The Elvaton Apiary

Things aren’t looking to good for honey this year. The spring has been very wet and that really waters down the nectar. I ordered two supers and plenty of frames and put one super on for the bees to draw out comb on. Hopefully they get going with that, the nectar flow is coming up very soon.

I had a heck of a problem with ants this spring and I think it is sorted out. I saw a number of ants walking away with eggs and the hive was down in population. Hopefully the number will bounce back, there is very little capped brood and even fewer eggs. The queen must be laying them and the ants coming in right behind her and taking the eggs. Ants are not welcome in my hive.

The weather has been the biggest problem so far, and I can’t do anything to change that. Other beekeepers have told me they are concerned about the wet conditions as well since it will mean less honey. For some of these guys, that’s a big dent in their income.

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I placed an order with Brushy Mountain for two medium supers, 20 frames, and 20 pieces of foundation, along with a new hive tool.  The order arrived yesterday so I decided to have a look in the hive today and make sure the queen is laying and that there is plenty of space in the hive to prevent a swarm in a few weeks.

I spent about 20 minutes in the hive scrapping propolis and removing burr comb.  Several frames are not being drawn out correctly, most likely due to the wax melting off the plastic foundation sheet.  I’ll have to pull those frames once the brood on the flip side has emerged.  I also spent a good deal of time trying to shave comb that was built deeper into used space on the frames with no drawn comb.  I ended up just scrapping away about 1/2 inch worth of comb and placed the frames in the middle of frames that were correctly drawn out.  The frames that were drawn out deeper were a huge hassle last season, so I decided to just go for broke and force the bees to conform.

The queen appears to be doing a fine job of laying, several frames had nearly completely capped brood.  I wasn’t able to get to all the frames before the smoker ran out, so i wasn’t able to see any eggs.  The weather is supposed to be decent next weekend, so I’m hoping to get into the hive and find eggs.

Overall, the hive seems to be doing very well.  The bees are bringing in pollen and nectar and once empty frames are now being used for honey production and pollen storage.  I did get stung, but it wasn’t an active sting.  I smacked up against a bee in the hive while trying to remove some burr comb that had fallen in.  My knuckle managed to squish a bee and in the process the stinger went into my knuckle.  I had to remove the tip of the stinger with tweezers and never really felt any effects.  These things happen I suppose.  I’d rather work without gloves but I need to be more careful when reaching into the hive.  Better yet, I need to be more careful so I don’t need to go after dropped items.

I’m planning on adding the honey supers next week.  I want the bees to draw out the comb and be ready for the full on nectar flow that should be starting in the early part of May.

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Hive management is the most important coming out of winter, if I get it wrong right now, the hive will be impacted through out the season.  I have several tasks to perform and unfortunately, I have misplaced my hive tool.  I opted for a big screw driver, but it really is not the tool for the job.  I need to remove the entrance reducer I installed in the fall, reverse the bodies, and check the overall health of the hive.

With the temperature around 58F with no clouds, the bees aremaking the best of the weather and pulling in pollen.  As I walked up to the hive, it was obvious that the trees are yielding plenty of pollen.  Nearly every bee on the landing board was heavy with yellow or golden colored pollen.  The entrance reducer was the first task on the list since so many bees were struggling to make their way into the hive.  With that out of the way, I could focus on the hive bodies.

I removed the top hive body and then inspected the lower.  The frames in the middle had some activity, mostly pollen storage.  I saw no brood.  The outer frames were cleaned dry of pollen and honey.  I removed the lower hive body and then cleaned the screen bottom board with a few thumps on the stand.  There seemed to be a pile of dead bees right in the middle that was attracting some attention.

With the bottom board in place, I made the swap, placing the top hive body on the bottom board.  I then removed the inner cover and took a look between the frames.  Plenty of activity, but not having the hive tool made it very difficult to pull out the frames.  I decided to leave the frames alone and simply placed the other hive body on the hive and then closed everything up.

Having the right tool for the job is very important, and misplacing my hive tool is a major blunder. I’ll order a new one this week along with two medium supers for honey collection this  season.  I’m looking forward to the harvest this summer and the hive looks very strong.  I am worried that it might swarm, but I’ll do my best to prevent that from happening.  I’m not doing this for the honey, but it sure would be nice to get a little this year.  Call it a sweet reward for helping nature.

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