I got home a bit later than I wanted to. Rough day, but I had to get into the hives to take a look. I had a queen cell in there last week and the weather has been less than ideal. Upon looking inside, I found some queen cells, and this strange thing. To be honest, it looks like a dirt dauber nest, but it appears to be made of wax. Any ideas what this thing is? More below. Continue reading
We had the opportunity to attend the CMBA Beekeeping Short Course this weekend. While we went in having kept bees for a while, we had never been through a formal course, so we went to hear from the experts. We were impressed.
Ok, Google $5 nuc boxes and you will see plenty of links to plans to build these bad boys. I decided last week to go ahead and have a go at these. I got them started last week, then ran into a problem with my air nailer, so I finished them up today. These things are really easy to build. I got my plans from Beesource LINK. These things went together really easily. The key here is to set the table saw up and make all the cuts for that piece then. I am not sure how long it took me, because I split it up and ended up tinkering with other things in the process, but it wasn’t bad. They are painted and drying in the yard as I type. Now all I need is to split some hives into these things.
One thing to note, I ended up using a scroll saw to cut the opening for the bees. It was quick and simple.
It was such a nice morning, I couldn’t help but share. This is why we live in the country.
My daughter has the flu. We felt puny last night, and the doctor suggested we all take a day and ensure we are good to go before going back to school. I fared better than Cyndi or my daughter. They were pretty much down yesterday, and my daughter still is now. Other than a sore throat, I am doing ok… so I did a little composting. I have neglected to properly maintain my compost pile for a couple of years. This is my attempt to restart it.
My wife likes to be able to sit on our land. Not just any one place, but pretty much wherever the mood strikes her. If I am working the bees, she wants to be able to sit and watch (from a distance, mind you). When the fruit trees are buzzing with life, she likes to get to sit and take it in. She wanted benches placed around the place. Not wanting to spend a fortune on this, I came up with my Orchard Bench.
I went through the hives today, and I must say, I am horrible at spotting my queens. I did spot one of them briefly, but she ran for it and I lost her in the shuffle.
One thing I can say, I know I am queen right, as I saw larvae, eggs, and capped brood. I still intend to do some splits so I need to get better at finding my queens. I am going to a beekeeping class in Jackson, MS in a couple of weeks so maybe I can get some tips there.
We went to town today to pick up a few things for some projects. I grabbed some plywood to make some nuc boxes. I will probably put those together tomorrow. We happened into Fred’s and Tractor Supply, partially in search of some berry plants to put in. Continue reading
I thought I had posted this before, but apparently not. I was watching Blake Kirby’s YouTube channel LINK HERE He has a video about feeding his bees. It’s that time of year, and I was happy to watch him feeding his bees. I noticed he had the same feeder I have, and that got me to thinking about the modification I made. Continue reading
So, recently I ran across a post somewhere by 628DirtRooster on YouTube about getting some seeds. He was all excited to order seeds from www.migardener.com. I did some shopping around and some research and found that their prices seemed VERY reasonable. They have a great variety of flower seeds (to create flowers for my bees) and vegetable seeds. The vegetable seeds I ordered are all heirloom seeds. This was important to me, as I want to save seeds to have plants next year.
I shot an email to Luke asking a couple of questions, got a quick response, and ordered my seeds. They arrived a few days later well packaged. Obviously, I have not planted the seeds yet, but I am anxious to get to do so. If you find yourself in need of seeds, I highly recommend you give Like at MIgardener a look. Watch for later posts about how the seeds come along once I am sure I am out of frost danger.
