Hello to one and all! I look forward to learning. I'm a disabled vet, my elderly dad and I raise cattle on 122 acres.
This is my 2nd attempt with bees. Dad and I used to have a 200 tree peach orchard (too many nasty chemicals). Dad could not take the summer heat anymore and the trees were at the end of their commercial life so I pulled up all but 30 or so, left a few for family and friends.
The next spring I got two packages of bees (3lb each). I had a 5 year plan to replace the orchard income with honey. Humble start, I placed them near the old orchard because crimson clover had grown under the trees. I?d had them about a week, queens were released by the workers, all was well. Until I looked up on the hill one day and saw dad was doing something around the few remaining peach trees. I raced up there to discover he was spraying ?Malathion? on the trees like he had done every spring for decades. It was dripping onto the crimson clover underneath? You can guess what happened to my bees! Despite the fact we?d discussed it all winter, he?s old, he did not understand.
Both hives survived the initial hit. One was down to 1000 bees but the queen would not lay, I replaced her. Despite that they were dead by August. The other hive only lost half its number and was growing in number within a month. They produced 2 supers of honey. I took one and left the other for them.
My inexperience cost me that hive. That fall I did not realize they had been invaded by wax moths. They abandoned the hive but I know they survived (they took the honey). There had been no bees within miles of here for decades. The next May, my cousin next door, saw a swarm in her yard and again the next year. Last fall I tracked down 3 bee trees. It was really dry that month and I noticed bees drinking from the dog water bowl at the barn. I added sugar water, within an hour several hundred bees were drinking. I would sprinkle them with flour and watch them leave. I took compass bearings and started walking? They were coming from 3 different directions. I actually only found the location of one tree. The other two? I know the approximate location, within 50yds. All of them are within 400 yards.
Anyway, I posted the above for two reasons, to show my ignorance and as a warning to other newbies, it can happen to you! The best laid plans?
Last fall during my bee tree search I had a conversation with an uncle. He?d attempted 2 hives last year, results were not much better than my attempt. We both wanted to try again. He has a cabinet shop, the housing market has been slow around here. Anyway we built all our hives/equipment together this winter. He got 6 packages Thursday a week ago, I got 5. All is going well, no more peach trees and malathion, instead I have 6 acres of crimson clover in full bloom and a huge old tulip poplar right by the hives, it?s blooming also. The bees are bringing in lots of orange pollen, I assume from the tree.
I put my packages in their hives the day I got them. The next morning I checked each hive, about 3 frames of bees near each queen. Late that afternoon (Friday) something strange happened. 10 to 15 bees could be seen coming and going from 4 of the hives, calm and peaceful. The 5th hive was agitated. 50 or 60 bees were flying around. I suited up and sat on a stool by the hive and watched. They were not fighting or anything, they were just agitated, continued three hours until dark.
The next morning they were still agitated but not quite so severely. I could not resist, I opened the hive. There were 6 frames of bees in the hive, twice as many as 24hrs earlier. Smoke did not calm them so I closed it back up. By late that Saturday afternoon they were peaceful, 10 to 15 bees visible.
4 days later when I opened the hive to see if the queen was free, she was and seemed healthy. But there were only 3 frames of bees in the hive. I have no idea what happened, overnight guests? (but I suspect one of the wild hives was swarming) (my queen was not marked)
Anyway, I look forward to learning the answer to that question and many others from you good folks! Hope my long into did not bore you to tears? lol
Topic: 2nd Timer in Bama (Read 2151 times)