I mentioned last week that we got new bees a couple weekends ago.


We ordered them from a beekeeping shop about an hour from our house.  The package above is three pounds of Italian honey bees shipped from Georgia.  The package has about 10,000 bees, give or take, and comes with a mated queen.  The metal can inside the package is a syrup can and is used to keep the bees feed during the journey.

The queen does not come from this hive, so she's placed in a separate cage with a couple helper bees with her.  The cage has a screen side, to allow the new hive to interact with her without killing her.  The bees will kill the queen because they don't recognize her.  Pheromones are released and over a couple of days, the new hive will accept her as the queen.  It also comes with candy and a cork for releasing her after the period of time for introduction.  I didn't get a photo of our queen, but I found one online that shows what this little cage looks like.

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The bees are dumped into the hive, see the literal dumping process from last years hive here, and left to acclimate for a couple of days.  After waiting, Mike opened up the hive to release the queen.  You then wait longer so that you pretty much don't piss off the hive while the queen starts laying eggs.  If you do open up the hive and disrupt them, they may blame the queen and kill her off.  Being a queen sounds awesome, but there are so many chances of getting killed, that I think I'd decline!

This is our third time we've had to do this process.  While it's neat, it's frustrating that our bees aren't lasting through the winters.  We started our first hive too late in the season and they were too weak, it also didn't help that our winter was uncharacteristically mild.  The bees like temperatures above 50 degrees, so with the warmer winter days hovering around that temperature, we had very active bees, but not warm enough to get out of the hive.  Not that there would be any food sources available since it was still technically winter.  We learned our lesson and got last years hive going with more than enough time, and ended the season with a very strong hive.  I've mentioned that our winter was extremely long this year, and it was too long for our bees.  We tried all that we could to winterize them, but it wasn't enough.

All this loss made us decide to switch our hive structure.  We were so proud of our homemade Top Bar hive that was our mini house.


But, we felt the design of the Top Bar was inhibiting us from efficiently insulating them for the winter.  Winterizing a hive doesn't just mean keeping it warm, proper ventilation is required as well.  That's why we decided to get a Langstoth hive this year.

 
The Langstroth is obviously more vertical where the Top Bar is horizontal, and there are a lot of advantages to the Langstroth.  Here's a diagram of the parts of the hive:

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I'm not going to explain every part, but the basics are the Deep Super is for brood, (honey bee eggs),  and the Honey Super is obviously for the honey.  Some of the cooler aspects that differ from the Top Bar are the Queen Excluder which is a screen that is too small for the queen to fit through preventing her from laying any eggs in the Honey Super.  This makes honey collection a lot easier since our Top Bar combs had honey, brood, and pollen cells all together.  Also, the ability to add on supers as needed.  We would have to completely remove the combs in the top bar to make more room.

Mike also built a stand for ours which mimicked one we saw at our supplies shop, similar to this one which runs about $90:

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It keeps it higher off the ground, and Mike also added swinging metal arms to allow a place to hang frames while working in the hive.

You may also notice that the hive isn't in the same place as the last one.  As you know, we had to get the garage treated for termites, and this happened a couple days after we got the new hive, so we had to keep the back clear.  You also know that we have plans for the grassless area behind the garage, so we felt we should set up the hive on the side of the yard, while they acclimate, instead of moving them when we were ready to get the stone back there.  We're hoping the weather is cooperative for work this weekend.


Right now, the hive sits next to the hop trellis.


We're excited to finish up behind the garage and get the hive in it's permanent home soon.  Not only so the bees can get acclimated but also so we can get started on the side yard as well.  It's in a very sorry state.


Since we moved in 4 years ago we've focused our attention on getting the interior how we wanted and neglected the exterior.  This summer we're planning to change that!

This past weekend was a big project and adventure filled blur.  I'll explain more later this week, but I wanted to share it all in one place first. 

It started with a trip to the scrap yard.  I'm not going to do a post or anything about it, but I've only been a couple times, and each time it's such an adventure.


Somehow everyone knows what to do and where to go, even though it's just a bunch of piles of scrap.  Scales, unloading, and money at the end, it's awesome!  It's also scary and sketchy at the same time. 

The reason we finally made a trip to drop the extra metal scrap we had lying around, (we usually make a trip ever year or so), was because Mike had to get the garage ready for some remediation.  I'll go into more detail later, but Mike spent yesterday morning moving everything in the garage to the center for access around the walls. 


Hopefully it'll all be back to normal by the end of the week.

Thankfully we had some pretty nice weather to work out in the garage and move things around outside, because we also got our new bees!


We've got a brand new hive and big plans for a new area for them.  Dropping the bees into the new hive was easy compared to the next task of extracting all the honey from our old hive, ugh, we spent most of Saturday and some of Sunday and we're only about half way done.  We're probably going to break down and get a machine extractor for the fall, because doing it by hand is so much work!

The final adventure was a trip to Ikea!  Like I've said, the closet one is an hour and 45 minutes away, so it takes some planning.  We had some items from the kitchen that needed returned and some organizational things I've been needing to get the kitchen in better shape.  Thank goodness we can close the doors and no one knows that some shelves are packed with random things, while some are completely empty!  Can't wait to get my organizing on!  I also had a gift card from some friends, so I definitely reminded myself to get some fun things too, (as if that was a problem!).


It was a little bittersweet because it being Mother's Day there were a ton of mother-daughter shopping partners.  I did call my mom to check in what's happening down in Florida and spent almost the entire ride over talking, which made the trip seem to go be super fast.  I also shared on Instagram one of my favorite photos of my mom which was taken by my brother at our wedding.


Happy Mother's Day to one of the classiest mom's I know! 

Back in July, before the insanity of the wedding, we harvested some honey.  It was really exciting since we've had the bees for 2 years, but the hive was not strong enough to take any honey, until this summer.

Mike started by suiting up, (me too), and brought a cart, along with a homemade comb hanger thingie.  This way he could remove combs, switch them around, and pick the best for the honey collection while safely hanging them to the side.



We ended up taking 2 combs, (not necessarily the ones above).  What we were looking for were combs with a majority of the cells filled with honey and capped.  You can see some caped honey cells in the photo above in the top right hand corner.  The orange filled cells, (seen in towards the center of the comb) are filled with pollen.

We realized we had a very strong hive, (maybe a little too strong), because they were trying to create more queens.  This can be a sign of swarming, which means the old queen leaves with about 60% of the worker bees.  They create queen cells in preparation of this.  These are the little dangling-looking sections on the bottom of the comb. 



It's not necessarily a bad thing, and it could just be that our hive is getting too big and running out of space.  We've discussed switching to a langstroth hive which has the capabilities of expansion, unlike our top bar hive.       


Back to the honey extraction.

We removed the combs we wanted and moved them away from the hive.  Mike also fed them around the same time so that they would be drawn to something besides the honey of their combs.  He let it sit out until all the bees had gone back to the hive.

We did some research about collecting the honey from the combs, since our hive structure we actually remove the entire comb, (unlike a langstroth which has a base that the bees build off of).  We found that placing the comb in a strainer, then cutting the comb up to break all the honey caps was the most suggested method.  We placed the strainer over a large pot and let gravity to all the hard work.




As the honey slowed down, we would use a knife to gently chop up more of the wax.


Doing this process for both combs yielded about 1 1/2 gallons of honey!  We poured the honey from the pot through a mesh bag, (wrapped around the strainer for support), which was much finer than the strainer to remove any small pieces of wax or anything else.  We poured straight into mason jars and when we ran out of those, we used whatever jars we had on hand.  Mike was a little crazy about getting every last drop, (he may or may not have wiped up some honey that fell on the counter and licked it), that he set up a contraption in the kitchen so that we could get all the honey, but not force our arms to turn to jelly in the process.


The overall process went pretty quickly, and we got so much honey!  But the kitchen was left with sticky honey practically everywhere, probably the worst thing to have to clean-up.  But in the end, we we're just so excited to have finally have gotten honey from our own hive that we really didn't care!

Before we did this, I had a bridal shower back in July.  Because I'm insane, I decided to plan and make all the decorations myself.  I also didn't want to burden any of my bridesmaids with the hassle.  My sister hadn't yet got her teaching job, and a couple of the girls are in 3 different weddings this summer!  I picked a modern bee themed shower and went from there.  Since I was doing the decorations, my family and bridesmaids brought the food, helped set up everything, and one even rented the shelter.

It was blazing hot that day, but it was perfect, and everything turned out the way I imagined.  It was also good practice for our DIY wedding!

I chose a brunch, because who doesn't love brunch food, and 11am seems like a good time to hang out with friends, but also to get home with enough time to get stuff done.  We rented a shelter in our local metro parks and it was very cute nestled back in the woods.

It started with the invites which I designed myself and I'm super proud of.  I love bee themes, but didn't want it to be all black and yellow.  I wanted color!  I found a lot of inspiration on Pinterest, but in the end I just added things that I liked.  A couple people suggested selling the design on Etsy, and with all the things that I made throughout the wedding process I'm seriously considering it.


I pinned a lot of ideas on Pinterest, so if you want to check out my Shower board and see how I modified things, go for it.  Otherwise I'll jump right in.

The shelter door had 2 doors, but the first went right into the kitchen, so I wanted to let everyone know that they needed to head to the other side.  I used 2 of the those giant balloons with tissue paper tassels and a chalkboard sign that I made to let them know.

Here's where I should mention that I have only iPhone photos.  I was too engrossed in everything else, that I didn't take any photos, but my lovely bridesmaid, Anna, made sure to grab a bunch of detail shots.


The chalkboard says: 40 days til she's hitched (Please use other door) with an arrow.

Then around the building there was another chalkboard sign with another balloon (funny story - I only ordered 2, since they truly are massive, but they forgot to add that extra additive to make them float longer to one of them so they gave 3.  They might have thought they were doing me a favor, but it was a bitch getting these in the car!).




As you walked in, the first table had a little sign-in of sorts.  I found this really cute idea sold on Etsy, but they no longer offered it, so I made my own using my Silhouette machine.  It's called Dirty Laundry and the guests "air out your dirty laundry" by writing a funny story, memory, or just a hello on the cutout paper clothes.  It was great reading them all when I got home, and just as I thought, some were funny, and others made me cry.


The tables were covered with white table cloths, decorated with tissue paper flowers, (great cheap way to bring in color!) and black and white stripped runners that I made from stripped fabric.  The letter "M" was made by cutting the face off of a paper mache letter and filling with the little tissue paper flowers.


The tables each had a place setting with a pink napkin and a game sheet of "He Said, She Said" that I designed using the background from the invite.  It also had a stripped runner, and some tissue paper flowers. 



The favors at the settings were little honey jars that I added fabric tops to and a little tag.


The banner in the backgound above was made using coffee filters folded and then dipped in food coloring.  I also made a banner with the Silhouette.



Between the words I cut little bees.


I knew there would be a fireplace and so this was where Mike and I set up and opened presents, it was also a cute backdrop for the photos.

"He Said, She Said" was the only game we played and the guests read the questions, then guessed how many Mike and I would agree on.  We did horribly, something like 5 out of 12.  But it was funny listening to us guess wrong.  My sister videotaped Mikes answers and he was so cute and sappy and I looked like the schmuck because I thought for sure his answers would less thoughtful!  The winner was our neighbor and she won a pint of of honey from our hive, (which coincidentally we extracted after I bought honey for all of those little favors), and a bottle of our favorite mead. 

The food was amazing, and I take no credit it for it.  I gave each of the bridesmaids some ideas/recipes, but they did all the hard work.  You really can't go wrong with a spread that includes blueberry muffins, donuts, croissant sandwiches, fresh fruit, and sausage and cream cheese bites, to name only a few.



My mom's friend had a dozen or so cake stands she let me borrow and it made everything look so much fancier!

At the end we had a Kuerig station with a couple Kuerigs set up and coffees, teas, and hot chocolates available.  We don't drink coffee in our house, so I figured this would be a good way to cater to everyone.  I loved the chai latte!  Not pictured, but equally amazing was the flavored water.  My sister's boyfriend, Keith, always makes flavored water with fruits so I borrowed some large drink dispensers and he made a couple different kinds.  I want to say he had a lemon and orange, and a berry and mint, but I was running around too much to remember!

I wish I would have ate more, but like a wedding, the honoree never gets to eat too much.  Everyone said it was amazing though!

Since I had a bridesmaid gift that would be needed to be given before the rehearsal dinner I chose to give them their gifts at the shower.


I found a little make-up bag from Target that I added their initial with vinyl, and the earrings that they would wear for the wedding that I made, a gold bow ring, and a nail file.  I gifted each girl a shellac manicure for the wedding since I do it myself at home, and the nail file was the only way I could think of to present this.  I made all the tags and cards with my Silhouette.  The earrings holder has an M&M, the ring card says, "Thank You for helping me tie the knot!" and the nail file says, "Wedding Shellac Manicure".

Mike surprised me with yellow roses when he came to help me open presents, and I cried.  He's given me flowers exactly once in our 5 1/2 years together and it was weeks into dating and they were yellow roses because I made fun of him on one of our first dates for being very specific and describing something as "canary yellow".  Sometimes he's super sweet.  Only when he wants to be!

Overall I had a great time.  My hair was frizzy from the heat and my feet were bleeding from wearing bad shoes, but it was still perfect.  I had so much fun with all the details and it was fun planning something that I could make as girly as possible!

All my bridesmaids are amazing women and I was so happy to have them all there with me.  Not to mention look how pretty are they all!


I think the real star of the show was Mike though, not only did he not bother me during my marathon crafting nights, or laugh at me when I came home with three 36" balloons stuffed into the back of my car, he also helped set up, clean-up, open presents with me, and even ran home to make a quick sign after a couple people had trouble finding the drive!  Obviously, I said yes, so I knew what a great guy he was, but it made me even more excited to marry him!

It's been hot here the last couple of days.  During the week I don't really notice it that much because my office is a chilly 60 degrees during the summer.  Seriously, most of the girls in there have heaters under their desks because it gets that cold.  I have to dress in jeans and sweaters and only notice the heat when I drive home. 

The bees, however, definitely notice the heat.  When I came home over the weekend, Mike told me to grab my camera because they were bearding.  After I asked what the hell that meant, I did as I was told and headed behind the garage with my camera ready to check it out.  For those that don't know, "bearding" is when the hive gets really hot and some of the older bees gather on the outside to keep the hive from getting too hot, and to let the worker bees have space to do their thing.  Here's a quick article I found to explain it a little better.

Mike first took off the board that covers the back entrance to provide more ventilation.  He put it on top of the fire pit because it was covered in bees.  They hang out for awhile, but then realize they're not in the hive and eventually fly back home.


The hive is behind the garage which is shaded by our neighbors tree, so it's a little cooler, but it was in the high 80's over the weekend.

At first, I was a little in shock at all the bees at the entrance, (so much so I forgot to change any settings on the camera).


I'm not sure what's going on with the buckets holding the roof down, but if Mike did it, he had some sort of reason to.  Also, now you can see why I've been begging for a new fire pit.  I think the plan is to scrap that one eventually.

The hive's entrance is usually busy with bees coming and going, but it looks more like this on normal days.  The top white bar is removable and has a couple different size holes which allow the bees to better protect the hive. During the really active months we remove it altogether and it allows more bees to come and go, not to mention better ventilation.


It didn't take long for me to get closer.  I'm not one to get skittish around them, I mean I did bring them home like this in the back of my car back in the day:


It's so crazy to me that they all just hang out like this and meanwhile the worker bees are still flying in and out, continuing to collect pollen and/or water.


Some of the bees close to the opening will regulate the hive's temperature by clinging to the board and flapping their wings to bring in cooler air.  It's hard to photograph, but really neat to watch.


People always ask if I'm afraid of the bees.  While I don't do a lot of the hive maintenance that requires actually opening it up like Mike does, (I'm usually making the bee food if needed, while he opens it up to put it in), I do like to go back here to check it out. 

At first I would only go back with the full jacket and hood, and long pants.  But, now I'm more confident and head back wearing whatever I want.  I've never been stung by any of our honey bees, (and probably never in my past either, since people who think they've been stung by a bee usually get stung by wasps, not honey bees, since honey bees usually only bother you if you're pissing them off).  I've learned how to approach the hive, and when's the best time to check them out.  The bees have a path that they use to fly in and out of the hive.  It's actually around the hive in the opposite direction of the photo above, (something I'm very aware of when on the off-chance I'm mowing the yard).  And, they are active during the day, but are very calm at night and early morning.

To prove what a bad-ass I am I took a picture of what I was wearing when I took these photos. 


I think my status of a bad-ass is greatly reduced when I wear Mike's crocs, but I still feel pretty confident around all our little bees.

And, if that wasn't enough bee knowledge for one day, I noticed something in the first photo while I was writing this post.  The big-butted black bee, (that sounds bad), in the middle of the board on the left is a drone. 


There are 3 types of bees in a hive, the Queen bee, the worker bees, and drones.  Drones are the males.  They don't have a stinger.  Pretty much their only job is to mate with the queen.  Actually, come winter time they get kicked out of the hive to die.  Rough life, but it's kinda cool how the hive is is so woman-centric. 

Drones and bearding.  Hope you learned something new!  I know I'm constantly learning new things even about my own pets!

So many bee puns, I just can't help myself.

Last week was surprisingly awesome for Northeast Ohio autumn.  It was 60's and even some sun.  Of course we were forced to do all our fall yardwork and rake all our leaves the week before, (during little Sandy's visit), since we only have one city pick-up, so we didn't have anything to do but enjoy the weather! 

We decided to take a little peek at our bees to see how they were faring and if they were enjoying the weather as well.  We will start to officially winterize soon, (it's been getting cooler and cooler at night), but I just wanted to check them out to see what they were up to.  I brought my camera back and was happy to see that they were still really active and buzzing away.

   
Since last year we had a weaker hive, (and a mild winter), and sadly they didn't make it, we were happy to see such a huge difference in the comb production this year.


We haven't taken any honey from the hive so that they have enough supplies for the winter, but we're hoping come spring time we'll have the first batch of honey to finally enjoy!

Mike's come up with a pretty cool winterizing set-up for the bees, so when it's time I'll be sure to tag along and get some pictures of his crazy methods.