Animals
I have been anxiously awaiting Spring to see how our honey bees tolerated the long, cold winter. I am happy to say that upon initial inspection, there is good activity at all 5 hives. I have begun to feed them sugar water until nectar starts flowing....a few more weeks. Once it is warmer in the afternoons, I will open up each hive and make formal inspections, checking the strength of the queen and the number of brood. At this point, if any of the hives are weak, I will order new queens. Installing new queens should help to build up any weak hives. For now, my fingers remain crossed. These hives are located at the edge of the woods across the drive from the orchard.
In the next couple of weeks, we will move them across the orchard to their new bear-proof hive yard....
Then in May, I will be picking up 5 more colonies and installing them in our new English garden hives. These hives will be located in a small round pasture that lies beside our main driveway. An electric wire around that pasture should act as a bear deterrent.
I spent a great deal of time this weekend painting these new hives white.
- 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...
- 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...
- Looking Forward To Spring
This is an exciting time of year for us. We are presently taking a bee keeping course to increase our knowledge and ready ourselves for full time beekeeping. Our brother-in-law Mike has up to this point been the beekeeper with help from us for special...
- Winterizing Bee Hives....bad News
Yesterday we opened our hives for one last check before Winter winds start to howl. Our goal was to check the health of the hives, supply some extra sugary syrup if honey supplies were low, and then wrap each in warm black paper blanket to help insulate...
Animals
Great News
I have been anxiously awaiting Spring to see how our honey bees tolerated the long, cold winter. I am happy to say that upon initial inspection, there is good activity at all 5 hives. I have begun to feed them sugar water until nectar starts flowing....a few more weeks. Once it is warmer in the afternoons, I will open up each hive and make formal inspections, checking the strength of the queen and the number of brood. At this point, if any of the hives are weak, I will order new queens. Installing new queens should help to build up any weak hives. For now, my fingers remain crossed. These hives are located at the edge of the woods across the drive from the orchard.
In the next couple of weeks, we will move them across the orchard to their new bear-proof hive yard....Then in May, I will be picking up 5 more colonies and installing them in our new English garden hives. These hives will be located in a small round pasture that lies beside our main driveway. An electric wire around that pasture should act as a bear deterrent.I spent a great deal of time this weekend painting these new hives white.
- 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...
- 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...
- Looking Forward To Spring
This is an exciting time of year for us. We are presently taking a bee keeping course to increase our knowledge and ready ourselves for full time beekeeping. Our brother-in-law Mike has up to this point been the beekeeper with help from us for special...
- Winterizing Bee Hives....bad News
Yesterday we opened our hives for one last check before Winter winds start to howl. Our goal was to check the health of the hives, supply some extra sugary syrup if honey supplies were low, and then wrap each in warm black paper blanket to help insulate...