What I've Learned from Honey Bees

I think this blog could very well have several chapters as time goes by because I just keep learning more and more from my honey bees.  I'm pretty sure I'm just at the beginning phase of learning and as the years go by I'll keep stock piling more knowledge.  This works out well for me because I'm definitely a "learn from experience" kind of girl.  Certainly I'll read books and web sites about anything and everything, but I don't truly grasp something until I experience it.  Honey bees are the perfect example.

Today I decided to do hive inspection #4, or maybe it's #5.  My hive inspections are kind of random.....both in timeliness and quality.  I like to check on the bees when it's a cool, calm, almost rainy day because so far the bees have always been agreeable to that and it's comfortable for me.  Today's inspection had a specific purpose:  to find out how much room the bees have left in the honey super.  I had previously checked on them to see if they were indeed busy in the hive and making honey.  Having qualified that both of those points were going well, I learned from a friend that I should see how full the top honey super was and then determine how soon I need to get another empty honey super.

So, today after a light smoking I pried off the inner lid of the hive and proceeded to pry up one of the 10 frames inside the honey super.  The bees were totally amicable to all of this and I was able to get a good look at that frame, plus peer down into the other 9 frames and.........they are all full of capped honey comb.  Yay!  But I certainly do need to be adding another honey super and quickly!  Luckily I know a gentleman in Rapid City who builds honey supers and sells them, so I'll get one this week and possibly a couple more next week on payday.

This is all very good news for my bees and ultimately for me.  I'll try to describe my hive configuration here in words.  I have two deep boxes on the bottom in which the bees care for the brood once the queen lays eggs and the bees also build up their personal stores of food for the winter.  On top of those two deep boxes I have one shallow honey super which is how it sounds, for building up honey comb and honey.  This is where I benefit from the bees' hard work.  :-)  On top of that I will place yet another honey super or two so they can keep working into the fall.  I believe I will draw off honey some time in September.

My goal is to get yet another whole hive configuration for next spring.....maybe two if I'm very lucky, so I can get one or two more nucs of bees in the spring and just keep adding to my apiary.

I believe this has been a very good, easy summer for bees.  We've had reasonable temperatures and a lot of moisture which in turn has led to some great yields of blooming crops in our pastures.  The bees have been a great joy for me to have around as they are constantly pollinating my plants in my vegetable garden and every morning I chat with them about the number of pumpkins they have successfully pollinated for me that day.

Some things I hope to do for next year's bees:

1. Add more "boxes" for additional bee hives
2. Plant even more bee-friendly garden items.  They really liked the blooming mustard this year, so I plan to have an entire crop of it next year.  I wonder if my honey will taste like mustard?
3. Read up more on the intricacies of the hive so I understand it even better next year.  I have several books waiting on my bookshelf for reading material on cold wintery days.
4. Possibly convince a friend or family member to get started with bees to share the happiness and help build up the bee populations again.

Michelle Grosek
Bear Butte Gardens
Michelle@BearButteGardens.com
http://www.bearbuttegardens.com/