The show must go on

-Posted by Isaac

I couldn't sleep last night. Nerves? Or maybe it was Eden screaming at 3 am for no apparent reason. Sometimes she likes to sleep scream.

But I think it was bee worries that kept me up. The last three days have been dawn to dusk in the bees. It's splitting time.

We'll put together 150 of these nucs each week for the next three weeks.

This involves a lot of running around and a lot of looking at bees.

I've been prepping hives, finding queens, shaking bees, etc... and in about an hour we'll fill the first of our nuc boxes. Hopefully knocking off 50 a day for the next three days. The queens come on Tuesday.

I guess I'm nervous because most of these hives have no business being split. It's still too early, and they're a bit small. Winter lingered around too long. But I'm tired of pushing things back. We're already two weeks behind schedule and the show must go on. We'll just have to sacrifice a good portion of our spring honey. 

But at least things turned around this week. The temps finally made it into the 60's. And despite 40mph winds, our girls fought their way to some pollen.

The blood red pollen comes from the purple deadnettle covering the unplanted fields, and the orange is dandelion. 

Yesterday I was working a yard near some dandelion and it made me realize just how hungry our girls are.

Then when you start pulling brood, it really hits you. A normal hive right now has about five frames of brood. At this time last year, it was eight to ten frames... capped brood! We just haven't had the weather for growth.

Oh well. At least the queens are easier to find.  About half the time, I don't even bother shaking the bees down. With only four or five frames, it's just about as quick to pull the brood and find the queen.

It's especially quick when she's marked. Thank you, Dan Williams!

So that's what I've been doing. Finding queens, and getting ready to split small hives. It makes me nervous.

But at least I had a vote of confidence from my Super girl.

Mom was at a three day food safety meeting this week. So Eden hung out with dad in the bee yards. 

But she doesn't fool with the bees. Usually there is plenty of entertainment in close proximity to any given yard. And if the entertainment isn't nearby, she'll wander until she finds it.

It was interesting, to say the least-- dividing my time between finding queens and finding Eden.

When the days finally warmed later in the week, I was very happy return my Super girl to Mamma.