Coffee, May 2nd, 2015

Morning all,

Great choice on breakfast, Freddy. I love burritos but unfortunately most breakfast ones at the fast food places come with green peppers and I don't like green peppers. No, they can't leave the green peppers out because the peppers are in the pre-prepared bag of things that go in the burrito. Bummer.

So the boys I am helping with their bee hives had a huge disappointment last week. Despite implementing swarm avoidance techniques like splitting the hives and providing the girls more room by exchanging old comb for empty frames two of their three hives swarmed. We thought they had done enough to stop any swarming but it didn't turn out that way. Instead of having 3 decent sized hives going into the honey flow, they are down to one. They are in the process of calling around to bee suppliers to see if they can purchase any packages of bees to put in their hives. If they find some soon, they will still get a good harvest. It's a real shame but the boys did everything they could of to prevent it. They also handled the aftermath of the swarm completely on their own. They did a great job of applying everything they've learned over the last year.

My hives did not swarm because they were new bees I placed in my old hives. The girls had plenty of work to do to make the hives livable and keep their minds off swarming. I hope - it's still early in the swarm season.

Six more weeks of school, whaoo! Hopefully, it will go fast. Take care, Lisa

I'll be doing leftovers this morning,Freddy ! It's really good to see We've made it to May !

I had an early wake-up and an hour's drive to help a Long Time Friend chew up a massive White Oak that fell in his yard. Whoo-Whee,he and I 'aint kids anymore ! Anywhoo,that took me right out of the picture for enjoying anything but my old Stihl yesterday......I'm appreciating the view from the Water Tower,and the Campground shot reminds me that I'll be opening up on Sandusky Bay next week ! It's good to see so many of You still dropping in as We reach Our Traditional Summer drop-off !

Oh,Rob....Good Luck with the relocate....As one door closes,another one opens...

Fred,keep crawling ahead,as no one slings hash here the way You do !

Take Good Care,Everyone,and as "The Freddy" always advises: "Hug Your Loved Ones" !

Was into my hives here Saturday. They all are building up population rather fast this year, although ours here are seasonally weeks later due to our slightly higher latitude. Swarming time will be here soon enough too, just maybe a week or two later.
No swarm cells seen started to be built, so far. Also did manipulation of combs/boxes to open up more room and allow less congestion in the brood nest.
Sometimes, despite all the best practices of beekeeping the swarming urge can still be hard to stop.
Mother Nature likes to get her way.

You guys ought to start a bee keepin topic so us'n's that's following can keep up???

Yeah...That way,We'll be able to get the current "Buzz" on what's happenin' in The Hive !

Ohhhhh!

Wow it's almost time for NEXT Saturday, and I've just found a second to post in this one! Yep- that time of year. Everyone always waits till they need their grass cut to check their equipment. This year is a record setter - I've got a backlog in addition to a full shop! Crazy ...

Whelp just wanted to say hi - gotta run again!!

Always nice to see the Smits show up ! Next thing 'ya know,he'll create some kind of Mechanical Wonder Dog as an outside wrenchin' companion ! Probably the only other pet that could stand up to his ComputerCat !