Down one hive.

Lance went out to check the hives yesterday. One of the hives has collapsed. Not sure why. There were bees flying in and out last week. He opened the hive to check on it and all the bees were gone except for a few dead ones in the bottom. He's not sure if he can save the honey or not. The other two hives are doing pretty well.

I hope to be able to buy him some more bees for his birthday, but they are somewhat expensive. That and the fact that we would have to drive over 2 hours to pick them up. For some reason, the USPS doesn't like buzzing packages! We've even offered to let other beekeepers who are looking for hive placements to put their bees here. No takers yet.

The apple trees will be in bloom very soon and the bees will be happy about that. They love those old apple trees. I am hoping to have a big wildflower garden this year as well. I had a small one last year and they loved it. I have ordered seeds and am hoping they will be here soon. I don't want to plant too early even though we are having a wonderfully warm Spring so far. I was looking at the almanac and it said that there is a chance of snow in mid-April. Blah!

Well, that's all for now. I will have a update on our house kitties. Someone was asking about them, not knowing we lost one in the fire.

The Buzz on Our Bees

My husband is a beekeeper. He's been at it for a couple of years. The first year we left them alone to make enough honey for themselves and to get properly established. The last couple of years, we invaded the hives. I shouldn't say we, as it was all him. I am allergic to bee stings. I watch from far, far away! After he raids hives, he filters the honey in the garage to remove debris and any unfortunate bees. He then brings the honey in the house and we (I help with this part) put the honey in jars to be sold.

We still had a bucket the had approximately 65 lbs of honey in it last fall when the house burned. We lost it. We lost the honey that the bees had worked so hard to make all summer. My husband was devastated. We going to jar up the rest of that bucket the weekend that the house went up. We had all the jars and labels ready. We had the bucket set up high so that we could just open the nozzle and let the honey run. It just wasn't going to happen.

As this winter proceeds with the roller coaster ride of temperature, we are hoping the bees make it though okay. I am going to be sure to plant even more flowers around the place so that they don't have to fly as far to get pollen and nectar.

I even bought them a bunch of new (used) hives at an auction. We are in the process of cleaning and disinfecting them. When that is done we will paint them very bright colors in non-toxic paint, of course.

Good luck, girls!