4/20-Replacing queens

Well folks, I've spent the last 4 days replacing queens from another supplier and am down to only a few queens left. I've been following up with folks that got packages from me and except for 4 packages, all the queens have been accepted! That's a great percentage. All the queens should be out and laying. I'll post a picture of some eggs in a cell over the next few days so everyone can get an idea of what they look like. They're tiny and unless you've seen them before, you might not know what you're looking for.

I was at a consult today looking at a hive. They had swarmed a few days ago and the guy was worried about the lack of eggs. We were trying to figure out why we couldn't find the queen when all of a sudden a queen crashed onto the lid. She had been out on a mating flight and was trying to find her way back home. It was quite a site.

Getting back to the folks who bought the failing packages from the other supplier... it has been around 10-11 since those packages were installed. Since so many folks have been affected some of the other beeks and myself have been trying to figure how to save the packages. I understand the supplier is offering queen cells to replace the failed queens. This is a desperate option and one I do not recommend. A queen cell is incredibly fragile. We had our cell-truck in Hawaii rigged up with a special suspension kit to stabilize the cells for transport. We weren't even allowed to slam the doors on truck since it could destroy the cells. I-40 is rougher than a dirt road in some spots and if you've been transporting cells back-you probably killed them. Add on top of that you have to wait a day or 2 for momma to hatch, a few days for her to go out and get mated, another few days for her to start to lay, and then at least 21 days before her first nurse bees emerge. Total time from when you shook your package into the hive for new bees from a cell at this point is around 41 days best scenario. Another thing to consider is that last week when we had a cold snap, most of the drones got booted out of the hives and died. Less drones=sketchy matings. At this time of year a worker is gonna live for around 6 weeks. That's 42 days. At that point there won't be enough live bees in the boxes to keep the brood warm. This is turning into a mess. Folks are gonna start to get discouraged. I called a bunch of the big pollinators today. There are a ton of bees around the Sampson/ Bladen Co. area and have finished pollinating blueberries. Now the pollinators are making splits and I've contacted some of them and have a source for frames of capped brood. This could be the silver bullet to sustain these C-grade packages since we would essentially be giving them a boost. I add frames of capped brood to packages I install for myself at the 10 and 16 day marks to counter the natural dwindle that occurs with packages before new bees are born. If you are a beekeeper with established colonies, please consider selling off a frame or 3 of capped brood to anyone that bought sorry packages from someone this spring. This is the time to put our personal differences aside and come together to collectively support beekeeping in NC. Good luck everyone and don't give up! We're here for you!

Chickens

These are some of my Easter Egger bantams. I should be getting in some Copper Marans, Dominiques, Silver-Laced Wyandotes, and Easter Eggers in the coming weeks. Wait till you see my modular coops!

4/18

The bees are doing awesome! I will confess to one swarm this season. Some of the bees around Fletcher park decided they'd gotten to big for the house and about half of them moved on. If you've found a swarm around 5 points or Cameron village with a marked green queen, let me know. I'd like to think they've found a safe home.

This picture is one of my yards at the farm in FV.

I've already made a trip to Georgia. I was delayed one week in getting the bees and that turned out to be an industry-wide delay. Bad winter in Georgia. The trip was just as long as ever and the pick up seemed to be a success. No calls about absconding and I've only had to replace one queen.

I have had many calls about replacing queens for folks whose supplier acquired their bees and queens from separate locations. This is a practice that will not be duplicated at Mr. Buzz. The only time such as practice would make sense was if someone had a line on superior queens to re queen packages with. When I worked in Hawaii, we had requests for queens to re queen packages with.

I checked on the packages today. All queens are out and laying up a storm. One trick I did this year was to shake the packages on drawn comb. The difference has been amazing. The bees just started storing nectar immediately and as soon as the queen got out, she had nice shiny comb to fill up. I installed all my packages into nucs and are getting ready to add another nuc body. The bees have really laid off the feed. I've had quart jar feeders on for the last 3 days and they aren't empty! The flow is on! Tulip Poplar is starting to blow up around the tops in my part of south Raleigh.

My chickens are also doing well. I've got 13 laying hens around 35 6-week old chicks. I'm bring in between 5-6.5 dozen eggs a week!!!

Plenty is growing in garden. I've got around 50 blueberry bushes and am planning on expanding my nursery out on the farm into an organic operation. Between the eggs and the blueberries and bee plants, I should have a nice assortment for folks to choose from.

4/18 Trying to catch my breath!!!

Come On Spring!!!

I've had the pleasure of spending the last 3 days doing all kinds of stuff at the farm I use in Fuquay. Here's the rundown on the farm...it is an old tobacco farm that has a few pastures with Wilbur, the 50 year old donkey, 2 sheep, 2 dogs, and a ton of goats that can all scream my name. They say Beeeeeeeennnn!!!!! every time I show up. Most of the rest of the farm is wooded with pine, tulip poplar, oak, maple, pecan, black walnut and few persimmon trees here. There is an old pasture of @ 10-12 acres that was overgrown with weeds until last fall when I disked it. Acorns become trees, same with pine cones and whatever else falls out of a tree. I've gone through the field with a chainsaw, loppers, and a weedwacker and almost have it completely scalped. No, there is no bush hog. I've also dumped a ton of fertilizer out there. By hand. A ton. So at this point I've probably ventured 250 miles or so back-and-forth across this field and have loved every minute of it. I've got 4 varieties of clover that I have spread with a little spreader bag thing and the next step is gonna be to add some blueberry bushes, peach, apple, and cherry trees. I'm planning to surround the whole deal with lavender and rosemary since they are natural deer deterrents.


I put bees out there in 2003 and have kept them with varying degrees of luck since then. I spread my bees between my house, the farm, and a few other locations.

I'll have packages at my place on April 4, 2010. Call for details. As of 3/7/2010, packages are sold out.


Package-Pick up 4/4/10-Sold Out

Queens-Pick up 4/4/10-Available-$20/each

Complete Set up-Available-$230 ready 4/8/10

Lesson Openings-send email for day and times.

Packages

Packages will be available this spring starting in April. They will be $77 and are available marked or un-marked.

Pick up dates are April 4th and 18th

Packages $77

Queens will be $20.

Kits are $235
-package bees installed
-2 deeps w/ wooden frames and wax foundation-wired
-lid, inner cover, feeder, bottom board

Taking students for lessons starting April 14th.

It is cold. And it has been raining, but only on the days that I need to do stuff. The bees are doing fine. Not much point feeding them. It seems like once it gets really cold, the bees won't take syrup anymore. Since I live in NC, it can be 35 degrees one day and 65 the next. The Camellias are blooming at my house and on nice days I see some activity from the hives. Also on nice days I've been putting out a saucer with a little syrup in it. I float wine corks on top of it so the bees will have something to land on without drowning.

On another note, last night (Sat), I got home only to find 3 chickens on top of my garbage can in my front yard! So I changed into the dirtiest clothes I could find, grabbed a flashlight, and had to snatch up birds at 3AM. The chickens were mine. I've got a whole bunch, much to the delight of my neighbors. It seems like only the hens feel the need to escape the backyard paradise I have provided for them. In my opinion a chicken will behave one of 2 ways, either stupid or crazy. Yet when I have to chase them around a muddy backyard at 3AM only to be outsmarted, what does that make me? I do have one rule when it comes to catching a bird. Once you start, you don't stop until it is caught. Otherwise you're just teaching them that it is a rewarding experience to run away.

I caught all the birds and located a few more hens and got them all in their coop where the roos were just chilling. Of course since it was 3AM they thought the sun must be up somewhere, and they rooed till about 5 AM. Sorry neighbors but hey, your dogs bark all the time so we'll call it even.

I've been getting some calls about bees for the spring. I'll be going to Georgia again this April to get packages. I've got 2 dates, April 4th and April 18th. The packages can be picked up at my house in South Raleigh anytime after noon. I don't provide bees in March b/c the weather usually acts all wacky and I get them from Georgia b/c it is far enough south that the bees seem to be a few weeks ahead of the ones from around here.