I cannot believe I got this far without talking about the bees! They were one of the first things that happened for us when we moved in here - I immediately put our old hives together and saw an ad on Craigslist for a newly-caught swarm. I called the man and next thing, he was dumping the bees into the hive.
Bees!
Feeding the bees to give them a good start in their new hive.
Because we have a nest of skunks in the backyard under our shed, and behind our property there are a myriad of other skunk families (skunks like bees as a tasty snack), we decided to put the bees in the front of the house instead. Although it makes it a bit tricky for the delivery guys, we love having them outside our living room window - it has allowed us to see things we would likely not have ever seen otherwise.
Because we have a nest of skunks in the backyard under our shed, and behind our property there are a myriad of other skunk families (skunks like bees as a tasty snack), we decided to put the bees in the front of the house instead. Although it makes it a bit tricky for the delivery guys, we love having them outside our living room window - it has allowed us to see things we would likely not have ever seen otherwise.
In the summer, the bees get hot and will beard on the outside of the hive.
Like the bee war! When nectar supply is low, sometimes hives in need of food will come and try to rob other hives. They will dive straight into the other hive and try and steal whatever they can. This happened with our hive - another hive tried to rob them, and an all-out war ensued - there were bee bodies everywhere! Bees fighting all over outside the hive, it was AMAZING to see. They would fight in mid-air and then drop and fight to the death on the ground.
Like the bee war! When nectar supply is low, sometimes hives in need of food will come and try to rob other hives. They will dive straight into the other hive and try and steal whatever they can. This happened with our hive - another hive tried to rob them, and an all-out war ensued - there were bee bodies everywhere! Bees fighting all over outside the hive, it was AMAZING to see. They would fight in mid-air and then drop and fight to the death on the ground.
Here is a blog post I wrote about it, including video:
Bee war, which fascinated us all. Note the dead bee bodies and the bees covering the front of the hive. I wish you could see how they were fighting!
We wanted to protect “our” bees. Generally one thing that beekeepers will do is take a scrap of mesh screen and bend it into a wort of ‘W’ shape, then put it in front of the hive entrance. This blocks bees from coming in. The bees that live in the hive have incentive to find their way around and through the wire screen, and soon all of them will know how to get in. But the bees that are robbing will just keep divebombing the entrance, and eventually will give up for lack of success.
We didn’t have any mesh screen, so we looked around for something we could block the entrance with but still allowed for side access. And then: LEGO! We had fences and windows and thin pieces, and we were able to fashion a window/barricade that both blocked the entrance and allowed it to be seen, and allowed side access. I put it on and voila! No more hive robbing.
A close-up, just because bees are so awesome.
Kiernen is pretty fearless around the bees, or was until his Dad and I got ourselves stung for spending too much outside near the hive planting a bee garden. The bees didn’t like it and they said NO - in the form of some painful stings. We put on bee suits after that. The bees we had before never stung us like that, but then, we weren’t outside their hive digging up and planting a bee garden, either - and blocking their flight path. So yeah.
We’re going to build the bees a proper apiary, but I really want to have them visible from the windows, because having them there has been an amazing experience. They’re the perfect weather forecast! Because the bees won’t fly when it is too cold, we can look outside and know whether we need a jacket. Bees flying = no jacket needed. Bees aren’t flying? Jacket!
We aren’t harvesting any honey this first year, because we are raising them naturally and want to give them the best opportunity to establish themselves. Next summer (this summer), however, we will be harvesting, provided they make it through winter and are going strong still - which thus far seems like it will happen. We might try and do a split of the hive in spring - which means we split the hive in two and one makes a new queen - and then we have two hives. We shall see how they fare and what we think they can tolerate once that time comes. Thus far all we’ve really had to do is make sure they have a clear entrance to the hive - in winter when it is too cold for them to carry out the dead bee bodies (their lifespan is about three weeks), they dump them just outside, and sometimes even sort of clog the entrance with them when it is REALLY cold. So we help out by unclogging their entrance and sweeping the dead bee bodies away, to help keep things clean.
We aren’t harvesting any honey this first year, because we are raising them naturally and want to give them the best opportunity to establish themselves. Next summer (this summer), however, we will be harvesting, provided they make it through winter and are going strong still - which thus far seems like it will happen. We might try and do a split of the hive in spring - which means we split the hive in two and one makes a new queen - and then we have two hives. We shall see how they fare and what we think they can tolerate once that time comes. Thus far all we’ve really had to do is make sure they have a clear entrance to the hive - in winter when it is too cold for them to carry out the dead bee bodies (their lifespan is about three weeks), they dump them just outside, and sometimes even sort of clog the entrance with them when it is REALLY cold. So we help out by unclogging their entrance and sweeping the dead bee bodies away, to help keep things clean.
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