Another friend joins the ranks...

Last night, I went down to Grant Park to help my friend Ozzie install his two nucs.
Aside from having problems getting the smoker fuel to generate any smoke, it was completely by the book. Here's Ozzie getting his suit on.

Nope, still no smoke. Let's try to light it again. :)

The bees were very calm compared to mine, which made life easier. The frames were well stocked with brood.

One down and one to go.

Wait for the shake...

Of course, after we were all done, the smoker started working.

Overall, a good time. Burgers and beers for all after we finished. We did have one casualty, however, when Oz's girlfriend got stung on the cheek. Ouch.

Baby Beekeeper!

My sister had her first baby on Monday, April 6th, making me a proud Uncle. Please welcome Charlie Brunt to the future beekeeper's club!!

Swarm Insanity

Jumpin' Jeebus, have I had swarm fun. I have gone from two hives to five in 7 days. Here are the photos from this morning's capture. I had to buy a new Nuc box from P.N. this morning to house them. This group was clumped on the fence between my house and the neighbors.





Once I got them into the cardboard box and let them calm down, then transfer into the Nuc box was a cinch.


Here's the latest picture of my ever-growing bee yard...


Happy Easter!!

Swarm Saturday!

A really cool thing happened during morning tea on Saturday. While I was sitting in between the two new Nuc-based hives, one of them decided to swarm. I had captured a swarm cluster several weeks ago, but seeing it happen was unbelievable. Judge for yourself.

Here are some still photos.

I rushed down to Forest Park and bought a new box but by the time I got back, they had "disappeared." Right before I left it appeared that they were trying to "go back in."

Strangely enough, I ended up finding a Queen on the ground in front of the hive, so I grabbed her and put her in the new box with some other bees just to see what happens. The weather in Atlanta is getting so cold that she'll probably die anyway. We'll see.

Like son, like father...

My stories of the first year of keeping has prompted several friends and a family member to get into the act. My father received his bees from Walter T Kelley on Tuesday and got them installed in textbook fashion.

The queen was alive and well.


Syrup Spray got them ready to pour.

Pouring was "a little anti-climactic."

The final view of happy bees.

Time to add a super.

I went out to check on the hives late last week and found them to be slightly overcrowded.
Usually when I open the top, there are a few girls on the inner cover. As you can see in the photos, both hives had a lot of bees coming out of the top. I added a medium super to both and they immediately spread out.