Second Bee Hive
Anne started keeping bees last year, and in short order she harvested almost two gallons of honey. Her bees not only made it though the winter, but this year she is adding another hive. Saturday we went to pick up the new bees.
In the morning we attended a hive-loading demonstration. Here Jim shows how to “pour” bees into the new hive.
Later in the day, Anne pours her own bees into the new hive. The original hive is on the left.
It’s not quite as simple as it looks, but all went smoothly. Yesterday was the first warm, sunny day, and the new hive was already buzzing with activity.
Comments
I am totally fascinated by Anne's bees. I do believe a podcast about bees and honey is begging to be made.
Posted by Marisa on April 3, 2007 at 2:16 PM
Yay!! Keep it up, maybe you can singlehandedly solve this honeybee problem we seem to be having. Congrats on the new hive.
Posted by Melissa on April 6, 2007 at 1:19 PM
So no trouble with disappearing bees? You realize that you are bucking the world trend in which bees are leaving hives by the millions.
It certainly looks cool to raise bees. What besides honey do you get out of doing this?
Posted by Rick on April 27, 2007 at 7:34 PM
Rick, we've been lucky so far. Last year was the first year for beekeeping, and the colony made it through the winter, but it's underpopulated and still not clear whether that hive will fully recover. Our bees have the common problem of varroa mites, but nothing more serious than that. No reason we should be immune to CCD though. My wife is the beekeeper (and gardener) in the family and always wanted to keep bees after taking a class in college. Her original and still-principal aim was to have bees for their pollination benefits; the honey is just a bonus.
Posted by Tony on April 28, 2007 at 9:18 AM
photo
Posted by mohsen on January 22, 2008 at 2:11 PM