Hi wise bee keepers from a newbie-
I haven't kept bees since high school, but ever since we purchased our small acreage in Sandy and planted a mini-orchard, I have been thinking how much we need some bees. We never see honey bees around here. I hope that is not a bad sign! I don't see how, because two and a half miles down the road are 100 acres of berry fields and it looks like they rent hives because they show up on "the hill" down HWY 211 towards Eagle Creek every summer. The only other crops that might possibly cause a problem is the christmas trees about two acres away. I think really that the abscense of bees is truly that there are no hives around. Thus, our trees go unpollinated.
My bees are on their way here from California. I was lucky enough to attend the big Bee Day out in Colton this past weekend. We were able to open and inspect several dozen hives (and I got to try out my shiny new bee suit!) and it gave me a good refresher. Also, the other good news is that I won the raffle Grand Prize - a complete lightly used hive donated by the great Helga Moll, including a bottom with runners that keep it off the ground, nine frame bottom box, top feeder (holds two gallons of syrup), two supers with ten frames each, and a queen seperator. The frames all have drawn comb and some contain honey. I believe that this was a good deal because I had two people offer to buy it off me. Plus, I know what I paid for the set up I recently purchased.
I had purchased a complete hive with ten frames and a frame feeder (bare comb frames, only the base with horizontal and vert wires, and a thin layer of wax shaped like comb) from Ruhl Bee supply and was planning on installing my new bees in that. But, I think that it would be better to put them right into the new setup - sans the supers - and use also the frame feeder that holds one gallon of syrup, so I would have three gallons all together. I also have a pollen patty, just in case. But, I live on 8.4 acres, lots of it blackberries and fruit orcharrds as well as grass and wildflowers and I am expecting that all of this preperation is overkill.
I am looking forward to installing for my first time. I think I'll name my queen Sophia - she's Italian:)
Y