Last Sunday being Easter I was at my parents so I quickly checked on the bees. They were flying even though it was cool... not sure what they were gathering.
Yesterday a friend picked up my BetterBee order for me and my foundation and pollen patties for this year are now in my car's trunk. Unfortunately, BB was not able to supply me with deep boxes and frames. I am planning on getting those from Northwoods Apiary instead in a few weeks when I am going there to pick up a nuc.
As part of the grant that encouraged me to try beekeeping, I was asked to submit the "5 Things that I have learned" in my first year as a beekeeper. I have included them here:
1) Always have spares. Several times I had to juggle things since I didn't have a few extra items. Case in point was when I ordered only enough frames and foundations to start my hives and ending up being short since I decided not to use the drone frame right off.
2) Organization saves time. I can easily spend more time running around getting my stuff together than actually with the hive.
3) Patience. Its easy to convince myself that I have a new emergency at each inspection. Most of the time the bees work it out on their own with little or no manipulation.
4) Don't over commit. I have many things I would like to try with my bees, top bar hives for instance, but not enough time to do them all. I have had to put off some projects to the future so that I can focus on the things that must happen this year (keep the first hive healthy so we can get surplus honey in the fall and to replace the 2nd hive) and a few manageable extras (start a third hive, try my hand at overwintering a double queen nuc, and possibly keep a few bees at a second site to make a neighboring farmer happy).
5) Have fun. Its a hobby. If I get too stressed by it its no longer fun and there are many other ways to not make money that don't involve tens of thousands of stinging insects.
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