What a lovely weekend!  Friday – worked from home.  Jim Talada stopped by in the morning to look at the Bees with me.  All four hives seem to be doing well.  Hive closest to the road has some very nice very light honey!  Saturday, Tom stopped over and we had an excellent breakfast at the Frenchtown Cafe.  We then went to an auction where I purchased five (yes, 5) hand scythes for $2.00!  In the afternoon Becki arrived with Reghan and Declan and took photos and I took them for

Purchased a new queen on Friday July 10, 2015 as when I checked the middle hive last week there was no brood. Was all set to install her on Friday night and, much to my surprise, found lots of brood.  Still could not find the queen but she must be there!  Got up early on Saturday and took 4 frames of brood (2 from each of the other two hives) and started a fourth hive.  Checked this morning and the queen is still in her cage but is getting a lot of attention.  Fed 2:1 sugar s

Mowed the Orchard, the garden, and the grape vines. It was hot and I sweated off a few ounces. Fed the bees again in the middle hive and looked for the queen but she was nowhere to be found and there does not appear to be any egg laying activity.  It appears that I will have to purchase yet another queen ($35.00).  Cannot seem to get that middle hive going. Fertilized the orchard with 10-10-10, hoping we get a little rain to wash it all into the ground. Japanese Beetles playi