Charlotte's sweet beekeeping adventures at Bluebird Gardens
Carpenter bees are large, solitary bees. They build a nest inside wood structures like my deck.
You can distinguish a carpenter bee from a fuzzy bumblebee because carpenter bees have shiny back sides.
Carpenter bees are also among native wild bees that don't produce honey but they are just as important as pollinators, nature's match-makers.
Charlotte
This was the first time I ever spent an afternoon in my garden getting to know my honeybees up close.
After seeing them enjoy sugar water, I decided to try to hand feed them.
It only took them a few minutes to find my sugar-water filled hand.
It was the same sugar water I feed hummingbirds, four parts water to one part sugar.
I wasn't stung once.
Charlotte
Now don't go asking other beekeepers about their bee bars. This is a term I use to describe the sugar water feeding stations I have around my garden.
Using gravel and small rocks, I fill plant saucers with sugar water, then sit back and watch.
Bees like yellow and blue flowers but when it comes to getting a drink, the colors don't seem to matter. Looks like the buzzing crowd is having a good time, doesn't it?
Charlotte
During winter 2011, I wrapped my honeybee hives with insulated styrofoam to help keep the hives warm.
Bees winter over by grouping themselves in the hive center keeping the hive at their favorite 90F temperature. Some colonies die when temperatures get so cold they can't move their wings to get to the surrounding honey stored towards the outside edges of the hive.
The styrofoam isn't pretty. The day before Christmas, two junkers came by and offered to haul off the" two white refrigerators" they saw sitting in my garden. After they left, I quickly made honeybee stockings for each hive just in case Santa Claus might pass them by.
From all of us at, and in, Mildred hive,
May you have a warm and sweet Christmas.
Charlotte
Gertrude hive was host to a mouse over winter. The mouse nest covered 5 of the 10 frames and discouraged bees from using the hive entrance. It's another reason beekeepers put entrance reducers on hives in fall, it's an attempt to discourage mice and other small creatures from moving but there's no guarantee.
There's usually an ongoing debate about whether or not to winterize bee hives. During winter 2011, I added a styrofoam coat to my hives, leaving an opening around the hive entrances. Right before Christmas, two pickers with a truck stopped by and asked if I needed the "refrigerators" hauled off.
It wasn't until they left that I realized they were talking about my hives!
Once I determined I was missing a bee queen in Gertrude hive, it was time to add a new one.
The queen travels in a plastic container with a worker bee and a marshmallow stopper at one end.
Once placed inside the hive, it will take worked bees a couple of days to eat through the marshmallow to release the queen. By then, they should be familiar with her smell and open to accepting her into the colony.
Long live the queen!
Charlotte
One of the most frequent questions people ask me when I'm talking bees is how do I know which hive is which.
Frankly, I cheat.
My bee hives have initials painted on the back side - G for Gertrude, M for Mildred - so I can keep track of the colonies.
It also helps bees find home when they return to their hive.
Charlotte
Besides pollen, bees also need a source of water.
I have several birdbaths around my property bees regularly visit. I added rocks and twigs to give them a safe landing spot.
They also seem to prefer water with flavor, such as leaves and other garden debris.
Charlotte
It's so sad when the queen bee is dead.
When hive temperatures get too hot, worker honeybees inside push field-going bees outside to try to reduce the inside hive temperature.
Bees "hang out" outside the hive, forming a "beard." This is a good indication the hive needs to have the hive top cracked open to generate ventilation.
Charlotte
It would have helped if I had been a Girl Scout.
This was the hardest thing I had to learn, how to make a sustainable fire in basically a 16 oz soup can with a lid. The smoker helps a beekeeper distract bees long enough to safely access the hive.
To make a fire, I use dried orange peels as fire starters, then add dried twigs from around the yard. Once coals have developed, I add dried leaves to generate smoke.
Stories vary on what smoke does to bees, from making them panic and horde honey to just distracting them. Smoke is applied around them, not on bees.
I've also been known to apply smoke around my head. I wouldn't recommend it as a substitute for perfume.
Charlotte
Reading beekeeping books is a good way to familiarize yourself with beekeeping terms and equipment.
Beekeeping, like gardening, is as much an art as science. The more you know about the basics, the better you can be successful keeping your bees happy and healthy.
If you don't know what books to check out, start with the ones with photos. I also enjoy diaries of beekeepers; they give me a better perspective on the cycle of beekeeping.
Charlotte
You know you have your doctor's full attention when he walks into the examining room, glares - hands on hips - and declares "BEES???"
Well, not "B-E-E-S, " more like one itty bitty little angry honeybee; ok, maybe two, but nothing like a huge, gigantic, woman-eating swarm or anything. Scientists have now confirmed bees have feelings so I'm thinking this was one, very hot, and VERY surly little honeybee that stung me on my right cheek. I don't recommend it instead of Botox but hey, it does get rid of wrinkles. I was harvesting my second batch of honey, moving the most beautifully-full honey frames from the hive to outside my garage door. I had moved four of the six frames into the kitchen, leaving two frames of honey in an empty hive box outside. Make a note - NOT a good idea.
Bees also have natural predators, such as this red spider that spun her web next to one of my bee hives.
As bees flew in and out of the hive, they got caught in the web. The spider wove webbing around them until she could eat them.
I moved the spider once, only to find her back.
The second move was to the other side of the garden. Bees have enough of a challenge without becoming a spider's McBees right outside the hive.
Charlotte
If you've ever been tempted to keep bees, find your local beekeeping group and start to attend meetings.
You will meet a range of beekeepers from beginners to experienced, and get a sense for what it takes to successfully raise bees.
Members will also be sharing beekeeping adventures, which will also give you a forum to ask questions. I enjoy Mid-Missouri Beekeeping Association meetings because I can take my challenges to them and get a variety of possible answers.
It's also fun to spend a few hours with a group learning and enjoying bees.
Charlotte
Do you see what I first spotted after taking this picture?
Bottom right, at the front of the hive - a lizard. At first I thought oh no, another predator eating my bees!
After watching it for awhile, the lizard went back to its clean up patrol, eating dead bees along the front porch of the hive.
My bee mentor confirmed later that lizards play an important role around a hive, keeping the area clean.
Charlotte
According to US Department of Agriculture, beekeepers loose about 30 percent of their hives during winter. Although there are a number of theories why honeybees are dying in record numbers - one out of every three fruit or vegetable we eat is courtesy of honeybee pollination - not having enough good pollen sources is sometimes mentioned as one of the factors. After getting my two honeybee hives settled in, I thought I would find a list of favorite honeybee plants and start adding them to my garden. It wasn't that easy.
My friend Paul in Washington DC has a wacky sense of humor. When he led one of his recent emails with "don't look now but your honey has been laundered," I thought he was sending me a link to some weird news story about a beehive making it through a car wash. The link was to Food Safety New's early November 2011 findings that 3/4rths of imported honey sold in grocery stores doesn't qualify as honey. As I understand the issue, it boils down to having detectable pollen, which means the honey source can be identified. In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration says any product that's been ultra-filtered and no longer contains pollen isn't honey.
If you're tempted to keep bees, order a few beekeeping catalogs to get familiar with terms, products and prices.
One of the best tips I can share is pick a company relatively close to your home. Beekeeping equipment is heavy and shipping prices can be daunting.
You can usually order catalogs online through major beekeeping companies like Dadant, Walter T. Kelly and Brushy Mountain.
Charlotte
Beekeeping Information & Tips
