Here's a picture

I thought I'd post a quick picture. The camera is pointed right at the entrance.

After some time away...

I figured it's about time to start blogging again after a little time away. It wasn't due to the fact I've not had anything to write about, but I was involved in an "incident" and we'll just leave it at that. NO, I wasn't arrested or anything.. Just some other stuff going on; that's all.

Anyways.. Back to the Bee's!

The weather has been awesome here in North Georgia the last few days! the one "live hive" is moving quite well! I'm even seeing the girls bringing in pollen! Whatever is blooming, they've apparently found it! I'm enjoying watching them coming in and out. I was told to go ahead and start feeding them to help jump start activity. So, I have a Boardman Feeder with 2:1 sugar water. I'm hopeful this is the right thing to do. Anyway, they seem quite busy. I watched with my wife as they were removing a few dead bee's here and there out of the entrance.

I have placed another order for another 10 Frame hive. Hope it gets here soon! I'm ready to pick up my 3lb packages of bee's to install.

I've noticed the dead hive has some activity too. All the bee's in there are dead, yet I see bee's flying in there with Pollen? What's up with that? Could this be the beginning of something I'm not wanting? There are several frames in the dead hive with capped honey. I'm thinking I need to remove the capped frames out of there and extract the honey. My thinking is that the new bee's I plan to install will have frames with complete foundations to work on. Of course the package bee's will have a queen and drones. The one thing I hate about beekeeping is the obvious lack of knowledge I have. I read everything I can and even ask questions, but still, there's nothing like hands on experience. I wish I had someone close by to come up and give me a hand to make sure I'm doing things right. Also, I'm thinking it's about time to put the "Bee Cam" back up near the entrance so I can peek in on the girls while I'm at work.

I'm supposed to pick up the two 3lb packages on the 18th, but I may wait until my new hive arrives so I can start out with everything on a one-time shot. We'll see.

If you have questions or comments, please do leave a note!

Oh, I spotted a few hives off Highway 9, just south of the square in Dawsonville; I may be making a stop to introduce myself and to see if I can get some help!

Thanks for reading! Hope to post again soon!

Bottles and Bottles

Well, Rhonda and I decided it was time to bottle up our honey we pulled. We pulled out two five gallon buckets we stored. After a brief trip to Walmart to get some glass containers, we were on our way. The last time we bottled, it was a disaster as we got honey everywhere on the floor! This time, I decided to be creative. I bought two more buckets and drilled holes in them. I then attached two cut off valves. It made life so much easier! I was able to control the flow out of the buckets into the jars thus eliminating any mess. It worked well.

To keep it short, we bottled up some five hundred ounces. We still have a buck left too.

I think next week we'll bottle up some more and get our buckets ready for the spring.

60's This weekend?

It's suppposed to be in the 60's here in Dahlonega this weekend. Great! This will give me a chance to work on my two dead beehives. I hope to take some pictures and post them here.

It's late, but I wanted to at least make an entry!

The 1st post... and why..

Well, here we go.. the 1st post on my new bee blog.

I had to stop and think whats a great way to chronicle all that I'm doing with my two bee hives and figured this would be about as good as any as a way to keep up with issues.

Here's a little history: Back last January, I was introduced to beekeeping by a friend of mine. I looked into it and thought maybe I could do this. After ordering just about everything I thought I needed, and some junk that I really didn't need, but looked cool, I had everything required to put up two operating beehives. The supplier that actually provided me with these "Starter Kits" also supplied me with the 3lb packages of Bee's. On May 14, 2010, I finally received my bee's and placed them in the hive. All seemed well. The frames were being built out, the Queen released into the hives with no issues. I watched daily. For the 1st few weeks, everything seemed to be going okay. Looked like I might be able to do this after all. However...

One thing I learned is that new hives and new bee's need lots of Sugar Syrup to be fed to them to simulate a nectar flow. Since these were new frames, there were now wax cells built, and the bee's and to do that before anything else. I fed a mixture of two parts granulated sugar to one part water for quite some time. I think I finally stopped feeding in mid to late June. All the frames had wax foundation built out on each side. Keep in mid that this is a single Deep Brood box with the 10 frames. Anyway, after a quick inspection that determined that there were egg's being laid, bee's storing and capping honey, nectar and pollen seem to be good, I thought it was now time to add a second Deep with an additional 10 new frames. I did this and didn't bother to feed anymore. I have no clue as to when the "Flow" is on. I still don't. I do know enough to see the Bee's coming in with Pollen baskets filled. It's a sight to see them so loaded down with pollen that they "Crash" into the lading board.

The Summer came and went and I started to read up on what I should do about keeping my bee's healthy over the winter. I did the prep that I read about, but just last week I had a feeling something wasn't right. I checked the hives, and when I popped the covers off, there was no movement - None. I opened them up to find nothing but a huge mass of dead bee's.. everywhere! I was devastated. What to do now?

I posted about my issues on one of my favorite Bee Forums and the responses rolled in. I truly expected some criticisms to my "mistakes" but found the replies were full of a wealth of knowledge, help and lastly encouragement. Without going to much into it, the general concensus is that the Bee's starved due to them possilby not being able to break their cluster to get to more food on the honey capped frames just above them. We've had a very cold winter too.

So, welcome to my little space on the internet. I post what I think and say whats on my mind. I'm not always correct. I can be hard headed too. But one thing is for sure, I love my Wife, daughter, friends and neighbors, and my little Bee's. So with that, I plan to post here often as to whats going on and how I'm progressing. If I'm not grammatically correct, or if my spelling is off, then so be it.

I do hope you enjoy the reading and experiences I post as I try to Keep Bee's here in the South.