My bees have come from a variety of places. From swarms to cut outs to packages. My last 3 hives were a swarm I caught two years ago and the other two were a split I did from my very first package I ever did 4 years ago.
I should have requeened. Got lazy and didn't.
As for catching swarms, I'm usually at work when they pop up. I didn't get a single swarm call last year that I could go to. As a truck driver, my work schedule really conflicts with everything since I usually work 12 to 16 hours a day, 5 days a week.
I've had several friends and my grandfather (the mead maker) offer to help out with the costs of bringing my apiary back from the dead. My wife agrees that we should use some of our tax return to buy new packages and frames/foundation.
I'm just fearful that I'll kill the next batch too.
So yesterday, I cleaned out my old apiary, burned frames, and disassembled my hive stands. I think part of my issue has been the location of the apiary. It's in a shallow, shaded area of the property, under a cottonwood tree, with a bank of blackberry bushes behind them.
I moved the hive stands near the center of the property, next to the veggie garden and placed the empty hives back on them. This area has sun from early morning to late evening. The only problem is it's directly on top of the septic drain field plumbing and I can't put up a fence there to keep dogs and children out.
I'm gunna try and keep on keeping bees. I'm just kinda depressed about the whole situation. At one point, I had 7 colonies and now I'm down to nothing.
As for diabetes, right now I am not taking any medication for my diabetes. I've been very strict with my diet and have been able to control it with diet and exercise alone, which most people can not.
In doing this I've been able to go from 318lbs to 260lbs!!! We canceled out satellite television and joined the local gym. I took a $1600 diabetes education course at the local hospital which doing both has changed my life.
Diabetes is not a "sugar" disease like most people thing. It's a issue with carbohydrates, which your body breaks down into glucose so you can feed your muscles and brain. I'm insulin resistant, which is type 2 diabetes. Insulin is the key to allowing your cells to open and take the sugars from carbohydrates. So, like adding flour to water, my blood thickens with sugar and salt and looses water, causing the symptoms and eventually heart disease or stroke.
So I watch my carbohydrates VERY closely. In my class I took at the hospital, we determined with just diet and exercise, I'm allowed a MAX of 45 grams of carbohydrates per meal or snack. 3 meals a day, 3 snacks. It has to be equal, so no borrowing from one meal or snack and adding it to another.
With honey, one tablespoon is about 17.5 grams of carbohydrates. Not very much since I would several times a day, squeeze a honey bear directly in my mouth while my children laugh at me.
So lets say a buttermilk biscuit about 4" in diameter is about 35g or carbs and I add a tablespoon of honey, that's already over my entire allotment for one MEAL!!! Makes for a small dinner.
So, that's why I'm a bummed out dude. 32 years old, have to eat like a grandpa, and I kill bees.
Sean Kelly
