A Toast !

We where supposed to go hawking with my sponsor today but the southerly front moving in brought high winds 20-30 miles an hour. The day has been both humid and hot with temperatures reaching in the mid 80's the air-conditioning kicked in at 75. Even my bee's came out to investigate what was going on swarming about the front of the hives and being blown off course when a hugh gust came crashing through.

Steve told me to stop by if i was heading that way so the family and i duly descended on the Armstrong house hold before heading for Chilies in Sherman. The girls have never seen ferrets let alone a hawk. So the trip was quite good i think Shelby would have quite happily taken one of the ferrets home with us. She was very impressed. The hawk however now that was another story, Sara made a dash behind her mother and my wife's eyes popped out of her head. Especially when she found out a Female Redtail is about twice the size of a Harris Hawk. However in the car to chilies they where all like wow wouldn't it be great ! There where all amazed at how Smash could rotate his head so he was looking backwards over his shoulder. IT was really cool seeing everyone talking excitedly about hawks, bee's and ferrets.

I was somewhat taken back by the generosity shown, Whisky is a particular passion of mine, especially if it hails from Scotland. I love the aroma and the taste , whisky is my nemesis. It was very touching to be given a 12 year old molt whiskey , unexpected but very much appreciated and welcome.

It's funny how you hear when you search for a sponsor, some of that selection is a certain amount of chemistry between both sponsor and apprentice. A bond and a relationship forms that grows over a period of time that develops into a friendship that is lasting. I was lucky i found someone with similar beliefs and experiences . Falconry is more than just killing which i think the none falconry fraternity will never understand. Its not about bagging game although that is a by product of the process. The more i read and get to understand its about so much more, It's about trust, honesty, chivalry and camaraderie. One for the thongs that impressed me with the Brewer book was a fascination with that actual prey he sought, understanding it , knowing about it, respecting it and managing it. Falconry shouldn't really be classed as hunting, its not like taking a bow or a gun and sitting up in a tree on a stand waiting for something to happen.

So to Steve, his family and his hawk's Dogs, Cats and Ferrets i raise a glass and say Thank you for letting me have a peak at a wonderful hobby, sport and life style that i would like to make my own. Cheers mate and here's to some good hunting !

I just finished reading Buteos and Bushytails by Gary Brewer. Squirrel Hawking certainly seems to be the way to go in this area , certainly for some of the year.

Oklahoma seems to be under a acorn and pecan dearth this year. Which will make next year seem very interesting. Squirrels in Eastern USA are starving because they cant store up enough winter feed which should have a knock on effect for next years population. I think a similar thing is in store for south Oklahoma squirrels.

Ok i digress from the book. I found it to be very difficult to read and in fact in some places it was a hard slog to get through it. I was also a little bit dissapointed by the fact it didnt have a lot of illustrations to back up what Mr Brewer was teaching, Or a how to make hoods etc. I think im going to have to read it again in the spring just to digust what was being advised. It was a little dissapointing especially after reading some of the articals he has written and are now avaialble online.

Not sure what to read next, it will either be one of the two Redtail books currently avaiable.

Cold Spell

Well the first real cold spell has been and gone. We have had tornadoes, Snow and Sleet for the past week. The bee's seem to have come through it OK with lots of orientation flights today. They haven't been delving into the sugar water which is on the Hive top feeders. I did notice them bringing pollen into the hives. We have another cold spell coming in with a rest bite of Christmas and then back to being cold.

I peeked under the hives and noticed about 10 dead bee's in each hive. Usual for this time of year. Some of the Cleaner bee's where dragging the deceased out of the hive.

I've been reading up on queen rearing for next season. I want to raise a few of my own queens for swarms that i catch and for the splits i want to do. so this winter we will be gearing up for that. Not sure which method to try yet but the Junter Method seems popular and less stressful than grafting.

Closing Shop

The bee's are closing up shop. One of my supers has a ventilation hole in it. for the past week the bee's have been filling it in.

Steve gave me some leather to have a go at making some hoods.
The first one i did was ok but i think the pattern i had for the second was was way to big ! I think the second one would fit an eagle rather than a red tail. The First one i am actually quite proud of and will probably use it for trapping next fall.

I just realized I'm no longer a newbie beekeeper.

Haven t posted in a very long time but basically here is how things go.

We have two very good hives and 1 ill be surprised if it makes the winter. The two nucs did not do very well at all. However the packages did awesome and i would def buy bees from Dadant in Paris Texas again. I'm looking at getting a few medium boxes to make over the winter as well as a Queen Castle. I think one of the failures for this year was i could provide queens for the swarms i collected. I'm going to extend the bee yard a little bit for ease of use and hope to do a few splits next spring. I also want to make a few nuc's up myself. We will see how things go. I'm still feeding sugar water 1 part sugar 1 part water but less often now. The days have got cold and they seem to be taking up less. The two good hives are 4 Deeps deep. Which i am very happy about, hopefully this will give them and me a good basis for next season.

On Saturday sieve and i went down to Dallas to fly his birds on a known rabbit field. The day was a bit of a disaster weather wise. Charlie did chase after a squirrel but after that we was soon back in the car and heading home.

I did take the rest of Saturday to make myself a T-Pole Perch , using a Rubber Squeegee and some astro turf. I got both items from walmart for 9 bucks so i'm very pleased with the results !

A funny thing happened at work today, or at least i think its funny. They are sending us emails once a week with a devotional message that is supposed to inspire.

Today's had a picture of a very beautiful butterfly and the caption was supposed to inspire us .

I sent a comment back stating that , one didn't understand what they where referring to. The response i got was that if the butterfly was not willing change it would never become something so beautiful. This got me thinking does the caterpillar have a choice, does the maggot have a choice. Do they say one day, hey i'm going to be a fly, or im going to be a butterfly. NO they dont, they have no choice they are not in a poisiton to willing choose its predestined and nothing apart from everloution will eventually change that cycle of life.

A friend and i where checking out 2 bee tree's on his property. As we where checking out the bee's we saw two red tails chasing each other off. We also spotted a road kill squirrel it looked like it was very young, We cut the tail off and i removed the flesh so i can use it in a lure

Walking Time Bomb

I'm a walking time bomb, well that's what the Dr tells me, 11 months ago everything seemed to be OK, I passed my immigration medical with no problems, but things have slowly gone down hill or maybe even caught up with me. The stress of work and life in general have changed that much in the last 11 months that today it took 3 people to check my blood pressure.

In the month that has gone by its amazing how going out with steve's hawks has become so important to me, I forgot how to be so absorbed in something that takes your mind away from everything outside of that immediate vicinity. I used to do competition fishing. I wasn't very good at it , well i never one any prizes but that wasn't the point for 4 hrs a week i could go fishing and try and catch as many fish as i could, sitting on the bank waiting for that float to bob and then take a strike, if i stuck fast enough we had a carp or a bream, sometimes it was a tench it didn't matter as long as it was big and put up a fight. One fish become two , two became 4 and before you knew it 4hrs had gone and there was 8-10lbs of fish in your net waiting to be weighed and released back to the stretch of river or lake i was fishing. I have forgotten how that 4hrs became void of a boss that shouts at you, money worries and other things that happen in life.

I'm glad falconry has come along when it has, for a moment in time all those stresses are gone, its just you, someone who has become a very good friend , a hawk and some game. The excitement of the chase as a cotton tail makes a dash for freedom. Shouting HOHOHO to get the hawks attention, scrambling through brambles as you race to keep up with the bunny in hope that the hawk has also spotted it and wants to chase with you. There is something very human and very basic about falconry , there is an excitement there, there is something that makes you feel alive. One purpose, one mission and whether you like it allot its been something we have been doing since Adam and eve were expelled from the garden of Eden. That day something died to make cloths for two people, something was hunted and in the millions or thousands of years that have gone on since that same basic instinct is still there. It might be sanitised, it might be even forgotten by some but its still there ticking away.

Today i was told i need to make a life style change, Today i wish i was at the airport shouting HOHOHO and forgetting all other things but one, the hunt is on and we are going to hunt something.

Went Hawking with Steve again, We went to some WMA land in Texas. Not much to report, We flushed a rabbit but it got away to the surprise of steve's hawk smash.

I pretty much got the falconry knot down pat now which i pretty pleased with. My Game Vest arrived from Bass pro today , so one less piece of equipment to get. i've been trying to make some leaches out of 255lb nylon chord. I'm not to sure if its to thin but its interesting none the less.

I finished the California study guide today but about to start re-reading it until i have it down pat then i'll take the online test and see what we get.

Came across the Oklahoma Falconry meet/video for this year, It looked like fun, haven't heard much else. It would be pretty good to meet up with some of these guys as there my state club. I also added Chris Kimbels new Blog, he has an interesting article on how to make Hoods.

One of the lines that has always struck me is when Jeff Goldblum character said " Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should."

I read a news article today how scientists have taken DNA from 20 year old refrigerated mice and cloned them. They say it heralds the way to bring back woolly mammoths and other extinct species. I always think of that quote when i read about cloning of animals that have long past. They died for a reason and regardless of whether we agree or not they should stay dead. Nature moved on and selected the best for that distinct moment in time.

Today they celebrate the down fall of a plot to blow up the houses of parliament in the united kingdom. All week kids will have been getting hold of fireworks setting them off all ours and making a general nuisance of them self. Tonight there will be massive bonfires all over the UK with people burning effigy of a little be known character called Guy Fawkes.

In another country somewhere that is growing more and more to be home they celebrated the 5th for another reason .

Today i celebrate it because on my drive along platter road i spotted 4 Red Tail hawks All sitting on the telegraph pole about 500 yards between them. The cold is now bringing more of them down through this area towards Dallas.

I also ordered a game belt from the Bass Pro shops, see above picture i like the fact its small and isn't like a ruck sack.

Yesterday Sunday i headed over to Steve's house, he said 2.30 - 3.pm but the clocks went back one hour which meant we would loose an hour of sunlight. I was impatient i have been waiting all week to go out with Steve and his two Harris hawks smash and Charlie. In a very short time its become something that is waited and looked forward to the whole week. So i arrive early well a few minutes to early might be bad manners and late would be unforgivable.

I had a gift for Steve a copy of the US army corps map for lake Texoma. I had my friend Kevin who is the tree stand hunter ( something i could never do) print it up to poster size. When i used to fish in the UK i was not one just to sit there and wait, always changing tactics, bates , depths trying something new till the fish struck.

We headed out to the east side of Hangermans wildlife area. There are two plots of public land almost next to it. We drove down after scouting out the surrounding area and pinpointing the exact spot. We got there we noticed a few trucks so we found a quite spot and smash came out. we sort of did a figure of 8 in the surrounding land but we didn't spot anything till on the way back to the truck. smash was looking at things in the distance . All of a sudden a bird flew up into the air, then another then another, there must have been 30 wild turkey's take flight. We headed off for another spot through the drain off areas of the lake, not much really happened until something rather spectacular happened

I was walking along with the T-Bar , perch or pole. It's kinda of funny cause i wasn't quite sure how to use the thing, Either to use it as a stick to beat brush or just hold it aloft in the air and look rather silly cause there is no bird on it. Then it happened ... the pole got slightly heavier and i look up only to see one Harris hawk sitting on it . i looked at Steve and just grinned what can you say but it was totally amazing ! It seemed lie forever and Smash did actually turn the pole to say hey i want to look this way before he flew off. We think he caught a snake , it looked like a snake to me and im sticking with that.

On the walk back to the car Steve did they public relations thing with some two guys and there three children that had spotted us. Before the trip home the sun set over the lake. All in all a very good day.

Checking the Land out

Today my Step Daughter (aged 10) and my daughter aged ( 6 months ) took a drive along platter to learn the lay of the land. If i know the vicinity of where i can hunt i can start to narrow down possible locations.

The potential hunting area is to the North West of Platter with a mixture of course and wooded ground there are two main roads into there area , We noticed on the upper Platter fields road 2 other cars which suggested this is where the hunters come for deer and other game. When i get a bit more time ill check it out for actuall game

The Other area of interest is West Burns Run . The ground on the east side of west burns road is open to the public and again offers a mixture of different terrains.

We did spot a Golden Eagle today not sure if thats a good thing or a bad thing but certainly and interesting thing.

Hunting Grounds

I found a couple of state maps of hunting grounds that could be most useful

Texoma Lake

Lake Hugo

Being the nearest two corps land available to me, Obviously lake Texoma is closer to me and offers some great opportunities.

A Little Light Reading

I got my first two Falconry Books today. The Apprentice Manual and the Apprentice Study Guide. The Guide is pretty good but the Manual was a little disappointing for the price. for 16 Dollars i was hoping for something a little bit well you know more..... Anyway i'm off to start reading and studying !

Apprentice Guides

I ordered two books today. The Apprentice study Guide and the Apprentice Manual from Mikes Falconry there pretty much the same price no matter where you look but i thought I'd give them a try. Can't wait for them to arrive so i can really start studying towards my exam.

On my Way to Work

Every morning as i take my daughter to Day Care there is a Red Tail Sitting on a telegraph post or on a round bail of hay, I see this bird nearly every day. Sometimes if i'm lucky i see two. I am assuming she is a she and not a hey because of her size. She normally hunts along E2140 - North Platter Road. There are two very large fields mainly used for hay making more often than not she is facing south and along the ditch line for pray. Today she had roosted further south about a mile on top of a telegraph pole as it was still very dark. I didn't see her tonight as it has been stormy and one hopes she is holed up in a tree out of the wind.

I also got some other good news. I have a Sponsor. Steve agreed to be my sponsor which i am very delighted about as we seem to get on so very well.

Good News

Spoke with the State Biologist today regarding an out of state sponsor. He gave a couple of conditions but basically said i needed to state how close the sponsor would be. and have them send a copy of there state license to them when i apply for all my permits, tests and inspections.

If Steve agrees to be my sponsor then i think i will be very happy as i have an an awful lot of respect for him and his Hawks and know he is a fountain of knowledge. So right now i'm a happy bunny !

At the Airport

Saturday
On Saturday i decided to get me a bright Orange Vest, If I'm going to do this then i need to make sure i can be seen once the guns come out. Latrell ( My Wife ) and I went in to check out the different clothing. We spotted a high visible bright Orange Vest.

They cost 10 Bucks from Gander Mountain The nice thing about this vest is that it folds up small enough to go in a hip pocket when needed.

Sunday

On Sunday i was on tender hooks praying the birds would be off weight so that i could go out with Steve again. The company is good and so is the Hunting. I arrived at 4.30pm a little early but i was ready at 3.00pm and its only a 10 minute drive. I got to see Steve's Mews up close and see both Smash and Charlie on there Bow Perches, Smash is still not ready, one feather left to drop. So we took Charlie out again. We headed for the airport once more and started fanning out trying to scare up some Rabbits, no such luck. I did manage to find two golf balls. We headed over to a small area that used to hold some pools and this seems to hold a decent number of rats. Charlie Caught 3 off them but then he started to become unresponsive, Headed up into a tree and was almost set to stay there the night.

So the hunt wasnt very long but there jsut seems to be somthing about that swoop as the Hawk dives through the air and then uses it's talons to grab the prey. simply amazing. We did spot a Redtail hunting the same area so there must be some small gaming knocking about.

Steve taught me why Falconer's like the Sampo Ball Bearing Swivels. Basically they are Highly Machined Swivels which means sand cant get in. In this area the ground is very sandy and can get into everything and hence the need for a high precession swivel is needed.

Hunting Sites

I've been scouring the local area for possible hunting sites. I have decided to take the Dog for a 4 mile walk every night. We as a family have a Black Lab cross, I would like to train him to chase rabbits for my hawk when/if i eventually get a Hawk.

So far every night we have found rabbits around Colbert as well as a few squirrels. So things are looking good on that front.

And it all begins

When i was a boy my mother used to take me to the library to choose a book to read over the coming weeks. She did this for a number of reasons one of these was because as a child she grew up in a very working class family who where still being rationed due to the war. Books and education where something to be valued and treasured so a couple of times a month we would visit the Library and choose a book.

One day i choose the book As the Falcon Her Bells by Phillip Glasier. This book had a profound effect on me as a child. It wasn't a typical book on falconry but an autobiographically look at the effect falconry had on one man and later his family and children.

We lived in a place that we could have had a falcon, but shortly after reading the book we moved to the middle east and then back to the Uk; the Industrial North and Manchester. That dream sort of went on a back burner for 30 years.

Today i find myself in the heart of the United States with the opportunity to do this and the space to do it.

This blog is there for going to be initially the journey it takes to become a fully Licensed Falconer.

So far to date i have contacted 4 Organizations. These have been for the Following reasons

The Oklahoma Falconry Association

They are my local club meet twice a year , I've also contact both state and Federal about permits and information packs regarding falconry in Oklahoma.


Migratory Bird Office/Permits
P. O. Box 709
Albuquerque, NM 87103-0709
phone(505)248-7882


To request the current state regulations write to:
Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation
1801 North Lincoln
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
(405) 521-3851

One of the things i noticed in the state pack was that the nearest Falconer seems to be either Edmund or Norman thats a 3 hr drive. I've been told that there is people closer but so far i have not heard anything from anyone. I have put feelers out into the community but nothing has resulted in any information of someone that i can just hang out with and see what falconry is all about. Because of this i contacted the Texas Hawking community that seem a little more pro-active and was introduced to a local falconer just over the boarder.

Yesterday i went Hawking with him , He has been a Falconer for 8 years and currently flies two of the most beautiful Harris Hawks i have ever seen, not that i have seen many but there are totally amazing.

Steve Recommended 5 books for me to get , unfortunately one is out of print so the next few weeks i will be sending off for them reading up and taking another step forward. I also hope to go out with Steve and his amazing birds again as i really caught the bug for Dirt Hawking.

I don't see me having a bird of any kind until this time next year as i want to do this slowly, methodically and take my time. I want the best for the bird i get so that we both have fun and a fruitful life together.

इन्स्पेक्टिओंस एंड updates

3 out of the 4 beehives i have are doing very well, so well that i have now added another Deep onto them. The frames that i used the fishing line straight rather than criss-cross are doing very well , the criss-cross pattern caused some irregular comb to be drawn out as it spaned comb holes, the line that just went horizontally has worked out perfect !

Yesterday on the way home from work i spotted a swarm in the staff car park. I had to go with my wife to the Dr's with our new born baby but on the way back they where still there. I headed home and got a Deep, a bottom board 10 frames with starter strips and a top. After much a do... I managed to capture 95% off the bee's still not sure if i got the queen but i think i have come very close to it. Today i placed two frames with a full sheet of foundation in the deep along with a deep of capped broad and some uncapped broad form one of my other hives. I also put a top feeder on and filled it full of sugar water. I'll report back over the ext few weeks on how we get on !

Ice Cream and Bee's

I saw this on TV the other night and then someone pointed it out on Beemaster.com But Haagen-Dazs have really got behind the honey bee recently.

Here is the Commercial...



They also have a website at http://helpthehoneybees.com . My step-daughter (shelby) spent a long time on the website and is well worth checking out

My Bees....

Well my bees are moving along at great guns. I checked them out on wendesday before the storms. the Package hives had drawn out alot of comb and you can see lots of wax flakes under the screen bottom board. The NUC didnt seem to be doing so well. I noticed that the bees had not been moving off the installed frames so under the advice of a friend i moved one frame outwards and inserted a new frame with new foundation on it in order to try and get the bees to move onto it and to start drawing it out.

apart from that the bees seem to have really settled down and constantly entering the hive with pollen and sometimes nectar stores.

Installing a package

Pakcage arrives today

Well i got out of work early today and we headed to Paris Texas to pick up two of the packages i have ordered. I got a few suppliers whilst i was there. It was funny meeting someone from the next town over that had decided to get bee's and was getting advise from the shop keeper.

On the way home things got a little eventfully. First of the bees are normally shipped in Wooden boxes with screening on both sides. Ours came in cardboard with screen on both sides. We loaded them up and off home we set, about 1/3rd of the way home we noticed a few bees nothing to worry about, at about 1/2 way i say latrell pull over, she said "it's ok dear few bees wont matter", i was like no dear you don't understand you really need to pull over, about 20-30 had escaped most where sat on the box. Seems a small staple had come loose and the bees where making there way out. I had decided to buy a spare vale so latrell said hey put them in that . When we got home there must have been a few hundred bees in that vale. Latrell was giggling all the way home saying this is exactly how i envisaged getting the bees . Car full of bee's and us racing home to put them in the hive !

After setting up i put the bee's with the hole in the box into the first have and put the other bee's into the other hive. Tomorrow ill post a short video.

We did get another shock in that the cage the queen comes in was not what i was expecting so i had to ad lib and work out what was going on in terms of how that worked. In three days time ill open the hive back up to see how there doing and that they have released the queen from her cage. The cage as a sugar candy cork that they eat in oder to release her. that should take a day for them to do.

Tonight as we watched them it was awesome to see the bee's basically fanning the entrance . This behavior is normally a very good sign that they have accepted the hive as there new home

Bee's Arrive Part 1

2 Packages of bee's arrive tomorrow. Will post pics and a video of me installing them Tomorrow

Pollinator Website

Cam across this pollination website http://www.pollinator.org/ they are offering some free bee items that are worth checking out

Differences in Foundation

I have decided to use Small cell foundation in my hives. I have purchased two different types form two different manufacturers .

 

I got some wire ( Vertically ) Small Cell from Brushy Mountain and i got some unwired from Dadant ( None Wired ). You can notice the immediate difference. The Dadant product is so thin that if you hold your hand behind it you can actually see your hand through it.

I'm going to use the Dadant as starter strips for some of the frames, for one thing making it last a bit longer and for another I don't think it would by think enough to wire up. i have noticed that Dadant have started to cell a wired version. Hopefully this is a little bit thicker.

The Brushy mountain Small cell although a bit thick I have found bows slightly. From advise from the Beemaster web site I have strung up some 15lb fishing line to support it horizontally.

Today we also got some Lemon Grass essential oil and we are going to use some of this to see if we can capture a wild swarm to increase our Bee Population.

Making my Bee hive tops

Finished making two off my bee hive tops today.

I first cut all the pine to the rights size. I got 6 foot lengths of 3/8th by 9"  I cut them to 24 Inches length giving me enough for 4 tops.

  

I then cut some 1"x 1 1/2" pieces to act as braces. I was going to use 4 for each top . Two on the underside and then two on the top I used 2.5" Screws to hold it all together and glued with gorilla glue .

 

 

The tin I cut to length and then glued with a strong glue and used the baton to hold in place.

Then screwed through all three peace of wood and the tin to hold in place.

I hammered the access around the edge and them smoothed of with a file any burs or sharp ages.

Straightening out foundation

Some of my frames are going to have a full sheet of foundation that is wired. one of the things are noticed apart from it being fragile is that is warps and bends. Today on the beemaster.com forum it was mentioned about using fishing line to hold wireless foundation in place using a criss cross pattern. I tried it and was not to happy, mainly because I had strength in my wires. It also didn't seem to take the warp out. I then thought hang on i only need it on the side that is bowed out so I'm now running it straight from one side to the other and then back again on the same side. Then something else happened as i was putting it in place I noticed I could press down lightly on the fishing line and the wax sheet would stick to it giving a more uniform and held in place structure. It is all tied off with a thumb tack so cheep solution all in all

 

 

This seems to work so for all my frames that the foundation is bowed and warped I'm now fixing with fishing line.

 

I also started making my custom lids to my hives. They will be a cross between a telescopic and a migration hive top.ill post pictures once I have got a bit further along !

Free Bee Keeping Book

I came across this free Bee Keeping book today. Excellent way to learn how to start keeping bees. It is written by Penn State University...

Bee Keeping Basics - Penn State University

This is a test with windows live writer !

Interesting article on CCD

Bee's Dieing in the United Kingdom

I was sent an article by a friend regarding bees dieing in the UK. Seems they now have a super Varroa mite.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7240456.stm

Makes for interesting reading anyway... I guess i fall into the not using chemicals unless you really really have to.

Fitting the Small Cell foundation to the Frames

Fitting the small cell foundation to the frames can be a little bit tricky. for one thing its very fragile ! I found on the wedge bars i had to nail at an angle because the nail would protrude out of the top bar. I'm going to put a small beed of wax along the bottom to make it more secure

Putting together a Mann Lake Carboard NUC

We have ordered Cardboard NUC's from Mann Lake. The reasoning behind this is that we will use them for transporting the bee's when we get them. I didn't like the idea of transporting live bee's in a Hive Deep.

The Cardboard NUC are Waxed and are very easy to put together as the video suggests..

More Flowers and Woodenware

We are in the process of putting all the different wooden ware boxes together. Most of it is dead simple in that its all flat pack, just glue and nail.

We are also in the process of putting flowers and flower boarders around the bee hives..

A New Platform

Yesterday i started to put a platform together for keeping my bee's. I've been looking at other peoples bee set ups. The problem i have in my area is fire ants. The soil is mainly sand / Loam so these make nests everywhere. its also very uneven. I was going to keep them on cinder blocks but this looked very messy. I have to keep this looking very nice or i could end up with a lot of complaints.

I've placed the hives south facing for the sun. There is enough room all around to maintain the hives. The construction is fairly easy. its just 4 posts that go down about 3 feet then they are braced either side with treated 2"x4" timber. This gives me a very flat and stable platform for housing 4 hives.

First Installment of wooden ware

Today the first installment of wooden ware arrived

I have ordered2 x Screened Bottom Boards, 2 Deep Hive bodies ( With 10 Frames ), 10 Sheets of 4.9mm Small cell foundations, Some medium gloves and a hive tool.

I ordered all this from Dadant on the 9th ofJanuary which duly arrived today. The deep hives included all the nails you would need for the boxes and the frames. So my step daughter and i started to put each item together. The next week or so will be spent putting the rest of the frames together which whilst not hard is fiddly as everything is fairly light and fragile.

Soak the join so that the glue starts its chemical reaction.

Hold tight and then carefully nail in place with the 2.5 inch Nails

Get a helping hand !

All Complete and ready to be sanded and painted

Everything seems to go together fairly straight forward the boxes have been cut pretty well which has meant they are square. I was using gorilla glue which again seems ok for this application although it does get very sticky. We are planning on having 4 Hives and a spare Nuc come the beginning of April. So far we have built 1 and a half hives.

I Order 2 Nucleus Hives for delivery at the beginning of April.

A Nucleus hive is a hive that is already Established. It has a Queen bee that is already laying eggs in the honey comb frames. The idea is you go to the breeders location swap 5 empty frames for 5 frames full of Bee's, Bee Larva and a Queen.

The cycle of a honey bee ( for workers ) is 21 days till emergence from a the honeycomb and adult maturity. After that they can live anywhere between 6 weeks and 4 months ! depending on the time of year.

Buying a nucleus of bee's means you get a 21 day head start on a Package of bee's

A package of bees is normally 3lbs of bees and 1 queen. you place them in a hive and it can take 2-3 weeks for them to produce the honey comb before the queen even starts to lay eggs and then another 21 days before bee's start to be produced. There are advantages to package bee's in that you have an awful lot of bee's (approx 30,000 - 50,000 bee's )

So hopefully in 4 months i will have 4 Bee hives !

I also ordered ( From Dadant )some screened bottom boards and Deep Hive suppers as well as some other equipment ( Gloves and a hive tool ). Decided to go Small Cell route and will be installing that foundation into the Frames

Start of the New Year

Today i cleaned out the Old Deep body frames of foundation in order to replace them with 3/4" Strips of Small Cell Foundation.

The old frames had been in a hive that was infested with Wax Moth Lava. I boiled the wax in order to save it for fixing the wax strips but ended making a mess everywhere....