Hive Removal from a Tree

Removed a hive from a tree today, live oak tree in a front yard. The owner was not aware there was a nest until a tree trimmer he hired started working on the tree. No problems with the bees. Placed them in a deep box with dowels through the box to hold the hive in place. Once they got to our yard I placed a medium box with drawn comb and foundation on top. Once the queen moves up I'll remove the deep box and melt the old comb down.

Bee Removal

CJ and I removed some very gentle bees from a water meter. Packed with brood. We noted several open queen cells. CJ found the queen and got her in a queen clip. Once she was in the box the rest marched in. Easy removal that took about an hour.

Surveys, building & some happy bees

Started the morning with a cutout in Delray Beach. The bees were a no-show. Looks like some scouts were just checking the area out. Did a survey in North Palm Beach, bees in a soffit. Nice established hive with clam bees. Waiting to hear back to see if she agrees to the price. Got home and did some building, 4 feeder lids for the nucs I built. Thank you CJ for the help with those. Checked the new bees in the back yard. They are doing great

Starting this again

Going to try and start this blog again. We've been keeping bees for almost 2 years now and are really enjoying it. I've tried to learn some different aspects of beekeeping over the last year. We are now doing removals and learning to build our own equipment which is keeping the costs down and gets us free bees. Going to try and keep this up. We have a cut out tomorrow and a trip to Orlando to check our hives in the orange groves up there and make sure we are ready for the honey flow.

How this started

February 10, 2010
I have been interested in keeping honeybees for a while now. This interest was renewed when I came upon Dr. Keith Delaplane's "A Year in the Life of an Apiary" while channel surfing. So I set my DVR and managed to catch five of the eight shows. After watching them I went out on the net and found a beekeeping club here in Palm Beach County. I attended my first meeting on Friday, February 5, 2010 and learned that over the following two days was the "Southeast Organic Beekeeper's Conference" so I signed up. I was only able to attend Saturday's meeting and went through the beginners track. I had the opportunity to meet Linda Tillman of Linda's Bees, as well as Sam Comfort of Anarchy Apiries. My next endeavor is to see if there is a mentoring program through the Palm Beach County Beekeepers Association. So much more to learn, stay tuned.