Bee Hive Inspection

Is it really late May? The bee hive inspection should tip you off to some of what we have been up to. It is amazing that the time keeps flying by. The normal things keeps happening and we seem to find no time to get everything done.

We got two honey bee packages two years ago and did several bee hive inspections on a regular basis. We felt comfortable with the way those bees were heading into the winter. Neither made them through that winter and the hives actually stayed empty in 2016.

Beekeeping is not the cheapest livestock to add to your farm based on the size and money spent. Rabbits, chickens, ducks, goats, pigs, and sheep generally can be procured for less. The bees are not as much as a cow, but then again are you comparing to a cow.

You can see in the bee hive inspection that there is more than one bee. I guess you should break it down to the cost per bee. That makes purchasing the package or nucleus a little cheaper.

For those not familiar with the terminology a package is typically three to five pounds of workers bees with a Mated queen in a cage with some attendants. That is a key part as the worker bees and queen are not bonded already. The installation of a package included some bonding time.

That is the just one of the differences between a package and a nucleus. The nucleus is traditionally a two to five frame unit that comes with a queen, worker bees and the workings of a hive. You should get brood and food along with a laying queen and her workers.

The nucleus is a head start and should help get the hives started. We will continue doing some bee hive inspections. Hopefully we can get back to some more posting.