My bees are busy, and swarming and teaching me many lessons. I am happy to be doing my bit to save the honeybee and repopulate them, so their numbers can go back up, but boy are they trying this new beekeeper. We had two swarms out of the same hive this week - so that is three in total from the one hive. The second and real swarm (I believe the first one was a practice swarm) was in the middle of the day, and my husband was home working, and it was terrifying and quite magnificent at the same time. I am honestly thankful that first swarm happened and that the queen is gone, albeit her genetics are still being bred in the queen cells that will hopefully produce a new queen. When I first got bees, I purchased Italian bees with Russian queens, I learned in my Beekeeping course through UMass that Russians albeit a little more aggressive, can make longer term for easier beekeeping because of their hardiness against mites and diseases. In hindsight I wish I had gone Italian and Langstroth, but I was going for a more natural route, and it worked but has been a hard learning year, and Im invested at this point, and learning quickly. This picture below is the third swarm that literally just moved to the other side of my yard, today Easter Sunday, when we were about to have 30 people over for lunch and egg hunting! So everyone got a good bee-education and we moved the egg hunt out front.
My neighbor, who is a beekeeper and has been over to see and help me with my bees, was not interested in coming to get this swarm! He has helped me in the past with my bees and knows how hot my hive is. So, needless to say I have been reading up on how to deal with the hive, and the best thing is to re-queen. This lady's post was the most helpful, and info I already knew, but definitely needed a refresher on https://morningchores.com/hot-hive/. I wasn't able to find my queen last week, so I left them and let them swarm, which meant she would have left with them, and honestly I was happy to see her go, she was been way too feisty. Her genetics are still in my hive, but hopefully getting bred down some with the new queen when she mates. I will probably leave them in the tree, they should move on within three days, or the cold evenings might get them, either way I have some regular Italian bees on order coming the first week in May. Hopefully they will make for a calmer bee yard, and add some genetic diversity in hopefully breeding with the new queens. If my split actually did work, or this new swarm moves in to my empty hive, Laura has a third hive I can use to for my new bees - and its a langstroth, which I am now curious to try.
Otherwise my seedlings are doing well, and my cooler weather plants - are in the ground and slowly getting rooted. I was able to get three different types of potatoes planted, and am getting my seedlings ready this week to be put into bigger pots. I moved my portable greenhouse up on to my back deck to Harden them off in.
I have been more meticulous and more purposeful this year with my seedlings. Studying plants and their systems and learning from other farm/nursery bloggers, I am truly appreciating and seeing the fruit of using grow lights, hardening off right and planting at the right time. It is such a process, that if followed well, can lead to a very healthy and fruitful garden!
My clematis is my favorite plant in my garden, and just gets better every year and is the least needy of everything I grow, just showing off on the glorious Easter morning! Happy Easter...
