2018 First Inspection of Spring

"In winter, I plot and plan. In spring, I move." - Henry Rollins

Is there anything more daunting than the first hive inspections of spring? This was the harshest winter since I started keeping bees. Yet, I am happy to report that I only lost one hive. It was the VSH Hive that was full of drones at the end of fall - of course it was expected. What was not expected was how much honey is in my hives.

The VSH hive still had several frames of honey but was being robbed by the other bees, so I took the 20 frames of wax and honey and divided them between the surviving hives.

On hives A, B, C.1, and B.1: I added a super with five frames of wax/honey and five unwaxed plastic frames. I didn't want to give them too much comb to defend against wax moths and beetles.

Hive-C and Hive-B.1.1 were both very healthy but still had some empty frames. So I replaced the empty frames with waxed ones.

At home, I moved the fence surrounding my bee yard and, in doing so, doubled the area to about 30'x60'. I plan to move my chickens into this area as soon as it dries up a little - as well as some bees.

The Plan:

The plan is to make a lot of splits this year. The question is, when to start? The weather looks warm and favorable but there is still the Easter cold snap to consider. Nonetheless, as soon as I see drones, I will begin the splits.

I also plan to do hive removals this year to help increase my apiary size.

The Goal:

100 Hives by winter. It's a lofty goal but that's how many I need. The remaining 7-hives will most likely split into 28-hives. The rest will have to come from the bee removals. I, of course, realize the flaw of my goal - but "a man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what is heaven for?" -Robert Browning. 

Given how much honey is in my hives after this long harsh winter, I am confident, that I only need one super per hive to survive next winter. I actually feel excited by the thought.

Hive Count: 7-Hives

The Pallet Beehive

"Art is making something out of nothing and selling it," Frank Zappa

I have been making beehives out of old pallets. I've built about 14 now. I had planned on building 100 but the process is just too time consuming.

However, if you are broke and want to get into beekeeping, then this is a way to build something great out of something free.

Now before I get started, there will be a lot of naysayers who will start talking about poisoned pallets and the such. This is not a real issue. In fact, I have used the unpainted type of pallets and have not had one ill-effect from them... well other than possibly Hive Beetles but I fixed that too.

The only three things you need to do to use pallet wood is:

1) Stagger the joints on the front vs the sides. I do this by simply cutting one of the side boards in half longways, and then placing half at the top of the box and the other at the bottom.

2) Fill in ALL of the gaps. I think failing to do this might have contributed to my hive beetle problem last year. Since the pallet boards are roughly 3.5" wide, it takes three to make one deep box. If done poorly or if the wood is not exactly straight, then there will be cracks. Simply fill these with glue and sawdust.

3) Work from the inside dimensions. Since the thickness of pallet wood is notoriously inconsistent, you have to work from the inside out. This is easier then it sounds. I cut the front/rear boards 14 3/4" long (this ensures the short side is correct).

Then I cut the long sides 19 7/8" - however, when you assemble the box, adjust then end boards to a space of 18 3/8". You may have a little wood sticking out past the ends but it won't be much and will help to keep the stacks even as you add supers later.

Mabel got cold but refused to quit

By the way, I already had all my pallets taken apart, so it only took me 2 hours to build 3 deep suppers.

As for me, I think I am going to just start buying lumber. I have a little more money this year than I have had in the past, and so the expense won't be too much of a burden. The time saved will be more than worth it.

The most important thing about this blog, is that I finally got back in the wood shop and back to working towards building my bee business.