More framing...

One week left until the show begins!   I've got all the framing done and just have to make sure the wires are on and everything is tucked into a bubble wrap envelope to keep it safe for transport.

I hope you can come to the opening party for the exhibit.   I'd love to chat with you and catch up on what your summer has been like.

The Vault at Gallery Mortgage  [Kitty-corner from the Monroe County History Center]
121 E 6th St.
Bloomington, Indiana
Opening reception:  August 4,   5:00 - 8:00 pm.

The exhibit runs from August 3 - September 29, 2017.

0 for 3

The arctic vortex killed the last 2 of our hives.  Eric had skirted the bottoms and put up extra wind and weather protection, but those plunging temps [-20 here with much lower wind chills] were too much. We started the winter with 3 hives - 2 regular sized ones  and one tiny one, tucked up well for the winter and with plenty of food.  The first hive died early in December.

Here is a pic [above] of some of the dead bees from the nuc.   You can see the queen in the center with the dark solid butt.

The temp here was 50 a few days after the cold snap [Cold snap.  Hah.  Now that's an understatement].  So we checked the bees and when we found nothing but deadouts, we cleaned them out.   There was a pair of mice in one hive.   We kicked them out and closed up the entrances so they couldn't get back in.   We pulled all the frames except for the two straightest ones in each hive.  I left those in in case we're lucky enough to get swarms this year.

The bees had plenty of candy left, so we tossed that out for the other critters to snack on.  We even saw a bee from a wild hive come to check it out.  I'd love to get those genetics!

We took all the frames inside to strip for honey and wax.   I got 7 pints of honey and about 2 lbs of wax

We thought all the colors in the comb were really pretty. 

Our next decision was whether to try again this year with bees or just throw in the towel.  Beekeeping is EXPENSIVE.  If you start, be aware that the cost for bees, equipment and extras can add up fast.   There are ways to cut costs, but trying to keep an apiary going for a few years is no small investment in money or time. Just sayin.

I love having bees.   We love what they've done for the gardens.  So, we thought we'd give it another year.  I put in an order for 2 more nucs.  They're expensive this year [$165 each], but we're getting Indiana queens and by getting nucs instead of packages, we're getting a 6 week head start, which will translate into bigger hives going into the winter.    I'd like to be able to overwinter the majority of my hives eventually and I'd also like to get a real honey harvest [60-200lbs of honey per hive]. 

Wish us luck.   Clearly we need it.

Swarm Trap

I had a lot of frames with a bit of honey from the hive that died, so I saved three of them to put in a swarm trap.    I'm using a nuc from Kelly as a trap.   Three frames with a bit of honey, two empties and some lemon grass oil on a piece of paper in the bottom.

It's a luxury condo for bees.   They'd be crazy not to move in.  The first warm days we had and my bees were all over this thing robbing it out.   I hope a swarm finds it.

The truth is, swarm traps are kind of a crap shoot.    I have the nuc, I have the lure, I have the extra frames.   So we figured we'd try it.   We're not holding our breath that we'll get a swarm this year.

That said, our chances of getting a swarm are much greater if we actually set out a trap, so we're better off with this than nothing at all.

Eric put the trap about 8 feet up in a honey locust near the house, on an old deer stand.   We'll be able to see it easily from the house.   The warm days that we've had have seen bees all over it.  It must smell really good.

Fingers crossed we get some good feral bees in there. 

Flower Lang Update

You might remember that we had a bit of trouble with the queen in our Flower Lang hive and we had to replace her.  

We checked on things again on July 1st and were very pleased to see this frame of capped brood.  

The brood is the stuff under the tan caps.  This is larvae that has been sealed up to metamorphose from a grub into an adult.   You can also see capped honey around the top edge of the frame.    The laying pattern of the capped brood shows a great laying pattern.  This queen is a good queen.    [We never did see her during the inspection.  Perhaps she hides as well as she lays.]

We also found this frame of honey.

The whitish stuff in the middle is capped honey.   Honey has a lower water content than the air, so the bees cap it off to prevent it from pulling moisture out of the air.   Honey's low water content is one of the things that makes it antibiotic and keeps it from spoiling.   Cool, huh!

The two rubber bands on the frame on the right side were used to keep some broken comb in the frame.  The bees built the broken stuff back into the frame and added on.   When they're tired of the rubber bands, they'll chew them off.

This honey probably has a lot of our sugar water in it.   This hive doesn't take nearly as much sugar water as the other one does, only a quart every 6-7 days, but it's still pretty likely that a lot of this honey came from the feeder and not the local flora.    It's a small hive.