Although it seems to have taken years to get here, the day of the Bee-Keeping-Honeymooners has arrived. Our bees have arrived, settled in, and are now in their forever home. In a few short months, we’ll harvest our first honey, while having our first season of experience under our belts.
This adventure started with a simple Christmas gift. For days before Christmas, HHH’s large mysterious gift made muffled woody noises if moved. At that point, we hadn’t discussed the possibility of owning a bee hive, but certainly shared a love for our fruit trees and gardening. Once Christmas morning came and the surprise discovered, we discovered the bees were the one thing we’d been missing in our lives.
On a January morning, we headed out with friends to a New Bee Keeper’s class. To our surprise, the room was full of people just like us. Those ready to try something new in the yard. Through the class, a most beautiful lady has come into our lives. She speaks BEE and it’s obvious they love her. She will remain our life-line connection to bee-husbandry.
During the class, we researched flowers the bees would love us to plant. With a few trips to the seed department of our local hardware store, we began selecting residents for our bee garden.
Mammoth Sunflowers. Black-Eyed Susan’s. Giant Zinnias. Thumbelina Zinnias. Pumpkins. Watermelons. Zucchini. Tomatoes. Strawberries. Chamomile. African Daisy’s. Peas. Beans. Carrots. Onions. Garlic. Cucumbers. The seeds jumped into our basket as quick as we could find them. Soon, a simple gift had turned into soil producing hundreds of seedlings.
This does bring me to another point. The price of plants at the local nursery has sky rocketed. Just last week, the cheapest plants started at $3.50 and went up from there. In a very short time, one can spend hundreds of dollars on very few plants. Growing our own seedlings was a cost effective way to get the number of plants we’ll need to keep the bees happy.
Someone questioned the large amount we’d planted for Winterpast. Be assured, one-half acre of land is quite an area to keep in bloom. 50,000 bees will need plenty of nectar, pollen, and sap to keep up with the hatching brood of their productive queen. It’s just all so exciting.
We returned from the cruise ready to accept ownership of one nucleus of bees. This consists of a queen, and about 10,000 worker bees all living together on five frames in a box. In this form, they are referred to as a NUC (pronounced NUKE). On April 6th, ours was delivered by two people without bee suits. They simply placed the box in the back yard, opened the tiny front door, and left them in our care.
We had prepared a bit. We had two fountains of fresh water for them to drink. Each fountain had been fitted with extra rocks for soft landings. Bees can’t swim, so one needs to remember that when planning as a bowl of water could be lethal.
HHH built a beautiful fence around the bee area, keeping the dogs away from the bees. It also from fence barking with the neighbor’s dogs. There, they have been while we’ve battled our colds inside. Just hanging out doing what bees do.
Yesterday, the lovely and talented Miss Bee came to check on them. Every bee keeper uses smoke to calm bees. Miss Bee happens to prefer dried donkey manure. With donkeys of her own, she had plenty to share! Indeed, the bees calmed down as we disassembled their home to check out the health of the hive. After quite a search, Miss Bee pointed our our queen, a sassy beauty at that. She’s been busy laying eggs. So many has she laid that it was time to move everyone to the Christmas hive to carry on with their business.
After a clean bill of health, Miss Bee went on her way, leaving us to breathe easy knowing everything is right as rain. Of course, there is a need to order pollen patties to give them an extra boost. Next week, we’ll open the hive to refill the internal feeder with a 1:1 simple syrup solution. And, on it goes.
Learning something new in the garden is such fun. There are always new tips and tricks to try. At this writing, HHH is looking for new weed sprays that are bee and pet friendly. Because one thing is for sure. Weeds never stop finding ways to be annoying.
Whatever you do today, try something new. Maybe a new recipe. Or something new in the garden. There’s no time like the present to find a new hobby. At the very least, if you happen to be attracting bees in your garden, grab a cup of coffee and watch the show. Remember to enjoy yourself a little while you do.
More Tomorrow.
