Adventures in Beekeeping - Year Six

Starting over again in year six with the bees absconding late last fall. Changed bee yard location and have installed a nuc of bees. Beekeeping is always an adventure with lessons to be learned.

Apple Blossoms and Honeybees

On what a beautiful first day of May in the mountains. The apple trees are beginning to blossom and the honey bees have been busy. Honey bees are attracted to the smell and the color of the apple blossoms. Honey bees collect nectar and pollen on their legs then carry it to another apple blossom. This process is called pollination and must happen for an apple tree to bear fruit. Looks like a good year for apples!

 

Bees and Chinese/garlic Chives

Nearing the end of summer, the Chinese/garlic chive begin to flower in my herb garden.  Chives are extremely attractive to bees and have plenty of pollen in their flowers. What a joy to watch these bumblebees flit from flower to flower gathering pollen.

This lady is filling her pollen basket (orange mass on her leg) with pollen.

Hard working bumblebee feasting on the white flowers of my Chinese/garlic chives.

Lovely Lavender and Bees

Lavender is at the top of my list for a great bee-attracting plant and my lavender plants have been very popular among the bees this summer. Not only does the Lavender plants smell heavenly but they can be used to make Lavender tea and other baked goods. 

Bumblebee enjoying the Lavender

The Honeybee has discovered my newest Lavender plant just beginning to bloom.

Happy Earth Day 2017!

The bees were buzzing in the apple trees on this beautiful Earth Day 2017 in Banner Elk, North Carolina. Happy Spring!!

Honeybee (top left) working the apple blossoms.

Promise of apples this fall!

Winesap apple blossoms!

Feeding Honeybees in January

It was a perfect January day in the mountains to inspect and feed the bees with temperatures in the high fifties. I was happy to see the number of bees in the hive and that this new location seems to suit them. Not out of the woods yet but spring is just around the corner. Colder weather returns for the weekend.

Honeybees on Christmas Day

Happiness is seeing winter honeybees darting outside this hive  for a cleansing flight on this Christmas day.  Since the day was warm, a little light housekeeping was also in order for the beekeeper and the bees.

Got Milkweed for Honeybees?

The milkweed is the host plant  for the monarch butterfly but milkweed is also a favorite bee plant. I was amazed to see honeybees, bumblebees, and butterflies all enjoying the nectar from the milkweed plants.

The Hum of Bees in My Vegetable Garden

I love seeing the bees in my vegetable garden and the results from their pollination. Pictured top left are squash, peppers, and tomatoes gathered from the garden; bottom left are sugar pie pumpkins and the photo on the right are honeybees gathering pollen from the sugar pie pumpkin blooms.

 The hum of bees is the voice of the garden. ~Elizabeth Lawrence

New Honeybee Hive Thriving

Starting over after black bears attacked and destroyed my three honeybee hives this spring.  I changed my hive location and installed an electric fence to help keep the bears away. Happy to report that my new hive is thriving and increasing in size so that I have added a shallow to allow more room for the honeybees.

Back in the Bee Business!

Package of bees have finally arrived

Getting Ready to install package of bees.

Package of bees installed,

Back in the bee business...

Hope the bears can read this!

Bear Attack on Bee Hives

Sometimes in life we take the bitter with the sweet.  My three beehives were attacked by bears this spring. I am in the process of relocating my bee yard and installing an electric fence. My new packages of bees are ordered and should arrived soon. Thus I begin my fourth year of adventure as a beekeeper.

Bear attack on three bee hives

The Bears knocked over the hives

Two bee hives destroyed with one left

Another view of hives

Hand Painted Bee Boots

Clematis virginiana

This is a photo of a Clematis virginiana also known as Devil's darning needles, Virgin's Bower, or Old Man's Beard climbing up the side of the barn in the mountains. Lacking tendrils, the vine supports itself by means of twisted stems that wrap around other plants or structures.

This is a beautiful plant with feathery tails or plumes, that give a hoary appearance and is especially showy in late summer. The bees love this common Clematis as they are gathering pollen.

Swarming Bees

Swarming is mainly a spring phenomenon where a new honey bee colony is formed when the queen bee leaves the colony with a large group of worker bees. 

Working in my bee yard, and noticed bees gathering in a nearby tree. Lucky I had a swarm box to catch them and they were on a branch that I could reach.

Set up brood box and dumped the bees from the swarm box into it. 

The bees began fanning to let everyone know where to go. Look  all the bees began marching into the hive following the queen.

Not sure of the origin of the first swarm I caught. The second swarm was from my newest hive so was very happy I captured those "girls". I now have two new hives in addition to my older two hives. My bee yard is growing!

Spring Beekeeping

This begins my third year as a beekeeper.  The third year is a big year for stabilization. I am a happy beekeeper that both my hives survived the winter and are thriving. It is also the year for beekeepers to start making limited honey production again. Let’s get started!

Spring inspection with removal of the winter hive wrap.

Look at all the bees!  

Looks like I will need to add the honey super to give the bees more room.

Feeding the Bees

Even during a cold winter, there will be opportunities to open the beehive for a quick addition of food. My hope is to have at least one  day each month when the temperature hits near 50 degrees or above to slip some food into the hive. Last week with the temperatures in the low fifties in Banner Elk, I was able to feed the bees a pollen patty.

I buy pre-made pollen patties and store them in the freezer until I’m ready to put them in the hive.   Pollen patties usually don't contain pollen, but simulate real pollen. They are rectangular in shape, sticky, and high in protein but bees eat them like candy.

I put a pollen patty on top of the brood box frame, where the bees can get it easily.   They’ll chew the waxed paper away as they start eating the patty then remove the wax paper from the hive.

Closed for the Winter

The beehives are closed for the winter. Honeybees head to the hive when temperatures drop into the 50s.

A hive wrap is added to help protect the bees from the winter elements. The bees have one main job in the winter — to take care of the queen bee to ensure survival of the hive.

The honeybees have gathered in a central area of the hive to form a “winter cluster.” On warmer days, the bees will leave the cluster briefly for a “cleansing” flight outside the hive.

Harvesting First Honey

It takes honeybee workers ten million foraging trips to gather enough nectar to make one pound of honey. The bees have been very busy in the new hive.

This is the first run of honey harvested from new hive.  The nectar flow wasn't enough for the older hive of bees to make honey. They uncapped the honey they had made to eat not leaving any honey for  us to harvest.