BEES!
We ordered our bees!
We ordered our bees!
What were YOU thinking?
We plopped down the money for two "packages" like this. They weigh about 3 lbs each and a package contains an already mated queen and upwards of about 10,000 bees...EACH! That's a lot of bees coming to the farm! Believe it or not, this is the time of year to order bees. I learned in the bee school last year that you should always order your bees in the Fall because they are delivered in the early Spring. Many apiaries are actually already sold out, or have people on a waiting list at this time of year. For us, this is good for planning because we can spend the next few months getting everything ready. It's almost like "nesting" when expecting a new arrival. Hmm, or would that be "hiving"?
We plopped down the money for two "packages" like this. They weigh about 3 lbs each and a package contains an already mated queen and upwards of about 10,000 bees...EACH! That's a lot of bees coming to the farm! Believe it or not, this is the time of year to order bees. I learned in the bee school last year that you should always order your bees in the Fall because they are delivered in the early Spring. Many apiaries are actually already sold out, or have people on a waiting list at this time of year. For us, this is good for planning because we can spend the next few months getting everything ready. It's almost like "nesting" when expecting a new arrival. Hmm, or would that be "hiving"?
We ordered ours from this place, R Weaver Apiaries. We don't get anything in return from them for this post, this is just our own recommendation. They actually came highly recommend by a reader of the blog that lives nearby who got their bees at the same place (thank you JM!). We figured if they have been in business since 1888, they must be doing SOMETHING right. Their answering of questions and help via phone and email has been wonderful.
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| Buckfast Bees, image courtesy of Wikimediacommons.com |
We ordered BUCKFAST bees. They are an Italian bee strain that was first developed by Brother Adam who was in charge of beekeeping at Buckfast Abbey in England. Brother Adam has a fascinating story, if you are interested, click HERE to read his Wiki entry. Anyway, they were developed for their highly desired qualities. They are gentle, have a low incidence of swarming, are great honey producers, keep their hives clean, they overwinter well, and of course the queens live a long time.
We are beyond excited. We're now just a few months away from an exciting new adventure at the farm. We're learning so much, I've been ordering tools and supplies, those will be coming soon and I'll have some posts about them as well.
I really always wondered how you actually ordered bees. Who knew that they were buzzing their way through our postal system, or riding around in FedEx and UPS trucks? Ordering bees online...now that I think it about, I guess this is the apiary equivalent of mail order brides?
Let the countdown BEEgin....
*sorry, couldn't resist!
We are beyond excited. We're now just a few months away from an exciting new adventure at the farm. We're learning so much, I've been ordering tools and supplies, those will be coming soon and I'll have some posts about them as well.
I really always wondered how you actually ordered bees. Who knew that they were buzzing their way through our postal system, or riding around in FedEx and UPS trucks? Ordering bees online...now that I think it about, I guess this is the apiary equivalent of mail order brides?
Let the countdown BEEgin....
*sorry, couldn't resist!
i now have word verification too and can't get rid of it. yay for bees. this is very exciting!!!
ReplyDeleteThe word verification is affecting everyone. When we reply to our own comments, we don't see it, but everyone else does. I've heard blogger might make it permanent. I sure hope not.
DeleteAnyway, thanks for the comment we (well me more than 2nd Man, ha) are excited to start the new adventure.
Things will bee buzzing on the farm soon.
ReplyDeleteLOL! Love it! Definitely!
DeleteBees are a wonderful addition.
ReplyDeleteWe have lost ours to some malady or critter.
Dang, that's too bad. I'm fully prepared for something like that, but hoping against hope they do well. Since we can't have cows or sheep or goats (yet anyway) this will have to be our chance at 'livestock', ha.
DeleteSylvia Plath kept bees for a while and wrote some poems about it. Her late father, Otto Plath, was an expert on bumblebees.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
I will have to look for some of her poetry. thanks!
DeleteCongrats guys, very exciting news. What the first tool ordered the 'suit'?
ReplyDeleteThank you! Actually some tools were the first, but the suit is now on its way. ;-)
DeleteI'm so excited for y'all! Mesquite honey in the future!
ReplyDeleteFrom you lips to the queens ears, LOL! Thanks!!
DeleteSorry I can't join in in your excitement :( Highly allergic to bees. But I wish you the best with them!
ReplyDeleteAww, well stay tuned here, we'll keep you sting free and you can still watch the activity. :-)
DeleteI will follow your blog and keep track of your success. We are still in the "thinking about it" stage. We are happy for you.....it is exciting
ReplyDeleteVery exciting and yes, I'll post all the moments and trials and tribulations. Thanks!!
DeleteThe Animal Control Officer told me NO. I should not have asked. So, I will just live my bee fantasies vicariously through you two.
ReplyDeleteOrdering ladies? I would have guessed you ordered lady cleaning persons or lady plumbers. No, I would not have thought you two would have ordered those kinds of ladies...lol.
You are more than welcome to come along for the rid.
DeleteAnd yes, I guess I never thought about that, you are exactly right, LOL. That made us laugh out loud. ;-)
The lady at our small town post office dreads bee season - they are a bit uncomfortable with these buzzing boxes and I can always count on a call from them by 6:00, hoping I can come pick them up before the post office opens and customers arrive. I hope you love them as much as we do - and remember, it hurts a lot to get stung, but it does not hurt for very long!!
ReplyDeleteI never thought about that, I bet postal people (and truck drivers) are none too fond of the 'bee delivery season', ha. Thank you for the words of encouragement, I'm pretty stoked, now I spend the next few months reading and learning as much more as possible.
DeleteOkay I am totally green here (jealous)... I took the bee classes a while back ya know.. where did you take yours? I took mine down around Bryan Texas. Anyway, I had ordered a couple hives last year I think it was or was it year before. For spring delivery. You guys had all that rain and a cold spring that year and the bee man down in Houston couldn't fill his orders. He said in 30 years of doing this he had never been in that position... so I didn't get my bees.. wellll then I got busy working and so on and so on.. I still want to get a hive of bees. Well actually two. Keep us posted on this process I would love to see it as it goes along!!!
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh, I didn't realize you had been through that. Dang. I took a bee school in Brenham earlier this year and a 'hands on' class here in Houston a couple of years ago. Earlier this year they told us that we were too late last Spring to order them of course and to do it in the Fall for next Spring. Sot hat's what we've done. We're starting with two hives, hoping for six ultimately. It will help us with property taxes, in a few years we can get the ag exemption.
DeletePS
ReplyDeleteI don't have the word verification issue...but blogger did some very strange things to one of my post yesterday. I wound up deleting it because several of the sentences had white back boxes around them and the text was a odd shade of orange, making it very hard to read. I wound up having to totally do a new post in order to get rid of it. I then deleted the other post that was all messed up.
It's very weird. The word verification is frustrating, we have it turned off and yet it's there. Not sure what is up. And blogger has been working very slowly. I guess google is 'tweaking' some things. Sigh.
Deletehow exciting! i hope you can get boxes and all readied for their spring arrival! (i'd sure hate to think of those packages being in a van wreck!)
ReplyDeleteYep, working on that now. Just ordered the hives, will have a post up about them when they arrive. I was thinking the same thing you said about have a van/truck accident with loads of bees in it...yikes!
DeleteHoneycakes and honeyed tea. It's my plan for next summer or fall? This sounds exciting for you (I recommend first aid supplies, JIC).
ReplyDeleteHoneycakes? I will have to have 2nd Man google that, ha. All things considered, if they go well, we might have our first honey harvest by mid summer. Yes, first aid supplies, including an epi-pen will be on hand. :-)
Delete1st Man,
ReplyDeleteI'm so happy for you and 2nd Man!!!!
Aww, thanks!! It will be the start of a fun new adventure....hopefully successful!
Delete