Landing : Athabascau University

The Bees

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By Mary Pringle October 5, 2012 - 8:21am
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The Bees

Installing the new bees in the new beehive, 2011.

Comments

  • Terry Anderson November 2, 2012 - 9:35am

    Great shots Mary

    I kept bees years ago when I was 'back to the landing' near Joussard Alberta.  I bought used hives (12) from a Peace River Beekeeper, so put up with lots of drone cells and a few mites and other bad things (no foul brood), but I never put a new package of bees onto straight foundation combs as you seem to be doing above.

    Now getting into a buzz about retirement projects, and thinking about bees again, I am wondering how it worked. Did the hive thrive?? Much yield? Did you build the frames and install the foundation yourself.

    Looks like good fun!

    Terry

  • Mary Pringle November 2, 2012 - 9:52am

    I got the bees and bee supplies from the Bee Maid store in Spruce Grove. The hive seems to be doing well, but I haven't taken any honey from it. The supers above the queen excluder are still almost unused. They have swarmed a couple of times already--I haven't learned how to prevent that. I've been giving them sugar water in the spring in case they don't have enough honey stored.

    I did put together the frames myself because I wanted to use the beeswax frame instead of plastic. The foundation had to be put together from a kit, too.

    I just like having them around. I find it hard to go in and disturb their stuff--they seem to have it the way they want it.

EXIF

ModelFujifilm A160
Shutter10/1200
Aperturef/5.2
ISO Speed400
Focal Length17mm
Captured2012:10:05 08:14:10