The Maples are in full bloom around here this week and around the Small-Hold we have quite a few Box Elder trees which are a variety of Maple. The trees were literally buzzing with thousands of Honey Bees all day as they worked the blooms. I tried to get a picture of one actually on a bloom but the bees generally stay up in the top canopy of the trees and work the blooms pretty fast so once again I failed at capturing one of these blooms for the B&B page.
After setting the bee bucket up on the new hive I spent the rest of the day cleaning up the BeeSucker and putting things away while I also burned off another large chunk of the fence row waste. When I went back to get my ladder and power cords etc. there were still a good number of bees back in that tree. I don't know if I got the queen or not and it's possible some of the foragers may have returned since I hived them up only about 3 or 4 miles away. Still I doubt there are enough left to make a go of it.
One problem I did encounter with the Bee Vac is that once the bucket gets about half full it begins to clog up the suction screen. Not exactly sure how to handle that situation except to have some extra lids and buckets around to switch out. In most cases it won't make any difference as the bees won't be so close to home I imagine.
The grass is growing fast and soon I will be losing about 10 good work hours a week to grass maintenance... Arrrgggg...
I am just glad it is finally getting warm enough to get be able to spend full days working outside in relative comfort.
Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!
Plow up that grass and plant grain!
ReplyDeleteSf - Well anymore the grass is just the empty spaces between all my fruit trees :)
DeleteI sure hope you captured hive thrives. One of the sad facts of life here in hot steamy Florida is grass growth. Countless awful hours spent mowing grass that good for nothing other than cattle fodder. I hate it. We had a nice cool windy sunny day..hit a high of 76.
ReplyDeleteStephen - We may have hit 70 here today. I didn't check but it was a nice day, a bit windy as usual though. The grass will be impossible to keep up with here for about the next two months then it will slow down in July. One of the things I hated when I was working all those hours was without fail it would rain on my one day off and the grass wouldn't stop growing. It got to where I had to call in sick just to mow the grass.
DeleteLovin' this weather! It's definitely Spring :)
ReplyDeleteI got my swarm traps set out tonight. Hopefully I catch some bee's :)
Kelly - Did you put some lemon grass oil in them?
DeleteThat stuff really works....
PP,
ReplyDeleteI'm already cutting grass here, and it's time consuming.
With all the moisture, I've been cutting 1 to 2 times a week.
It does take away time spent in other areas.
I'm with you on the grass cutting. It takes me about 3 hours to cut the 2.5 acres. I don't have time to do it each week, so I strive for every two weeks. Unfortunately it takes longer since the grass is so high and thick, I can only take smaller swipes which adds more time. The only benefit, I'm alone with my thoughts.
ReplyDelete