2013....the cycle starts anew

2013...we learned at lot!

In the spring of 2013 we set up our new hives....3 in all. Soon after the bees arrived...all the way from NewZealand. It was quite the experience getting them settled in their new homes.

Most of the woodenware was built by Ryan O'Neill and Jen Rurak...a considerable savings all round. Initially the hives were a screened bottom board, single 10 frame deep with foundation and foundationless frames, a hive top feeder, a notched inner cover and a telescoping lid...all set upon a levelled hive stand. 

Shortly thereafter we set up two more hives. We really enjoyed working with them and soon increased our numbers to fifteen hives using local nucleus colonies! Now we had at least two strains of bees...local and New Zealand hygienic Carniolans.

It wasn't long before the bees multiplied and we added on another deep brood box. We had been warned about swarming but in our ignorant bliss were not even aware it was happening...at least we saw no evidence of a single swarm.

In June the when second boxes filled, we pulled off the hive top feeders and put on the first honey super...a somewhat shallower box (I could not lift full deep boxes). When the bees drew out wax comb on the foundation, filled the comb with nectar and capped the honey we would add another honey box. Some of the hives produced better than others...anywhere from one honey super to four of them!

When food sources dwindle in July we had a sharp learning curve regarding bees and honey robbing. Ryan soon produced several robber screens in hopes of keeping the honey in the hives!

In August the honey supers were removed and the hives were treated for Varroa mites using naturally occurring acid fumes...it was amazing how many mites there were in some hives whereas there was very little evidence of them in other hives. 

We extracted some of the honey and bottled it for family and friends to try. It was simply delicious:) The first drops out of the extractor looked like liquid gold.

In the fall the bees are offered sugar syrup to help them put up adequate stores for the long winter.

In November the bees are put to bed for the winter. They are given sugar blocks to munch on, warm shavings quilts for insulation and moisture wicking and insulation under the lid. The more exposed hives then had tarps draped over them.

In January when there is no active brood we did another mite treatment. After that they snoozed until the cheery blossom trees put on their display mid April.

Now the hives awake and the cycle starts a new. Their winter covers are removed and the hives are cleaned for spring.

Our plan was to grow our micro apiary by growing young Queens from our current stock and importing some Buckfast Queens from Fergussen Apiaries back east.

We also hoped to try some other hive configurations in hopes of better understanding the ways of bees.

EquiFlora Honey Farm...a micro apiary ...was now a reality.

How it all began...

Childhood memories.....

I was first introduced to the wonders of bee keeping back in the 1960s as a child "helping" my father manage his hives. I learned of Queens, workers and drones. Seeing the different types of bees, the young and the older ones and the brood developing from eggs into larvae then the capped brood and finally the magic of seeing a brand new bee emerge....workers from flat brood cells and drones from the domed cells. The Queens developed in special peanut shaped Queen cells. My father closely monitored the development of the Queen cells. Sometimes he started new colonies by moving a Queen cell and a few frames of bees to a new hive. Lots of looking mostly with joy and occasionally with dismay when a hive was struggling.

Catching swarms was very exciting. It also seemed to be accompanied by a lot of commotion but ended in the zen like feeling of observing the swarm calmly arranging its' new home.

The reward for the stings received along the way was the fall honey harvest. Back then we used a hot capping knife to take the top off the comb. Then the frames laden with honey went into the extractor. That extractor was a hand crank. As a child it was fun turning the crank, getting the frames to spin faster and faster until the golden liquid poured from the spout on the side. The honey was strained through mesh and then it was portioned into bottles. I hardly recall the bottling...I think the adults did that when we weren't around. The harvested honey supplied us with golden sweetness that would last until the next season when the honey bee cycle began anew.

Many years later my eldest daughter Jen and Ryan asked if they could put a couple of bee hives on our property. Needless to say, with fond memories of youth circling in my head, I readily agreed and the renewed cycle of bee keeping commenced.

Somehow it seems much more complex and work intensive than the bee keeping of my youth...I expect the reality is that my father did all hard work, paid all the bills and I participated in all the fun and wondrous aspects of bee keeping!

This blog is the journey of our venture into bee keeping and the production of pure, raw honey from our micro apiary... EquiFlora Honey Farm.