June 24, 2013

Week 7 - Bee Inspection

lots of larva in my hive...we didn't go through every frame

in mine this week....there was no comb being formed on any

of the frames in the 2nd brood box.....we hope for more next week.

here is Ross' QUEEN....doing a fine job!!!

here is burr comb formed on the bottom of his frame #6...

this has to be removed before it is place back into the brood box

this frame is almost completely filled with capped larva...this is

frame #8...so that is exciting that they are working on almost all 10 frames

putting the hive back together

Pleasant Dreams!!!



June 15, 2013

Week 6 - Bee Inspection

we started with my hive....and there was comb on over 80% of the

frames so we added another brood box to mine this week....

you can see the eggs in this frame....so my QUEEN is

very active...woohoo!!!

lots of larva in the bottom of this frame waiting to be capped....

lots of Bees being born!!!

 

here is my QUEEN this week....

we noticed that the frames were sticking badly this week, we found out why
when I pulled up this frame.... it has BURR COMB at the top and the bottom,
we scraped it all off and replaced the frame.

Ross' QUEEN...she looks very healthy

Both HIVES with 2 brood boxes on them...we are now one step closer
to adding the honey supers on top....this should happen in about 4 weeks,
once we add those,  the Bees start making the HONEY that we get to keep.

Pleasant Dreams!!!

June 12, 2013

we had read that the Bees would increase the fruit on our trees in the

orchard as long as a spring frost didn't take them.... and boy were they

 correct...we have fruit on trees that have never produced before....

this is a HARVEST apple tree...it was here when we

bought the farm and is at least 75 years old

this is one of the PLUM trees...we planted them 6 years ago

and until this year it has have never produced anything

this is one of the PEAR trees....we have never seen this much

fruit on this tree before...YEAH BEES!!!!

this is the PEACH tree that was planted as a joke when we moved in,

we told our son to throw his peach pits in the weedy area on the side of the house

and completely forgot about it....about 12 years later Ross was mowing

that area and I heard the mower stop...he came to the house with a bunch

of something wrapped in his shirt...PEACHES...gotta love it!!!

this is the RED DELICIOUS apple tree...this one has never

produced like this before either.

even the GRAPES are doing better....each one of these is a huge

bundle of grapes.....or I say when I pass the GRAPE VINES...

jelly...jelly...jelly!!!

and because the vegetable garden didn't want to be outdone....

these are the RADISHES we pulled out today to add to

our potato salad.... That is the only bummer about a long winter.....

by June we are so ready to eat fresh fruit and veggies grown here on the farm.

Pleasant Dreams!!! 

June 9, 2013

had a wonderful day at church.....check out www.h-hcc.org

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this year we will have FRUIT.....most of our trees have survived the

spring.....Apples, Pears, Peaches, Plums and Cherries....

the Cherries are starting to turn red....so it is time

to put on the netting so the birds don't get them before we can.



this is the sweet cherry tree

here is the HERB garden...I tried planting a bunch of each type,

but the weather this year has been too cold.....so I put them all into

one container....I put the plants that had come up by the nametag and

 then planted some more seeds of each type...we will see what happens!!!

here are some of the BEANS that we planted....

we planted these big - jack and the beanstalk - looking beans right

next to the water well tower....hoping that they will grow up the

legs of the tower...apparently this type of bean has a HUGE flower,

we will keep posting pictures throughout the season.

here is part of the garden...I still don't have all of the plants

in yet....it has been too cold and they still aren't big enough

the corn is coming up nicely...

Pleasant Dreams!!!

June 8, 2013

Week 5 - Bee Inspection

as each saturday approaches, we read in our books what should be expected, this week

it is possible to have the bottom brood box at 70%+ full and then adding

another one on top would be necessary....keep reading....

great picture of busy BEEs in my hive....plenty of larva (capped and not capped)

here is the QUEEN Bee in my hive....notice how on the WORKER Bees

in the picture that their wings are just about as long as their body, but on the

QUEEN, her abdomen is so long her wings only go part of the way down

...she also has that black ball on her back.

here is Ross' hive.....this is a great shot of Burr Comb that the Bees create,

I have to use my hive tool to break it apart...if you look in the lower right

part of this picture you can see honey coming out of the comb and the

Bees are taking a drink.....

here is a closer look....isn't that just AMAZING!!!

here is the QUEEN Bee in Ross' hive....Looking good!!!!

Ross' hive was at 70% (meaning that the Bees had created

comb on at least 7 of the 10 frames) so I got to add another

Brood Box to the top...this has 10 more frames in it....as more

Bees are being born each week, they need more space....my hive

wasn't ready, but it was exciting to add one to Ross'.

hopefully next week we can add another brood box to mine...

we are having a Blast working with the Bees each week...in

all the chaos with thousands of Bees buzzing around it is

Amazingly relaxing....I wear my suit each week and no stings yet!!!

Pleasant Dreams!!!

June 2, 2013

had a WONDERFUL day at church today......take a listen

to Pastor Bob's message..... www.h-hcc.org

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Ross completed the flower box on the outside of my greenhouse...

it came out even better that I expected!!!  Well Done Honey!!!

front view

back view



side view

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had the family over for homemade pizza and then off to boat

for a chilly spin around the lake.

Pleasant Dreams!!!

June 1, 2013

Week 4 - Bee Inspection

Let me first say......WOW!!!!

we knew that babies would be born during this past week, but I didn't

realize how many that would be ....the frames were packed with Bees

....here is some lifespan info.....

* every 21 days (3 weeks) Workers Bees are born

* they live to be about 6 week old during PEAK time

* during off peak (winter) they can live up to 4 - 8 months

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when we do an inspection, we are looking for several things...

the Queen Bee herself, eggs (the little rice looking stuff), larva, burr

comb that needs to be removed and propolis

during this inspection.....we saw the Queen in my hive, but didn't see her

in Ross' hive..... we saw eggs in both, which is great...because that means

the queen was present within the last day or two.....we saw larva of all stages

in both hives as well.....so far so good......next week we add another brood box.

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this is a great shot of 3 Bees coming to life....breaking through the cap...

2 up at the top of the picture, and one down 3 rows and over to the right a bit....

this picture also shows larva in different sizes...so another batch of babies is

 ready to be capped....woohoo!!!

another shot of a bunch of larva in different stages

here is another shot of a baby bee emerging from the capped cell,

down a row and over to the right is another one just started the process

this is a great picture of a working frame.....the brown part is where

the bees have already been born.....new eggs are already placed in these

cells...the rest of the bees are busy doing their job.....gotta love everybody

working together!!!

this is from Ross' hive.....you can see the eggs (rice like) laid

by the Queen...there is also a bunch of stages of larva

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it was quite exciting to be amongst that many bees

this morning....we were all suited up so no stings again....honestly

once you get back to the hives, we are concentrating on what we need to do with

as little disruption to the bees that you don't have time to FREAK OUT!!!

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Pleasant Dreams!!!