I have been wanting to learn beekeeping for some time. StonePath could really use a hive, however, I lack the necessary know-how to attempt adding one.
My best friend has a large certified organic farm down the road from me and he used to be into beekeeping but had gotten out of it as other farm duties took more of his time.
He had built a European style bee barn on the property, an octagonal hut that could house seven to eight hives securely. It has remained empty the past few years, that is until about a week ago.
My friend has a field of red clover that he really wanted pollinated. He uses the clover as animal feed, so the seed produced from this field would be a considerable savings versus buying seed locally.
I also have another friend who has had bees most of his life and needed a place for his three hives as the local food sources were getting scarce in his area.
It didn't take much convincing to get my friends together on a project that will yield pollinated clover and a load of good, quality honey.
In the process I can learn everything I need to learn from two very knowledgeable beekeepers, while also getting hands on experience.
Gary is a very innovative farmer, I suppose that comes with the territory of becoming an organic farmer in the 1970's before anyone was really considering it. He came up with the idea of the bee barn from looking at and reading about European bee houses.
The style is all Gary. He designed it to fit the land and the area he had planned for it. Octagonal just made the most sense.
The barn keeps the bees sheltered from the harshest weather, yet allows them to come and go as they please.
Each hive opening is adjacent to a large opening at the floor of the barn, and the side they face is approx. 6 feet off the ground due to the slope the house sits on.
We are prepared to increase to seven hives next year. We have all the necessary bee boxes and materials to quickly expand the operation.
After letting the bees adjust to their new environment the past week, we decided to open the hives and check the health of the colonies.
The first hive needed another super, as the colony was really filling the space quickly. These bees were very docile and didn't seem to mind the jostling very much.
Everything went as planned and we were very pleased with the overall hive health in the three hives. One hive had swarmed recently so it was fairly empty, however, the new queen had the colony working hard, so progress was being made. It should be a solid colony by Fall.
This is a very exciting endeavor for me. I am anxious to learn as much as possible and be operating a hive at StonePath this time next year.
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