Learn to love your dandelions!!!!!!

This little video talks about how important it is to NOT use insecticides - and to learn to relax about having a few dandelions and clover in your lawn....a few insect bits in your roses...and how councils should grow flowers at the side of our roads.....and relax in our roadside habitats....

The more I learn about the plight of the bees the more I am so glad that we are returning much of our land back to its natural habitat...and that our gardening is organic.......that we aren't treating our lawn or vegetable garden with any insecticides or any unnatural products to help the plants grow.

I can't say what my bees will come into contact with anywhere else they fly to, but I can be sure of what they will come into contact with on MY land.

In early Summer my lawns are COVERED in dandelions and then clover....I am also growing bee friendly flowers from that will flower annually from early Summer until late Fall.....they will also have sugar syrup and then pollen patties in Fall and early Spring. And hopefully their own supply of honey to feed on through Winter.

But please.....don't worry over manicured lawns - let the honeybees thrive instead :)

Update

Another update!! We decided that we really would prefer two hives instead of just one - it really does make more sense in case there is a problem with one hive - in case we need to requeen or anything - or just to compare hives as we go along in our beekeeping adventure!

So today we put our name down on the list at Beemaid for a second package of bees. So on May 10th if they have a spare package, we will be bringing home a second hive and two packages of bees :)

Less than two weeks!

Less than two weeks now until my bees arrive! The countdown is on!!!

I swing between so much excitement that they will soon be here and this panic that I have NO CLUE what I am doing and I should cancel them all and take my hive back to the store ;)

What amI doing?

Am I mad?

Why am I doing this??????

Hhmmmmm.

But really I am just very excited. I keep second guessing myself but really I DO know what I'm doing. I DO know what I have to do the day we get them. I DO know how to install them. I DO know how to do the first check and what to look for - and really thats what matters - and I know who to turn to if things look wrong. So all is well and I have some great help if and when I need it.

So I'm sure it will be ok.....WON'T it?????????? ;)

two weeks!!!! TWO WEEKS!!!!!

MY BEES ARRIVE IN LESS THAN TWO WEEKS!

Reading all about everyones packages arriving on the Beemasters forums and watching people install their new packages on youtube is getting me so excited to get my own :)

Soon it will be my turn :)

Watch this space :)

New commercial

helpthehoneybees.com/



.

less than three weeks....

I just hope this cold and snow has gone by the time my bees arrive. Will I be ready to cope if they arrive in THIS??????

Back from Beemaid!

Well, we just got home from the store and I am now the owner of my very own hive :)

I bought the hive with the brood box and three supers. Two to go on top, and an extra one to put full frames of honey in when I swap them over. I bought the pierco frames as well as 10 empty wooden foundation frames that I plan to use as they are - perhaps with a tiny little bit of bomb to start the bees off so that I can cut the comb to eat as it is......I would really prefer to cut comb and eat it like that than process honey really so the pierco frames are for the brood box and first super.

I also bought the veils for the children, the smoker, the brush, hive tool etc etc....the bits and pieces that I need.

I was a bit nervous before I went in but I asked a couple of questions that I was pretty sure I knew the answer to anyway and the lady had to go and ask and when she came back it turned out that I was right all along!!!! So that gave me a lot of confidence that I do know what I'm doing!

They confirmed that my bees probably will have varoa mite but will have had one treatment already and I can give them one more treatment BEFORE the first honey box goes on but NONE once that box goes on...but the treatment I buy can be stored and used next year (I had to buy a pack of ten). All in all they were so helpful there but I'm glad Lloyd came with me because we bought the pre-assembled hive and there was a LOT to pack into the truck!

Now I get to set it all up and paint it and figure it all out :)

I got home to find a parcel from the Alberta Beekeepers Association with about 8 months worth of their magazines in it :) So I have plenty of bedtime reading for the weekend :)

The store at Beemaid is wonderful :) We have to head back there for my bees in a couple of weeks - we have to ride in the truck with several thousand bees lol - that will be noisy ;)

Off to get my hive!!

Today is the day we go and get my hive, smoker, hive tool, veil and all the other equipment we need! I think we're going to get some empty frames as well as the comb filled ones so we can have some for the bees to build their own comb in up in the honey supers.....

We have to ant proof it and paint it, set it up and have it ready for the bees to arrive May 10th :) Then we pick them up between 9am and 1pm that day :)

Great Email from Lloyd today:

You bees will be in May 10th babes!!! it's confirmed!!!!

your hive is reserved as well for Friday......

Great post on hive inspections....

beekeeperlinda.blogspot.com/2008/04/whats-involved-in-hive-inspection.html

I thought this was a really useful blog ppost on hive inspections and why they are necessary!

Great news!

I'm signing up for a weekend long workshop on beekeeping at the end of May...and the guy I'm chatting with about this...well, he tells me that even if I can't get my bees from Beemaid this year, well local beekeepers sell packages of bees through May and June every year via Alberta Bee News magazine (the newsletter of the Alberta Beekeepers).

So this means that even if I can't get my package on May 10th, I can get bees this year :)

So no worries about my bees :) No rush - I can go get my bee hive and equipment on Friday afternoon with Lloyd....set it up and paint it (weather permitting) this weekend and just get some bees when some are available and the weather is ideal!

All is good in my little bee world :)

Friday is hive day :)

Lloyd has Friday afternoon off :) So we are heading out to Spruce Grove to pick up my hive and get all my bee keeping supplies :) then I can get everything set up, painted and ready just in case I get my bees this year! Oh I do hope they get their third pallet!!!

There is a girl on the forum I visit who installed her bees this weekend and sounds as excited as me :) I just can't wait!

Update....

The latest update on my bees. IF Beemaid get a third pallet of bees then it will arrive on May 10th. And IF they get a third pallet then I WILL get a package of bees, IF!!!! They aren't sure yet.

So I still don't know if I will have bees this year.

We will go and get my hive just in case. I will build it and paint it and have it ready. If we don't get bees this year then I will be ready and have my order in early for next year and will be more than ready for the little bees to arrive next Spring.

Lloyd is still confident I will get them this year. Either way is fine I guess. I'm spending time with a local beekeeper this Summer anyway.

We'll see...........