Third Hive Body

Hello everyone! Today was the first time in a LONG time that I had opened my hive, and it was also the time that I put on the third and final hive body. The inspection was very short, most of my time spent in the less bee infested second body then in the lower brood box. I found that I may have waited just a tad too long to put on the next box, as there was only the outer edges of the outer frames that were free of wax.

That aside, I feel that my lack of inspections during this time was a wise call. The bees seem happy and healthy as a whole, and they seem productive in their efforts to fill up the second box. One thing that I may regret is that I had failed to look at the brood that lay in the inner frames of the lower body. I had checked an outer frame, bet it seemed much the same as the top ones (which it should, as it is a honey frame.) and that was enough for me as the bees were starting to become a tad restless and the buzzing was increasing. The only issue that I may see is that the wax on some of the frames was a dark golden color, but I brushed it aside as the aging of the wax.

I will be sending an email to a associate of mine with some descriptions and questions regarding my colony, and will most likely open the hive again after I receive some advice on where to go from here. What I have done is just about the final step to beekeeping in the first year besides reversing top and bottom boxes, and I would prefer to advance from this point with more direction.

Tip Time:

Instead of purchasing individual snack bags and the like, buy in bulk. It reduces the amount of plastic used, and you can put just as much as you'd like in lunches in reusable containers.

Thank you to everyone who reads my blog! The next post is another Bee Bio 101 on queens!

Expo and Beyond!!

Hello to all! School is now out, and I am so very very happy! I apologize for the late post, but I have been spending the past few days obsessing over My Little Pony. No. Seriously.

So. Expo. There's not much to be said besides it wasn't as big a deal as I thought. For those of you who were there, you will remember that it was mostly a lot of standing around and answering the same questions. It was kinda fun though, getting to show people my live bees in my terrarium. The poor things, they weren't all too happy with being there. It was loud and bright and cold... At least I got them back in the hive eventually.

So the other reason I haven't been posting is that I haven't had the need to check the hive in weeks. I'm now just waiting until I need to put the second box on. I believe in the laissez faire style of bee keeping. There is one thing that I can say happened though, I had my gifted class over for a post expo party, and the bees acted amazingly. I'm so happy that everything went off without any issues, but I had faith in my little insects.

Lastly, I am sad to say that my heart was broken when I found out that my city doesn't allow chickens...  I want some so badly.


Environmental Tip Time:

Whenever in drought, as Chicago land is at the moment, try to conserve as much water as you can. Save your watering to the garden and any new plants you may have planted as apposed to setting up a sprinkler every morning- your grass can take the heat. That said,  set up a rain water collector when it does rain. this could be just about anything that can hold water, but the larger the opening the better. You can then pour this into a watering can and use what would have just ended up on a patio for good use.

School Ends (Soon)!!

Hello to everyone! I am sorry about the lack of a post on Expo Night- I'm sure thats what everyone is waiting for, but I have had so much to do to get prepared for my final exams. Today was the last day of school, and testing starts tomorrow, and then I will be unable to post until Saturday when school is officially over. That said, I have a break tomorrow, and may be able to get a post then. Thank you all so much for the patience, and I will be posting much more frequently after school is over.

Tip:
Recycle all your old school papers! We all know that high school students obtain about a full trees worth throughout the year, and you will be putting that paper to good use by not throwing it out. Did you know that landfills are designed so that the garbage put into them will not decompose? This is so that run off from the decomposing matter won't poison the water system. Think about that the next time you have recyclables. But remember! The best way to recycle is to reuse. This takes out the middle man such as the collectors who drive around and the process of refining the materials which exposes energy. Take a step up and become your own recycling center!

Fun uses for old homework:

http://www.wisebread.com/22-ways-to-reuse-paper

http://www.squidoo.com/Reuse-Paper

Expo Approaches!!!

Sorry for the mini hiatus, but theres been a lot going on. I've checked the hive twice since I last posted, and the first time was very hectic. The second, on the other hand, wasn't so bad.

In the first inspection, I realized that I had put the inner cover on upside down, and the bees had filled the space with comb; and not just comb, but brood comb. Basically, I feel like a baby killer. I had to remove this mass of brood comb and the bees weren't happy, and I felt like crying. I didn't, but it was still very traumatizing, and I have learned my lesson. Sadly, I don't have any good video of this happening, because I was doing it on my own- my father being my usual cameraman.

The inspection after that went smoothly. I moves over some empty frames and added the second deep body box. I was again alone, but nothing bad happened this time

All that said, we've been working in the garden a lot lately. I got my berry patch growing! I have two blueberry bushes, two raspberry stalks, and four strawberries, all surrounded by a ring of marigolds to keep out the bunnies. I also sowed my sunflower seeds, so I now start the patient wait for them to  emerge. Its all very exciting!

On a different note, my grandfather came over today to work on my expo project. We got my two poster boards covered with a really cure bee fabric, but we ran out of ribbon for the boarder, and lost a "L" for the name of my project, "Bee Calm and Buzz On." So, those aren't done at all, and my expo practice run is tomorrow. Ugh. Ah well. I'll get a bad grade tomorrow, and pull it up by expo night. I would have had it finished if it weren't for Hobby Lobby being closed on sundays. Very inconvenient. 

My table cloth is on bottom, the poster board cover on top, and the dot ribbon the boarder. The other ribbon was just an extra.

Tip Time:

Look for the Water Sense label on products you buy. It's just the same as any other product, but has the benefit of being good for the environment.

Also, the best way to recycle is to reuse. Try using glass jars as togo cups and old butter tubs as "zip locks." Stop using plastic bags in your lunches, and put your sandwich in an old ham container. You can also reuse food waste by making a compost pile and save left over coffee in the fridge for iced coffee later. And a very society friendly way to get rid of old clothes and blankets is to donate them to red cross, vietnam vets, or the salvation army. You can even donate heavily used blankets to animal shelters as a soft place for those furry guys to sleep on.

Bee Biology 101: Lesson 1- Stings

Hey guys. Sorry for not posting for a while- I've been fairly busy what with the end of track and the school year fast approaching. My last meet will be tomorrow! Either way, today I will be doing a "class" on some of the basic things that go into a bee's life.

First off, I should say that I did inspect the colony last Sunday, and we had our first sting. It was on my father's stomach, and really wasn't bad at all. I'm not looking forward to my first sting, but I have been stung by a wasp before, and there is no way it will be as bad as that was. 

And that leads us into our first lesson! Stings! First off, I would like to say that what most people think are bee stings are really wasp stings. Those are much more painful and unprovoked and the cause of much unnecessary fears of honey bees. Wasps are carnivorous, angry insects who will sting with no real reason. They can also sting multiple times as opposed to the honey bee (and most to all bees I would assume) who die after a sting.

When a honey bee stings, her stinger gets logged into the flesh of the mammal (she doesn't loose it when stinging other insects) because of the barb on her sting. It resembles the pointed tip of a fish hook for the mental picture. Because of this barb, the bee looses her life in a slow death, as the stinger is attached to the venom sacks and part of her intestines, which you may see attached to the stinger when you remove it.

(please click on the image for a closer look)

It is for this reason that a lone, flying foager honey bee should not be feared in the slightest. The only time in which a honey bee will willingly give up her life would be if the colony was under attack. One way to think of this is to put it to the likeness of your own body. The human body is made up of individual living cells, but those cells work together to support the life of a complex being. The colony is much the same way. Each worker bee is a cell with a specific job, and, much like the white blood cells of our bodies, the guard bees are on the defensive. 

Now that the reasons and consequences behind honey bee stings are covered, it it time to explain sting treatment. Over all, the only thing that needs to be done to help a honey bee sting is to remove the stinger as quickly as possible. This should be done with the finger nail (or a credit card, but I would highly recommend the finger nail, as it takes time to get the card from your pocket.) in a scraping motion away from the sting. This is done so that all of the sting gets removed, and infection can be avoided. That said, bee stings don't generally get infected at all, but it is best to remove organic matter from the flesh. The other reason this is done so swiftly is because, going back to what I said about the structure of the sting, the venom sack is still attached to it, and if left alone, the amount of venom discharged into the flesh will be much higher, and the discomfort will be increased.

Besides removing the sting quickly, the other steps that can, but don't need to be done, are icing the stung spot to reduce inflammation and spreading of the venom (which will stay in the sting spot anyway, much like a misquote bite), and putting soothing skin ointments on the inflamed site.

Now that all this is said, I feel it necessary to say that, apart from the fact that honey bee stings are rare if unprovoked, and allergies to honey bee venom even more rare, stings are not something to be very afraid of. They only last about a day, and the discomfort if mild in most people. The initial feeling will resemble burning, but it will soon subside to an itch, and then to that of a misquote bite.

Environmental Tip Time:

Please help the bees by informing those who you know to fear bees of what I have just taught you. The major point to remember is that most people confuse wasp stings for bee stings, and that honey bees do not go out on suicide missions. Tell your friends that bees are generally quite friendly herbivores, and that it is in fact very safe and incredibly interesting for one to look closely at a bee resting on a flower per say. I would very much recommend for everyone to do this if they see a honey bee. I WOULD NOT, however, recommend one to look closely at a bee hive without the presence and approval of a beekeeper. Remember, the only real time to be worried about stings is when you do not properly prepare to enter a hive. Observing one from a safe distance of about, say five feet or so, is quite alright on the other hand.

And just to be sure that everyone will know the difference between the bees and wasps (so that they don't accentually take my advice and start observing wasps up close), here is a helpful image:

(please click on the image for a closer look)

New Bee Video

So I think some people have been having trouble finding the vid as i posted it to an old post. new video, old post, bad combination. Either way, here it is again! Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr2YltHxrH8

First Inspection

Hello all. I have a video that is pretty much the entirety of what I did yesterday. Before the video starts, I feel that I should say that I had already removed the sugar water can. Well. Here you go.

Tip of The Post:

Save your jars! Any jars. Honey jars, jam jars. Use them to hold leftovers or tomorrow breakfast or as a to go cup for oatmeal. Get creative. We use one of ours for Swedish oatmeal and another for a brown sugar and dried fruit topping for it. it can be easily thrown in a purse or eaten right out of the fridge. We use another to hold leftover melted butter for, say, pancakes, and yet another for homemade raspberry sauce, whipped cream, and tabouleh.

Hiving the Bees!

A video collection of me and my father installing our first package of bees set to fabulous tunes! The movie does all the explaining. You'll have to click the link for reasons unknown to me.

Well here you go! Have fun!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr2YltHxrH8

New Arrivals!!!

The bees finally came! It turned out that the eleventh was the date they were shipped out from Ohio. It took them three days and I could tell that they were uncomfortable ones by the agitated noise they were making when I walked into my bathroom. Yes. My bathroom. My father came home before me and decided that the garage was too cold for them and thus decided that the bathroom would be a good alternative.

So we sprayed them with the sugar water solution as detected, and they became very excited. The lot of them were hungrily lapping up the syrup from the sides of the cage and all I have to say on that subject is that their tongues are so cool!!! My boyfriend and mom thought they were creepy, but I couldn't help myself as I sat on the tile floor watching them eat. Strangely enough they seem resemble oods from Doctor Who. It just fascinates me.

They eventually quieted down after a while and started to clump up the way I know content bees tend to do in the package, but they were off to one side and not down the middle arround the feed can, so I was worried about whether or not the supplier had placed enough food in their crate. I decided to be on the safe side and, though no one told me to do this, I took a small chunk out of my pollen patty and scraped it against the cage sides in a few places. They seemed immediately different in tone of buzzing and I could tell they were happy by the way they surrounded the small circles of food. I guess my girls needed protein!

Hopefully the addition of pollen didnt excite them too much, because the buzzing has increased again. I sit in my room typing this, and I can hear them from the bathroom next door. Even if it has, they have over a half a day at least to eat up and quiet down. Fed bees are happy bees anyway, and I want them as pleasent as possible for when I dump them into their new home.

Also, I have purchased a pack of sunflower seeds that I hope to get growing soon. I like to think of it as a welcomeing gift to the new girls.

Environmental Tip Time!

Power time! That is power saving... time. Either way, the point is that electricity has an impact as well. Whenever you leave a room, turn out the lights, TV, and whatever else you may be using. Even when you have, say, the coffee maker plugged in but not on, it's using energy. Unplug appliances and chargers whenever your not using them, and unplug larger things like TVs and computers when you leave on vacation. Remember. Even when your not home, energy will still be used, but it won't be used to help anyone. It'll save you some money as well.

I have learned my lesson...

So I have now realized what will happen when I procrastinate posting for.. um.. Over two weeks now. Gosh is there a lot to tell. When I started this post (Monday), I was sitting outside on my father's laptop as I write, my back door open and my dog off leash. Only one explanation for such an occurrence, and that would be that the fence has been installed!!! It was put up this Monday, and I would like to say that I am very happy with the work! Now that that's said, I shall do a recap. It'll be en medias res for those Odyssey fans out there. Or perhaps picture frame writing for the Catcher in the Rye lovers. Either way, bad english class lessons aside (Iago?? Sorry. Had to do one more.), I shall now start form where I would have two weeks ago when I should have posted.

On March twenty-eighth, my mother and I searched through the web and a few catalogs, fliers, and recommendations we had received in an attempt to find the best options for purchasing bee equipment. It took hours. Eventually we added up the figures and decided to go with what we had named "Option 'C'"- the cheapest option. Well. I guess I should put it as "the most cost effective option," but its all the same. The paper we scribbled on looks as follows:

C: Long Lane
Hive Components 238
Pollen Patty 3.5
-Cannon Bee 89
-Nature's nectar 4.25
-Pkg Bees 97 120
                ------------
                 431.75
                 466.75

Bassically I spent the day learning how to order off the phone. Sadly, when we went to the city after all was said and done with the orders they were already closed. We ended up going the next day before practice and put in for the fence permit. It was finished in two days and the fence scheduled for the past Monday (relative to now).

The only other thing to say really is that the equipment came a while ago and I think I am happy with that as well. It seems to be good quality and it's sturdy enough for what I'm doing. Plus the people were very kind- promising to have it in my possession before the bees came. I have tried on my vail- it works well enough with the exception of the missing hat that I have replaced with a ball cap. I also practiced with my smoker. It took a bit of work because I started with the smoker fuel at never lit and only smoked. None of the other kindling caught on fire. I eventually gave up and found a piece of paper that I set ablaze. Then the fire for roaring! I burned my right thumb a bit, but it's nothing bad- already healed. I played with that for a bit and I believe I have the hang of it. The last thing I can say I have acomplished was the construction of the base of the hive. The only issue is that even though I took the bricks from the path we were removing anyway, my mother doesn't want them gone for fear of a twisted angle. I can't blame her. So I'll put those back soon and use some of the bricks by the garage.

Environmental Tip of the Post!

I know this ones easy, but it should be noted. Remember to turn off the water when your brushing your teeth or washing your hands. Fix any leaky faucets as well. Also, try to shorten your showers to below seven to ten minuets or so. This one will be really hard for me and it always has been. That's why I'm bringing it up. So save water and energy by keeping down the running water and turning down those thermostats. I barely have mine one anymore with this nice weather.

Early Spring and Spring Break

First post on my new blog and I have a tun to talk about! Spring Break has officially started as its now Monday and that means hard work of Gifted Expo Projects! What is that you may ask? The reason I have ventured onto this endeavor! More intelligently put, it is a full semester long independent study period in which something interesting to the student is researched and put into practical use. In my case, that topic is beekeeping. I have already gone through half of the semester as last friday marked the end of the quarter, and that time has been full of bee biology research. I even traveled from Chicago to Minneapolis to partake in the prestigious short course: Beekeeping in Northern Climates, which was incredibly helpful. Now its nearing fourth quarter- spring is jumping into action, and thus I must as well.

For those of you in the Chicago-land area, you already know about this ridiculous weather we've been having. Hopefully you've also noticed that its been great for the bees as well. I believe that I've seen more honey bees in the past few weeks then I have in the past few summers. That said, its been a real rush for me, as a new beekeeper, to keep up with the weather. If I want by what I know about hiving a new package of bees, then I would have at least two extra weeks until I needed to get them in, but I was walking my dog the other day, and the dandelions are already blooming and the bees already swarming! There happens to be a swarm of bees checking out a small hole in the brick wall of my house, but there seems to only be about five workers. That said, they have started going into the hole for the night, so I can only assume they have moved in and are passed the "checking out" stage of swarming. Hopefully they move on their own, but at this point I find it rather hard to believe that they will.

Along with that little bump in the road, there is also the problem of bring my yard up to par with the regulations on beekeeping in Palatine. The tree that fell in the big wind storm we had a few weeks ago is still laying on my backyard. Sometime this week it will be removed. The delay was caused because we were comparing bids on a few different companies, but now we have decided and the work will get rolling. The next hurdle after that is the fence. Bids for that will be coming on Wednesday and hopefully it will be installed before the end of next week if all goes well. (Again this weather is causing much rushing and creating quite a time crunch.)

On a lighter note, I just called Long Lane Honey Bee Farms and asked them about their walk in store. My mom and I are planning on visiting this Wednesday to purchase the hive and personal equipment. It is a hour drive, but I think it will be worth it to go and talk to the people who know what their doing and see what we are going to buy before we bring it home. I feel pretty confidant at this point that we will get the bees in their hive by the end of the first week of April. It was pretty nerve racking for a while, but now everything seems to be moving well.

Environmental Helping Tip of the Post:

Now that its getting warm again we will all be tempted to turn up that air conditioner, but just by keeping it two (2) degrees warmer then you would have put it, you could help save valuable energy. You don't even have to compromise either! Make up those two degrees by turning on a low-powered fan. That said, we all know that in Chicago the spring weather can go all over the graph. When it gets to be a comfortable temperature, turn off your thermostat entirely and open up your windows to let out that stale winter air and let in the fresh spring breeze. Lastly, don't forget to turn it down (make it cooler when its cold, hotter when its warm) when you go to sleep- your body is pretty good at regulating its own heat then and you can always add a cozy blanket!

Environment Protection Agency
http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/0/0B2A59279C9C66A8852578BF005550CE