Beeza History: 2015

Our Fourth Year (2015)

The winter of 2014 was one of the coldest and longest winters on record resulting in more loss. In February, we lost two colonies and lost a third in March. The bees were too cold to get to their honey and probably starved to death. They were all found huddled and frozen in an area of the hives where the worker bees had been trying their best to keep the queen warm and alive. Despite this sad setback, we decided to stay on our original plan of expanding our operation in the spring. In addition to the surviving hive, we added 9 new production hives and three backup nukes — small hive boxes to house colonies that have enough room to sustain themselves, but are not producing extra honey. The bees in two out of the nine new colonies did not perform normally and even with our management attempts to support their success, they died out.



The spring and summer of 2015 continued the trend of unique weather conditions. With excess rain in May, June, and July the pollen and nectar flow started a month late. Once the pollen and nectar flow started, our bees were extremely busy prompting us to add extra honey ‘supers’ to both Hive one and some of the new hives. Further complicating things, the unusually high moisture content in the hives did not allow the bees to dry their honey and cap it off until September. Though we were originally planning to harvest honey from only Hive one this year, we were happily surprised to find two more hives had enough extra honey to let us harvest some. We harvested 115 pounds of honey in September and an additional 27 pounds in October — a full month later than normal!

Along with our dedicated beekeeper Don and the rest of the Fairholme Farm team we have learned a lot over these four years and feel that our patience and perseverance has paid off.

Honey Bee Swarm

Don and Randy were able to collect a swarm of bees that showed up on the side of a swine unit alleyway. They put the bees into a 'nuc', a box that holds 5 frames of comb base rather than the 10 we use in a standard 'super'. After they rest and get accustomed to their new surroundings for a few days, Don will open it up and see if a queen is active in the colony. If so, we will have a new colony of bees! If he doesn't find a queen, we can buy one and add her to the colony.

Beeza History: 2014

Our Third Year (2014)

Happily both colonies did survive the winter and we were able to add honey ‘supers’ (additional frames where bees store their extra honey) to both hives. Thanks to the change of location, the wildflowers, and the bees’ hard work we were able to harvest 90 pounds of honey! Our colonies were still thriving as we rolled into late summer. The colonies were so robust, the decision was made to split the hives and manage four hives through the winter.

Below, Mike, Randy and Don (with an assist from Heidi) can be seen mixing the Honey Bee Wildflower Mix with cat litter to get even seeding in our new wildflower field. If Nepeta Cataria (catnip) doesn't come up, things should work out great for our growing honey bee hives.

Beeza History: 2013

Our Second Year: 2013

2012 saw more bee hives lost across the continental United States than any other time in history; losses of 5% per year were the norm but losses have been increasing since 2005 and reached nearly 50% in 2013. A conclusive explanation so far has escaped scientists studying what is now called colony collapse disorder. The current theory being tested is that we have created a multivariate problem. Neonicotinoid pesticides, varroa mites and the practice of feeding bees sugar water to increase the honey harvest are the leading variables being evaluated.

We lost both of our hives in 2012, so in 2013 we placed 2 new hives and changed a number of our practices; we chose a site down by the river farther from cultivated crops, we established a multi-season wild flower field next to the hives, and we placed the hives farther out of the trees to give them more morning sunshine.

We decided a new location with more diverse pollen and nectar and an easy water source for the bees would be beneficial. In the spring, we prepared a site on a six acre, tree-lined field next to the Flat Rock Creek for our second year of hives. With the help of Fairholme Farm’s crop team we planted the field with a diverse pollinator-friendly mix of perennial flowers designed to keep the pollen and nectar flowing from early spring well into the fall. We hoped this would give our bee colonies a better chance for long-term survival. We set two new hives on the site, didn’t harvest any honey and hoped they would survive into the next spring/summer.

Here Don can be seen taking the frames out of the delivery box while our consultant uses a smoker to keep the bees calm during the transfer to our hives.