Columbus Day 2008

Finished medicating the hives and wrapped them for the winter, with entrance reducers. I will not likely see them again until late winter or early spring, for early feeding. The two established hives have good stores but the two new ones from last spring are light and will definitely need feeding as soon as the weather starts to warm in March.

I now have a label! Thank to John Spencer for the artwork and Lisa Spencer for the label design.

Murray Shed Cut Out

A hive that swarmed last Labor Day had settled in to the Murray's shed and was growing quickly, so we had to cut it out. Erin Forbes from the the Maine Beekeepers Association came out to help; she opened up the shed wall and removed the comb and vacuumed the bees out. She had to take them off the Island; otherwise they would return to the shed. The cut out took about six hours, and I still have to replace the siding on the shed. Thanks to Dwight Brew for helping.

We got about 13 pounds of honey from the cut out. It has been strained and bottled and will be sold at the upcoming Island Arts & Crafts show in August.

The colony (including queen) was moved to a new home in Falmouth.

Hived Two Nucs

Today I moved the frames from two new nucs into new hives and fed them. I also did a quick inspection of the two hives from last year and finally have some honey on one of the supers! So we will likely be doing an Island honey extraction possibly over Fourth of July weekend.

Received word from Sarah Meacham that one of the established hives swarmed and is presumably off somewhere hunting for a new home. I can only hope it is not the Meserves, who had a swarm about 15 years ago from one of Vivian Russe's hives and were not too happy about it.

The swarm from last Labor Day that is in the Murray shed is doing quite well - we hope to get experienced help and cut this hive out and get into a hive, the last weekend of June.

New Nucs - Memorial Day 2008

Today I added two new nucs - Carniolans from Abenaki Apiary in Skowhegan. Spent the entire drive down to Portland looking in my rear view mirror expecting bees to pour out of the nucs, but made it safely down and out to Cushings in my boat rather than on the ferry. Placed the nucs on top of two new hives set up in the Farm Hill bee yard, smoked and opened them up. Bees came out somewhat tentatively at first but checking back later both nucs were active.

Moving Hives

I learned two interesting things today.

1. You should not move hives in a garden cart - you have to lift the front and move it at an angle, and it bounces a lot.

2. Straps stretch.

With help from Sky and Cindy Thaxter, Chris Bond and Deborah (sorry I forgot your last name), I set out to move the two hives in front of Sarah Meacham's down Farm Hill a bit into the new bee yard. Earlier in the morning I closed up the hives and put a strap around each hive to keep them intact for the move.

Chris and I suited up and lifted the first hive onto a garden cart for the trip. We all then started off and before long the hive, bouncing around (see point 1) , came askew (see point 2) and just before reaching its new home, the hive opened up enough for them to pour out - the girls were quite mad about the undertaking (the bees, not Cindy and Deborah, although they were not too happy at this point either.)

Sky, Cindy and Deborah abandoned the project promptly, and Chris and I did get the hive in place, but were run off by them (the bees, not Sky, Cindy and Deborah.) I got stung around the ankles, and Deborah got one on her wrist.

We agreed that some additional planning was in order so we left the second hive in place for another day.

Late Winter Hive Inspection

I have not visited the hives since Columbus Day, so with my brother took a water taxi out to the Island to see if they made it through the winter (John checked his gardens.) The temperature was in the mid 40s and sunny, with still about a foot of snow in many places on the ground.

I knocked on the first hive and heard a robust buzzing. I did a similar test on the second hive a few times, not hearing any response, but looked up to see a a number of bees pour out and chase me off - got stung on the ankle. The good news is that both hives made it through the winter so far, despite my lack of attention.

I placed two new empty hives in the bee yard on Farm Hill using the Turner's snow sled.

I checked the Murray shed wall for signs of the hive that swarmed last Labor Day and ended up there, but did not hear any buzzing. While I do not wish them ill will, if they survive the winter I will have to figure out how to get them out and into a hive. I think they reached the equivalent of Portugal in Casablanca, as Debbie Murray is a master beekeeper and rooting for them.