Happy 2019 from snow-covered Virginia! It’s been a warm winter thus far; this weekend is the first we’ve seen of the white stuff. When the weather is cold, I prefer to have snow.
My 2018 was a busy beekeeping year, much of it not in my apiary. Since I haven’t been so diligent about recording my adventures here, I wanted to summarize the year with my first post of 2019.
My hives Saturn, Mimas, and Atlas this morning on January 13, 2019 after a night of snow. ©Erik Brown
Spending the afternoon inside today: a good time for a new post. Beeswax is melting on the stove, my darling wife is crafting, and I am sitting in my favorite chair typing on a keyboard. Given that my blog missed much of the beekeeping year, this post summarizes where I ended up in terms of hives.
My hives on October 13, 2018. Lower right is Titan; on the left Saturn, Mimas, and Atlas; and in the back is Pandora, Venus, and Calypso. ©Erik Brown
Apparently I have not posted an update on my bees since April. A rather tough spring and summer, emotionally at least, but here I am again. I thought an update on my mite situation could be interesting, as I have not treated my hives this year. A bit unexpected, hence this post. Continue reading
I spent some time in the apiary yesterday with some nice weather. Not too hot and very sunny. The bees were happy, as far as I could tell. Foragers are all over our cherry trees, and I saw them working the holly, dandelions, and viburnum this weekend as well. The nectar flow has definitely arrived, so an update on my hives seems appropriate.
The cherry trees just outside my apiary (the flowering bushes inside the fence are viburnum). The trees are in full bloom, with the smell the flowers and the buzzing of bees when you walk beneath. ©Erik Brown
There is a saying in beekeeping circles to “be a bee keeper, not a bee haver.” It expresses the notion that we should intervene with our bees when necessary to keep them alive, as a farmer typically does with any other livestock. The measurement of success for “keeping” your bees is for them to live through the winter and into spring. It is easy to have bees and then watch them die over the winter due to lack of food or varroa infestation; it is much harder to keep them healthy until the spring nectar flow begins. Be a bee keeper, not a bee haver.
I seem to be skirting the line between having and keeping bees lately.
Dead bees between the frames of Mars. ©Erik Brown
A brief update on some recent happenings with our local bee club and my hives. We had weather in the high 60’s F, almost 20 C, on Friday. A great time for the bees to catch some relief from our sub-freezing temperatures. It was a brief respite, as Saturday’s temperature dropped into the 30’s F, near 0 C. Continue reading
We have escaped our life in Virginia by travelling to Scotland for a bit. Among our many good times was a visit to Stirling Castle a few days ago. It turns out King James V of Scotland added The Royal Palace to the castle in the 1500’s. The statues on the outside were apparently named after my beehives.
On the corner of the Palace is a statue of King James V, after which statues of Ganymede, Venus, and Saturn appear. ©Erik Brown
May was a busy month. Work, bike riding, yard tending, getting ready for a high school graduation (which happened!), and of course bees. This is the last of three topics I wanted to cover about the month of May under a Star Wars theme.
Three top bar hives in a row on June 7. ©Erik Brown
This has been a busy month. Work, bike riding, yard tending, getting ready for a high school graduation, and of course bees. This is my second of three topics I wanted to cover under a Star Wars theme. The picture says it all.
It is never good when the hive falls over. ©Erik Brown
This has been a busy month. Work, bike riding, yard tending, getting ready for a high school graduation, and of course bees. That last one has made for a rather interesting month. I have three updates that I will split into three posts so this doesn’t get too long. A Star Wars theme is never bad, so we’ll do this via the original episodes.
Ten nucs ready for pickup. The back 7 are from a friend; the front three are mine
Bees with eeb 