Our First day working with bees

Finally for the first time since Thanksgiving, the weather warmed up - really warmed up, into 60's.

Rob invited Dylan and I across to watch him working his hives. 

Another Beek was there - Mark, and Wally also came past to visit.

Great experience, Dylan was a bit apprehensive , and briefly escaped to the car, but he overcame his fears and came back and watched the work.

Rob keeps detailed notes of the hive quality, where the bees were, how much stores they had, I think there were 10 hives in all,

one Nuc which had over wintered well.

He also had a feeder out about 50 feet away, feeding a dried food, which consists of used brewers yeast and soy flour. Boy were they interested in this food. Also had some syrup feeders out at same table.

Wally showed us how he works without any protection , he only took two stings both while doing things he should not. He also showed us Apitherapy where he stung himself on the back close to where he has a slipped/damaged disc, within 20 minutes he was feeling much better and able to stand up straight.

Here he is picking up a bee to be used on the lumbar region of his back

Here is a queen on left mid picture

Great day and very impressed, we looked and identified brood comb, saw eggs, saw the queen in most of the hives, and saw some drone brood cells too. Only person to take a sting was Wally.

First Class

Had a great evening at my first Beginners course evening.
At least 70 people there which totally amazed me  , was not expecting so many , and I knew two people too.

Very nice presentation about basics, most of which I had already got from my reading and research, but still good to hear first hand. Finally met Rob Jacobs the president of local chapter too, as we had swapped a few emails already.

My son went with me and enjoyed the evening , he paid attention throughout the evening , I thought he would pick up his book and read , but he did not, looks like he will become a Beek too.

Looking fwd to some warm days to actually get to see a few hives.

First Disappointment as a beekeeper

Well not really...

The weather canceled the January Guilford Beekeepers meeting , and I was looking forward to meeting new people and learning new things.

I will now have to use the old snail mail Postal service to send in my registration forms for the beginners course and membership.

I am looking forward to this new adventure and can't wait for spring - but I am always feeling this way by end of January anyway.

2011

I have started 2011 with the intention of learning how to keep bees.

It is a subject that has facinated me for years , and as a Homebrewer , I have made a batch of Mead that was very nice, so having my own Honey will be a wonderful thing.

I have been reading solidly for the last 2 weeks, and have now joined a number of forums , and will do a beginner Bee Keeping Course in January - through the local Society - Guilford County Beekeepers.

I am now researching equipment and it seems as if some of the best Hives are made right here in NC, about 2 hrs drive away, so a road trip is on the cards.

I would like to start with a Nuc (a small Nucleus Hive) , which seem to have the best success rate for beginners, as they already have a laying Queen , plus Brood and workers.

I want two hives for a first season, and will see how it all goes after that.