Our Bees Are Here Early!

We got our 2 bee packages early!  I picked them up after work today and then Jeff and I installed them using the lights of my car :)  Everything went well, we followed our own tutorial video made our first year (Youtube video on installing bees our first year).  Today I was emailing with my girlfriend and she said, "Thank you for the honey, my face is so smooth".  I thought, 'what a weird thing to say'....  So I wrote her and said, you put it in your tea, NOT on your face!  And she said that you do both.  Once a week she used a brush and applies a thin layer of my honey to her face.  She lets it stay on for 20 minutes and then rinses with warm water.  She says her face is as smooth as a babies bottom!  I was going to post a link to a site that describes this but there are a million and they are all generally the same.  The antibacterial effects of honey as well as the anti-inflammatory properties make it the best facemask!  There is even postings that it cured bad acne!  Oh, what I would have loved to know as a teenager!  haha!

At first we put 2 full hive bodies together.  Once we watched our video we remembered that we only want one hive body to start...

This is a drone comb that I don't need yet.  It is used to encourage the queen to lay drone (male) eggs here.  The mites then attach to the larvae.  I take this whole thing and freeze it killing all the bees (no offense guys, but we don't need male bees) and the excess mites which is a natural way to keep the mite population under control.  Another thing we do is dusting the hive and bees with powdered sugar to get the mites to fall off and go to the ground where they die.

I love bees, I know its crazy!  This whole project started not so much for the honey as my desire to see them all enjoying the garden in the morning.  My favorite thing about having a huge garden was spending the morning with them while harvesting dinner.

We are trying to pick the best comb for the starter body and I needed one with space for my queen who comes in a small package where she lives until the sugar plug is eaten and she is released to her new loving community.  If she gets out early, the loving community may actually kill her!  Scary times!

Jeff is filling the feeder with sugar water.  5 pounds of sugar with 1/2 gallon of water to make a yummy spring syrup!

Shaking the sugar syrup!

Somehow I lost the inside of my cap so I had to keep pushing it up my head.  You have to wear a face mask because getting stung on the face causes enough swelling to make it hard to see!

Taking out the queen and her helpers!

Taping the queen's cage to the comb.

We are about to dump the first 10,000 bees into the hive - then the darn battery on the phone wore out!  OH well!  Goodbye!

Harvesting Honey!

My friend Jeff was kind enough to not only help me with the honey, but also stopping to pose for these pictures!  We had one heck of a time.  Definately not a good idea to pick a nice sunny warm day to harvest.  The bees went with us everywhere and we had quite an adventure.  I ended up processing 53 pounds of honey!  All loved ones, be ready to get honey for EVERY holiday this year AND next!

Harvesting!!!!!!!!!!

We spent the day harvesting wool from the bunnies and honey from the bees (not at the same time, that would bee messy)!  We had a very busy and productive day.  John got the largest pumpkins I have ever seen from a farm in Woodstock, CT.  There are plenty of beautiful mums bursting with blossoms.  I love the fall, and I hope to love it even more when this honey my bees made in my own backyard TACKLES my allergies!

LOCAL WOODWORKER MAKING BEEKEEPING WOODENWARE!!!!!

Last week I made a great new friend - Anthony Trani who builds woodenware for beekeeping right here in Coventry!!!! If you are a beekeeper support your local artists. You can contact Anthony by email at oldschoohouse@gmail.com

Bee Installation videos on youtube!

I put videos of the bee installation on youtube for your viewing pleasure!  It was so exciting, I wish I had more to do!  Tonight we will remove the top layer and thier cage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOt9cozdm4M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzP3iY_qMwM
 
If you are in the area and interested in beekeeping the Connecticut Eastern Beekeeping Association teaches 4 classes at UConn annually that are fantastic. Then they have meetings throughout the year that help you to manage your hives. Also, if you take the class you get free shipping on your hives which saves you more money than the course costs. win win!
The site for the CT Eastern Bee Association is http://vvv.caes.state.ct.us/BeeInformation/BeeFormsandInformation/beeassoc.htm#Eastern%20Connecticut%20Beekeepers%20Association. Adam Fuller is the president of the eastern CT beekeepers association, his site is www.azapiaries.com. They have meetings every month so you could even join now!

Bee's Hives Arrived!

The bee's hives arrived today in many many many pieces; so this is why it cost so much to get the kit already assembled!  We are hoping to get more put together this weekend.  Susan and Jeff came over to help!  Bees will arrive April 27th!  We can't wait!

February 25, 2010

John woke up last night to the house filled with smoke.  No dogs barking, no cat meowing, no fire alarm going off, no CO2 detector beeping - just all of us soundly sleeping as we breathed in soot.  Luckily he did wake up and found a basement filled with smoke and a smoldering log that got too close to the fire.  He saved us and aired out the house and did laundry so I'd have clean clothes to wear to work and set up fans and checked my breathing - I did not get up once.  It reminds me of my mother coming into the basement where my teenage bedroom was and yelling, "GET OUT OF BED!" - it was 2pm.  I am the best sleeper ever.
Tonight I spent organizing inventory and calling artists and trying to schedule meetings.  I went to Kathy and Tads to help Kathy bottle her first home brew, it was a sticky mess but we did good and filled 42 bottles of beer.  Now it must sit for months in the dark and get yummy.  I ordered all my stuff for my Willow and Violet and my temporary foster bunnies that my sister's friend Judy has so kindly offered.  I also organized all my ordering of beekeeping supplies so that i can call it in tomorrow!  So exciting! 
John ordered the hanging baskets and will be picking up all the plugs on Monday - SOOO exciting!  and scary!  Like - what if my green thumb was only a temporary thing?!
Be well!

Beekeeping

My last beekeeping class is tonight!  I'm so excited to start in April.  Tonight we are learning about pests and disease which should be interesting.  These can make or break your colony:  managing pests and controling disease spread can mean the difference from going year to year with success or starting over every spring!  This picture is the fall in my back yard.  I LOVE growing giant sunflowers.  Every year I've harvested seeds and baked them, but that's not the real reason, I grow them because they are beautiful and huge and the bees love to visit!