New Bees or Newbies

I'm coming up on my one year anniversary of beekeeping. But this past weekend was my first installing my own package of bees. Last year's hive was started from a trapped swarm so going into this year I wanted to make to sure that I expanded the number of hives that I have and the surest way that I knew how was to buy some.

I ended up buying two packages with 3lbs. each of Italians. They were very easy to work with and they went into the two new hives quite easily. I belatedly discovered a problem in one of the new hives, though and only after I installed the bees. I had set up both hives with stands, bottom boards, brood boxes and covers several weeks ago in preparation for the new bees. When I looked at the entrance to the hive, though, I discovered a familiar looking type of web. I immediately pulled frames out from that side of the hive only to confirm my suspicion...a black widow had decided to make use of the space. I made an attempt to squash her, but failed. I put the frames back in and decided that several thousand bee's could probably address the problem better than I. Fingers crossed. 

I inspected my original hive, Hive #1, and confirmed that although queens had hatched, none had returned from their flight. At this point, I was 3 weeks past my split and the colony was starting to shrink. This made for a critical situation. I spoke with Mike Stephano at the last Mt. Diablo Beekeepers Association meeting and he said that he might have some spare queens at the bee pickup this past Saturday and that I could get one from him if he had them. He also suggested to take a frame of brood from the split and move it back to hive #1, but since hive #2 was so small I decided that wasn't a viable option. After installing the new packages and confirming the situation with hive #1, I went back to the bee pickup and bought a New World Carniolan Queen (Russian stock) from Mike and returned to hive #1 and installed it. We'll see how she does. 

I returned to the hives yesterday and the girls were looking good. The workers were still working away at the queen candy in all the queen cages. Everything was humming along quite nicely. 

First Swarm

Nothing quite equals the sight of a swarm. It can be a real thrill. But seeing bees circling around a bush or branch is a jolting experience when you're not exactly prepared nor expecting it.

I was visiting a friend in Southern California this weekend, and we went into his backyard to sit down to have some ice tea and catch up on old times when I suddenly noticed the swirling of bees just on the other side of his fence. I was equal parts ecstatic and panicked. Here I was with a sudden opportunity to use some beekeeping skills to capture a swarm, and even show them off to a good friend, but for one major detail...I did not have any of my gear and I was hundreds of miles away from my nearest hive. I immediately pointed out the swarm to my friend, along with my conundrum, as I walked over to have a closer look. The size of the swarm was about the size of a large melon. It wouldn't make for a large colony, but it could be a decent start for a hive. What to do?

Since I didn't have any gear with me, I determined my first option would be to contact a local beekeepers group and see if they would want to try and capture the swarm. This way the swarm is captured and moved, avoiding any problems for the local residents. But I discovered that where I was at, there didn't appear to be a nearby beekeeping association. So, what to do?

After some quick discussion, since I was obviously too far away from my hives and gear, the only other option would be to try and build something. My buddy is an accomplished woodworker and he had some good scrap lumber to work with so he offered to build an impromptu nucleus hive box with some scrap mahogany lumber. I guess if you can use mahogany...why not? I went online and grabbed some diagrams from beesource.com for making a 5 frame nucleus hive box, made some adjustments given the material we had to work with. It took a bit longer than hoped but he was done in about 45 minutes. It came out amazing! Unfortunately, no sooner was the luxury "nuc" done than the swarm dispersed. We ended standing by the fence with this beautiful box, but swarm less.

In the end, although we missed out on catching the swarm, there were some upsides. My woodworking friend quickly learned about some beehive requirements and how to build a "nuc." He's certain he could do it again in half the time if needed again. And I found out how nice a nucleus hive can look in mahogany. Really nice! I also learned to consider taking at least some core beekeeping gear anywhere I go...at least during swarm season.

Introductions

My name is Robert Hartung and I'm a beekeeper. I'm relatively new at this. I began my beekeeping journey a little over a year ago through an opportunity to learn via my daughters and their participation in 4H. 4H offered a Beekeeping project, and since its something that's always intrigued me, I coerced my daughters to be intrigued. The beekeeping excitement took hold for only one of my daughters but its been a good experience so far.

We got a late start last year, since we determined our backyard may not be an ideal place for a hive. Late in May, though, a friend offered up his half acre lot as an option and we put the word out through the 4H grapevine in search of a swarm. The 4H Beekeeping project leader was able to capture a swarm with a trap and gave it to us. And THAT is where our experience began.

Our hive survived a dismal summer despite the late start, limited nectar flow and dry weather. Our little hive went into fall with some doubts as to its viability over the winter. It only consisted of three medium boxes, not well populated with comb, or honey for that matter, so I had plenty of doubts. At worst, I figured this to be a learning experience if the hive failed. Several beekeepers provided dire warnings and doubts about my hive as it was going into winter. I only had one hive, which I was told is not enough. The colony was not large enough, which was not a good way to go into the winter. And, I got a late start to begin with, during a dry summer which was a bad omen to begin with. Despite all those indicators, the hive continued to survive over the winter and as this spring approaches, it is extremely active and behaving wonderfully. So, my word of encouragement to all new beekeepings is to never be discouraged. Keep going regardless. It's all part of the learning...

It seems to me a significant milestone for beekeeping is marking a queen. Two weeks ago, I visited the hive determined that if I found the queen I would mark her. It took some time going hive box, by hive box, frame by frame, and near the last frame I finally found her. I had purchased a queen marking tube and, not feeling comfortable enough yet about picking her up by hand, I was able to scoop her up into the tube, and pinion her to the end and mark her. It's amazing, almost silly, at how exciting that moment was.

This past weekend, because the hive is thriving, and because I came across some queen cells, I dove into the next milestone by splitting the hive. I was told by a couple beekeepers that I really should do this. I've read so many different approaches to splitting, so many different opinions that I still don't know if I did it correctly. So, here is my record of what I did, for good or bad. I found the frame that the queen was on (so easy to find now that she was marked) and moved her along with that frame to a new hive. I then searched for two other frames that had honey and bees on them, along with some brood (which I couldn't avoid), and moved them as well. Then I added a feeder on top and closed it all up. I visited the hive a day later to see how it was going and they seemed to be ok. The other hive was just as busy as ever so that looked good.

I've added now two more hive stands, bottom boards and a medium hive box on each. I have two 3lb. bee packages on order for arrival April 13. Then this little endeavor will truly escalate and also reach yet another milestone. I'm looking so forward to it.

So, this is it for my introductory post. I will continue to post my successes (and failures), and hopefully encourage others to join in this little world of beekeeping. It's been a lot of fun so far. There's definitely some amount of investment, and occasionally some work to do (sometimes a lot), but for the most part it's been a fairly casual, and not an immense amount of work.