Hanging out at the Bee Bar

Spending a Saturday lounging around the house, working in the garden. I'm about 2 weeks later than I usually am but I planted much of my garden today. While digging in the dirt I was accompanied by a constant humming for the girls. Both hives have been quite active over the past few days. Coming and going, landing and flying..... they're busy as, well... you know.

I was taking a few pictures and tried to get one of the girls hanging out at their local watering hole. You might not think of it at first but bees do need a source of water. A good urban/suburban beekeeper provides a source of water for them. If you don't they'll go off and find their own watering hole, usually an inconvienent spot, like your neighbor's swimming pool. Not a way to be a good beekeeping neighbor. Anyway, so I made up a little watering hole they can use. It's just a clay pot with some old tiles and rocks in the bottom that I filled with water. It took a few days for the girls to find but now they have a place to cool off and relax when things get hot. Here's the best picture. I caught one bee is coming in for a landing!

Here's a few other pics of the hives full of activity.

And one last picture of the garden. You can see the garlic growing in the front and some beans already sprouted and ready to climb their fence.

Bachelor weekend & Checking out the girls

A busy morning today...

It's the start of spring break for the kids, Sheridan had a dance recital last night and danced wonderful. All 3 of them will be spending the next week with their dad. That leaves just me a Hot Momma for the week. WooHoo! But.. for the next 2 days she's a workin', that leave me as Bachelor James for the weekend! What to do?......

I got a great start to the weekend already. So far I've painted fence pickets, fired up the lawnmower for the first time this season, cut a bit of the back yard to make sure the engine was running right, cleared out weeds from the garden so I can plant the victory garden this week & lastly checked on the girls in the bee hives.

Last week I installed a 2nd hive in the yard. I needed to check on it to make sure the queen was laying eggs, the workers were drawing out honey comb & collecting nectar. I opened up the hive and was very pleased at the progress. I found the queen and she looked well. The workers were drawing out the comb and I even saw a bit of nectar being stored in some of the comb!

Last year's hive looked even better. Of course it has more bees and already has a 2nd level (super) added. When I took off the top I was quite surprised. With all of the warm weather recently the girls must have been working overtime because I soon realized that 2 supers were not going to be enough. The top was full of honey, pollen & larva. Soon they would need more room. I added a 3rd super. Here's a picture.The really great part about this is that the bottom 2 supers are where the bees live and store the honey they'll need to get through the winter. Anything above these 2 supers is what I'll get to keep in my honey harvest! It's April 3rd and they have already fullfilled their needs and are contributing towards mine! I didn't harvest any honey last year but from what I hear a good hive will make about 5 gallons of honey! Hopefully with the two hives I'll get close to 10 gallons!!

Lunchtime.... a nice big plate of meat loaf, mashed potatos, carrots and Brussel sprouts washed down with a cold beer. what's on the agenda for this afternoon??.... a nice long motorcycle ride and maybe a quick trim of the front lawn.