On the way to my "home" beeyard

Check out this field!  I found this to be so beautiful that I just had to stop and take some pictures of it.

We are facing West with the flowers oriented south - south east.  This field was just amazing.  The colors were so intense and I have a better idea as to why Vincent Van Gogh was so fascinated by them.

Of course, I got a close up of these flowers when I noticed that there were 3 honey bees working it.  I appeared that they were gathering nectar only at this time.

Enjoy your day!

Amazing Russian Beekeepers!

Here in Spokane, WA we have a large and vibrant Russian and Ukrainian immigrant community.  I have noticed that many of these folks are avid and skilled beekeepers.  I have picked up some good ideas from my Russian friends and they have been always helpful and kind with me and my questions!

Also - I notice that many visitors on my blog  here are from the Russian Federation.  Thank you for visiting!

 Спасибо, что посетили мой блог, и я уважаю ваши навыки в пчеловодстве!
 
I found this relevant video on Youtube and I was amazed! by these Russian beekeepers!  I can speak a little Russian, and I could make out some of what they guy was talking about.  The speaker is working his beeyard and adding some supers, harvesting propolis and talking about the growth of this colonies.  Very impressive!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HipomxmsJk

Several species enjoying some honey drippings!

A few days ago we harvested our spring honey and is the usual case we had some waste drippings.  Amazing how honey seems to get EVERYWHERE during harvest.

I captured a moment with two species eating up this mess in our home yard.  Look at those wing sizes!  Amazing that the bumble bee can fly although they seem to crash into things when they do!

High Productivity

This frame shows some excellent characteristics of a strong colony.  This hive had most of the deep frames looking like this one.  Note the brood in the center and honey/pollen at the edges.  This was a very nice sight on a beautiful day.

Saving my back !

This post deals with some "re-engineering" of an old wheel barrow.  I got the idea from Dr. Miller, who was an amazing American beekeeper in the last century.  As you can see I removed the metal part of the wheel barrow which was rusted anyway and replaced it with some wood cross beams.  It works great !

As it stands I can move 150 lbs of honey frames with ease and this should make harvest a bit easier.

More to come!

Honey Super Wheel Barrow

Visit to the Home Yard

Today I went up to the main yard to inspect and work my hives.  The weather was a bit warm and very sunny.  The mountain bloom is on!  The mock orange was especially fragrant.

Here is a picture of a busy hive up close:

The were very active with the bloom and didn't seem to care that I was even there.

Here is a picture of the mock orange:

More work on the Top Bars

I'm finishing up these two hives this week and hope to add Bees by next week or so.

The 2X4 stands are from scrap lumber - as is the 1" lumber for the main body of the hive.

Enjoy !

On the deck

They need some top bars !