Swarm trap

Another thing we didn't do back in the old days was catch free swarms.  We bought package bees with a queen.  I guess with inflation the prices nowadays are probably in line, but at $100+ the idea of catching swarms sounds mighty good.  On the other hand, I have no idea about my chances to actually catch one (or more) but it seems worth the effort to put out at least one trap.

Accordingly, I scanned the Internet and YouTube for ideas and settled on a double 5-frame nuc box with 10 frames of foundation.  It has about 30 liters of volume which someone said was what is needed.  While learning to use my table saw and dado blade making my medium super boxes I came across a plan for making 5-frame nucs out of plywood and I had a piece left over from some long ago project.  So I made three of them and had them on hand for this project.

I had seen a video wherein the fellow made the two-deep design with solid walls and ends.  He commented that it was difficult to get the frames in and out of the bottom compartment and I thought to myself "yeah, and wait 'til that box is full of bees!".  So I wanted to be able to snap together two of my existing boxes and to be able to unsnap them if , and when, I catch some bees.  The answer is a pair of drawer snaps which can be found at most hardware stores.  Hopefully, the pictures below will illustrate the idea better than more words.

I also figure to screw on the top in lieu of nailing as it will be much quieter when it comes time to remove the swarm and put them into a permanent box.

First Nuc Ready to Come Home

For the first time in over 35 years I am a beekeeper.  The weather was very cooperative so I went to Sam's place to put the over-wintered nuc he had selected for me into my own box.  His nuc consisted of two 5-frame boxes and we selected 5-frames to start my first colony.  The bees were strong and we picked out 5 frames with lots of capped brood and developing brood.  There were also ample stores of honey and pollen to carry them through the first few days.  We found the queen and made sure she was included in the transfer.  As the bees were flying (and we saw some bringing in pollen) we left the new box in the same location as the nuc had been sitting so the foragers could find their way back to their new home.  At first, the ones returning seemed a bit confused at the new entrance but they soon overcame their uncertainty and entered the hive.  At dusk, Sam will close up the entrance so I can pick up the hive in the morning without losing any bees to the field.

This shows me examining one of the frames as Sam watches closely.

More tomorrow when I bring the ladies home.

(March 31)  The trip home was delayed as Sam decided to add the rest of the frames from the (now) queenless nucs.  So the sisters had to get reacquainted after their overnight separation and that meant some foragers would sally forth doing bee business.  So after they all come home tonight, Sam will close the door to keep them in and I will pick them up tomorrow morning (I hope he's not planning an April Fool joke!).

(April 1)  I picked up the hive this morning and brought the ladies to their new home.  I haven't had a meaningful conversation with them yet and it is a bit cool this morning but a few bees have poked their heads out the entrance to look around.  They appear to be orienting themselves and, I guess, going back into the hive to inform their sisters that this might not be too bad a place to live.  The weather folks say it might get to 60-62 F this afternoon, so maybe more will come out to look around.

Honey-nomics

I suppose most beekeepers are hobbyists and not particularly concerned about making a profit.  But even then there are costs to consider that might give some folks pause.  Thus, many of us make a lot of our own equipment (and can have a lot of fun there, too).  For me, I like to learn all I can about beekeeping and the economic side is of interest too.

I've often heard that drawn combs are like gold (that seems like monetizing wax).  I'm beginning to recognize that drawn comb has great advantages in splitting hives to gain new hives and to help get new hives started, for example.  Old comb can make swarm traps more effective.  It takes time for the bees to draw out the comb and that could mean missing some prime time for various nectar sources  (to paraphrase an old maxim, time is honey!).

If one is just starting out, you're sorta stuck with waiting for the bees to make comb that the queen can lay in and, hopefully later, store excess honey.  But I got to wondering what is the cost?  I tried to find references on the Internet to how much wax is in a comb (medium size for my interest) and I came up with an estimate of 2 ounces.  Maybe someday I will be able to actually weigh a finished comb (or maybe someone else out there has already done it) and can refine that estimate.  But one can also find references that the bees have to digest about 8 pounds of honey to produce one pound of wax.  That means for our drawn medium frame with 1/8 pound of wax in it, about one pound of honey was consumed to produce it.  Currently (Spring 2014) honey can be sold for 6 dollars per pound or more.  Hence, we can conclude that one medium frame of drawn comb costs about $6.  Drawn comb for an 8-frame super would then cost about $48 (more than the cost of the super and frames!).

This really comes home, even for the small producer, when it is time to harvest that honey.  If you use the crush and strain method (or even sell comb honey) you will be destroying $48 worth of comb to get whatever honey you get.  If you can extract it, thereby saving the comb for re-filling at no extra cost, it will only take 4 or 5 supers to save enough money to buy one of the smaller extractors listed in the catalogs (ie, the extractor would pay for itself with only 4 or 5 supers).  True, you would get about one pound of wax from each super that you could purify.  I don't know for sure, but I doubt greatly if you could sell that one pound for $48?

I'm going to look hard at buying an extractor (or making one) even from my anticipated low honey surplus in the early days.  If I can grow my operation, it will be a real money maker.  It would also be good if an extractor "co-op" could be formed to share the capital investment.

Please comment if you find anything wrong with this analysis.  I'm always ready to learn.

First steps

I kept bees some 35 years ago but got away from it due to career changes, etc.  When I heard that a new beekeeping group was starting up in Bourbon, Missouri I went to the first meeting and the old fascination with bees was rekindled.  I now have more space (4.5 acres) and more time (retired).  So I determined to go back into beekeeping.

From the first I realized that a lot had happened in the past 35 years.  Mostly, we now have the Internet and Youtube and other such communication media.  Ideas new to me made the prospect even more enticing.  In particular, the idea that one could (and should?) grow ones own bees by splitting existing hives into two or more, even sell off any extra hives thus derived piqued my imagination.

Back in the day, we ordered package bees and a queen in a separate little cage ("bug in a box").  I guess that is still possible but I discovered it was possible to buy "mini-hives" in 5-frame boxes (called "nucs" - short for nucleus) from local suppliers.  The advantages seem to be great - you know the hive is thriving when it is delivered or picked up, the bees are local and more likely adapted to local conditions, etc.  So I took the plunge and ordered two nucs for delivery in Spring 2014.

Meanwhile I had no equipment.  I had purchased a used table saw at a farm sale in the Summer of 2013 thinking that maybe I could use it for "something" someday.  The idea of building my own hive bodies and accessories sounded like fun (I don't do anything that isn't fun - at least not for long), plus it should be more economical.  At the beekeeper meetings there were examples of home made equipment that inspired me.

Discussion at the meetings made me reconsider my old ideas that a hive consisted of two 10-frame deep bodies (9 1/2" deep) for the brood and honey supers could be added on top as needed.  Instead, the idea of  three 8-frame medium bodies (6 5/8" deep) made a lot of sense as any given box would be much easier to handle.  Using medium depth boxes for honey also makes sense as it would seem to be better to keep all the boxes the same for manipulation of frames as needed.  Since then I have also become intrigued with the use of 5-frame boxes for some purposes (more later).

I found nice plans for Langstroth hives on www.beesource.com, bought a dado blade (wobble blade) for my saw and set about making up six medium bodies in the 8-frame width for my two planned hives.  I also made bottom boards, top boards and covers from the plans.  Everything was painted with a good quality exterior latex paint (white - but I plan to use different colors on further expansions).  Along the way I re-purposed some lumber pieces I had been hoarding and made up three 5-frame nuc boxes for future use.

I ordered a beekeepers hooded jacket, a hive tool, some nice goatskin gloves and a smoker from Glory Bee and 60 molded plastic frames (wax covered), 10 pounds of pollen substitute patties and some smoker fuel from Mann Lake to have the basics for working the bees.  I'm basically ready for my bees (but I still have to make a couple of top feeders for them - I have the materials and it shouldn't take long).