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Trouble in the Beehive
by William
(Markham Farm)
When I lived on an army base I went to Widby Island for a quick visit. We began driving down the road I saw a few colonies of Italian honey bee hives.
I decided then I wanted to be a beekeeper. I asked my dad if that is possible. He told me if I kept my grades up we would see about getting a couple of hives.
My family and I have been back at our farm for two years now and have one colony of Italian honey bees.
But before that I have to talk about the fall of the first colony. I had just got home from school one very warm spring day. I knew that the Colony was here but I didn't know where they were. I waited till my parents got home and I asked them where they were at. They said that they were in the black truck outside. I went out and looked and there they were sitting in the truck seat. The box contained around 5,000 bees plus the queen.
Hi William
I get the impression that we're going to hear more about this soon. I do hope so, some pictures would be great.
The Bee Guy
Fall of the First Army of Bees and Rise of the Swarm
by William
(Markham Farm)
My first colony of Italian honey bees did not do so well. After my dad and I installed the workers into the hive we released the queen. I think that was the problem.
About one week later I came back to check on the colony and I saw no comb being built so I knew what was wrong. I knew then that the colony's queen was dead. But I saw some hope in this whole ordeal. I saw one queen cell on frame #2. That gave me a little bit of hope that the colony might survive. But it turned out to be a complete and total failure. There were a few brood cells which I knew contained a few worker pupae.
A week later I saw a light colored honey bee on the frame. But it did not last for very long. A few weeks later the whole colony was no more. I was completely disappointed and unhappy. But then my mom got a phone call about a swarm of Italian honey bees that another beekeeper had recently caught and he wanted to know if we would be interested in them.
My mother said we would be interested in the swarm. So my dad and I got the hive boxes loaded up into the truck and headed to Berry Illinois. When we got to the town of Berry we went to a feed store. Another beekeeper Rich Ramsey met us there and we went to get the swarm. He had the swarm in the hive and they’ve been there for around 4 weeks.
I saw workers on the comb and I got to hold a male bee which they are known as drones. It crawled up my right arm across my shoulders down my left arm then flew off. I also got to see the queen for a minute before she ran onto the other side of the frame.
After we loaded the hive back onto the truck we headed home. When we got home we put the hive back on the concrete blocks. It has been a few months since we first got the swarm and they are doing really well. If they keep it up I’ll have two colonies next spring and hopefully a lot of honey.
That's great! Please keep us posted. BTW you may have to wait until next fall before you harvest any honey.
The Bee Guy
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Year Two of Beekeeping
by William
(My Farm)
The winter is almost over and the hive is doing extremely well. I Have been coming down to the hive every morning to check on the colony.
I know the queen is still alive because I saw a a lot of workers flying around the hive. They would not have survived without the queen. So a few days ago I made some sugar water for the colony.
When I tried to take the jar down to the colony there were too many workers around the hive. So I Decided to wait til sunset to take the sugar water down to the colony. If I am lucky the colony will swarm this spring and I will have two colonies.
Year Three Management
by William
(Markham Farm)
The first winter has passed and the hive has made it into the second spring management period. Workers were flying all over the farm gathering sugar rich nectar for the colony back in the hive. When summer rolled around the colony was ready to start making honey. However it is nearly winter time and I have not received any honey at all this year.
There has been some hornets landing on the entrance but the honey bees did not seem to be bothered by them. It is almost to the second winter and I must continuosly feed them sugar water.
I have seen a few handful of workers fly around the hive. This is a good sign that the hive is still alive.
