Sunday, April 29, 2018

Spring Clean Up




Spring Harvest


Spring a have finally made an appearance. The days are warmer and all the snow in the yard has melted. Some of the locals mentioned their bees are pulling in pollen now. (oh how i miss watching my bees do that) A few days ago i got up the nerve to pull the hives apart. I knew they were dead but i was putting off having to see them. It was a warm sunny day so i went out armed with what i needed to take them apart. If you remember, before winter set in we prep-ed the hives as if we were moving them. Since there was a chance our motel sale would go thru and we would have to load up everything and move. So James had strapped all the boxes together so they would shift while driving on them back roads to our house. Anyways i had to unscrew all the boards which took a bit to get them apart.
Once the attic box was gone, it exposed the candy board, there was a small cluster of bees on it. They almost looked alive. My heart jumped but once i put my finger down to pick it up, it was apparent it was dead. After removing that i was exposed to the honey super, there was a big cluster of dead bees there. They all looked so "fresh" like maybe they had walked away from the cluster to bring food back and got cold and died. There was very little mold in the big hive, and a small amount in the smaller one.

Anyways the hardest part was done. James had a small fire going in the fire pit and so i took advantage  of it and burnt a bunch of the frames. They were really old and it was a good excuse to start with new ones. I learnt during the winter that you should replace your brood frames and comb every 5 years. I hate to think how old these were.

A couple days later, i got the bee yard all organized and set up for the arrival of the new ones. I had ordered 2 nucs and I am hoping to get a local split.


On a happier note, i recovered the leftover honey from the dead hives. The honey was so cold and thick, it took days to get it warmed up so it would run. But i did and managed to get a nice little stash for this winter.
And if you read my blog you will know that  i LOVE the wax part of beekeeping.  I got quite a bit of wax bits so I spent part of the day washing and melting the wax down into a nice lump for future use.
Wax capping ready to be melted
Melting and filtering the wax in the oven
Anyways now i will pick up the pieces and carry on. The bee yard is cleaned up and ready to go, i just need the bees now and they should be here near the end of May. Onward and upward.
Bee Happy

Thursday, April 5, 2018

Its the small things in life......

Here it is April 5th and i am sitting by the wood heater still feeling chilly. I look at the calendar and it says it should be spring, but when i look at the thermometer...it says something different.
I only have a month and a half before the new bees arrive. so i am trying to find something to fill my free time.  The mead is still bubbling away but the novelty of checking it  7 times a day has worn off. I check it 2 times a day now.
I haven't had much to write about lately since my bees died, but was concerned people may miss my mindless ramblings....so i decided i better write something.

Have you ever thought of something out of the blue and it turns out to be actually quite clever. Well it happened to me.
A few years ago i had a small  bag i would carry out to the bee yard with all my tools i thought i might need. It was never big enough. Then one day while browsing thru Home Hardwares flyer i saw a tool bag that hooks around a 5 gallon bucket. Wow thats genius. So i ordered one, convinced it was the perfect size. A week later it arrived. So i got a old laundry soap 5 gallon bucket and washed it out and connected the tool bag to it. Below is a photo of it.


It consists of a ton of different size pockets. The inside of the bucket its open, so I can store my smoker and fuel and whatever other bigger items i need to have handy. The pockets will hold your hive tool, a lighter, a note book and pencil, gloves and a ton of other things. I love it, i can load it down and carry it out to the bee yard, in one trip.
I also have another bag.  Us women seem to accumulate cutesy bags, this one i received free with garden tools in it when i placed a order with Staples. I discovered i needed something to store things in, that i only once in a while.  In my second bag i keep my vaporizer,  the acid and my respirator and the small towels i use to block the entrances when treating for mites. When i am ready to treat, i grab my little blue bag and i know i have everything i need. It also has numerous pockets in it for keeping other goodies.
Its the small things in life that make me the most happy. A well organized bucket and a little blue bag. Does it get any better than that.
(Oh man, those bees really need to get here soon, i am sounding even more bushed than in my last post.)
 Will chat again soon.