At some point this week I will be traveling across the state to pick up my bees. 3# to be exact. That estimate runs between 12,00 and 15,000 depending on the bee. I have a cell of Carolinian coming and they are quite small...so I would be lead to believe I would be bringing home the larger in number.
I went with this breed because they winter better than other versions. Last year a lot of bees died around my area because of the cold. There were a few days where the high reached -24...not including the wind factor. I live at the very top of a mountain and believe me when I say we get wind....up to 50 miles an hour. Last year I watch the wind rip off the right side of the neighbors roof and then realized it bent our chimney! Yeah. "cold & windy" doesn't begin to cover it. The plus side is the summers here are not that bad. It usually doesn't peak over 95 too often.
Another reason I chose the Carolinian breed is because the queen begins to dwindle egg production coinciding with food supplies dropping.
This allows for one less worry when I take my share of honey and wax in the fall.
If your bees are not protected from the elements properly, or if their winter food storage is not enough- they will die. For example- the photo below shows how bees pile on top of each other to keep warm; even though, on the left of the photo, there is still ample supply of winter food.
^^^^This is a friend who owns and operates Long Arm Farm^^^^
Sadly, she has had just as cold of a winter in the valley as I did on the ridge
and her bees suffered because of it.
-Top Bar-
With my lovely assistant, Google, top bar hive plans were found then altered to work for what I want.
I used scrap, untreated wood.
The strips on top^^^ are what the bees will build their comb off of. They each will hold one length of comb. The 3 slats on each side will be blocked off with a little hole for access and used for housing honey water until all the useful blossoms are in bloom.
The other 20 slats will be (hopefully) full by this fall and I will then portion off my share and leave the rest for the bees to survive off of until the next set of blossoms.
A general rule of thumb is to have your bees ready or shipped to you by the first sightings of dandelions. With the allowance of a few small bouquets here and there from my children, they usually know not to pick dandelions until there are other flowers out there.
Remember- the blossom is for your bees and the leaves are for your dinner.
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The slats each received a little run along the middle for me to pour melted bees wax down.
Just a little extra grip for a little extra insurance.
We keep a surplus of beeswax in the house. I just chipped away at it and placed it in a double boiler.
Once the wax is melted, I used a spoon on one lifted end of the slat and allow it to flow down the groove until the entire thing is filled. Repeat as many times as it takes. Like layers on a candle.
I then make sure to layer a ribbon of wax over the length of the middle section covering beyond the strip. The beeswax tells the bees to use this as a starting strip for building combs.
This looks like a great set up...
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