Woolsey Hive 1

Looks good.  No need for changes.  Population is building rapidly so I didn’t bother looking for brood.  This one will also need a 2nd deep soon.

Woolsey Hive 2

The one is the worst of the bunch.  Population had dwindled to only a few frames of bees.  No queen and no brood.  I pulled a frame of bees and brood from Woolsey 3 and crossed my fingers.

Woolsey Hive 3

Looks good.  No changes needed.  Found brood on first frame I pulled so no need to look further.  Pulled one frame of eggs & brood to supplement Woolsey Hive 2 in the hopes that they will raise another queen.

PTC Hive 1

Strong hive – even a little defensive, requiring more smoke than the others.  Will keep an eye on the temperment.  This hive was started with a package from south GA, so its possible that there may be some African genes in the mix.  Not likely, but somethig to keep an eye on.  Good honey stores being put away.  Pulled feeder.

PTC Hive 2

No queen but still some covered brood.  Population was smaller than it should have been but not to the degree that it was alarming.  I did find a few queen cells so I’m going to take a wait and see approach with this one.  I’m thinking that they might have rejected the queen that came in the package.

PTC Hive 3, 4, 5

Good growth.  Typical  for what one would expect with a new package.  All the queens were laying.  However, PTC 4 had a spotty brood pattern.  I hate gimpy queens.  If she doesn’t start laying better within a few weeks, I’m going to requeen it.  PTC 5 had heavy propolis on the lid.  Nothing to worry about necessarily, but annoying.

Fayetteville Hive 1

Looks Good.  Feeder down to 1/2.  Saw queen a decent brood pattern.  Saw one queen cell.

Fayetteville Hive 2

Egg city.  Feeder down to 1/4.  Didn’t bother looking for queen.  She was obviously busy.

Fayetteville Hive 3

Huge Brood nest.  Didn’t bother looking for Queen.

Brooks Hive 1

3 frames with some unfinished honey.  High hopes for this one.  Some brood in the honey super, but only a few cells.

Brooks Hive 2

Ready for 2nd deep.  Treated with powdered sugar.  SHB trap was clean.

Brooks Hive 3

This one needs the 2nd deep now.  No question.  Treated with powdered sugar.

Brooks Hive 4

Very little activity in honey super.  Treated with powdered sugar.

Brooks Hive 5

Moved from Nuc to a single deep.  This one was packed with bees.  Pulled swarm cells and mixed up brood nest a little when I moved it.  Hoping that will kill the swarm instinct.

The long overdue 6th Bubbacast.  A short one.  We catch up on some mail, talk about some non-bubba projects, touch on coping with the heat and a little bit on some new fly control methods I’m trying out.

Music: James Larson

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BubbaCast # 6 [ 31:39 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Hey folks, 

As it turned out, I am not vending this weekend at Moondance as I had previously planned.  It’s probably just as well because it’s been raining the whole time.  It’s an open air festival and the sales bottom out if the weather’s bad because no one wants to walk around on vendor row in the rain when they can stay hunkered down at their camp.  Can’t say I blame them.

I’m hoping to get a show out on Thursday, but I’m not really sure what to talk about yet and my brain is in low gear so I’m having problems coming up with topicality.  I have lots of mail to go through, and may talk a little about some other non-farm projects I’m working on.

I need to go wire up the fence on the big pasture like I’ve been saying I’m going to do for the last month or so, but damn I’m tired.

Hey folks, 

I’ll be vending this weekend at Moondance out in Bowden, GA.  If you’re attending the festival come by and say hi.  Unfortunately, I’m going mad trying to get ready to leave Friday morning so no show this week again.  Fear not, I’ve gotten some great email that I’ll go through as well as other mad rantings for your enjoyment.  Thank you for your your support and feedback and I will definitely get a show out once the dust settles next week.

Brooks Hive 1

Looks good.  Moderate activity in honey super.  This one will be ready for 2nd deep soon.  I want to at least get a frame or two of honey out of it this year if possible.  If we do it before the fall honey flow that should be doable without affecting their ability to put away winter stores.  SHB trap was clean.  Dusted with powdered sugar.  5 frames of bees.

Brooks Hive 2

Feeder empty so I pulled it.    Saw queen and brood on 2nd frame I pulled so no need to check further.  Good honey and pollin stores building.  SHB trap was clean.  6 frames of bees.  Dusted with powdered sugar.

Brooks Hive 3

Looks good.  7 frames of bees.   This one will be ready for a 2nd deep soon.  Pulled one frame and found brood so no need to go any further.  SHB trap was clean.  Dusted with powdered Sugar.

Brooks Hive 4

No brood in this one and no queen.  Damn.  Pulled brood and a frame of bees from Brooks Hive 5. Hopefully they’ll raise another queen.  Fingers crosed.

Brooks Hive 5

Population building rapidly.  This one will be ready for another deep soon as well.  SHB trap was clean.  Dusted with powdered sugar.

My daughter found this family of mice in the goat feed bucket in the barn.  The idea of a barn cat is looking better and better.  We keep the feed in locking rubbermaid garbage cans so my suspicion is that one of the kids left this one ajar as a buffet and later raternity ward.

10 Packages of bees

The bees finally showed up today.  Each package contains a mated queen and 2lbs of bees.  They were shipped on the 6th.  What a mess.   Thanks alot USPS.   Considering that the apiary is only a 5 hour drive from here, I may just take a road trip the next time I need to buy some packages.  

These girls are going to their new homes today after work.

-Brian

Sorry folks.  This week has been the perfect storm.  I’m coming off of a manic episode, trying to clear a fenceline, and get ready for an upcoming festival.  There’s just not room on the plate for the podcast right now.  I’ll get one out when the dust settles.

Thanks for the support and understanding.

-Brian

After much sweat, swearing, sandpaper, and paint here are 8 of the new 10 hives that will be homes to the packages I’m expecting on the 6th.  

A huge thank you goes out to the members of the Fayette County Master Gardeners Association for allowing me the use of their property.

Hives Located in Downtown Fayetteville.