Fourth Check

Comb (like this bridge comb between London's frames,) begins a pure white. It becomes more yellowish as pollen is tracked into the hive, and eventually a brown/black if not changed out every few years.

Got my first sting today (in the lip, through the veil as I bent over to remove London's entrance reducer.) Waited a few seconds for a decent amount of venom to seep in before scraping the stinger out with my teeth.

Propolis, an antiseptic brown, sticky substance bees produce from tree sap to block up holes. Propolis can be dried, mixed in alcohol and added to tea or coffee to treat ulcers, colitis and other digestive ailments.

Edinburgh syrup almost gone, London 3/4 full. Edinburgh had 8 frames almost fully drawn out, while London is still at 7. Both are beginning to draw comb in the upper deep, Edinburgh going at a marginally faster pace. Both hives starting to glue frames together with propolis. Both hives have good, solid laying patterns. London almost out of pollen patty.

First Brood

Why beekeeping? I work in an office. I spend a large portion of my day staring at a computer (or other people's computers,) making decisions about LAN's and business systems and other structures, play a vital role in corporate survival, basically come down to a bunch of 1's and 0's flowing from one wire to another.

This career path generally lends itself to a certain type of hobby; video games, computer programming, animation, the purchasing of various gadgets and doo-dads that, while interesting, have little bearing on the physical world.

And that's what it comes down to, really.

I like the things I do in my spare time; that portion of my life that all that desk-sitting is supposed to pay for, to have a connection to the physical and natural world. Hence interests such as photography, gardening, sailing, even violin.

Beekeeping's the same thing. See, since I was a kid I wanted to be a farmer; to make sustenance for myself, and sell the abundance for profit. And I may still do that someday when I save the money to purchase the land. But beekeeping lets me do that on a small scale; to tap and tend a natural resource on minimal acreage.

True, I do like native gardening and wildlife, and while bees aren't native to North America, they're also not invasive (there are few, if any, feral colonies,) have little impact on native animals, and are actually beneficial to native plants. Without them, we'd have to increase the amount of land required by agriculture.

After reading a few books on the subject late last year, I found a local beekeeper who sold supplies, and a community college course taught by Bob Sitko on beginning beekeeping. By late April, I was ready to start my first two colonies; London and Edinburgh.

Two three-pound packages of Carniolan honeybees; what would become London and Edingburgh.

April 21: 4:15 PM Hived London and Edinburgh, accidentally swapping a few of the frames in the hustle of the original setup. May have come close to drowning E Queen in an effort to keep her from flying, but the workers got her cleaned up&moving. Added full feeder pails, grease patties, and pollen patties to each hive. Per the advice of Nature's Nectar, left the entrances blocked for a short while, then reopened as evening set in.

London and Edinburgh in the best spot I could choose; beside the pond in the middle of our native garden. This will provide the bees with a ready supply of water, pollen, nectar and shade; everything a hive needs to be succesful. In the winter, the hives can be pushed together and covered in tarpaper.

April 22: Bees going into and out of hive; their erratic patterns in the air and searching for entrance seems to indicate orientation flights. Checked feed buckets. London bucket seems to be fuller than E Bucket.

April 23: Checked both feeder buckets, opened E top just long enough to shift pollen patty, which the bees were all over.

Active bees; a sign of a healthy hive.

April 25: Cool (upper 50's), rained in the past day. Checked water levels. E still feels quite full with only a few bees poking around near the feeder, London feels a bit emptier, with loads of bees spotted directly under the feeder. (Later in day) Bees moving in and out, circling hive. No bees noticed on trees or flowers.

A first quick check of the bees; some drawn comb, some honey (the watery stuff) and pollen (the darker material in the cells.)



April 28: Warmer (60's), checked for queen. Edinburgh seems to have a pretty decent compliment of bees; they were all focused on the far side of the hive (below the pollen patty) so I shifted their frames over to the middle so they would have easier access to the food. Didn't spot her, but I did see several drones wandering about (easy to spot with the eyes that go to the back of the head and rounded bottoms) Bees actually clasping to one another between the frames! Both London and Edingburgh are drawing out comb. What definitely appear to be larva spotted on pictures taken of comb!


May 2: 60's, windy. Noticed several carnolians (likely ours) sucking nectar from dandelions in yard. Lots of activity, some pollen packets spotted. Checked the syrup buckets. Edingburgh is still about half full while London has gone down to under 1/4. Lots more activity under E bucket now.

Capped brood and pupae in various stages of capping. Excellent proof the queen is alive and well (or was in the past week.)

May 15:Second check. E 3/4 of syrup, built bridge comb between E&10 and E2 (both brood comb), removed bridge, displaced E3 and E9 (mixed honey and pollen) and moved undrawn frames in. Only 5 frames drawn total; same as before. Shift should resolve that. L had only about 1/4 syrup left (will check midweek). Impressive amounts of capped honey in L. L had eaten through pollen patty. Both grease patties were low; added more. Shifted frames in the same manner in L. Saw brood in both frames; larvae in E and very advanced pupae in L.

May 22:E 1/2 syrup, lots of bridge comb. Glistening white larvae seen in 2 frames of brood comb. around 4.5 frames of honey and pollen, added second box. L had 3/4 syrup left, 2 frames brood comb, 5.5 frames honey and pollen. Very solid laying pattern in L, with lots of capped honey and some pollen above the brood. Added second hive box. Switched entrance reducer to larger hole on both.