We Have Bees Again on Fleming Family Farm
Yesterday morning bright and early, I drove north about 20 miles to pickup my 3 nucs full of bees. $130 for each nuc with 5 frames of bees, brood, food, and a queen. It was only a 10 minute stop to pay for them, load em up, and get a few pieces of advice.
"FEED FEED FEED! is #1 priority!"
Upon arriving back home on the farm I had to take care of some final preparations before placing the bees into their hives. I left the nucs in the back of the car for a while as I gathered the remaining tools, supplies, and made up a couple gallons of 1:1 sugar water.
I used 1 gallon(16 cups) of tap water and 16 cups of white sugar and heated it to just below boiling. In the lid of each wide mouthed half gallon mason jar I punched 4 small holes. Each feeder got filled with syrup and set outside to cool off. The feeders were placed upside down over the hole in the inner lid which allows the bees to feed while remaining within the hive and the warmth. I will be feeding syrup to the hives for the next 4 to 6 weeks, depending on the nectar flow in the area.
Here are the videos of placing the second nuc into its hive. The first video was shot by @stryeyz with our GoPro and the second video was a static shot with my Nikon D7200 on a tripod.
The hives are all consisting of a single deep box with the 5 full frames in the middle, 3 new frames on one side and 2 new frames on the other. The inner lid is placed on top, an empty box is set on top of the lid, then the feeder set on lid over hole. The empty box helps to protect the feeder and gives a place to put the roof.
The hives were all together in about half an hour. Around them I put in a short fence to help keep the kids and pets away from the hives. I like to have a zone around the hives, similar to airports no-fly zones, to give the bees ample space.
2 of the ladies on the fence post in front of the hives. The days are still cool, barely 50F, so the girls are all a bit sluggish still. As the days warm they will venture out and start making the local area their own.
My biggest lesson from yesterday: WEAR THICK GLOVES!!!!! I ended up getting stung 4 times on my left hand and twice on my right since my gloves were not thick enough. Last night I took a couple Benadryl since my left hand had started to swell and was itching something fierce. It is still a bit tight and itchy this morning.
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Fleming Family Farm
FLEMING FAMILY FARM, LLC
Sustainable & Organic Methods | Heirloom Produce
All images are original works of Fleming Family Farm unless otherwise notated and credited.
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Thanks for the article. Bees are next on your homesteading list of must haves but we have several things going now to get done first. I did not know you could supplement with sugar water.
there are different schools of thought regarding supplementation. Some use only dry sugar, some use only syrup mixtures, some use both, and if you are in the right location you may not need any supplemental feed, (ie CA central valley). Pollen patties are needed as well when there is less available in wild.
Cool thanks. I am in North FL so we have lots of things flowering year round but I am sure for a new hive I would need to supplement
When we get land further away from the city, bees are a biggie on my list of things to add. We just don't have the space around here to have them. It looks like you have a good home set up for them. They should be happy and be a big help to your farm too. Good luck!
I was forced to wait a year between my first attempt with bees and this one. The wait is WELL worth it though. There are a number of people who are able to keep bees in an urban environment, it just takes some creativity and some willing neighbors.
We have an acre and could probably do it here if the lay of the land was better. Most of the land is in the back yard, which is heavily sloped away from the house and 95% covered with thick old growth trees. I just don't think they would do well.
This is interesting, it's totally new to me. I have never seen it from close. Good luck with your project!
Thank you. They are well worth having around. I am fascinated by them and love getting macro shots of them. I can't wait for the sun to come out so they will emerge.
A well written post!
I got used to my hands being stung after awhile and prefer not to wear gloves. I still wear a veil though because i don't think i could get used to nose and neck stings. Not cool.
Thanks. I have a bit of a reaction to the stings so I have to make sure not to get to many stings at once. I am hoping that I will get less of a response over time and not a worse one. The bees in the nucs were far more aggressive since they had frames to defend, the package bees I had a couple years ago were super docile since they had nothing to defend.
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