The beginning of our bee farm
We bought a piece of property a few months ago. There are lots of reasons we bought the place including it’s beauty, it’s size, etc. One of the big reasons, however, was to have a place to move the bees. You may recall that I had a bit of trouble last summer during the harvest. It was after that event that I decided that we needed a place out somewhere where the bees could be away from people. “The event” was probably a once in a lifetime thing (I hope) but I can’t take the chance.
Aren’t these daisies pretty? They are everywhere in the hay field…
Our new place is outside of Charleston in the country so, of course, there is a potential for bears to be around. If you remember your Winnie the Pooh, bears tend to like honey. A determined bear cannot really be stopped, but a good electric fence will dissuade all but the most determined bears from messing with the bee hives. So, the beginning of our bee farm has to be a good electric fence.
We found a nice sunny spot on the property away from where we plan to do most of our other messing around. Emily, the kids and I laid out what is to become our first bee yard at the new place. We set 4 corner posts in concrete. Being thrifty as I am, we decided to hand dig the fence post holes. When I put our fence in for the dog, I ran into all sorts of roots and rocks but the digging at the bee yard was easy…apart from the fact that we had to dig 3 foot deep holes. It was warm and humid so we took turns digging. Abigail and Isaac both wanted to help so I was happy to oblige…and they earned their supper for sure! Really, the kids were great and a big help. Let’s hope they will help with the bees too!
So, we will let the posts set up this week and add the rest of the supports, posts, wire, etc next weekend if all goes well. After digging the holes, we are committed so the bee farm is officially underway! Who knew a few fence posts would make me so excited!?!
Stay tuned tomorrow for a funny story about our posts!
This entry was posted in Bees, Family, Nature, WV and tagged Bees, Family, Land by warren
I spent a summer hand digging a half mile long fence with jobbers. I wish every day that my back and upper body were as developed as they were at the end of that summer but alas, they now are closer to a bowl of jello. I don’t wish for the sweat, blisters and bone tiredness that came along with those well developed muscles which is another reason they are like jello. Four corner posts would probably kill me off these days!
It is nice to see your “field of dreams” coming to reality. But for some reason I never considered bears to be a problem there, but it only makes sense. Have you seen bear sign on your property?
Is it a good time to move the bees right now or do you have to wait until the Winter when they aren’t as active? I wouldn’t want to make them mad again! We had a bear in our yard a few years back. It came within 3 feet of our front porch! We haven’t seen one since.
Ed – when my kids get a bit older, I think we will discover a lot more fence post locations!
Grey Wolf – I have not seen bear mark on my property but I know a beekeeper down the road who had bear problems so I know they are near. There are plenty-o-bear around. I had one hive get hit right in the city limits!
Angela – I won’t wait until winter when moving them will break the cluster. I will wait until the honey flow is off around August or so
A bear took our bird feeders out the other night. Now we bring them in at night so the will have to find something else to eat.