Swarming Bees and all kinds of fun.....

Warning: TONS of pictures ahead, this is just too cool to go easy on pics (click on the photo to see them in detail)...... Yesterday morning was a busy one. I was getting ready to head into town for errands before I went to my Mom's group/book study. I had finally settled in to nurse Ephraim before I left, and Elsa came to tell me how happy the bees were in the nice sunny weather....that there were lots of them buzzing around the swings. That's nice sweetie, I say. Then she comes back 2 more times to tell me about them, the second of which she notes that they're worried about swinging because the bees are too loud. Too loud???? I look outside to see this: Yes, our barely 2 month old group of bees has already outgrown their home and swarmed! That means they raised up another Queen and 1/2 the hive left. The bee supply place told us it would be a year or two before they did that. The day quickly changed from errands to focusing on our little bee friends. You have less than 24 hours to get them into another hive before they start looking for one themselves.

My Dad and sister got them transferred into a new hive box while I was out. It looks super neat. You just spray them down with sugar water and tap them into their new home. They used a frame from the current hive to help them get established. You can see the eggs within the combs, and many new bees were hatching while the frame was being transferred (as you can see) Wow!It's incredible how tight they all are...protecting the new Queen

Everyone all in??

Happy in their new hive

Time gets away from me...

I wanted to try and update this blog every week or so, but it seems that time just moves too fast for me. I just don't get around to it. So, for a quick update: Bees are doing well. We're waiting for some good weather to check them out in better detail. To find the Queen and make sure she's healthy and propagating the hive well. The chicks are great also. I ended up getting 3 Araucana's to add to the group, so there are 12 in there now (2 are my sisters). They're getting huge (and to be honest, teenager chickens are not nearly as cute as the babies). Actually tonight is their last night inside the house. They do not smell good for 1 (my house is not a barn). And 2, they are really feathering out well, and trying to fly (especially the Barred Rock; very determined chickens) and I'm concerned of waking up one morning to find a chicken or two wandering (EEEK!). So tomorrow we will build a bigger temporary pen and get them into the garage. I have to get some strong wire to top it with so that Cookie the Cat doesn't decide to have some delicious meals. The kids are growing and changing so much. It's astonishing how their time being small is just going away. Adin and Elsa did great at Awana. They both finished their books. I'm so proud of them for that. I have not been good about having them memorize things, but they persevered and learned a ton of Bible verses this year. Isaac (3.5 yrs old) somehow picked up a phrase and tested it out on his cousins and siblings tonight "are you ready for a Beat Down?"! What? We were laughing so hard, we had trouble regaining our composure. He is sooo cute! And then Ephraim. He is not overly verbal. He tends to be physical. But his verbal skills are growing. He has finally picked up "nurse" and "please" though they don't sound much like the real word. But hey, he's saying them his own special way. I'm improving on knitting. I finished a pair of shorties. I still have some finishing touches to put on them, but at least they're done. They turned out too small for Ephraim :( but they fit my small nephew well, so it's some consolation. Hey, I'm learning at least! Tomorrow I'm going to attend a local knitting help class. I'm hoping they can help me work out some of my kinks. There's my small synopsis. I'm hoping to get some pics up of the blooming flowers and garden next week, but I need the weather to perk up a bit. It's been very rainy around here lately. Not a surprise for the NW area, but is still frustrating when I'm in the middle of planting season.

And now on to the bees...

So last week we installed our bees into their new hive. I got to take pics while my sister and Dad worked the bees.

The babies were not happy by the time we got done.

Yesterday we went out to make sure the bees got the Queen released from her cage and accepted her. I got to work them this time. It was fun. Just relax, move slowly and use lots of smoke ;) - Things look good so far, they seem to be active and there were some new larvae from what we could tell. We'll go out next week and check them again to make sure things are good.

VICTORIOUS!

BEEKEEPING!

So, just in case I don't have enough going on, I am now going to be a bee keeper. Yesterday, my sister Amber and I took a trip to a Bee Keeping store in Portland. http://ruhlbeesupply.com/ I wasn't planning on us buying the whole setup, but once we were there, we found that we needed to if we were going to have bees this year. For those that don't know, my sister's family and mine live on acreage next to one another. This is working out so well. We both feel safe and secure with knowing our neighbors well ;) And this year, we're putting into effect our canning/community garden. Anything that's hard and requires a lot of work, we try to pool our energy and resources to accomplish it. So, we are now the proud owners of a beginning bee setup. We also got the gear needed to work the bees. Our "swarm" will arrive in 2 weeks. In the meantime, we need to put together our boxes and get them painted. We can make them pretty, but the colors have to be light so the bees stay calm. This is going to be a trip for sure. I'm sure I will know way more about bees than I had ever planned on. We probably won't get any honey to harvest until next year, but you have to start sometime. "Bee Keeping for Dummies"....here we come!