Remember that little group of girls I picked up in a swarm trap last Spring? If you need a refresher see the video here: https://youtu.be/DfUaeYj6v9Q
You might also remember that they had an enemy to contend with right out of the shoot, so to speak. The small hive beetle is the enemy I speak of. When they attack a hive they don’t mess around! We captured the invasion of the small hive beetle on film. If you are a beekeeper, who has never faced this enemy, then don’t miss our video. Knowledge is power! Check out how we defeated this destructive insect here: https://youtu.be/DkC0hjRyJ2w
Now that I have caught you up, I am pleased to announce that these sweet girls have a brand new custom-built, by my brother-in-law, amazing top bar hive to move into this Spring! I am so excited; I can hardly wait to move them into their new space!
Right now they are cramped up in a nuc box(small box containing 5 frames of bees) When I say they are cramped, I am NOT exaggerating. Their comb was built out so wide, I couldn’t even check on them very well, in the Fall. After all, going into Winter is not really the best time to accidentally smish the queen! When bees run out of space they will often go find a bigger one. So as soon as the weather has warmed up a bit we will transfer them to their new beautiful home. Don’t worry, we will capture it all on film so you can have a front row seat. (There will be a divider board in the top bar so that the bees don’t have a too large area to defend. We learned our lesson on that score.)
Wait, there’s more! Wait for it….Something else fun happened today! My brother-in-law got his protective bee jacket and gloves in the mail!
I have a bee keeping buddy! Now you can’t see it and I am NOT going to film it, but I just got out of my chair and did a happy bee keeping dance all the way around the house and back to my computer. Three people in my family even joined me in my impromptu bee keeping line dance. The others just looked on with worried looks on their faces.
Well, I will stop talking about this amazing top bar hive and let you see it being built for yourselves. Stay tuned till the end of the video to get a sneak peek at the little group of bees that will be moving into it in a few weeks!Enjoy:
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I can hear you experienced beeks say’in to yourselves, “How is she going to get those frames out of that nuc and into a top bar?”
Glad you asked, while we are used to seeing nucs with Lang frames in them, mine has top bars. (There is one Lang frame because I had to fit the beetle trap in.) Should be a fairly smooth transfer, that’s the idea anyway;)
HAPPY BEEKEEPING!
Keeping bees is something I would love to learn how to do. So expensive to get started. Found you on Simple Homestead Blog Hop
Yes, it can be expensive to start, but don’t let that sticker shock get you down. Think outside the box. Build a swarm trap, build a simple top bar hive from scrap wood at construction sites (you can find plans online), ask a friend or relative to buy a package for you in exchange for you working the hive or a harvest of honey when you get some. If that 1st hive is successful then you can split it and have one of your own. That is how I started. I used to let the $ stop me, but not any more. It is a lot more work to do it this way, but I have found fun people that want to get involved; for instance my brother-in-law split the cost of my 1st package with me. One hive I caught the bees in a swarm trap and a friend who was interested bought ALL the equitment for me to install on his property. I split that hive to get one of my own. I say all this to encourage you. Don’t let $ stop you. Hope your bee keeping dreams come true! Blessings, Dash