Lorihadams-- hi guys...been busy!

[TanksHill]

Looking good Lori, and your right the easy up on the back porch looks great. I bet the shade really feels great!!! Tonka sure looks happy!

g

 

[Icu4dzs]

Lori, et. al.
I noticed that you had two small trees next to the foundation of the house. Being a guy who made a mistake by planting trees too close to the foundation forces me to ask the question...Will those trees get very big? If so, your beautiful home may suffer some ill effects from the growth of those trees.
Not a sermon, just a thought.

 

[lorihadams]

Oh no, those trees are dogwoods and they are getting planted next to the lean to on the shed to block it from view from the road and give us a little shady spot where the garden will go on one end. We even asked our septic guy where to plant them and he gave us some good advice so 2 went in front of the house about 20-30 in front of the deck and the other 2 will go by the shed. The roots stay pretty shallow on dogwoods.

Well, I had a busy weekend. Got up to the hospital late on Friday night and Granny was not doing well when I got there. The meds they were giving her for the inflammation were making her throw up. Saturday morning she threw up what they called eggs at the hospital and I went and got her some hot chocolate after they brought her something to counteract the ones that were making her sick.

She got held up by the PT at the hospital and checked out 4 hours late which held up the pharmacy at the nursing home so all they could give her for pain until sunday afternoon was Tylenol.

She had some other issues and had a panic attack (or 4) the first 24 hours there. Once they got her pain meds and her meds for restless legs she was better. She at pretty well but is still having dry heaves some. Papa brought her a homegrown peach and a fried chicken leg (which she devoured) and she seemed to be feeling a little better.

Sunday evening I went down the backside of the hill behind Papa's and loaded my intrepid so full of rocks it's a wonder I made it home at all. Granny laughed at me and said what if you get pulled over and the cops want to search your car? I said "I'm gonna sit on my butt on the side of the road and make them put every one of those rocks back in there after they take them out cause I ain't doing that again!" Made her laugh!

She's real weak but otherwise I think she's settling in okay. She likes her roommate so that makes things easier. They also let us bring her little chihuahua Precious in to see her twice this weekend and that made her feel a lot better too.

I may try to go back up this weekend and take the kids to see her if she's up to it.

Got home yesterday morning and took the kids to the park for 5-6 hours and I got to get my goat therapy. They have a "children's farm" up there and they have a beautiful angora goat up there that is the sweetest thing and sooooooo soft. I can't wait to get my goaties...

 

[TanksHill]

Glad to hear your Granny is doing ok. It's a shame they did not have her meds managed better. It makes all the difference.

Have a great day!!

gina

 

[keljonma]

Glad to hear Granny is doing better. We will keep her in our prayers.

For the beek'ing, I would try to stay away from what are labeled as beginner kits in the beek company catalogues, as they include items you don't really need.

I found that you can usually get the items you really need for better price buying separately.

 

[lorihadams]

Kel- what would you say I "really" need?

I know I need 2 supers and 2 hive bodies, all the parts and pieces of the hive

queen excluder

smoker

what else do I really need to start with?

 

[lorihadams]

Well, yesterday was interesting. I decided to take the kids to the library after lunch and Tyler was teasing Maddie so we left. She asked if we could walk over to the park and after 5 minutes we had to leave cause my darling son was being a little brat. Now I love my children but they are not going to talk to me "in that tone of voice" just cause I make them take turns on a swing.

He kicked mulch at me, the little bugger. I grabbed him, cause he tried to run ( he must've known what was coming) and popped him on the butt 3 times and parked his little behind on a bench in "time out" and when I sat down next to him don't you know he got up and tried to run again.

By the time I got them home they were in tears and so was I. I don't think he realized how much he hurts my feelings when he talks to me that way. Hubby sent both of us to our rooms to calm down.

He is getting a vasectomy next month.

And that's all I have to say about that.

 

[Javamama]

Been there girlfriend! No vasectomy plans, but we are DONE. I don't even have the desire to hold newborn babies anymore. I take a quick snuggle and then hand them back. I told hubby that anything else that joins the family will have to live outside

 

[keljonma]

Kel- what would you say I "really" need?

I know I need 2 supers and 2 hive bodies, all the parts and pieces of the hive

queen excluder

smoker

what else do I really need to start with?

The hive bodies are the supers. They hold the frames.

-----FIRST decide if you want to work 10 frame or 8 frame equipment, as the equipment is not interchangeable.

----Also, pick a supplier and stick with them. I've been told by my beek assoc and my 2 mentors that you can't interchange one manufacturer's equipment with any other supplier.

Around my area, 10 frame equipment is more popular. There is a fella in our beek assoc who builds/sells 10 frame equipment for less than any of the national mfgr's sell it for. You may find someone locally as well for your supers - if you decide to go with 10 frame.

----Decide if you want natural beeswax foundation or plastic/plastic coated with beeswax. Personally, I like the natural beeswax foundation better; most of the folks in my beek assoc prefer Duraguilt. I have Rite Cell in hive#2 (the swarm from hive#1) and personally I don't think the girls like it much.

----Decide what bees you want. I have Italians and am happy with them. One of my friends has Carnolians and loves them. Each breed of bee has its pros and cons. And there are hybrids being raised for better hygiene (possibly might have less disease and mite issues). The people in your local beek assoc can tell you which bees do best in your area.

When I was researching bees, I found most older books only talk about the 10 frame equipment, as it has been the standard for a long time. Kim Flottum, editor of Bee Culture magazine, recommends (in his book Backyard Beekeeper) 8 frame equipment because it is lighter than 10 frame. I started with Brushy Mountain's 8 frame all medium supers with garden hive top (peaked with copper top). I bought 5 medium supers to begin with; 3 for brood and 2 for honey. I could always use more supers...

Brushy Mountain is near your part of the country, so you may even consider them to be close enough for a visit to their site. I think most companies have online catalogues, so you can get an idea of what is available and the prices they charge. There are a couple places close to me here in OH, but locally I have only purchased from Queen Right Colonies. They sell Mann Lake and Brushy Mountain equipment, honeybees, and carry a full line of honey extracting equipment and bottles/labels. Plus they sell their honey, candles, soaps, and miscellaneous beek stuff. I like the fact that QR dips all the pre-assembled wooden ware they sell in paraffin wax to protect the wood better - this means no painting.

I really like working the 8 frame because I can lift a full super much easier than a full 10 frame super. I think there is about a 10 pound weight difference between the two when a super is full of honey/pollen/brood. I was surprised this summer to find that just one frame full of honey alone can be heavy! Since I'm only 5' tall and heading towards the 'big 6' in a couple years, I don't want to be straining my back lifting supers!

----You will need a hive tool. I have a plain jane 8" and it fits in my hands well. There are some longer ones and some that are fancier. It is recommended that you buy 2, as one always seems to get misplaced. They aren't that expensive.

----Get the largest smoker you can purchase. Getting a smoker going and getting to continue to provide a cool smoke seems to be the biggest problems for new beeks, and a larger smoker is supposed to help this problem. You don't want the smoker giving out when you are still working the bees. A beginner kit may include a small smoker.

----Decide what kind of protective gear you want. Some people like a full beek suit. I wear just an inspector's jacket with a zip-off clear vue round hat/veil. I am very happy with it. However, there are times when I would like to have just the hat/veil - and my set up can't be worn by itself and still keep the bees away from my face.

----Decide if you are going to use a more natural/organic approach to beeking or if you are going to treat with chemicals. I'm not doing chemicals, and that makes me an oddball in my beek assoc and in my circle of church friends who have beek'd in the past. I use Honey B Healthy, which is a blend of essential oils that is mixed with sugar syrup mostly. I spray it on the bees (like using the smoker) to keep the bees busy and I have also used it in the Miller Feeder to supplement carbs when I first started the hive colony. Also, I will probably use it in the autumn (before winter) if the colony needs supplemental feeding to have enough stores to get through winter.

----A bee brush. I use mine quite a bit.

----A Feeder. I think most kits come with Boardman Entrance feeders. There is also a feeder that takes the place of a frame inside a super. I decided to go with a Miller Feeder, which is a tray that looks like a small super with floats in it. It fits on top of the actual super but below the telescoping cover. It doesn't have to be filled as often and doesn't attract yellow jackets and the like to the hive. I also like the Miller Feeder because I can put a pollen patty (protein source) in one section and HBH sugar syrup in the other to feed the hive without exposing the food to predators.

----Leg bands - velcro straps that you put around your ankles to keep bees from crawling up your pant legs.

----Gloves - because I have very small hands, I use Jelly Bean brand gloves, not the leather ones sold by beek mfgrs. Make sure the gloves fit your fingers properly because you want to have a good grip on the frames when you are picking them up. I wore mine in the beginning every time I inspected the bees. But lately I rarely wear gloves.

----Entrance reducer - a wooden one is great, but everything I've been reading has made me think about purchasing metal entrance reducers to help keep mice out of the hives in winter. The metal ones have holes large enough for the honeybees to get out and defecate during a warm spell in winter without being large enough for Ms Mouse to set up house and raise youngens in a warm hive.

----Queen excluder - is only used when you are putting the honey supers on the hive. The one I have is metal, they also come in plastic I think. The bees don't seem to appreciate it, but it does keep the queen from laying eggs in your honey supers.

----Fume board/bee escape for honey removal - I didn't like the idea of using a fume board. I got an escape cover, which I haven't yet used, because I have removed only full capped frames of honey and shook/brushed the bees off as I removed the frames.

----BOOKS

----Join a Beek Assoc or join a couple.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head....


Edited for clarity... and to add...

Other "stuff"....

A Beek Journal - a history of your bee hive, inspection reports, what to do next steps for the next inspection, mood of the hive reports, weather reports, what colors pollen are coming into the hive, what is blooming in the farmyard and in the region, etc.

Frame rest - a bar that attaches to the super to hold frames you have removed during inspection. (Like a clothes rod for holding frames.) I don't have one but there are days I think it would be nice to have.

Frame grip - a tool that gives you a handle to grab the frame with. I have one and haven't ever used it.

A small table to put the supers on when inspecting the hive. I have a small white plastic Little Tykes table that one of my nieces outgrew.

A chair near the hive for just watching the colony to see what is going on... I spend lots of hours here.

 

[Dace]

Don't sweat it...I am convinced that the only people who have those *perfect little children who never bicker*, really just tune them out and ignore it....teaching the little buggers NOTHING!

Hugs, it ain't easy being a good mom!