First hands-on Beekeeping experience

I started the day at an Organic Gardening Seminar learning about how to run an organic farm. Although most of the information in this seminar was well above my ability and land availability, I did learn a few new things about extending my growing season, how to build a seedling shack, and some basic organic pest control. I also enjoyed learning about some of the tools and tractors that are available. But the real fun came this afternoon.

While at the seminar I received a call from the president of the Lady Beekeepers. She was going to inspect her hives today and wanted Kevin and I to join them to get some real hands-on experience. Naturally, I first had a moment of panic. Was she really wanting us their? Would we be imposing? Would they be finished before we got their? But, as he always does, Kevin managed to keep me calm and insist that we should go and learn as much as we can. So we grabbed our bee garb and hit the road.

I purchased a jacket and bee hood combination that is conveniently sealed quite well. This combined with my XXXS gloves made me very confident. I simply tucked my blue jeans into my socks and was ready to go. Kevin, on the other hand, was not blessed with an outfit. He simply got stuck with the standard equipment from the beginner's kit we purchased:  helmet, veil, gloves. We managed to make it work, though. We duck-taped his waist and the veil to try and keep out any curious bees.

We cautiously walked across the field behind the house. I suddenly became very aware of how tiny our yard is and how close our hive will be to every square inch of my garden. But anyways, we were ready to encounter our first cloud of bees. President and husband are very friendly people and they greeted us first by inspecting that we were sufficiently protected. (It was their idea to tuck our jeans into our socks and tape down Kevin's veil.) Then, we dove straight in. I watched as they unstacked a hive box, carefully loosened each frame, and then inspected the frames for content. Some contained honey, some contained brood and honey, and some were just being laid with brood by very busy queens. We did get to see 3 queen bees (each in different hives, of course). Very beautiful creatures.

We talked about scraping off comb that was built on the outside of the frames and removing the propolis (bee glue made from pine sap to fill cracks or otherwise seal all the frames and boxes together). We also talked about things like feeding (5lbs of sugar per gallon of water, with a hint of peppermint oil in the first batch to prevent tracheal mites). We learned about removing a few unfortunate drone larvae to inspect for varroa mites and also how to spread a bead of food-grade mineral oil on top of each frame to prevent the same.

Kevin also learned what it feels like to get stung (or rather was reminded). After about an hour, one managed to get inside his veil. We were able to remove this one without any problem, but then while walking one innocent bee was resting on his Achilles heel and was smashed against the back of his boot. In response, she stung him through his sock. He managed to not scream profanity, but he did seem quite surprised. So far, it only hurt for a little while and there doesn't appear to be any swelling.
Needless to say, we learned a great deal. The best part is that hands-on experience is priceless. Having just a little bit of time gives you the confidence to do it on your own. You can read and research all you want, but it just isn't the same as getting your hands dirty. She told us of an old man who helped them get started with their hives. Now they are passing that to us, and one day we will pass it to another.

Equipment and tools are the biggest challenge in terms of investment. Honestly, when I chose bees over chickens, I assumed we would be spending less money, but this does not seem to be the case. So far we have purchased the following items:  Hive kit (boxes, frames, base, screen bottom board, inner cover, metal-topped outer cover, foundation), a nuc box, beginner's kit (helmet, veil, gloves, book, bee brush, 2 feeders, hive tool, smoker), hooded jacket for me, gloves for me, another book (kids book for my students), a frame spacer tool, wire, wire embedder, brass eyelets, eyelet tool, a backup hat/veil for guests, a frame holder, and eco wood treatment.

I am sure this list will continue to grow, but we have the main items needed to get the bees for sure. (I am still awaiting the arrival of the foundation. I have emailed Kelley Bees a third time regarding the foundation that was supposed to be in my original order. I have only heard that they were checking to verify that it was not shipped, but nothing else so far. This is frustrating given that the bees will swarm in the next month or so, and our frames aren't complete until we have it.)

So, now we wait. We wait on the remaining tools and foundation to arrive, and for the bees to swarm. The swarm will most likely occur in April. We installed a reed privacy fence of sorts around the part of our yard that touches our neighbor. This will be good to keep the bees out of sight and it will also cause them to fly above anyone outside the yard as well. Bees tend to fly up and over obstacles and only descend on a source of pollen, so getting them to fly up usually keeps them out of people's hair (literally). Honestly, my only concern is when the neighbor mows, since the noise might disturb the hive, but the reeds should help with this too. Today we also "painted" our boxes with the eco wood treatment. Really, my next steps are to continue growing my yeast starter, and tending my garden. I am well aware of a busy growing season ahead, so a little down time, while in some ways disappointing, is still appreciated.

The Power of People - Preparing for the Bees

I have a lot of information to share about my adventure of preparing for my bees. Here is the first bit of information, gathered this past Monday:

Tonight was the March meeting for the Lady Beekeepers  of Arkansas. They usually meet on the first Monday at Whole Foods, but tonight is a special annual event with food and labor. All the ladies got together with their new equipment and we basically had an assembly party. I learned a lot more than just how to put together a frame. Some things I learned seem very vital and yet have been left out of all my previous research. But let's take a step back for a moment.

Per advice from the president of the Lady Beekeepers I ordered a particular hive kit. It's called the All Medium kit. Basically, there are 3 sizes of beehive boxes - brood boxes, medium supers, and small supers. Super just means it is a box that goes on top of the brood box where the queen does all her laying. But due to the ridiculous weight involved in wax and honey, the bigger the box, the less likely

I will be able to maneuver the hive pieces by myself. So the goal is to avoid the brood boxes and go for all supers. This also makes all the frames inside the hive the same size, instead of a different frame for each piece. I will find a diagram to make this more easy to understand, but basically you are saving money and your back. I picked up this kit direct from the vendor at the Arkansas Beekeepers Association Conference on Saturday. Unfortunately, I didn't have the opportunity to open the boxes and inspect the contents while the vendor was there, so I am naturally missing a vital piece - the foundation on which the bees build their comb! I have contacted them about this, but have not heard any feedback yet.

While playing, I mean working hard to assemble the frames tonight I learned some other important and useful info. One is that I can still assemble the frames even though the foundation isn't here yet. Two, is that I should have ordered brads and wire so I could add a horizontal wire to the foundation to keep it from sagging in the summer heat. And three, is that once I do have that foundation, I better keep it in a refrigerator or a box of moth crystals until it goes in the hive or I will get an infestation of wax moths.

So far, I have now built the hive boxes and assembled 20 frames, minus the foundation. More work to come. Stay tuned...

Here is a size diagram from someone else's blog:

Bubbles!

My starter decided to throw in an extra lesson on patience for me. I followed directions to reconstitute starter flakes by adding the flakes to water to dissolve then stirring in the equal amount of flour. Covered with a piece of organic muslin and a ring top, it sat on the counter for the four required days. But, on that fourth day, nothing had occurred except the normal expected process of separation of liquid and solid. So I did some troubleshooting. I stirred the starter, removed 1/4 cup of it, then added 1/4 cup of barely warm water. After stirring this, I added 1/4 cup of all purpose flour. I stirred a lot, a whole lot, then replaced the muslin and ring.

Possible issues:  Issue #1 could have been that I forgot to let my tap water sit out for 24 hours before putting in the starter flakes. This waiting period is essential for evaporation of any chlorine, which is harmful to the good bacteria too. I consulted my friend who is a civil engineer, however, and he informed me that my location on the pipeline should have little or no chlorine remaining since there is nothing added once it leaves treatment (which is a distance away). I agree with him because we have never had any taste issues, but it is obvious when letting a glass sit overnight that air bubbles form from something in the water, so it is still something to consider. Issue #2 could be the use of pastry flour which is very fine in texture. I am not sure of the exact logic behind this, but I had a suspicion, so I switched to all purpose flour to feed the second time. Issue #3 could be the very low temperature in our house. Although this year we have turned off the program on the thermostat and left it at a steady 70 degrees, the actual temperature of most rooms in the house averages around 66.
Basically, I tried to counter these possible issues as much as possible, and then I waited again.

After two more days, I started to see fizz. It looked like a soda had been poured in it a few minutes earlier. I decided that fizz wasn't quite good enough so I gave it another day. Then, Friday afternoon, exactly one week after the starter was started, there were bubbles. I squealed with joy and ran around the house singing bubbles, bubbles, bubbles! My husband was thoroughly disturbed, so I was even more pleased.

Last steps to establishing the starter:  stir it up, add 1/2 cup of water, stir again, then add a heaping 1/2 cup of flour. The book I am using mentions the consistency of lumpy pancake batter. I then placed it in the fridge with its hat of muslin and realized I should really clean out my fridge! (A day and a half later, I realize my "heaping" 1/2 cup wasn't quite "heaping" enough since it didn't really seem that lumpy and it now has a bit of liquid on the surface.) The bubbles have returned on a small scale and it has been in the fridge ever since. Since it appears a little liquidy, I will go ahead and remove some and do the next feeding today. This will also start me on my twice weekly schedule.

Schedule:
Sunday-Feed 1/2 cup water, very heaping 1/2 cup flour
Wednesday-Remove all but 1 cup of starter, add 1 cup water, add 1 cup flour
Sunday - Remove 1 cup, add 1 cup water, add 1 cup flour
Wednesday - Remove 1 cup, add 1 cup water, add 1 cup flour...
Get the point? So, this will go on for one month. I will be disposing of most of the starter I remove this month so that I can be sure it is well established before I ruin any recipes. Next month, at the recommendation of the author, I can start using the starter to make some quick breads like pancakes. Then, in May, I should be ready for some "real-deal" baking. It sounds like a lot of patience, but it will be worth it to get everything into a routine. Then I will be able to bake each Sunday using the removed start, and use the Wednesday starter to make quick breads (unless I'm feeling like I have extra time in the middle of the week, ha!)

I still haven't deciding on a name for my new pet starter. I will have to think on it some more.