Suburban Micro Farming

baby bee chewing her way out of her cell.

Bees

Bees are comming this year!!. The summer of 2018 was for research and set up.
Reference link: Seacoast Beekeeper's Association | Jeremiah Grange Hall, Lee Hook Rd. | Lee, NH

I got my nuc, classes and supplies at Bee Pride - Lebanon, Maine

Resources:

2019 - my first hive boxes! I assembled it and painted it. I still have to assemble the additional boxes.

2019 - The first hive kit I bought came with plastic foundation that needs to be painted with beeswax so that the bees will build onto it, rather than building their comb next to it...

2019

In 2019 I initiated the bee project. It's not as easy as I had been initially led to believe, but still absolutely doable! I bought a hive online and it turned out to be inadequate. The first year bees will probably need two deep brooding boxes, and an extra honey super might be needed if my season is more successful than likely - but it's best to be prepared. There is too much to beekeeping to sumarize here. My advise; take a class. Learn about everything involved and be prepared for the financial commitment. I think my total investment is around $600 for the startup.

The initial installation was done on Sunday, April 28^th

The hive opens South at the treeline. It is open to the full sun for several hours.

My nuc was delivered in April 28th. I had intended to take a photo of each side of every frame, but I panicked after the first frame and only got the one frame photographed.

When you have the opportunity to look into the hive, you should find your queen. I did not see her here. I saw lots of brood, though - good signs.

This is the five frame nuc box that the bees have been overwintered in.

2019

First inspection: Saturday, May 4^th

Objective for opening the hive: to see what they're doing and make sure they are alive.
Temp: 55°, sunny
Temp for the week: 30°-50°, rainy. very wet and cold.
Activity: very
Blossoms: forsythia, dandelion, lily, tulips
Stings: three
Signs of pests or disease: Some condensation under the telescoping lid of the feeder box above the lid divider. Some mold color splotches on the wood.

Queen sighting: no
capped honey: some surrounding brood
Capped brood: lots
Larva: yes
eggs: didn't see
pollen: being brought in in buckets on bees

frames built out: one wax foundationed frame was starting to be built out of the five available; two
Brood pattern: good
# of Frames with brood: 5, with a sixth beginning
syrup consumption: about three cups.
water: available
Notes: Farmer Mary did the inspection to help me while took photos. I got stung, probably because I wasn't wearing any coverage on my arms, and because I moved with quick, jerky motions.
Mite treatments: not yet

After a week of cold rain, I was indeed pleased to see this level of activity at the hive entrance!

This is the inner cover that opens into the hive box below it. The syrup feeders were on top of the inner cover, in a deep sized box with no frames, underneath the telescoping cover. As you can see, there are lots of bees in here!

My friend Farmer Mary came by to help me with my first inspection. She actually did the whole thing while I took pics, got stung and ran away.

The first two wood frames with wax foundation were untouched. We started with Frame#3, the first of the five plastic nuc frames.

In this pic, all the bees are crowded around the five frames from the nuc in the middle, plus one of the new wood frames on the far side. The first two frames in this ten-frame brood box are still untouched, as are the last two frames.

Frame three Side one (the first of the five nuc frames) I see pollen here. There is a cluster of bees and i'm not sure if there's brood underneath them. There is also a weird black bee in the upper right corner. It looks like Chronic Bee Paralysis (Hairless black syndrome)
Link: info

Frame three Side two - again, pollen and capped 'something' that I can't see through the cluster of bees.

We looked at the five plastic nuc frames and the first of the three wooden frames on the other side that was just beginning to be built out.

Capped honey in the upper left corner. Capped brood in the middle.

Capped brood. Burr comb - removed. Newbees emerging.

"Burr comb, bridge comb, and brace comb are all terms used to describe comb that is built in places that are reasonable to the bees but annoying to the beekeeper. Wherever honey bees find excess space in the hive—a space greater than about 3/8” (1 cm) wide—they will attempt to build comb. It is a problem for the beekeeper because it glues things together and makes removing the frames very difficult. Many beekeepers make a habit of scraping away any burr comb when they see it and, if possible, correct the situation that gave the bees the extra space.""
Link: ref

This frame shows a couple capped cells, uncapped nectar cells and burr comb that Mary removed.

Huge pile of bees!!

This is the other side of this frame. Presumeably, I think I lost track of their order.) It shows capped brood, lots of larva in all stages, emerging newbees and removing the burr comb.

This one shows lots of capped brood looking lovely, and some newbees emerging.

This is a pile of bees. They look like they are tending to capped brood and open larvae cells.

This is a good shot of some open larval cells. There's also a bee with her pollen buckets full.

This looks like another shot of the bees clustered over the six frames they are building out.. It's hard to see. Basically, it's a pile of bees!

Here's a good one. This looks like drone brood.

Lots of brood cells capped and some drone cells on the edge, too. This frame has the burr comb, and I see a couple bees with their pollen buckets full!

I'm seeing newbees chewing out of their cells. I see pollen baskets full, burr comb as on the other side of this frame, tons of capped brood and a few open nectar cells