A sustainable approach to beekeeping in Indiana

My First Swarm

Mon, 12 May 2008 21:00:36 -0500

I was lucky to have our security office call me about a swarm at work today just after lunch. I’m not sure how they knew to call me but call me they did. The weather was wonderful and I was caught up on work so I told them I would take care of it. The swarm was of medium size I guess. It was in a small shrub in some landscaping. It was very easy to get to and a great first swarm to capture. I clipped out the small twigs with bees and placed them in a cardboard nuc box. I didn't have a hive totally complete so the race was on when I got home with the bees. I needed to attach my roofing material and get the legs on and get the hive level and get the bees in quickly. Time was ticking because I also had my first beekeepers club meeting tonight with this new club I found and I didn't want to miss it. I was going to add windows in the two extra hives I had built and in storage but that plan fell through this afternoon in the mad dash.

My purchased bees were in nucs so this was my first experience with a swarm/package. LOTS of bees in the air when I shook them into the hive! A different experience than just moving frames over to say the least.

The temp dropped to low 50's after I returned from the meeting. I went to go get the nuc box that I left open and in front of the hive and found a handful size cluster still in the box so I put the lid on it and opened the entrance hole. Inside the hive (I looked up through the bottom screen) the bees are in three clusters. One big one and two smaller ones in three corners.

Wow, I didn't expect to have three hives already. Three looks to be the limit in my small urban backyard. Hopefully this swarm will survive and have some good genetics.

Here is a shot of the big cluster in the corner shot up through the screened bottom. I thought the newspaper headline “Remembering Your Mother” was appropriate but was a complete accident. The paper is holding some sugar on top of it.

And here is all three hives.

Wax Building in Full Production

Mon, 5 May 2008 22:09:01 -0500

So, the whole point in using a top bar hive design, is to use “top bars” in the hive. The bees I purchased were on 5 tradition frames,also called a “nuc”. I’m currently in the transition from these frames to top bars. I have three bars spaced between frames in each hive. This is to encourage straight comb building. Hive 08-01 has been working on one bar for over a week and they have made some great progress. Here is the first bar I put in.

And a closer look.

The wax is nearly drawn out to fill the allowed space. There is honey, pollen, larva, capped larva, and capped drone on it already. Probably eggs too, I just didn’t look that close. I could not be happier. The bees actually know what to do without foundation! The bonus is it’s built to their needs, not mine. If, for example, they need, for what ever reason, a load of drones, they make them. They know much better than me what they need and this system allows them to do it.

Here is the bar I put in yesterday. It’s got three starts on it already.

I checked one bar in hive 08-02. It’s already got some starts on it too! I just installed these bees yesterday! I should have put more bars in these hives sooner so I can get the frames out sooner. They are clearly up to the task of building lots of comb. Live and learn. More to come I’m sure.

Hive Near Collapse

Sun, 4 May 2008 21:53:47 -0500

I’ve checked hive 08-02 twice now and have found no queen, or eggs, or larva, or capped brood. All I have is lots and lots of honey being stored up. My supplier was supposed to have some queens last Thursday, but when I called him for a pickup, he thought it would be a much better idea to exchange out the nucs. I totally agreed. This hive has been without a queen for two weeks and is completely honey-bound. I put one bar in it a week ago and they’ve barely built any comb. When I took it out when I was packing the hive up Saturday, I noticed lots and lots of eggs. You would think that this is a good sign, that maybe I just missed finding the queen. Upon closer inspection you can see multiple eggs in each cell, a tell-tail sign of a laying worker. A very bad sign. Things have gotten so desperate in this hive that the infertile female worker bees are trying to lay eggs. An exchange is the only chance this hive had. So I packed them back into their carboard nuc box Saturday and headed out Sunday morning for an exchange. The weather was great. I kept two frames of honey and got three frames of capped brood, lots of bees, and a queen! He made our deal right.

When I installed them in my hive I went ahead and put in three bars to match the setup I already had in the other hive. Hopefully they can catch up in the wax building and I can start pulling out frames soon.

Here is the only comb they drew out. It is dead center on the bar.

The Bee Bridge

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 21:45:45 -0500

A few days after I inserted the first bar, I checked up on the bees through my observation window. In the gap created, the bees were forming bridges with stretched out legs. I’ve seen ants do this on TV. I shot some video of it.

First Hive Inspection

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 18:41:39 -0500

I did a full hive inspection today. And got most of it on tape. The one discovery is that hive 08-02 seems to be missing it’s queen. I inserted the first top bar in-between two frames in hive 08-01.

Video of hive 08-01:

Video of hive 08-02:

I Have Bees

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 19:08:00 -0500

This is the day I’ve been waiting for. Actually getting bees and putting them in the hive. I picked up two 5 frame nucs from Stone Hill Honey Farm in Spotsville, KY this morning. Of course, while I’m taking pictures I get stung on the pinky while we’re transferring the frames into my boxes. I’m starting to think they are honing in on the black camera. I’ve gotten stung on the right (camera) hand twice now when shooting pictures in two different bee yards. My stings don’t bother me for about 12 hours. Then I get some swelling then in about another 12 house the sting site starts itching.

Unfortunately the Carniolan queens I wanted weren't ready yet so I have Italian for now. I’m planing on replacing the queens when his stock of new Carniolan queens are ready in a couple of months. We’ll see, I might change my mind.

I shot some video of the install. I’ve edited it down, but it is still 10 minutes long and a little boring.

Everything went smoothly. The hive on camera right is a lot ‘hotter’ than the one on the left. It also has more bees. I’m going to wait around 3 to 4 days and then move over two frames and put a top bar in between to start drawing out their own comb. I’ll see how long this takes and then add in more to that schedule and eventually start removing the frames. I need to get these frames out as they are causing some trouble with bees finding ways into the roof area above the bars. Putting the extra bars on top of the frames to block them didn’t work to well as the height of the whole mess interfered with the lid. So I cut some thin strips of wood and swapped them out.

Here is a little more video of inside of the hive through the window and some of the front of the hives. They started bringing in pollen a before nightfall which you can see in the video.

I also had a chance to talk with some of the neighbors (finally) and they seem fine with them. One mowed the alley only a few hours after I put the bees in and didn’t have any trouble. That was a relief.

Like the title said, I HAVE BEES! More to come.

Blue Orchard Bees Captured

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 21:03:31 -0500

I went out to the two top bar hives today to do some final preps before the honey bees get here and I find a Blue Orchard Bee (well, I assume its a BOB) in one. It was sitting on the bottom screen very lethargic. We had a major cold snap here the last couple of days, down in the low 30s, which may explain the behavior. Then I open up the other hive, and there is one in there too! I thought this was very strange. I don't know if they were trapped in there or what. Or if something attracted them? I did dip these hives in copper naphthenate, which I now regret, but that was over three weeks ago. I hope it was just the cold affecting them.

I took them in the garage to get a good look at them and take some pictures. I noticed under a 10x loupe that they are both covered in mites. I assume Krombein's Hairy-Footed Mite, Chaetodactylus krombeini, as they have very large legs and claws.

In the warmth of the garage, one came around and started crawling around, the other is barely moving a leg. It's supposed to get warmer here tomorrow so I'll release the one, the other will go in the insect collection. Maybe I can show it my nice BOB box and it will lay some eggs in there. At least I know they are around. Pic show one of them under the loupe, see the mites?

Setting up the hives

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 21:20:44 -0500

This weekend I put the legs on the hives and leveled them. I made some nice long stakes out of rebar and secured the legs to the ground. The hives survived a nice thunderstorm and are ready to go. These were supposed to be located at the University where I work, but those plans fell through so I decided to keep them at my house. Small backyard, but lots of sun! We'll see how the neighbors react. I did have one come up that I've never even met from a few houses down that thought they were very cool. He has a friend that keeps bees. Bees might be here Tuesday!

Spring Bee Yard Inspection

Sat, 5 Apr 2008 20:05:22 -0500

I had a chance to go out to one of the members from the Southwestern Indiana Bee Association’s house for a spring inspection of their hives. They have around 10 hives now and plan to expand this spring. The experience was very enlightening even though they use standard bee hives as this was my first real encounter with that many bees! It gave me a lot of confidence for when my bees arrive. This was also the first time the new bee suit was used. I had a bit of trouble getting the hood to zip on, but once we figured that out it was smooth sailing. The suit worked as advertised, no bees got in. I did get stung on the wrist however, as I had my gloves off to shoot pics and video. The first of many stings I’m sure. I had very minor redness. After that, I put the camera away and put the gloves on. I did get these few shots and a nice video.

Building a Top Bar Hive-Part 6

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 17:35:26 -0500

The beehives are pretty much finished. I need to seal the inside of the frame feeders and construct a comb holder for inspections, but the main hives are done. Yeah!

I attached the corrugated plastic roofs with some stainless fender washers and deck screws. The lids are really lightweight. I also branded the ends with the hive number. 08 for the year and 02 for the second hive.

A complete hive with the mite count board in place.

Here is a look at the inside. Follower board on the left, 19 bars, and the feeder with the fill hole corked, with some shims on the other side of that. The shims can be added to make the honey bars (vs brood bars) wider to accommodate the wider comb used for honey storage.