Spring Hive Reversal

Before going out to the hive, I made these notes - critical to remembering all my configurations of the hive supers:

I need to learn a Bee Victory Dance...

I successfully reversed the hive deep up to the top of the hive tower. This contains the original nuc frames i got with my hive last spring 2010 from Maine. It has not been disturbed for about a year and the queen has been laying again up into the honey supers. I attempted it last time, but those frames were sticking to the super above it and I was unprepared so closed the hive up again.

This time, I saw that the bees are doing well. They are filling that hive deep with nectar and are busy drying it into honey.

There are no swarm cells!

There are no drones!

I'm finally going to get honey this year!

Dandelions

Dandelions mark the official beginning of spring for bees...the beginning of nectar flows. Our first yard dandelion came on May 12...but he was an early guy...the rest showed their sunny faces, in spite of the rain and cold, yesterday - May 18.

Excellent Adventures In Vermont

So busy...but we went to Vermont on May 7th to pick up the bees! A long awaited for event for myself and two neighbor beekeepers! These bees are bred from Canadian Buckfast, Carniolian, Purvis Golden bees among other northern hearty strains like Russian. Gentle, disease resistant....we hope, we hope! Four hives, two for me. It was a long, long ride; about ten hours give or take on the road, leaving New Hampshire at 3 pm and getting home at 1 am. The bees were so quiet on the ride home we forgot they were there. We were a little disappointed at the delivery point as it was the end of a long week and a long day for the apiary and their day helper, who had never handled bees before just put our bees in our hives without our being able to check for the queen and brood pattern, etc. as advertised. However, they look great and are already bringing pollen in!

Dandelions are not yet in bloom here, but the maples are...and the bees seem to be finding their way in our neck of the woods.