OUR FIRST WINTER - ONE QUEEN DOWN :-(

Well, I just got the call from my husband. It's been about 6 weeks since we've been out to see our bees & several months since we've been able to crack the hives open for an inspection. It appears that our weaker hive has lost it's queen. Now we are in emergency mode to locate a vendor who can sell us a queen.

I don't have any pictures of the sad hive to share - I'll ask Jon when he gets in if he took any.

Does anyone know of any San Antonio or Austin areas beekeepers that sell organic queens? Hit me up with a comment if you do.

THE WORLD'S CUTEST BEE BOX

In case you missed it... I totally have the world's cutest bee box. I guess fashion may not be important to the world's beekeepers, but I just can't properly show the girls love them without making them feel fancy. So out came the outdoor paint and some stencils & with some effort - a fabulous purple bee box.

THE GIRLS HAVE ADDED ON

Well those busy busy bees. Every time we check on them, they are building comb up into their feeder. Well, that means time for an expansion. Now they have 2 deeps to fill out & a bigger space (using an empty super) to get to the feed. The last bit of feed should be gone in a week, & maybe those ladies will stop building honey comb up the feeder.

So after a month of getting them cozy & fed in their new homes, it's time to start weening them off the feed for some spring/summer flowers. All that extra honey comb and honey just tastes like sugar water for now, but we have rain in the forecast & there should be flowers out soon, so we are going to force them to leave the hive & forage more for food.

Even though they are still growing and multiplying, & the hives are 1/2 empty... they totally look like professional bee hives

ORGANIC BEEKEEPING TIPS

via texashighways.com May 2014 article:

Biodynamic beekeepers use:

• smoke to calm the bees
• cinnamon to discourage ants
• olive oil traps to kill beetles
• coat bees with powdered sugar, prompting them to clean each other & reduce mites

NOW WE’RE 2 BIRDS AND SOME BEES

We picked up our first 2 nukes of bees on Friday – loaded them in the back of the truck and drove to 2 hours to get them to their new home.

Before we picked up our new babies, we prepped the nursery by filling up the pond & tossing in some corks so the bees would have a landing pad.

Next it was time to get our bees out of their traveling nukes & into their new home. We opened the nukes & carefully pulled out each frame & then inserted it into the new nuke.

You can see the white queen cage – she’s in there. Gotta go back next week and make sure she’s out & laying baby bee eggs. They should have plenty of food and water to last them the week until we can get back out there.

Jon & I are proud parents of 2 new hives. Go Bees!!