Wills Bee's

[williamfaulkner]

Thanks to Bettis, I finally have a hive!! Though currently it is only two large brood chambers. I have two sets of honey supers and frames on the way in, and a new queen. On that note, I cant find my old queen (looked twice) but I did see quite a few eggs, LOTS of drones and drone cells on the bottom frames, and about five uncapped queen cells. Not sure yet if the move killed the queen or not. What happens if I cant find the old queen before I get my new one? It is exciting to see the bees loading the frames as my research suggested they would! I had someone stop by tonight as I was working the bees and asked If I was selling honey LOL! I told them not this year, but next year I would probably have more than I can eat. I didnt know it practically sold its-self! I dont really have a prime spot for an apiary, but I was thinking (It keeps me up at night) about building one above my garden shed. The floor would be about 12 feet off the ground next to an apple tree. should have a footprint of about 8 by 12 feet. Hopefully I would like to run two full honey producing hives (one for me and one for my neighbor) and two nuc producing hives. I feel this would be the best way to keep harsh chemical treatments at a minimum, by using splits each year, and maintaining use of dowdy measures and occasionally when needed a pertinant application of medication on a rotating basis. In my beginners mind, I could combine two splits one from each split hive to strengthen the weaker of the two honey hives, while using a few frames if needed to bolster the stronger hive. Then feed heavy on the remaining two splits and allow them to go through thier natural building process without taking any honey from them. I cant wait to see how my plan changes as my profficency grows in beekeeping. I do enjoy watching plans come to life!

[Thom]

William, I hope you plan to attend the OSBA Fall Conference in Newport this year. There are so many presentations and opportunities to learn and hear what others are doing. This year there will be more hands on learning and there will be also be a bee school for beginners, so even if you have lots of experience, but your spouse or children would like to learn, the bee school will cater to beginners or even experienced beekeepers who want to see a great slide show.

[williamfaulkner]

unfortunately the closest that I would be able to attend a school would be Hermiston or Baker. With my schedule, and with my low seniority I do not have the ability to be farther away from La Grande with-out possibly being fired for missing a call for a train. The Union Pacific is NOT favorable towards people not being available for trains. Their expectation for road crews is you have your 2 personal leave days (in exchange for all federal holidays), and your two weeks of paid vacations to spend off work and the rest of the year being available to take a train upon an hour and a half notice. They have a policy of no "laying off" on weekends and thier interpretation of laying off on a weekend is laying off anytime on thursday evening, friday, saturday, or sunday. That is why I cant attend a bee school any further than the above mentioned locations, and why I need to buy my bees within those constraints or have them sent to me.