High Winds

Last night we had a major storm with tornado like winds of 90 - 100 mile per hour winds (National Weather Service confirmed).  Our block will lose 4 -6 trees since the storm tore them apart.


The only damage to the bee hives was that the lids were blown off.  I am sure there was some rain got in to the hives. I do not know how much damage that caused for the hive, but there was some activity today.  Once we have had a could days of nice weather, I might go in to check them out.


What I find amazing is that a 6 foot tall hive did not get blown over by 80 mph winds.  It was all the propolis and weight of the honey that held it together.

Pollination

The bees do a great deal of pollination in the plants around our neighborhood. This results in better production of berries, fruits and vegetables and more flowers.

This year our strawberry crop is out of control. We usually pick a small bowl of strawberries a day, now we are picking a strainer full every day. That results in a lot of strawberries smothies just to keep up. We also had neighbors notice the improvement in the flowers in thier yards.

We we feel that we are reaping the benefits of the bees prior to getting the honey.

First Honey

I was able to take 4 frames of capped honey out of the super. I am just guessing but I expect each frame to hold 2-3 pounds of honey.

I am doing this for a couple reasons.

• To give the bees more space and make them happier
• To give have them start on new frames of honey and increase production.

Starting a new hive

I am starting up two new hives. Once we open up the three pound package, place the queen cage in the hive between a couple frames, then you just dump the bee in.

Since the bees do not have a home to defend, they will not sting. So you do not need the bee suite. Last year one went up the pants leg looking for a home and stung me. Thus the bee suite.

It really is fun just dumping the bees in.

Pallet of bees. The new packages of bees are raised in CA and shipped to a Beekeeping supply shop in WI. Each box has 3 pounds of bees, or about 6,000 and a queen.

We went up there to get 3 boxes and brought them home this weekend.

Bees at School

Today Aleena taught her 4th grade class about bees. She had shown a slide presentation explaining many of the finer aspects of bees. With her she displayed a frame with a queen cell and a full frame of capped honey. She also had the observation hive with 3 frames of bees.

Her class asked a lot of great questions. They enjoyed seeing all the bees and got a taste of fresh honey.

Spring Queen Cells

In the spring it is natural for hives to colinize. They do this by creating new queens, thus creating the queen cells.

I will need to go through my hives every 7 - 10 days are remove these to keep my hive strong for the season.