It's Official - We Have an Apiary!

I am behind schedule in getting a couple of updates posted to our blog, but I now have time to get caught up.  Even though this post is dated March 13, Mark and I actually picked up our six new nucs from Bee Weaver in Navasota on February 27.  We were so excited that this day had finally arrived.  Mark and I can now say that we truly have an apiary...(according to the Texas Agriculture Code, it takes a minimum of six hives to qualify as an apiary).

We already had two colonies going strong at the bee farm in Caldwell, Texas; hives 02 and 04.  We installed six new nucs into the deep hive boxes that we put in place the week prior; hives 01, 03 ,05, 06, 07, and 08.   


Click on photos to enlarge

The entire event went seamlessly and we couldn't be happier!  Mark and I had planned to have all of our sugar water, tools and hive boxes prepped and in place before introducing any of the new colonies.  This was easy enough to do and helped us to feel comfortable around so many bees, while keeping order in the process.

We started at hive 01 and worked our way down to hive 08, adding four frames of existing brood and honey to each deep hive box (except for existing hives 02 and 04).  We added six brand new empty frames to each of these hives to allow room for the colonies to grow, which gave us ten 10 total frames per hive. 

These new empty frames are different than the ones we used last season.  Last year, we used wax foundations and had some difficulty with the wax melting and warping from our hot summer temperatures in Texas.  So, we changed our strategy and are now using plastic foundations with our frames.  Other beekeepers have said that they have had trouble with bees accepting plastic foundations for some reason, but as you can see in the above photo, our bees in hives 02 and 04 have already started building out comb in just one week's time.  Notice these bees have their heads down and are adding wax to the hexagon shapes.  You can see the light yellowish buildup on the black foundation.  We already love these frames.  They are very durable and we expect them to hold up well when it comes time for Mark and I to extract honey.

As we removed the bees and frames from the nucs, we made sure to place them in the center of the hive boxes and we also made sure to keep them in the exact same order and facing the same direction as they were in the nuc boxes.  This is important because the bees think of the individual frames as one unit.  When you look at the frames as one unit, the arrangement of honey, brood, and pollen is similar to that of a sphere, or like that of a basketball.  In this photo above, you can see a great pattern of brood on one frame.  The curved tan "line" that you see here is brood that is ready to hatch.  Above this line are empty cells where brood once was, but has recently hatched.  If we were to place the frames randomly within the hive box, the bees (and more importantly the queen) would notice that the frames are not in sequence, disturbing order within the hive.

In this photo, you can see that Mark has placed the nuc frames in the center of hive box 07 and he is adding the new empty plastic foundation frames on either side.

Once the frames were installed, some bees remained in the nuc box, so we set each nuc box directly in front of the hives.  Bees know exactly where their queen is located at all times.  These bees remaining in the nuc follow the scent of the queen's pheromones and head in that direction - that is, into the hive box.  It is fascinating to watch them move like soldiers in her direction.

In the beekeeping world, there are a few odd (but commonly used) phrases we hear from time to time.  One of them that we have learned is "queen right".  Beekeepers refer to a hive with a good laying queen as "queen right".  All six of our new hives are queen right.  As we installed each of the nucs, we saw all six queens and that was very comforting.  Like proud parents, we took a photo of each one.

Hive 01 queen is in the center of the photo.  She is apricot in color
and has a large thorax and small wings, compared to her abdomen size.

Hive 03 queen is near center, but to the right within the photo. 

Hive 05 queen is in the center of the photo.
Notice the uncapped brood around her.   They are white
larvae and once the cell is capped, they develop into pupae
before hatching as fledgling bees.  Look in the cells in the
lower left within the photo and you can see eggs.

Hive 06 queen is wandering around a frame with a plastic
foundation.  This frame is not yet built out with comb,
but will give the bees a starting point for construction. 

Hive 07 queen is on a frame with comb built out and
appears to have many cells in which she can lay her new eggs.

Hive 08 queen is moving around on capped honey.
She is located near the upper right of the photo.

Mark and I had a perfect day in our apiary.  The hives are all in place and ready for the 2016 nectar flow to begin.  In the next couple of weeks, we expect there to be a great selection of flora for our bees to do their work to produce brood, pollen, and honey!