Oak Orchard Honey

I tell people I have a growing list of things I don't know. There is really no way for a person to keep up with the information that becomes available every minute of the day - it's a battle I have conceded after years of self deprication. Now I'm happy with a general working knowledge of a few concepts. Beekeeping is a new world to me filled with ideas and knowledge gathered by multitudes of observant people over the past hundred and fifty years or so. It seems like such a peaceful past-time with roots in an earlier days before corn syrup and fast-food. I can walk out to the back corner of our big yard and go back in time, and slowly learn information about honey bees that has been common knowledge for over a hundred years, and yet for me it is the unknown.

Scientific Queen Rearing by Gilbert M. Doolittle, published in 1889, is a wonderful story. One can sense the time and place in Doolittle's writing and feel the tug of nostalgia for days-gone-by. And, even though more than one-hundred years have past, Doolittle's outlook on life and beekeeping seem to be what many of us are looking for in our "modern" world. It was very nice of Michael Bush to republish this work at: http://www.bushfarms.com/beesdoolittle.htm

Things look good down at the two hives. The placement of the apiary seemed to have worked out well this winter. Living at the top of one of the highest spots around leaves our property exposed to the West winds that blow across the open fields. I was able to locate the hives on the lee side of a stand of sumacs, blocking the worst of the winds. I was lucky on the first summer of beekeeping, the field that borders our property to the East was all red clover. It will most likely be field corn this summer, but it could be soybean and that would be great. For now I'll keep feeding the bees until I see some signs that the maple trees have bloomed. I've read that maples could be a good source of nectar if the weather stays warm enough for the bees to fly.

I can't expect too much from March. It looks like Saturday will be a good day for bees and people, then the long haul to Wednesday.

It's nice to be able to compare the rates of syrup being consumed by the bees in both hives. They have both taken up half of a quart in just over two hours. This is the first time I have cared for bees in the waning weeks of winter. Now that spring is officially here this blog will help me to chronical all the changes I see taking place in and around the hives. All pictures and postings will be done in the field with my ever-ready iPhone (recently identified as an addiction).

A picture from July 2009, just starting out with two hives that I purchased from Joe Caton of BeeMan Direct. I borrowed a 1950's bulldozer from a friend to carve out this apiary in some sumac trees. Today 3/17/10 - St. Patrick's Day was warm and both hives had consumed a quart of 1:1 by late afternoon. I replenished both around 5:00 PM. Sunny and mild, mid 50s, the bees were very active.

The bees out in the back seem to be active. This catalpa tree is home to the honey bees that got me interested in beekeeping last season. After reading about the decimation of the wild bee population it seemed like a perfect time to purchase some bees. A fellow sailor and friend of mine in Toronto had talked to me several years ago about becoming a beekeeper, and it always seemed like a wonderful activity. With the purchase of an old farmhouse on a couple acres of land the time was right.

It warmed up today to about 56 - degrees and sunny all day. By 6:00 PM the bees in hive "B", what I thought was the weaker hive going into winter, had consumed a quart of 1:1. The stronger hive "A" (pictured here) had dropped about half a quart. I refreshed B and left A alone to see where they would be tomorrow. Both hives seemed very active.

This week it cooled off and the bees were not as active as they had been last week as temperatures reached the fifties for the first time this year - it was time to start feeding the bees. Today it was in the forties - I mixed a 1:1 syrup for the entrance feeders and expanded the opening for the bees to about one and a half inches. When I placed my ear against the hive and tapped the side I could hear the loud buzzing from the clusters in both hives. I'm hoping this is a good sign.

I have two hives that I purchased at the beginning of summer 2009. I probably would not have these two hives if it weren't for the help and encouragement of Joe Caton of BeeMan Dirrect . A little about Joe from his apiary supply store on the web: E.J. Caton started his journey in beekeeping back in1963.His mentor was Amos Archer who taught him everything he knew until his passing in the early 70's. Early on Caton started thirsting for more when he began working his own hives, and went to the local libraries, and the local university's library seeking out anything he could find about Honeybees and about Beekeeping. Years passed and his hive numbers expanded quickly as he and his father started seeking out places to go and things to buy. Buying out equipment from other old timer beekeepers such as hand crank extractor, tools, hives and anything that he could use. He even made his own observation hive, after reading about them in a monthly bee magazine he was receiving. Years ...