Animals
- Beekeeping Basics
Yesterday was another sunny day with temperatures in the 60's. The rain held off (I think today may be the day, though). I took advantage of the wonderful weather, donned my bee suit, and headed out to feed the bees. Earlier this week I mixed...
- Winterizing Bee Hives
It's that time of year...time to put certain parts of the farm to bed for the winter. Each autumn around this time....before the winds turn too cold, we do a final inspection of our hives and get them winterized. Yesterday I had a bit of help....my...
- Baby, Its Hot Outside!
I have come to notice that the bees act as a thermometer. A few weeks ago, I published a picture of how they hang outside their hive on a hot day, cooling themselves. What I have come to notice is that the hotter it is outside, the more bees are on the...
- Honey Snacks
It has been a long cold winter here in PA. Jack and I have spent the past several weeks taking an evening beekeeping class at our local community college. We have learned a lot and I feel confident that I am ready to take over as beekeeper. Yesterday...
- Honey Harvest...the Process
Mike and Bev....ready to go to work on the hives. The proper attire is a must for this job. Thanks to these great suits we handled several hives (and hundreds of thousands of bees) with no stings! Mike getting ready to "smoke" the bees. The smoke has...
Animals
Casualties of Winter
I don't have to tell any of you...
This was the HARDEST winter ever...
of my life...
ever!
Now, we've had winters with more snow.
We've had winters just as cold.
But we have never had a winter with this much snow and ice and this much cold,
that just didn't relent for this many months.
I have felt it.
You have felt it.
The animals have felt it.
Sadly, I have just come to find out...
the bees felt it too...
that is, until they no longer felt it at all.
It is so disappointing and disheartening to see that our one last hive...
(the one that gifted us with so much honey last year)
perished during the frigid winter weather.
Cody, our beekeeper since Hubbs had an anaphylactic reaction to a bee sting,
checked our hive on a warm afternoon this week.
Opening the hive, he found sufficient honey stores,
but no living bees.
There were lots of bees there....but they were all dead.
Such is the tenuous life of beekeeping.
We did all that we could to keep our bees going through the winter...
insulating hives with burlap and tar paper...
and leaving adequate honey stores for their consumption...
but to no avail.
The cold winds were too great a stress on the little ladies.
I have ordered several packages of bees with queens that we will install in our hives
in the beginning of May.
The leftover honey stores
(many pounds of honey were still left behind in this hive)
will be used to feed the new bees.
I refuse to give up.
I refuse to let Old Man Winter triumph over us.
We will keep trying...
and trying...
and trying.
- Beekeeping Basics
Yesterday was another sunny day with temperatures in the 60's. The rain held off (I think today may be the day, though). I took advantage of the wonderful weather, donned my bee suit, and headed out to feed the bees. Earlier this week I mixed...
- Winterizing Bee Hives
It's that time of year...time to put certain parts of the farm to bed for the winter. Each autumn around this time....before the winds turn too cold, we do a final inspection of our hives and get them winterized. Yesterday I had a bit of help....my...
- Baby, Its Hot Outside!
I have come to notice that the bees act as a thermometer. A few weeks ago, I published a picture of how they hang outside their hive on a hot day, cooling themselves. What I have come to notice is that the hotter it is outside, the more bees are on the...
- Honey Snacks
It has been a long cold winter here in PA. Jack and I have spent the past several weeks taking an evening beekeeping class at our local community college. We have learned a lot and I feel confident that I am ready to take over as beekeeper. Yesterday...
- Honey Harvest...the Process
Mike and Bev....ready to go to work on the hives. The proper attire is a must for this job. Thanks to these great suits we handled several hives (and hundreds of thousands of bees) with no stings! Mike getting ready to "smoke" the bees. The smoke has...