Hi Vin. What's the latest news on the bees. Are they doing well?
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Was reading back - and it is interesting as always. Was particularly interested in the Round-Up piece. So many people use it, and now we are seeing carcinogenic issues, and of course eco-system issues. who knew that killing dandelions in my yards would create an issue that may resonate through bugs, to birds and bees, thus affecting our own food production. My neighbor is super green (solar, geo-thermal, and such) and asked me if I would consider NOT spraying for weeds in my yard - and also not treating the yard against bugs and skeeters. Paints an interesting picture
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I've been negligent in updating the thread -- lots has happened. Will try to post some info in the next few days.
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Looking forward to it. :-)
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The grim reaper rears his head....cue the dark music!!
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Paul McCartney sings the opening verse of "Let It Bee"......:-)
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Mother Mary, comfort me ...
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You really should be on the road working comedy clubs.:-)
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First stop.... Taylor, Florida. :-)
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Took a picture of Vin's hive at the herf this last weekend -- it was too hot (over a 100*) for them, so they moved outside to keep cool. Vin said it's called Bearding:

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Been negligent in keeping this thread updated. Probably deliberately negligent because our hive from last year, the one we got our first ever honey from, and the one I felt was suitably strong heading into the cold weather months, didn't make it through a rather mild winter. I know they didn't starve because there was still plenty of honey in the brood boxes when I discovered their demise. Like the prior year, they were all clustered tightly into a ball. Very much dead. Frozen.

I'm convinced I need a wind break, and while I'd prefer a natural one like a hedge, I'm researching temporary options.

Fortunately for me, I had another nucleus of bees already on order as I had planned to start a second hive this past spring. Had that not been the case, very possible I would have thrown in the towel.

Glad I didn't because this spring & summer have been a lot of fun with the new bees. Here's the new queen.

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She's "marked" with a green dot both for ease of identification and to determine her age -- all queens born this year are green-dots; next year's will be blue & the following white. In this way, bee keepers who manage to overwinter their hives can determine how old their queen is. I haven't had to worry about that yet. :-)

Summer came somewhat late to New England as the spring rains didn't really end until mid-June. Flowers were late in blooming which actually help my new hive because I didn't get the bees until late May. I missed most of the apple tree bloom in the orchard next to our neighborhood, but otherwise there were plenty of resources for the ladies to pick from. Grace & I spent most of June and early July watching the bees come back loaded up with pollen.

Got a real treat during one of our hive inspections when we saw a few baby bees eating their way out of their honeycomb cell and taking their first steps. Have seen it in video & online, but never when I was holding a frame right in my hand. Was pretty damn cool, and I need to figure out how to link the little video we have of the event here.

With the hive doing really well & its population strengthening, we put our first honey super on at the very end of June. The day after my herf was about the three-week mark, and icehog watched from a safe distance as Grace and I found the super to be packed with honey; much of it already capped. We added a second honey super that day to give the bees some additional room to work.

That was two weeks ago, and I just peeked in the hive today. The second honey box is well on its way to becoming full. Another week or so, and we'll need to pull the boxes for extraction. My guess is we blow away last year's initial harvest of 35 lbs, and may even top our total take of 52 lbs with this first extraction.

And because summer's not complete without me getting stung, here's what a pulled out of my ear a few weeks back. It was left there after some rando bee decided to fly straight in my ear while I was minding my own business in the yard and sting me. That bee was an asshole.

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Well you are welcome here of course but there aren't many venues to book you. WE do have three Churches, two of them meet every Sunday and the other one is what's known as "Primitive Baptist" but usually called Hard Shell Baptist. And one run down country store. LOL
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-O8kRTVkjEI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZqUkk6fVuQ

Greg, I am afraid my humor would not play well with the Baptists. :-)
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Well done Tom!:-)
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Probably not, but the Hardshell Baptist Church is so old I believe it still has holes in the floor to spit your tobacco out of.
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Amazing what difference a year makes.

I was stung by a honey bee once on the tongue. Didn't know about it until a few hours later when it came loose in my mouth. Hope that yours was an equally non-plus event.
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:-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGaaQG5sTeg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvHFqcYN3nc
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Pulled the honey supers over the weekend and had them extracted today.

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That's more than we got all last year!

If the weather cooperates, we'll have more on the way in 5 or 6 weeks.

Also got a fair amount of wax to melt down.

:-)
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You could have quite the cottage industry going there!
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bee-utiful!
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