Camp Kreitzer's Bee Enterprise Hits the News

The Mountain Courier ran an article on beekeeping and featured our apiary. Wow! What fun. Check it out here.

July 14 Bee Inspection: All's well!

A frame of capped honey ready to harvest

What a hot day for an inspection. We went out right after 8:30 Mass and it was already 90 degrees and humid. Whew! Those canvas suits are hot!

We were hoping for a bumper crop of honey this year, but it is not looking too promising. All the hives were calm and we saw no ants or evidence of wax moth. We always look closely at the bees and we've never seen any varroa mites but we probably have them because everyone does. But the girls all look good. No evidence of malformed wings or any other health problems. They were all flying and pollen was coming in. The queens are laying like crazy -- lots of brood and larvae. We took out some honey frames and hope to get more on the next inspection but I doubt we will do as well as last year. Here's the rundown:

This Brought Back Memories of Our Circus Dog!

We had a border collie for sixteen years. We got her from the animal shelter but she looked like a pure bred and she was smart as a whip. We taught her lots of tricks including jumping through a hula hoop and over a broom handle. She could beg, fetch, roll over, sit still with a biscuit on her nose when we said "Army grub" and toss the treat and catch it when we said "Navy chow." (My dad was a naval officer. Even the dog appreciated it.)

So when I watched this video I remembered Shaley and all the joy she brought our family. Thank you, Lord, for giving us precious pets to bring joy to our lives!

The New Look at Camp Kreitzer

Have you noticed the new photo on the Camp Kreitzer home page? This Spring we decided to put a front porch on the house. After going around the county taking photos of different styles we chose a plantation style porch that could also serve as a second story fire escape. The kids have already practiced climbing out the window and when we said we might put in an upstairs door they begged us not to.

Getting ready for the footers.

Watching the Work Progress and Looking forward to the Honey Harvest!

 From my garden:
There will be primrose nectar in the honey harvest!

We went into the hives on June 21st and again today, July 1st (sweaty work on this hot day!). We examined all six hives both inspections, but not all the boxes in each hive.

We used the smoker for two hives on June 21st, but not at all today, since all the girls were calm today! It's hot, bright and sunny with a breeze and every hive had lots of activity. The purple thistle is blooming up the road and the Golden Raintree isn't quite finished down on Water Street so there is plenty of nectar available for harvesting. We saw no ants in any of the hives today and no signs of swarming. Here's the breakdown on both inspections.

Hive #1 Queen Rachel - four boxes (original split from Madeleine - attacked by bear):