specials on shipping. Here are a few that I've ordered from in the past, had good service from all of them. All of them have a web sight, just google there name. BRUSHY MOUNTIAN BEE FARM 610 Bethany Church Rd. Moravian Falls, NC 28656 Ph: 1-800-233-7929 (8:30am-5pm) Fax: 336-921-2681 (24 Hr.) Email: sforrest@wilkes.net MILLER BEE SUPPLY 11562 North NC Highway 16 Millers Creek, NC 28651 Ph: 888-848-5184 Email: woodnwax@earthlink.net WALTER T. KELLEY CO., INC. 807 West Main St. P.O. Box 240 Clarkson, KY 42726 Ph: 1-270-242-2012 Ph: 1-800-233-2899 (visa/master card orders) (7:30am-12:00 noon & 1pm-4:30pm M-F) (7:30am-12:00 noon SAT) Fax: 270-242-4801 Email: sales@kelleybees.com |
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Post by cff on Apr 2, 2008 5:09:45 GMT -5
Nice poem, I've never heard this one (actually didn't know) there was a poem month. Thanks for shareing it |
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Post by moonlilyhead on Apr 2, 2008 12:35:55 GMT -5
You're welcome. All of James Wright's poetry is wonderful. None of that abstract crap..."Ohhh, I want you the reader to wonder what I mean..." and lots of visceral details coming from nature. I may have to post another favorite, A Blessing. In fact, I shall begin a poetry thread! Thanks for posting the bee company information!
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