Well, I hear the pleasant sound of busy little honeybees buzzing in their hives. We recently added several thousand new apiary residents to our farm. Yup, we got bees.
In our ongoing effort to continue down the road to self-sufficiency, we decided to add bees to our homestead. Last year, we noticed that we had some pollination problems in the garden, so we decided that getting bees could help us with pollination, and eventually provide us with our own honey.
Finding the bees proved a bit more difficult than we expected. There seems to be a bit of a bee shortage around this area, and they also seem to be in high demand. Anyway, after doing alot of research and finding a supplier, we got 3 "nucs" of bees. I don't really know what a "nuc" is, I just know that the three boxes we got were called "nucs".
We were able to find a local man who makes bee hives, and the boys picked the three hives up last week.
Setting up the hives. Robert only let Benny help, because he figured that would be safer. That's why they are the only ones in the pictures. Everyone else was standing behind me, watching intently, ready to dash away in case the bees decided to be un-cooperative!
Smoking the bees to keep them calm. It seemed to work, as no one got stung!
Removing the bees from the "nuc". We are absolute novices when it comes to bees, so please bear with us if we use improper terminology.
This one had honeycomb already formed!
Benny was very impressed, and was later dipping the comb into some honey that we had so he could eat it.
All hail the queen! She's right in the middle, being waited on by her loyal subjects.
My very brave husband, handling the bees slowly and cautiously with no protective gear.
Well, that's all the time I have for today. I hope y'all enjoyed the pictures of our new endeavor!
Katie
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5 comments:
I am straining with all my ears, but can't quite hear what you hear! But we are so proud of y'all anyway, and pray that you have good success with those bees! What accomplished children you will have when they are all grown up!
"Nucs", huh? What a great Scrabble word when you have an annoying leftover " U "! I like it! Remember that, you other Scrabblers! It's really a word!
Love,
Mother
I hope you keep posting about your bees. Your experiences will be helpful, especially since you're "novices". My son, Zachary, really wants some bee hives. He has some equipment my brother-in-law gave him. It's just a matter of getting bees and boxes.
Elisabeth
I think we WILL hear the buzzing of bees next time we visit! Can't wait to see the complete set-up. Peter will be even more inspired - if that's possible :)
Proud of you all,
The Dischers
Great Post!! Way to go "Survivors". That's something we haven't tried yet, but we're willing and ready as soon as we get out of the city :)
Happy Farming,
The P's
We LOVE having bees! We love the buzzing sound too until it is coming from your hair, when that happens,as it most surely will, don't run or bat at the bee, softly call one of your blessed children over and they will carefully remove it and there will be no reprecussions. However, if you do not follow these rules and run yelling and shaking your head then you may end up with a sore spot that lasts for many hours. Don't ask me how I know:)
What an amazing thing the bee is, what a wonderful Creator we serve.
BTW, there are only 2 things better than the buzzing and they are the smell that comes from the hive when it is full and then the wonderful taste of your own God given honey. It is a taste of love and provision.
I hope y'all have a great day Katie!
~Kim
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