Peter Bradberry

Please go to peterbradberry.com for my new blog.

tests!

for the new layout

I picked the names of our hives from the contest I ran a few months back. If you want to go and look at all the entries here’s a link.

The winners are Kimberly with “Stingus Khan” for the hive on the left. Marcia named the hive on the right “Hive Two: The Bee-quel”. Thanks ladies for the awesome names. As soon as I harvest, I’ll have you some honey.

Take a look:

So the Bees are Bearding!

I looked out and saw some crazy bee action. Time for some pictures!

Fellow Beekeepers do you have bearding this extensive?

I found this quite interesting. Take a peek:

I’ve noticed some neat things watching my bees. Here is a closer look:

Honey bees returning seem to float in a cloud around the front of the hive. They drop in one at a time almost like a plane’s flight path. I imagine that there is a little air traffic controller bee just behind the guard bees on the front porch of the hive. The bees crawling up the front of the hive are about to forage.

It is neat to watch this very organized procession in and out past guard bees diligently watching all comers and goers.

I thought this was neat. You can see that one bee fully loaded with pollen.

I’m so pumped! I am officially a beekeeper.  I went Thursday to pick up two nucs (pronouced nukes) from a local bee keeper. I got both of them in the trunk of Amberly’s car.

See that little spot on the right nuc? Here’s a close up.

That’s a little bee hitchhiker. There were a few on each of them. This little guy was on top.

Here is our little covered path into the backyard.

I dug level spots and stacked four cinder blocks as foundation for each hive. Here is a better shot of the foundation.

They are on a bit of an incline so that makes it look uneven.

Set up and ready for bees!

I didn’t have someone to take pictures while I installed the bees so I didn’t get any pictures of the actual install. I didn’t want to stop to take pictures. They were ill from the move, and I didn’t want to provoke them further by taking my sweet time.

There we go! I left the nucs in front of their respective hive so any stragglers could find their way into the proper home easier.

More in a day or so.

I want to name my hives! I need some cool names. I figured I would offer some honey in exchange for a name.  Two hives, two names, two possible winners!

Put your suggestions in the comment section! I’ll pick the winners on May 13! FRIDAY the 13th. Share and send these out. Please this is just open to residents inside the United States. I don’t want to get in any weird thing shipping a food product over seas.

Here is some information on the hives:

There they are. This was taken from the back bathroom window. The hive on the left seems to be a bit more aggressive than the one on the right. All three stings I got on the first day were from bees in the left hive.  Good luck!