Tuesday, April 21, 2015

One Hive is Doing Well and Little Peaches





This is one of my younger hives from last year. Henricopolis which was one of the few swarms I actually caught hanging on a branch right after it came out of the hive last year, I ended up missing most of my own swarms last season. It was a swarm from Jamestown on June 4th, 2014 and did well building up.

Last week when we got a few days where the temps climbed into the 80's I noticed it was already bearding a bit. That means it's full of bees and brood and will be the first one I check next time I have a good day for Spring inspections. I am sure it needs a new brood chamber added and I would lay money on the fact that it has swarm cells already capped which will be perfect for some early year splits.

I've currently got five hives in the garden apiary and that is about four too many but it has just been too wet to move them. I have two new spots already picked out and prepped for new hives but I can't get into them without risking getting stuck. The Garden apiary is reserved for new hives and problem hives that need close observation and if there are too many strong hives nearby they end up robbing the weaker ones.

Oh well at least I made some good progress on the fence project today. I hung the walk in gate and got two more gate posts dug and set and even managed to set the first five steel posts for the woven wire section and attached the entire thing to the side of the barn. As long as the rain cooperates it looks like I am right on schedule to get this finished by early next week which will be just in time to put our new Ram into the temporary paddock until I can switch to the East side of the barn and get the two new Ram paddocks finished. It will also be just about the right timing to let the ewes out with the new lambs to take care of mowing that area.




The Peach trees are positively loaded with little green Peaches, which makes sense cause they can't have little green Apples can they? This is the largest number of early baby Peaches I can remember seeing but we will see how many make it. Between the late freezes, hard rains, hail and high winds we usually lose most of them before June hits.

I really miss not having my big tilled garden sitting there looking at me this year but this fencing project takes priority right now.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!!


11 comments:

  1. Now now don't be saying that about the peaches! I am so tickled with my baby fruits and I am counting my jars of goodies already LOL... Five hives, thats really great.

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    1. Texan - We always seem to have problems keeping our stone fruits on the trees through the Spring. The Apples seem to make it if they set but often times we get a good hard freeze just when they start to bloom and then nothing. I am sure you have a bit better fruit weather than we do :)

      I actually have 11 hives and lost two this Winter. I just currently have five up in the Garden spot and need to disperse four of them out to new locations soon so they don't rob out the new ones I plan on getting this year.

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  2. The hives sound like they're doing well. Do you make much on the honey? I'm tempted to start it myself. Are you not gardening this year then?

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    1. Kev - I make some money off the honey sales and could make a lot more. The really is no end to the demand for the stuff. The only real issue is that raw honey will crystallize faster than the processed stuff and many Americans don't like it when it crystallizes which means I can't store enough over Winter to satisfy demand. It's really a seasonal operation.

      I will be putting in a few things and certainly my bean experiment will continue but not as big an operation as I have been doing.

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  3. I hope you are able to keep most of the peaches. I am a limited peach fan myself, but there are plenty of wonderful things that can be made with them - peach cobbler, for example, is delightful.

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    1. TB - The Wife is the big Peach fan around here, she is really excited about them. I am more like yourself, interested in the goods that can be made from them :)

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  4. The garden isn't tilled here either, other stuff to do and still too wet. No peaches bloomed but I did see bees on the wild plums and garden weeds. I got 10 meat chicks today, 8 weeks from egg size to supermarket weight, it is hard to believe. That reminds me, I need to go to the creek bank and get some grit for them.

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    1. Sf - Ya it really has been too wet here to till even if I had a tiller big enough to hit the garden with right now. You dedication to chickens inspires me, I really need to get me some soon.

      I bet grit would be an issue with me here too. We have little by way of rocks anywhere on our property.

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  5. Wow, peaches! I will have to go take a close look at mine. We had great flowers and I'm hoping for lots of peaches this year.

    Sounds like good news on the bee front for you. Losing two hives is still tough, but it sounds like the others are thriving. Mine is hanging in there!

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    1. Leigh - Two hives out of 13 is about right for Winter around here. Less than 20% losses I calla good year especially with old hives. They just seem to dwindle sometimes after a while. My guess is pesticide build up in the old comb eventually gets them and there ain't much I can do about that where I am located unless I want to change out the comb every five years or so.

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  6. PP,

    I'm hoping your peaches (ALL or MOST) make it. If they do.....will you be making peach jam, pie, cobbler??

    Glad to hear Henricopolis is doing really well. The weather needs to calm down a bit allowing the soil to dry because it's a big mess trying to get things done in the garden area. Hey PP will you be selling some of your honey this year? If so, is it possible to buy some from you??

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