Several weeks back I came across a listing on Craigslist where someone had cut down a tree and discovered it had bees inside. They were looking for someone to come get the bees, so I jumped at the opportunity.

Several years back I had caught a swarm of bees and started a hive. For whatever reason the bees left my hive giving me a good Langstroth hive to spare. I still had the hive as wells as all my beekeeping equipment. I have been planning on buying bees sometime, I just have not gotten around to it yet.

I had moved two times since I last had bees, and I couldn’t find any of my bee equipment except the hive. Since it was a cold day I figured the bees would be pretty mild anyway, so I grabbed the hive and headed out.

The bees had a rough time when the tree fell. The tree shattered and the combs slapped together into a pile. Between the carnage and the cold the hive lost about 90% of its population. The rug in the picture was used by the property owner to cover the bees until I could get there. I decided to give the bees the best chance I could and collected every live bee I could find and the majority of the comb. Due to the cold weather I had no problems, and didn’t need any protection except some gloves for picking up bees(which braver souls would have done without).

I found a cardboard box that fit right on top of the hive and placed some comb and the bees into the box on top of the hive. My idea was that they would get used to the hive and move down into it and I could remove the box this spring.

Since the weather was going to remain colder I put the bees in the mud room, closed up. Somehow they managed to get out and I ended up with some pet house bees. My wife didn’t like it, but the bees were very mild mannered and stayed in the mud room for the most part.

With so few bees remaining I decided to keep them in the mud room until the weather improves. I am not sure if they will make it or not, I am also not sure if the queen made it or not. Worse case I can try to mix the remaining bees with some more bees I have purchased.

I was already planning on adding a hive this spring. I missed my chance on the bees for sale in my area, and they were not that close either being all the way over in Chillicothe. So I searched the net looking for some bees that could be shipped to my door. The best price I found was Spille Bees at www.spillehoney.com. They had three pounds of bees with an Italian queen shipped for $126. If someone knows of a better deal send it my way, as I wouldn’t mind adding a third hive this year.

So hopefully I should have one hive going this year. I am also planning on setting up several swarm traps throughout my properties. Hopefully I can come up with some free bees. I also plan on putting some ads on craigslist that I am looking for swarms. Maybe I can come up with several more hives full of bees before years end.

My purchased bees ship April 28th, so I have some time to prepare. Since I have plenty of scrap wood that I get from a local Stave Sawmill I plan on building my own hives. The one hive I currently have is a standard Langstroth hive. I plan on building a Tanzanian top bar hive that will match the standard dimensions of a Langstroth hive, being longer of course.

 

 

The main difference between a Tanzanian hive and its more popular cousin the Kenyan top bar hive is that the side walls on the Tanzanian are straight. Since the sloped walls of the Kenyan hive don’t  keep bees from attaching comb to the

sides, I have not figured out why it has any benefits over the Tanzanian hive which is easier to build and can take standard comb frames.

 

When I build my hives I will try to standardize, although I will be using both Langstroth and top bars hives until I decide on my favorite. The one thing I have to do is decide on which size super I want to go with, deep or medium. I can see advantages to both, although I think deep currently holds the lead for me. Deep has the advantage of more real estate in a top bar style hive. When I decide which size to make my standard I will build everything to that size, including my swarm traps.

I am by no means and expert beekeeper, but I look forward to learning and trying some new things. My long term plan is to replace the refined sugar in my families diet with honey, hopefully by the end of next year. Honey has the advantage of being the healthiest and easiest to produce sweetener for us.