The Bees Swarm

May 29, 2013

I went out the back porch door and heard this loud buzzing sound.

I wondered what was going on with the Bees.  I looked over toward the hive and it seemed fine.

I then focused on where the sound came from and saw Bees everywhere near the storage shed.

I went and got my camera and took a few pictures of them.

They were all over the place, even in the lawn. 

Dave suited up and put them in a cardboard box until he could figure out if they came from our hive or somewhere else.

It turned out to be part of our hive.

Dave and our friend Ted got them back in our hive a couple days later.

They were pretty jazzed up when they moved them out of the box to the hive.

Dave also added another box to the hive to make sure they had plenty of room.

Checking the Bees- July 12, 2012

So this evening Dave decided to check the bees and see how they were doing.

He wanted to make sure they hadn't filled up the hive and ran out of room.

If they run out of room they will swarm and leave the hive for another location.

It was still warm this evening and a lot of them were on the front porch of the hive cooling themselves.

All those little bodies create a lot of heat in the hive and they try to keep cool. 

Dave pryed a rack out to look at it.

They have been busy since the last time we checked it.

Dave will need to add another level soon.

Dave estimates that there have been about 2 hatchings of bees in the hive.

These new bees are not as docile as the pretty yellow ones.

A couple came after me and I don't have a bee suit.  But I didn't get stung.

Dave did.  He was in the suit too.  I didn't know they could sting thru the suit.  Hmmm

Dave's first bee sting.

Dave is pretty good about keeping calm around the bees.  He doesn't make any sudden jerks and stays pretty melow.  Not me, I had a couple come after me and I am trying to wack them away and running toward the sprinklers.  Probably not the best....

But I didn't get stung -- this time.  

I can't remember the last time I got stung by a bee.  I think I was about 8.

Update: Dave put 2 new boxes on the hive July 18.  I didn't take pics because it was so late in the evening and too dark.  Also, it was quite hot and after the last time I didn't want to get that close to them because they get more irritated when it is hot.

I will add a pic of the hive with the new levels soon.

While I was taking a pic of the bee hive, I took this pic of the dragon flies that love the little tree near the hive.  At times there are 6-10 of them flying around.  They are all this pretty blue color. 

The Hive gets a 2nd Rack

May 17th- This evening Dave decided to add another rack to the hive.  Over crowded hive is one of the reasons bees swarm and leave their hive.  We don't want to lose our bees!
Also Dave wants to check to see how the queen is doing as far as laying eggs in the frames.

The bees are pretty clustered together whenever the temperatures are cooler.

I am always amazed how mellow they are when we open the hive. 

I am standing right next to the hive taking pics and they don't even care I'm there.

They are starting to use propolis to seal the cracks and parts in the hive making Dave use the hive tool to pry open the hive.

(Propolis is a resinous mixture that bees can collect from tree resins like conifer sap)

Dave pulled out a frame to see how the bees have been doing.

You can see how they are getting the combs built up with wax.

Dave pulled out another frame closer to the middle of the rack and it had HONEY!

Busy little bees!

The second rack is in place.

Dave is giving them some more sugar water. 

We will only give them sugar water for about a month to ensure they have enough to eat until there are plenty of flowers blooming.

Two Racks

These 2 racks are for the Bees.  We will not harvest any honey from these levels. 

They will be used by the bees during the winter.

Dave the Bee Man.

The Bees!!

The Bees

Special Delivery...

25,000 of them and one Queen

Men in White

Ted Hayes on the left and Dave on the right.

Spraying the Bees with Sugar water so they aren't able to fly away easily

Opening the Bee box with the hive tool

Removing the sugar water can which is also the opening to get the bees out.

The Queen Bee box is put in the hive to get the bees to stay in the hive.

The queen gets taken out of the little box after most of the bees are in the hive.

Gently shaking the bees out of the box

We were quite surprised how docile the bees were. 

I was taking pictures in short sleeves and I was only about 5-10 feet away. 

They didn't seem to mind much.  They were probably glad to get out of the tiny box.

Pouring sugar water in the hive so that the bees have something to eat until they make some honey.

 Dave is putting the frames in the rack.

We are starting with one rack, but will be adding another rack soon.

The first two racks are the brood racks.  The queen will lay eggs in these racks and they will also be their food storage for the winter.  All the honey in these two racks will be for them to eat all winter.

The entrance to the hive below.

We put out a dish of water.  The rocks are in there to give them a place to land and not drown.

The bees that came with the queen are a different type than what we will eventually have.

The Queen is a Carniolan Bee.  The Carniolan Bee originated from middle Europe.

The yellow/golden bees below are the bees that came with the queen and they are Italian Bees.  They will eventually die off and be replaced with the Carniolan Bees that come from the eggs that the Queen lays.  She was bred before she was sent to us.  Queens are only bred once in their lifetime and they live about 5 years.

Later that afternoon when it warmed up, the hive was already busy.

Dave went out that evening to check the bees again.

He kept checking them throughout the day. It was cooling down so they were pretty much tucked in for the evening.  Not a whole lot of activity at the entrance to the hive.

Ted Hayes is a friend of ours who said he would help.  He has had bees for quite awhile. 

He knows bees.

Thanks Ted.