So, I went and picked up four 2lb packages of bees with queens.  The ride home was uneventful, and the installation was going pretty good til it decided to rain. (What a surprise, eh?).  I tried to move as quickly as possible but the bees and the hives got wet. And I found out that wet bee suits make honeybees stick more tenaciously, so getting the suit off, I had at least 2 dozen of the girls hooked to the back of my hood. Got stung 3 times, once on each ankle and once on my bottom lip.  Wish I could say I looked cute and pouty, but it looks more like I have a fat lip from a really bad dentist. Good thing it’s the weekend. Don’t have to try to explain myself to the folks at work.

Natural honeycomb

 Things are already beginning to bloom around here, so I’m hopeful that if it just stops raining long enough, the bees can start foraging. Not that I won’t feed them as well, but it would be nice to see them settle in, and when I sell this place, the new owner can hit the ground running with the honey production.

On to other chores like feeding chickens and collecting eggs.

It has not been a good start for the honeybees.  I had gone out a few weeks ago to make sure there was enough feed for the bees and found one hive dead.  It was the hive that I had left all the honey, thinking they would do the best. I also fed them in case they needed more. It was a shock to see that they were gone.  *Sigh*. My poor bees.  I had so hoped they would do well.  It hasn’t been too terribly cold.  I’m not sure what happened.

So I broke down the hive, harvested the honey for sale later this year and planned for replacing the bees in the spring. 

Then this past week I finally went back again to see how the remaining 2 hives were doing.  Both were dead. The food was still there, so it wasn’t that they didn’t have enough to eat.  For some reason I think it was all the humidity from our wet winters. 

 All I know is, that standing there staring down yet another mishap, got to me.  The straw that broke the camel’s back. This 2 steps forward and 1 step back pattern of mine was beginning to wear on me.  I know there needs to be a learning curve, but right then, I wasn’t in a philosophical mood. I was in a whiny, “why me?” mood. Or, more accurately  ”why my bees?’  I went through all that self talk that drains the resolve out of a soul. Quite frankly, between the unknown creature killing off my chickens again, and this, I was down right pissy.

 But after my little self-pity party, it was back to the planning stages.  Guess I just don’t know when to give up. Plan B if you don’t mind a bad pun.

I’ll buy new bees, try something different to see if they survive Maybe removing the top feeders in case that’s holding in too much moisture.  And I’ll plant some flowers in memory of the first battle of the bees.  The new girls should love that.

Harvested the first hive and got the honey all packaged in bottles ready for sale in the Egg Station.. Guess it ain’t the Egg Station no more…HEHEHE!

Decided to take a break and sit and try the first sample of honey.  Definitely not your store bought stuff.  This is dark and robust, heavy duty honey…. Thank you girls!!!  You honeybees are the best. 

Now we just need to hold an in-service for the honeybees on how to draw comb in nice neat patterns so I can get them out of the box without such an upheaval…. Not even watching YouTube videos prepared me… THEY WILL NOT LEAVE THE COMB!!  So I have to pull the comb out of the box. Not easy when the edges are glued to the side of the box and each other. They were very messy inside that first box.  Comb this way and that way, attached to each other.  One comb even extended down to the second box, so I had to lay it on the side in order not to squish it.  I understand why the commercial beekeepers went to those fake combs.  Makes it a heck of a lot easier when you can pull them out of the hive without breaking comb open. And I was messy too.  They were really pissed off at me…  I have to go back and clean up what I left and then get to the second hive.. and the third…. then I’ll be done for the year.

Oh, and never try to put comb in plastic bags to transport back to the house. YIKES! What a mess.  Have to get some plastic tubs the size of the boxes I guess.

The top box was only maybe 1/2 full with honey, the rest was either empty comb or comb with what looked like brood to me.  As a matter of fact I was able to save one brood bar intact and placed it in the next box so they can finish what they were doing. 

I also gave them a total of 4 boxes and one top feeder placed now for winter feeding… just in case I took too much from them.   Figured I’d get all the messing around with the hive done at once. Hope that works….  I think being able to leave the hive undisturbed is best. Oh, OK, translated that means easier for me.

So off to put the first bottles up for sale now. I’m putting out little 2 oz jars for people who want to buy just enough to try it and then 8 oz jars for those who want more.  Hey, stop by before it’s all gone!