Getting it done

Loading Traps - 4/19

Loading Traps – 4/19

If you want to be successful in beekeeping you’re going to have to put some work in. Reading or looking around on the Internet is only scratching the surface. The real work starts once you have bees and are dealing with them AND the rest of your busy life on their terms.  Things really get out of control once you start having some success and hive number begin to grow. WHAT A PROBLEM TO HAVE!  Not everyone needs to approach beekeeping in the same fashion.  If you want to have a hive or two that will lead to SOME work, and when it’s time, THE WORK MUST BE DONE whether you have 2 hives or 25.  The schedule can not always set by the beekeeper.  This is an agricultural pursuit.  Mother Nature makes your schedule now.  Bee prepared.

In order to maximize my chances for success I must get traps get baited, placed, checked, relocated, hived, and RELOADED, (RINSE/REPEAT). This means putting in some extra hours every day, BUT I’d rather put in my time doing this, than working EXTRA in order to finance bee purchases. You can see in the gallery the dynamic nature of my row of Traps and Catch Boxes. After hiving each swarm, traps come back to the house empty they’re reloaded and then are re-assigned to new locations. As soon as they get here they are reloaded and set back out.  They don’t catch bees locked in the garage.  I put traps up and take them down on the way TO and FROM work.

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learning the ropes

This year I have been caught off guard by how early they began swarming. I thought I‘d have a couple more weeks, but I’m almost out of bottom boards and outer covers. Joel and I need to get to priming and painting! So that’s what I did yesterday.  As I have stated before… I HATE PAINTING! But I love the idea of expanding my beekeeping operation so I’ll be painting. All of this work during these busy times can get tiring, but don’t let it get you down. Once all these swarms are hived I don’t need to do anything except clean out a box if they die. I WILL NOT be spending my summer keeping colonies on HOSPICE, and you don’t need to either.

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We can A LOT.

My summer will free up for other activities like helping my wife with the garden, picking fruit for mead making, and canning vegetables. After that I can focus on bringing in supers. Keeping busy with other activities prevents me from obsessing about bees more than is healthy. I don’t have time to.

Remember if your colonies need to be treated like patients, there is little chance that they will be productive.  Think about how productive you are when you’re sick.

Doing their part

Doing their part

So what are you planning on doing this weekend? Instead of catching up on your favorite show on Netflix, or burning an entire day watching sporting events BUILD SOME SWARM TRAPS, a Catch Box, or gather some of your unused equipment and GET IT OUT THERE!  Load them UP similar to THIS and see what happens!  Beekeeping is a rare thing in life.  If YOU put the time and some educated effort towards it, your bees will do the SAME.  They are a hardy species and a great business partner.  If you work WITH them amazing things will happen.  You constantly hear that “beekeeping is local” so catch some locals and see what all the HUB-BUB’s about!

You will never know what is possible until YOU find out!
SO FIND OUT!  GET IT DONE!


 

This entry was posted in Feral Bees, Genetics, HowTo, Methods, Posts, Swarm Trapping, What's going on.. and tagged , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

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