The Queens Have Been Released!

April 11, 2012  - "Release the Prisoners"

Today I released the queens using the hand release method - which I used last year as well.  I'm OK with this method except I almost drowned the first queen.  You're supposed to give the queen a short burst of sugar water on her back to make her wings heavy, then she won't have a desire to fly.  With the first hive, I used two short blasts and when she flattened out against the side of her little cage I panicked!  I can't imagine what the surface tension of water must feel like to a small creature like a bee.  Anyway, I shook the cage a little and managed somehow to exude enough life out of her to get her out of the drowning pool.  The weather has been very windy so I won't be able to open the hive to see if she is laying eggs until Tuesday evening the 17th.  We'll see.  Here is a short video of the second release.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/31974115/Queen%20Release%204-11-2012%20%282%29.wmv

The second queen crawled out of the cage and onto my hand.  You can see me reach in and remove the empty cage with my right hand.  I don't like it when they crawl onto my hands, I'm afraid they will crawl up my arm and fly away.  Thankfully that didn't happen.  The whole process took about 12 minutes per hive.

OK, you wonder about my sanity.  I mean, I just learned that I have severe reactions to bee stings and I used my bare hands to release the queen.  I'm not sure I could have used gloves, I had my EpiPen and a friend close by to help in case I got into trouble.


April 14, 2012 - Mowing, Planting and a Pleasant Surprise!

Today I was a mowin' fool.  It takes about 4 hours but I got it all done!  For those of you who didn't get to experience the drought we had last year the difference this year is amazing.  South Central Kansas is absolutely beautiful!  As I was reviewing our recent plantings (fruit trees, strawberries and potatoes) I was surprised to see that two of our flowering pears aren't flowering pears at all, they are truly fruit bearing pears.  They are stuck in a cluster with two flowering pears (non fruit bearing), these will have to go to make room for real pears!  Everything else looks very healthy.  I planted my wife's mammoth sunflowers today.  They have been living in pots for about 3 weeks and I am sure they are more happy in the ground.

48 Sunflower plants are in.

Yellow Clover - looking good.

Pears!

I think one objective for this farm is to get enough variety and quantity to provide a prolonged nectar season for the bees.  To accomplish this (in addition to the strawberries and fruit trees we planted last year and this) we planted yellow clover last fall.  We planted more yellow clover and Dutch white clover this spring, but don't expect any blossoms this year.  It is my understanding that they must overwinter at least once before they will flower.  We also planted alfalfa in a one acre plot this spring.  Alfalfa should flower during the same year in which it was planted.  We will probably plant more sunflowers soon.