Dirty Old Hives

I've been putting off cleaning up the Lang hives...

afraid what I might find.

Turns out I had a reason to be afraid...

and what are these borings from anyway...?

or what on earth could have caused this...?

I did find a queen cell and a few live worms...

What business do these worms have in my hives?

Hopefully I can make some use of the hives.

Round Comb Paint Job

I painted the round comb super (top) yellow
and also stripped paint off some bars from the top bar hive.

Used Top Bar HIve

Went to Niwot to purchased a used top bar hive for $55. Gal built it herself from used cabinet wood. She also filled me with lots of information to get started using the hive, catching a swarm, and extracting honey and wax.

Langstroth Inspection

A closer inspection into the Langstroth hives I bought... hopefully I can clean them up.

Paint Stripping

Not sure if this stuff is safe for the bees, but gave it a try anyway. Not sure it was worth the trouble.

Used Langstroth Hives

Went out to Brighton to look at some Langstroth hives at the strawberry patch. Should have left when I saw the mess, but I wanted a hive so much that I was talked into buying two full hives plus a round comb box, two suits with veils and gloves, a hive tool and other miscellaneous trinkets.

What's a good price for very used Langs?

Boulder County Swarm Dates

1. April 30th

2. May 10th

3. May 20th
4. June 1st

5. June 10th

6. July 15th

Is it typical for bees to swarm about every 10 days?

Class Sign-up

After years of visiting the county fair to watch the bees on display, I finally decided to go for it and take the beekeeping class offered through the county extension office. My handsome husband was the first interested in taking the class, but didn't have time.So I signed up for the 8-week course to start in January.

The class is to be taught in connection with the book, The Beekeeper's Handbook,

by Diana Sammataro & Alphanse Avitabile