The bees are already so protective of their hive that when we went to refill their food Thursday night, we both got stung. No more skipping the veil & smoke!
Most of these cells are filled with babies, and being capped off. Some of the perimeter cells have honey & pollen in them.
And here she is - the queen! She looked really active and healthy and was in one of the outer frames, hopefully getting ready to lay more eggs.
We added another deep hive body so they can stock up enough honey to see them through the winter. The shallower box on top is where the food goes right now, and later this summer it will hopefully be filled with honey that we get to harvest. You can also see our most important tool, the smoker, on the ground to the left.
As usual, Magnus shows how classy he is. No shame.And a little home movie of the hive, doing their thing on a Saturday afternoon...
5 comments:
This is so absolutely cool, I am very jealous as the city I live in does not allow bees. Great job on the first hive inhabitants - they must like it there ! Any particular tree/flowers you hear them buzz in, or will the honey be a mixture of everything around?
I am sure you'll get some at the new place though ;- )
We have a vine maple on the side of the house and right now it is humming with bees. But there are also cherries and apple blossoms right now.
You are intrepid and adventurous! I am an avid reader, and am learning so much from your experiences. My dream is to ease into retirement on a homestead. I fear I have neither the energy or the organization to do it any other way. Thank you very much for your fine roadmap.
Glad to be such a help to someone. We certainly learn more and more as we hone what we want to do here on our small farm. Good luck with easing into homesteading!
Thanks for the kind words Zapoteca. Your blog is great! I love following all the financial doom & gloom, since I don't have enough money to worry too much about losing it ;)
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