Due to the profound interests in
backyard beekeeping, join beginner apiarist; Lorraine Glowczak, as she shares
her discoveries on her new adventure of keeping honeybees in this monthly
series article. Enjoy.
In my last bee installment, I shared the
slightly modified (incorrect) way I checked my hive for the first time. Needless
to say, I now observe my hive in the more traditional and, what most would
consider, proper way of checking in on my sweet little Italian Honeybees. I now
properly gather all my supplies which include the smoker, bee jacket, bee tool,
a journal to keep notes, and a camera to capture all the nuances of a
beginner’s apiary journey. I’ve discovered it makes observation a little less
stressful, more fun and much more accurate.
However, with almost everything in life,
there is the expected way we presume things will go. As if by textbook
standards, everything runs smoothly without challenge and we all live happily
ever after. It’s a fact that life rarely happens by textbook standards and we
tend to resort to Plan B, especially when dealing with nature herself.
As for me and my beekeeping adventure,
let’s first examine the bee smoker. A smoker is a neat little contraption
invented by Moses Quniby in 1875 (most credited). It is a small tin device that
includes a side bellow. It was made specifically to generate smoke from
smoldering fuels (I use pine needles, newspaper and a gunny sack material.) The
smoke is “puffed” into the entrance of the hive as well as into the hive itself
just prior to bee inspection to help calm the bees. It is also used briefly
during inspection when bees become irritated. The smoke not only masks the
“alert and attack” pheromones from the guard bees, but leads the bees to
believe there is a fire nearby. As a result, they busily focus on gathering the
honey as a form of insurance in the event that they need to build another hive
elsewhere.
Ideally, the smoker is lit prior to
checking the hive with the expectation that it will stay smoking until the inspection
is complete. That has only happened once in the past two months since obtaining
my bees. With all other inspections, the smoker is either packed too tight and
it discontinues burning, packed too light and burns out too quickly, or the
inspection takes longer than anticipated and runs its burning course. As a
result, the inspection process needs to be stopped momentarily so the smoker
can be relit. Not ideal in the bee inspection process.
Then there is the hive itself. Luckily
for me, I haven’t had too many issues, just a lot of unknowns to this
beekeeping newbie. First, the expectation is that the bees fill out the first
deep hive, starting in the middle frames and spreading outward onto all ten
frames. Once they reach the last frames on either side of the hive, it is time
to put on the second deep hive. This usually occurs approximately three weeks
after bee arrival. So, on week three I was anxious to put the new deep hive on.
However, they had not spread out enough, so after checking in with Mark Cooper
(a Windham Master Beekeeper and my mentor), I waited for one more week.
Week 4. They still hadn’t spread out.
Week 5? Nope. My thought is the queen
better get busy if she wants to survive the winter. It turns out they were moving
upward instead of outward. I have a hive top feeder. This is a feeder that sits
on top of the hive and the bees can get to their food source (sugar water)
though a screen. The bees had eaten through the screen and were moving upward
instead of outward. Whew! So, on week 6 – I was finally able to put the new deep
hive on top so they could grow and thrive.
As I mentioned before, I have taken a beekeeping
class this past winter but there are way too many considerations to be taught
in a six week course. So, often, you have to learn as you go. During one weekly
hive inspection, my friend Alyssa (a beginner beekeeper too) and I had noticed
“unusual” black spots on one of the frames. We worried that they might be signs
of American Foulbrood (a spore forming disease that is one of the top beehive
killers.) To make sure this was not the case, I relied on Mark once again to
relieve my fears. He replied to my text within minutes and our “American foulbrood”
was simply Bee Bread (bee pollen instead of plant pollen.) A very important
factor in the health of the hive. Whew! Relief once again!
Lastly, I have a morning ritual of
watering my plants and feeding the birds and the bees (no pun intended.) Of
course, I don’t actually feed my bees every morning but because I just can’t
get enough of learning from and observing them, I always sneak a peek into the
hive feeder to see how much sugar water is left. During one of these morning
inspections, I noticed another “unusual” thing. A cluster of bees dancing in
one spot just above the hive door. I’m certain Mark must be tired of me by now,
so I try to google this “unusual” accumulation of bees. With no luck in my
research, I texted Mark again. Within minutes as if he is not bothered by my
continual questions, he tells me that the bees are letting me know it is just a
tad bit warm in their hive. So I remove the bottom cover and put in a larger
“door” so there is more ventilation. Problem solved.
I’m heading into my third month as a
newbie apiarist. All is well so far.
When I decided to go into beekeeping, I
did so to not only do my part for a greater environmental cause, but to be a
student and learn from them. Not only in the form of an amateur entomologist,
but about life in general. My most current lesson, it seems, is that although
life rarely goes as planned, plan B always works out just as well – if not
better.
No comments:
Post a Comment