I caught my own swarm!!!

My bees swarmed today going up about 40' in a pine tree, which was about 25' from their hive. They stayed up in the tree for about (2) hours. I couldn't do anything, since they were too high for me to safely retrieve them. So I refreshed the lemongrass oil in my swarm trap and hoped they might send out some scouts to find it. And find it they did! This was an amazing day for me. Here's a video that gives you an idea of what it's like catching a swarm of honeybees. Enjoy!

Click on images to enlarge

 Here they are about 40' up in my pine tree.

 

 And here they are as they take up residence in my swarm trap which was "lured" with lemongrass essential oil. They sent out scouts when they were balled up in the pine tree and several of them were checking out my swarm trap. Looks like they liked what they saw!!! They are now safely moved into their new home. Yea!!!

A Good Honey Year!

It's March and we are harvesting lots of honey already. Below are some pictures of my overcrowded hive. I tried to make some room for them today by removing (6) completely capped frames of honey. In a couple of days, I'll have even more to harvest because several frames were just about completed. I'll leave them in there for them to finish up, then we'll remove those and give them some empty ones to fill up.

Click on the images to enlarge them.

" My hive runneth over..."

 Do you think there are some bees in there?

 Lots of bees means lots of honey :)

 Pattie posing with "the girls."

They were especially lively today as I removed some of the fruit of their labor. They don't mind too much though, since they just keep bringing more back to their home.

A new season ahead!

It is mid February, and it appears that my bees have made it through the winter pretty well.

Today Pattie and I finished a hive inspection that we started yesterday. To our surprise, our bees had already started to gather nectar and produce honey. We harvested (3) frames today and added new frames for them to fill back up.

We also discovered some queen cells which can be seen in the first photo. That means that our present queen is getting up there in age or has been injured and the colony is preparing for a new one to take her place.

I will be setting a swarm trap to catch my own bees, if they decide to split the hive and look for a new home. 

So, it looks to be another exciting year of managing some of God's amazing creatures.

In photo #1, you will notice the large cells protruding from the bottom of the frame. These are the queen cells. They are larger than the worker or drone cells. Queen cells are very special, because you only find them when a new queen is being prepared. We have never seen them in our hive until today. We may soon have a new healthy queen who lays thousands of eggs a day. A healthy queen means a healthy colony - which means LOTS OF HONEY - which we love!

The second photo shows some brand new comb which our bees produced this year. They build this comb very fast when there are good resources available to them for it's production.

Click on images to enlarge

Now, isn't that some pretty comb? Send my bees a text message to encourage their continued good performance in their hive! Even bees need a little encouraging word from time to time. ;^D

Special thanks to my faithful assistant and photographer (Pattie)!

Foragers returning with pollen sacks

Here's a few pictures showing my honeybees coming back to the hive with their legs loaded down with pollen. Some of these sacks are huge. Click on the images to enlarge.

Turn up the volume and listen to my bees!

My poor bees have been cooped up in their house for a couple of days because of rain, and so they felt the need to let off some steam today. They were loud!!!

Assistant Beekeeper

While Anita was here for a visit she had the opportunity to meet "my girls." She wanted to get some pictures and learn a little bit about honeybees and beekeeping. So, she dawned the beekeeper veil and got right into the hive with me! Here she is posing next to hive which our bees call their home.

Anita really enjoyed this experience, and I believe it was one of the highlights of her visit. By seeing and learning a little bit about honeybees, it gave glory to God, Who made these amazing little creatures!

 (Click on image to enlarge)

Honey Colors

Here's a picture of some honey that was harvested at different times and places. The color is determined by the flowers that were visited by the bees when they gathered their nectar.

The honey on the far left was harvested in the spring in the state of New York. The next ones going from left to right are from our bees. The earlier honey is lighter in color and the honey on the farthest right was the most recent. Click on the picture to enlarge.