Happy Hives

Just wanted to start a thread and keep track of my progress as I attempt to raise some bees this year. I have no experience what so ever lol
 
I have ordered the bees and should be getting them around March 1st. I am doing a huge outdoor veggie garden and putting a chunk of wildflowers and clover in just for the bees. 
 
Bee keeping is something that has always interested me. It goes hand in hand with gardening. I like to think of myself as steward of the land and the bees def need some help. I will be updating my worm farm in this thread too. It's going to be a great summer over here at the farm. The snow just needs to disappear so I can get started on these projects.
 
I plan on building 2 top bar hives in the next 2 months and having them ready to go for when the bees arrive.
 
I will update this as we progress.
 
I am stoked to finally BEE doing this !!!
 
Lets see if we can get some honey this year and help out my vegetable garden all at the same time.
 
 

 

Thanks GG !!
 
We will learn together on this one lol
Feel free to laugh as I make mistakes.
 
I am going to throw up some pics of what I am going to build etc here in a minute. I have to get the Hawaiian ribs prepped right quick first.

 

First this is the small worm farm I did last season.
It worked great and i harvested about 30lbs of 1/8in sifted grade A+ castings. I have plans in the works to one of a similar style but on a much bigger scale this year.

 

I ordered two packs of "Carniolan" bees. This species and Italian bees are the most widely used. I went with the Carniolan over the Italians because we have cold winters and our springs can sometimes be cold and wet. Carniolan bees are more hardy and can fight off fungus better. They also range further and fly in colder temps. They are basically a "stronger" more adapted bee for my area.
 
BTW...
 There are no stupid questions when it comes to this stuff. I don't know a damn thing either haha

 

This is the general concept of a "top bar hive" I like the looks of them better and they are more natural for the bees. They supposedly winter better than a traditional hive as well. 
I will probably give ours a cool paint job and a viewing window. That way we can see what is going on without disturbing the bees. 
In this type of hive the bees make their own comb. You just start them with layer of beeswax on the "top bar"
 
I need to dress them up a little bit so they look good sitting out by the garden. My GF is a pretty good artist so that will be her little project.
 
 
 
 

 

 
You bet your ass I do lol
 
That was one of the main reasons for the worm farm this year. I built a soil with it for my first ever "no bottle grow" 
It is working great. My grow is in my signature. Its just a few plants for my own personal use. Nothing major just meds to keep the farmer happy

 

 
 "Happy Farms" is my grow thread.

 

Awesome glad you made it over Dodge !!! Its funny you bring this up. Our "Orchard" I call it that..its just 4 trees really..we have just let them go. However, being the plant nut I am, I do plan on trying my hand @ grafting. Thinking some plum and pears on the bigger apple trees. We will see how it goes.
I am super stoked to be trying this. I have always wanted to try my hand at this and finally got up enough gumption to go for it.

Thanks, I felt they were the wise choice, especially with the long winters and cold wet springs we sometimes get. Look up "top bar" hives. It's more for hobbyist instead of commercial guys. This is what they use in Africa and Northern Euope etc...I like the aesthetics of them and they say they are better to winter in. My outdoor garden is my sanctuary and I like it to look it if possible. I also like the idea of putting close able "viewing" windows on the side of these boxes.

I am doing this more to help my garden get a bumper crop of veggies instead of harvesting honey.That and to make some mistakes and see if i actually like it.If I get a half mason jar out the first season off one comb I will consider that a success. Also our local bees need some help. As a steward of the land I owe that to them.

I plan on leaving pretty much everything in the hive this fall for the bees.
That being said, I am also going to try everything in my power to make strong hives and get a bit of return on my invested time.
We will see what happens

And thanks for following this crazy idea of mine

 

I met with some "Bee" people this morning. Just showed them where I plan on putting the hives etc.
They are super nice people but man oh man are the dry and square lol. The GF and I got super baked before hand and I made some "that's what she said" jokes. I don't think they saw the humor in it haha. I learned a lot though and am thankful for their guidance and support in this endeavor. They have 45 hives and have been doing this for about 10 years. It's great that they are taking me under their wing and answer all my "stupid questions"
 
This explains the wife of this couple though....a really nice lady just is suffering from this condition hahaha
 
http://youtu.be/3v98CPXNiSk

 

It is about 40 degrees out so naturally people are riding their harleys and i got out my trusty multi tool. I got it for xmas and love it!!! Next tool i buy will be a cordless version of this! !! I am going to repurpose this old grill into something. Not sure yet what...i cut a walkway to my backyard off the deck as well. And lollipoped the lilac bush all with it.I love this tool. Drop cuts metals and wood and creates a clean precise cut. Flipped some shit in the worm bin and my composter is full. Time to lay some top soil on top and start another. Happy Sunday Funday.

 

On temporary lay-of @ work starting today till March. This is a good thing. No excuse not to get things done around the house and for the garden projects now lol
 
I went and priced out wood to build these hive and yikes fellas..Wood ain't cheap in my parts. I may look into just buying them. It looks like price wise it could come out the same and they will be done right.
 
Right now I am going through a big box of seed packs I have. I used to worked at my buddies hardware store part-time over the summer and he gave me all the seeds we didn't sell. It's a ton lol
 
Also mixed up a 20gal tote of soil to start all of these in, Going to hit it with a light ewc tea tom and then let it sit for the next 40-50 days. Should be killer for starting all the veggies and flowers.
 
Have a great day. Coffee is brewing and I am gonna go sneak a few hitters on the back porch and look at the yard to see what needs to be taken out yet and formulate the garden and bee plan in my mind.
 
Have a Happy Day !!!