4th Time's the Charm!

Good morning! It's a bee-uti-ful day over here at my apiary! Yes folks, I am back in business! I didn't write about it because it just made me too sad to think much about, but my third colony of the season died while I was in NY visiting my Grandma. I knew they were queenless when I left, it's no surprise that the scorching July heat finished the remaining bees off. When I returned home the hive was empty except for moldy comb and at least one small hive beetle larva. Yuck. 


However, the universe provides, and this weekend I learned that there was a local 2nd-year beekeeper selling her bees and equipment on the cheap. After a succession of stings she was having stronger and stronger reactions, and thought it was best to quit while she was ahead and before anaphylactic shock... Her bummer is my good fortune, as I now have a fully established colony buzzing away in my back yard. Well, I hope they are buzzing.

The new hive! The queen has been christened Deborah, which as it turns out means honeybee in Hebrew.

Admittedly, the former owner didn't pay a ton of attention to these bees this year. They swarmed in June, she hasn't inspected them in over a month, and she never got around to adding the super (extra honey storage) that they probably needed at least two weeks ago. Whatever, the price was right and it is a new lease on life for my beekeeping adventure. Truth is I didn't do my do-diligence either. I didn't inspect the hive before making the purchase. Does buying used beekeeping equipment fly in the face of prudent beekeeping practices. Um, yea. However, I figured a few things:


Firstly, it was a good deal for all the equipment even without the bees.


Assuming that the hive has a laying queen, I would have bought them regardless of 90% of the possible problems the hive might have. (The only deal breaker would have been AFB- a rare & nasty disease that necessitates burning all the equipment infected.) Anything else I would have taken on and tried to remedy.


And lastly, inspecting stresses the hive, and I rationalized that moving them would be stressful enough. Throw in the fact that to go inspect the hive someone would have watched the kids and Smoochy and I had a busy weekend, and it just wasn't going to happen. Oh well. 


Part of me is pretty nervous to manipulate a Langstroth hive. (Which is what this new one is.) I've never even seen it done in person. My only experience is with top bar hives. But, I suppose if I just go slow and steady it will all be fine. What's the worst thing that could happen? Oh yea. I could drop and dump and entire box of bees, brood, and honey. And let me tell you, those boxes are HEAVY!

Let me also tell you that my hubby  is awesome beyond description. Not only is he strong enough to move said bees, but he is brave enough to do it in the dark. To relocate bees you wait until sunset when all the foragers are home from a hard day's work. Then you plug up the 

entrance, strap the boxes together, and away you go. We made it home long enough after sunset that there was no light left to aid Smoochy in the hive set-up. After getting the kids settled we walked the bees down to their new home with only a flashlight and steady stream of curse words to see the bees on the final leg of their journey. Smoochy held the boxes, I held the flashlight. There was an unspoken understanding that if he slipped and fell, it was every man for himself.

Imagine stepping down this path caring 100+ pounds of bees in the dark!

These bees have a different location on our property than their predecessors. For a variety of reasons, we choose a more open area by the pond. The benefits are obvious: More sunlight (hopefully), easier access, and visibility from the house (which is purely a factor in satisfaction). I can't keep my eyes off the hive this morning. I've set up camp by the living room window to watch the girls leave for work for the day. I hope they don't get lost in their new neighborhood. I've already been down there to check on them twice. At 7:00 a.m. there wasn't much going on. The sleepy-heads were still in bed, except for a few early risers getting their bearings. I expect I'll be popping down there often today just to watch them come and go. Perhaps I'll post picture updates as they settle in and go about their business. I bet you are as excited as I am faithful readers!!!

7 a.m.

8 a.m.