All good things must come to an end.

After three years of beekeeping, I had to say goodbye to my bees. I didn't know this could happen, but I developed an allergy to bee venom after being stung in June. During my visit to the ER I was informed that I am now allergic to bee stings and should stop beekeeping because future stings will likely be worse. I was shocked, sad, and determined to go against the Doctors orders and continue my hobby (with EpiPen in hand). Family and friends thought I was crazy and deep down even I questioned what the heck I was thinking. Back when I was in beekeeping school the teacher said "Know this, if you're a beekeeper, you are going to get stung." Ever since my incident, those words have replayed in my head over and over. I know it's true because I have been stung many times before and it's not something I can really prevent from happening again. I have battled the idea of getting rid of my bees for a couple months and Sunday I finally did. It was a hard decision, but I know it was the right decision. I found a new home for them and they will be in good hands. While beekeeping is by no means glamorous, I found it to be fascinating and rewarding.  Boyz II Men said it best, "It's so hard to say goodbye".  I miss my bees and I will miss my hobby.   

Long Live The Queen!

Bee Update: Splittsville

Big news on the Bee Front: 

I split my hive this week! 

The hive in the photo above on the right side was my first hive that I set up last year.  I was hoping to stretch my first hive to May, however it has quickly reached it's max and to prevent swarming, I decided to go ahead and preform my first split which - is the hive on the left.  Now, I just need to sit back and let the bees work their magic and create a new queen.  I've never done this before, so the suspense has me on the edge of my seat.  I'm hoping to sneak a peak in the next day or two to see how things are progressing. 

 

Pimping Hive #2

About this time last year, I was "pimping my first bee-hive" - Literally a bee-hive, not the fashionable hair style that women sported back in the 60's. My first year of beekeeping was an adventure.  At times felt chaotic, but overall a rewarding hobby, that I think everyone should experience.  In the end, when I got to harvest the honey it was worth all my efforts!

Before I got started last year I attended bee-keeping school and learned "enough" - really it felt like a crash course in beekeeping, because what I really learned came from "doing" and "seeing" the activity in my own hive.  An issue I ran into a lot last year was overcrowding.  When you have overcrowding your risk swarms.  Something I hope never happens!!  I had no idea that my bees would expand as quickly as they did and I wasn't prepared for that growth.  Thankfully, I found myself a wonderful mentor who is extremely knowledgeable in beekeeping. She came to my rescue multiple times last year.  I don't know what I would've done without her.  She taught me tons and let me borrow supplies when things got tight. 

Now that I am familiar with the natural progression that occurs in a hive, I think I'll be better prepared this year. We had a mild winter so my bees survived and since the temps have been so warm, the bees have already been hard at work bringing back pollen. So, since they're back at it so am I.  I just purchased my second hive, which I'm now in the process of pimping out to match my other hive.  I know this year will bring new challenges.  One being - splitting my old hive and hoping that my bees recognize the split and create a new queen for the new hive.  Then, I just have to hope and pray that things take off and flourish like they did last year. 

My new hive is freshly painted and ready and waiting for the split.  I just have to determine the best time and place to do it.  The temperament of my bees is different this year, so I'm a little cautious about setting up a second hive on my own property.  I might try to find a local farmer looking for a little extra pollination or perhaps someone with some land to let me set the hive on their property where I can come and manage it.  We shall see.

I'm looking forward to my second year of beekeeping.  I'm sure my beeutiful bees will provide some great new blogging material!  Hang on tight.  This is going to be a crazy ride!

Look what I found...

I checked on my bees today and to my surprise, I found that my little bees have decided to create a new queen.  Although nothing has hatched yet, I found not one, but two new queen cells (supercedure cells) while working my way through the hive.  What?!?

Why I'm a Beekeeper

When someone first learns that I'm a beekeeper, 9 times out of 10, their immediate response is "Really?...Why?".  I know people think I'm crazy, that's ok.  I do it because bees are endangered and we would be in serious trouble if we didn't have them.  Besides that, honey is delicious and it provides an abundance of medicinal purposes.  I've been interested in beekeeping for a few years, but this year, I finally decided to dive in and do it.  I'm not the best communicator, so this video probably explains why I am a beekeeper better than I could have said it myself.

Now go rent the movie!

Legwarmers in May?

Legwarmers....umm, No. ...But it does look like it. These are just my bees doing their thing, working their magic, collecting pollen. I took a few close-ups today to show just what this looks like. Last week my bees were collecting red pollen from somewhere, but I didn't see any of them coming back with that today.  Click on the photos to enlarge them and you'll see the pollen.

Bee update!

I checked on the bees this weekend and things are looking great!  They are working fast and the combs are really starting to take shape.  Watching the bees work is quite fascinating!  I wish I would've gotten a close up of the bees bringing in the pollen.  They are completely loaded up when they come back to the hive with bright red and yellow pollen.  I can't wait for the honey.  ...However, I may not get any this year.  The honey that they do produce this summer has to feed them over the winter (and these Midwest winters can be quite long), so I have to store up! 

Look closely and you can see the combs forming!

Bee update!

I picked up my BEEutiful bees yesterday.  Here they are all packaged up and ready to be added to the hive.  Overall, I think the transition went smoothly for my first time.  Sadly, there were some casualties, but I think that's normal.  I had a little anxiety - not gonna lie, but I accomplished it without a single sting - thanks to my sweet beekeeping gear.  The process created a little "Buzz" and let's just say I got to know my new neighbor a little bit better.  I'm not sure if she thinks I'm crazy or if she is just scared of bees, but I tried to assure her that there was nothing to be alarmed about.  I think she'll be keeping a close watch on me. 

Here is the lovely hive.  I have a few more additional boxes that will be added later this summer.  I'll be checking them tomorrow to see if the queen bee has been released yet.  Let the fun begin!

Don't Hate Me Because I'm Bee-utiful!

I posted the news that I'm becoming a beekeeper on my facebook page, but I haven't mentioned it on CTACW yet - but here is the proof.  There's nothing sexy about this, but by the end of the summer - if all goes well, I'll be nurturing 50,000 honey bees.  I'm pretty excited about this since the bee population is dropping and their existence is so important for our fruits and vegetables.  So far, I've attended Beekeeping school, I've purchased the gorgeous gear (as you can see above), and I've got the bee hives (which I'm in the process of pimping out).  Now all I need are my bees.  They've been ordered and should arrive in just a couple of weeks!

I'm still pimping my hive - but I'll post new pics when the beautification project is complete so you can see the gorgeous results.  It's coming along quite nicely. I think my bees are going to have the best home on the block!  

"If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live?" - Albert Einstein