Friday: Swarm Again

As our bee mentor put it:

It is a swarmy kind of season!

It happened again!  This one was a little bit more of a challenge, but we caught it!  Chris has the privilege to watch it leaving the hive, pouring out.  Then it swirled above the apiary and to our rhododendron again!  We will definitely be protecting that bush for years to come.  There were a lot of bees this time; so we put them directly in a hive rather than a nuc box.

Video:

Photos:

Swarm Season

Guess what time of year it is?  Swarm season!  It's a bit later this year, but it is upon us.

We missed our first hive swarming.  So we're keeping an eye on this one:

Today, my dad was out weed-whacking and found this.  I'm so glad it was low!

What did we do?  Well, I got the shears and Chris got a nuc box with three frames.  We just slid the box underneath it and clipped the branches.  We also added a frame with brood from another hive in the hopes to keep them there.  (Start to finish, no protective gear, 8 minutes and back to work-from-home!)

When it is dark tonight, we will move it into the apiary to protect them from the bear!

Spring 2020 - in lockdown

This spring has definitely been unique.  We are currently dealing with COVID-19 and sheltering in place.  But that doesn't mean that the bees are sheltering in place!

Bees have been busy bringing in the pollen even before we saw any blossoms.  We did loose two of our four bee hives over the winter, but the two left are going strong.

Bees bringing in pollen on March 19.

Our front hive has been so productive, we did a quick split.  You can see us bumbling around in the video below.  We're still new and with a long break over winter, we are rusty even with our newly gained skills.

In the video, you will see us check both hives.  We then proceed to clean out the comb made in the empty space of the front hive.  Move some bees to a nuc box (a specially designed used for raising queens, swarms and starter honey bee hives).  After, we called our mentor - Joe - and we acquired a wintered queen to place inside the nuc.  Currently, the worker bees are working on releasing her from the little cage that is blocked by sugar.  Today, we will go out and make sure she is out or release her (once the weather is a bit warmer).

"Just bee yourself, do your own sting" @ Getz Apiary

Spring Time at Getz Apiary

It's definitely spring time here at the apiary!  We have new bees (three colonies in total) and we also added two ducks to our feathered family.

Ducks

Christian worked hard on building a safe enclosure for our new ducks, Molly and McGuire.  They appreciate the 8 foot deck and the 44' pool.  We have a rouen duck that is darker in color similar to a mallard and a pekin duck.  I think they are both female...

Back to the bees...

We picked up one colony from Eden Apiary.  Burl Knupp is the President of Westmoreland County Beekeepers Assoc., a Master Beekeeper, and Owner of Eden Apiaries.  He is extremely knowledgeable when it comes to bees.

Speaking of knowledgeable... We picked up two more colonies from Bill Kopar of Kopar Farms.  He "provides pollination services to farmers in the area while at the same time building up the health and numbers of his bees to sell them.  Kopar Honey Farm creates many value-added products like honey and beeswax from which are made things such as lip balm, lotion, or candles.   Along with selling products and bees, Bill gives many lectures to a variety of audiences, from university classes to garden clubs, relaying information relevant to the skill and knowledge of the people he speaks to."*

Here you can see how hard at work they are:

We noted a log of drone brood.  So we've been taking these and scraping it off.  Yes, we kill drone when doing it (the chickens love to clean it up).  However, the purpose cuts back on varroa mite introduction since it is the drone they like to attack the most.

And spring just isn't complete without a waggle dance from one of the ladies.  Do you remember what purpose it serves and can you find it in the video?

Lastly, check out the addition to my truck:

As always, stay up on our latest photos and videos by going to https://www.facebook.com/GetzApiary/.

* quote from https://beavervalleybees.net/index.php/beekeeping-supplies/

Rough Winter

It's been a tough winter all around the state of Pennsylvania for beekeepers.  We've had lingering warmth in the Fall, a polar vortex, up-down temperatures ... all of this leading to the collapse of many bee hives.

...and yes, our colonies also suffered and collapsed.

But, we will rebuild.  After all, we have all the equipment!  So Christian and I attended the yearly Western PA Beekeeper Seminar last weekend.  It was full of excellent talks and encouragement from some well-known beekeepers.  I also got a new toy!

Grant Gillard

Boy was he ever encouraging to us!  He gave us 7 tips on being a successful beekeeper.  I took a snapshot of the things I wanted to remember most:

Karen Roccasecca

We heard from our PA State Apiarist on the inspection program, what they offer as far as help for us (that is included in our $10 registration), and how we can help with the Spotted Lantern Fly which is an invasive species in PA.  I will just drop what it looks like right here:

Randy Oliver

The keynote speaker was phenomenal! He does all sorts of research on bees and keeping healthy bees. His bees take care of the almond groves in California.  We learned about use of oxalic acid (including that PA says the word wrong), other Varroa Management, bee behavior, and bee nutrition.

My favorite thing that he talked about? We are in the "trough of disillusionment." Meaning that you find it hard between year 1 and 3, because you lose hives, something unexpected happens, etc. So we are right on par to having a better season!

New Toy

For those of you that know me, I am a tech girl - thus the blog! I came across the Broodminder vendor at the seminar. The Citizen Science Kit has a weight, temperature gauge and humidity gauge. The devices connect to your phone and then can be shared with the world to help others with your data.

So of course I bought a kit, plus two extra temperature gauges! So look for a future article on this new toy .. I mean, tool!

Winterizing the Apiary

New Beekeeper in the Apiary

My dad has joined our fun in the apiary.  He took his class with Joe from Country Barn Farm in late October.  We let him follow Christian with the smoker for the first two hives.  Then the last was all his.  He successfully found the queen (at least the one I marked from this year since we know we have had two in there).

  

Winterizing the Hives

How many of you know what a beer cozy is?  Imagine that for a hive and you have a Bee Cozy!  All of our hives had a last check for health.  The hives had their entrances swapped with a https://www.mannlakeltd.com/10-frame-mouse-guard.  We slid a bottom board in and elevated the rear of the hive at the bottom about an inch.  Then slipped the Bee Cozy on.  We have two screws at the bottom above the hive entrance to keep the plastic up to allow the bees to come and go.

Christian made a hive feeder shim to give us space to feed the bees over winter and made a quilt box to prevent moisture build up in the top of the hive and have it drip down during the cold months.  This also made the hives a bit taller.