So, urban homesteading ended up not working and I went into a coma from not eating enough.

A Look Inside the Hive

I've been into the hives a couple of times now, and forgot my camera until now.

I fed the bees sugar syrup for 2 weeks, then took the feeders away when I noticed that they had a LOT of the syrup stored up in combs in the hive. Around the same time, I added another "super" (essentially another level or story) to the hives to give the queen more space to lay eggs. This update is about 2 weeks from then (so about a month since I introduced them to the hive).

Here's Herbie hive:

And inside it looks pretty good. Not a ton of bees pouring out the top, but still a pretty healthy population

The Queen was in the top frames, laying eggs in the newly drawn comb (she's the one with the big blue dot)

If you look closely, you can see the tiny white eggs in the center of the combs.

These frames in the top are built up with comb for brood, but dont have much food stored on them
The lower frames, which look fantastic, have the standard semicircle of brood, surrounded by a layer of pollen, and stored food (sugar syrup in this case...usually it's honey) in the corners



The hives are doing great so far.

Also, the beans and squash in the garden have really taken off!

In the evening

I usually amble around the house trying to keep myself busy in between cooking and eating dinner and going to bed. Since the weather's turned, I've been keeping the kitchen door open. It has a screened door that faces out to the backyard. Sometimes I'll wander into the kitchen, and see a honey bee on the screen. it's desperately trying to get in and at the kitchen light. Sometimes, it'll get its chance, and make it inside and to the glorious orb.


I'll catch her in a drinking glass and let her loose outside, and she'll fly right back to the screen door instead of heading back to her hive.

This kind of bums me out for some reason.

Update: I noticed yesterday that there's a spider on the porch getting quite fat off of these wayward bees.

Arrival of the Bees

Last Monday, 115 folks in Columbia waited at the Clemson extension office in Lexington to get their bees. These bees came in packages consisting of 3 pounds of worker bees and a queen. They are picked up from from an apiary in Georgia, and delivered by volunteers from the Mid-State Beekeepers Association.

Apparently, the delivery is always late, and this year was no exception. ETA for the packages was 5:30pm. I wanted to be toward the front of the line, so I got there at 3:00pm and was third.

The caravan didn't arrive until 9:15, and I didn't get home with my bees until 10:00.

Bees should be set in their hives at dusk. This minimizes the amount of time they have to fly off and gives the beekeeper enough light to see what they're doing.

As I didn't get home till after dark, I kept my 3 packages of bees in my daughters room on a towel (she wasn't staying in there at the time). I sprayed them occasionally with a 1:1 sugar syrup to keep them calm and fed. Here are a couple of photos of one of the packages.




The next day, around 7pm, I hived the packages.
I started by spraying the bees once again with sugar syrup to calm them down.


I then removed the piece of wood covering the top of the box so that I could remove the can of syrup which fed the hive during transport.



I then removed the cage holding the queen. There are corks at each end of her cage. One side has a candy barrier between the cage compartment and the opening. I will remove this cork and hang her in the middle of the hive facing upward using tape. The other bees will eat away the candy to release her. She's in there with a couple of workers which will also help her get out. I re-covered the hole in the top of the package using the removed scrap of wood.

I took about 3 frames out of the hive to make space for the new bees.


I then removed the wood covering the hole, and shook the bees into their hive.

I then slowly replaced the frames and hung the queen in the middle of the hive.




I reassembled the hive, and put some sugar water in their feeder (black and yellow canister at the bottom right of the hive). I left the emptied box at the entrance of hive to allow any stragglers left in the package to wander in.


I refilled the feeder every couple of days for a couple of weeks. I went back into the hive after a week to remove the empty queen cage. The queen was out, laying eggs, and the bees were beginning to store pollen, so everything is hunky dory so far.

Garden Update

Last weekend I planted some green beans and sugar snap peas in my garden. I did this for three reasons: one - green beans and sugar snap peas are delicious; two - the beans I planted in my cold box were of good size and the roots were growing out of the bottom; and three - because I was getting my bees in a couple of days (which I will report on later) and I wanted the beans all set up before they came in.



I wanted the bean poles to act as a barrier which the bees would need to fly over, and stay out of "people space" when they head off for pollen, nectar, and water.



I used hay from the chicken coop as mulch, and fertilized them with Espoma's "Plant-Tone" as I planted them.

I also planted squash in the middle as a "three-sisters" kind of thing (without the corn)...though you can't see them in this picture since they're in the bed in the background.

Bottom Board Conversion

Screened bottom boards allow varroa mites and hive beetles. Two of the hives I got (Duke and miles) don't have screened bottom boards.



It was really easy to convert my bottom boards using #8 hardware cloth (1/8" squares). I started by using the saber saw to cutout an opening in the board.



Then used string and nails to the underside of the bottom board to make a "cradle" to hold a piece of corrugated plastic which is useful in evaluating varroa mite infestation of the hive.





Then simply used the staple gun to put the hardware cloth to the upside of the bottom board.



bata-boom-bata-bing...integrated pest management.



Once I got this done, I set up miles and herbie on cinder blocks so they're a little bit higher.



And got duke all set up at my dad's house.



I think the bees are gonna be happy there.

An Introduction

This blog documents my experiences in urban homesteading at my home in mid-town Columbia, SC.


Here is my my backyard, which is my gardening site, apiary, and spot for chicken keeping.



I've set up a chicken coop which resides in the bamboo thicket in the Northeastern corner of my property



This coop houses 3 Black Australorp chickens. When I originally stocked the coop, I purchased 2 Rhode Island Reds and one Black Sex Link. These guys turned out to be very noisy which made me concerned about complaints from the neighbors. I traded them for some Black Australorp (much quieter breed) pullets which belonged to my mother. They produce on average 15 medium-large eggs per week.



I will also begin beekeeping this spring. I have 3 8-frame Langstroth hives which will receive their colonies in late March. Here they are after a (very rare) snow storm



These hives will be named Duke, Miles, and Herbie. Duke will be kept at my father's house in uptown Columbia.

Last week, I tilled a 10'x14' spot for a garden.



The garden may be expanded depending on how well it does.

I separated it into 6 raised beds; planted bibb lettuce, radishes, and spinach; and covered the rest till I'm ready to plant it.