Many of my students and bee supplies customers have been aware of the long drawn out process of my house move.
With our boys grown and flown the nest, it’s been time for Anne and me to downsize the house. Of course, while our need for bedrooms has reduced, my need for bee hive and barn space has grown. I also wanted the new house to be in a location more conducive to running a bee supply business while ideally still being in Hampden.
We found the perfect house last summer at 236 Main Road South, an old 1860s farmhouse with 5 acres and a huge, newly built, insulated and heated barn. It took a while to find a buyer for our house who didn’t already have a house they needed to sell. Once we did get one, they wanted the closing to be May 27, just about the busiest time of year for a beekeeper!
In the weeks preceding the move, I relocated dozens of hives from my house on Town Farm Road to other locations in Hampden and Carmel. It was going to be busy enough as it was without moving bees that week, too. We were able to move my beekeeping equipment stock and our household goods into the barn in the week before closing. My used, empty, nuc boxes, supers and swarm traps were stacked up behind the barn.
The day before moving into the house I noticed that this equipment was generating some interest from the local bee population. There must have been a local swarm or two in trees somewhere, and they were checking out my stock as a possible new home. I was in danger of the bees moving into our new place before we did! Certainly this was a good omen for the Bee Whisperer.
So finally the move is done, but the work has just begun. The bee supply store is up and running more or less. I’m clearing some land out back before moving most of the bees in, but the process has started. Every day or two, a few more hives get set up.
We are having a lot of house renovations done, so half of my barn is full of our stuff. In part of the barn not stuffed with furniture I am building a honey processing kitchen. Once that’s done, more folks in the region can enjoy the products of my bees’ labors. Upstairs in the barn I plan to hold some beekeeping classes.
Swarming season is now well underway. So many hives that made it strongly through the winter have been so populous that they have swarmed very early in the great weather we have been having. All beekeepers should be aware of the possibility of swarming and be prepared to capture any swarms that issue from their hives. Better still, they should prevent the swarm by splitting strong hives that show any signs of swarming, like lots of drone brood and queen cell development.
I am glad to see some rain this coming week. Too dry means little nectar, and while there has been a lot of nectar come in during May, there was a risk of the flowers drying up for June. A good mixture of water in the ground and warm days and nights is what brings on the honey flows.
My aim this year will be to run 30 to 40 hives through the summer. That should be enough to put my honey extracting kitchen to the test! Definitely time to put an electric motor on my honey extractor.
Peter Cowin, aka The Bee Whisperer, is president of the Penobscot County Beekeepers Association. His activities include honey production, pollination services, beekeeping lessons, sales of bees and bee equipment, and the removal of feral bee hives from homes and other structures. Check out “The Bee Whisperer” on Facebook, email petercowin@tds.net or call 299-6948.