It's Beginning to look like a lot like a Bee Yard......

Cozy area for the bees.......

So why an enclosed bee yard you ask?   Well after looking at a fellow bee keeper's "bee yard" who had two small kids and pets.....this was the obvious answer to me and my family.  I have two kids....ages 5 and 10 and a Labrador mix named Daisy.....  Granted they probably would stay away from the hives as well as the dog.....but I felt that this was a safer alternative and a little bit of peace of mind......especially if the kids had friends over playing in our backyard not to mention it would force the bees to fly vertical after leaving the hive.....Plus it looks really nice :)

This is why we needed an enclosed bee yard..........

We knew after we dropped off the bee hives with my bee supplier on April 12th....we only had 7-10 days to get all of the final prep work done around the yard.    This meant getting the enclosed bee yard completed.....no more procrastinating....it had to be done.....Then Mother Nature had other ideas......

Laying out the area for the bee yard

The bee yard starting to take shape

The clock was ticking and Mother Nature was not cooperating...... We had some nice weather and then a 180 degree turnaround......Easter which was the following weekend was a COLD MISERABLE & RAINY day here in Wilmington NC.....We had 5 inches of rain fall over the Easter weekend and temps barely getting out of the 50s......  I wondered if spring was ever going to stay around and I felt that Mother Nature was drunk and I think she needed to go home and sober up...

Installing the gate and as you can see.....despite the sunshine....it's still cold

We put down a layer of landscaping material and then mulch on top....

Waiting for the bees to arrive.......

Eventually the weather cooperated and the entire family pitched in to get the bee yard ready.  I was really proud of the work that we put into it.  Location, location, location is everything.  Luckily we have an area in the yard that backs up to the confluence of several drainage ditches so the bees are not located anywhere near our neighbors houses and within the bee yard I have plenty of room to work around the hives.  And down the road if the hives decide to go gang busters on me and I have to split them....then I would have plenty of room to add more hives......

Your Hive Tool is your Best Friend.......

Tools of the Trade........

Hive tool, bobby pins and a Heavy Duty Stapler

While waiting for my 2 Nucs from my local bee supplier.....I spent most of April doing the prep work......This meant spending my extra time putting together my hives, frames and everything else that went along with bee keeping.......Me and the hubby took advantage of some rainy weekend afternoons to put together my deeps, mediums, frames and installing wax foundation in the frames.....

Luckily.....my hubby is in the construction business.....so I had access to a variety of tools such as a nail gun and a stapler.....but I found that the hive tool was my best friend.....it was perfect for popping the wedge top off the frames, scraping extra wood stuck from the wedge.....it was great for hammering the bobby pins into the sides to support the wax foundation.....and of course it's what you need to be inside of a bee hive.....

Medium Frames waiting to be put together

Hive tool popping out the wedge

Finished  frame with wax foundation

At first we were going to make the deeps and medium boxes but when we got to looking at lumber prices....sadly.....it was cheaper to buy the boxes in cypress from a bee supplier than to make them ourselves out of cheap whiteboard (pine).  I wasn't planning on that but it was the case for us. So we ended up buying our hive bodies, medium boxes and medium frames from a  bee supply company out of Georgia....Rossman Aparies.....

So.....after ordering all of the stuff I needed........This is what my living room looked like after I got three boxes from Rossman......plus all of the other supplies that I had picked up from the State Bee Convention.....goodbye tax return checks....yep I said "check(s)".  This is not a cheap hobby to get into and it's why more retirees are involved than working full time folks with younger kids like me... I kinda knew that but with all hobbies....there is some kind of start up cost and hopefully we will get a decent return on beekeeping.....well....at least a sweet return :)

However.....my youngest was more than happy to play in the empty boxes when we got everything together.....

Cardboard boxes make the best lounging areas

My bee boxes put together before we painted them

NC State Bee Convention and Bee School Field Day....

March....busy busy as a bee....preparing for the season.

March came and went very quickly....so quickly that I failed to keep up with the blog......

March was a blur.....I mean a complete BLUR!   Between the NC State Bee Convention which was held the first weekend in March and then some other issues like work and life.....and eventually the bee school field day ....March seemed to go by away too quick.

The NC State Bee Convention was held in Wilmington NC and was hosted by the New Hanover Beekeeper's Association.  It was a lot of fun to help volunteer at.  Attending the State Convention also allowed me to scope out the various bee vendors and pick up my supplies.  I didn't get a chance to attend any of the workshops but it was a good experience nonetheless.

All of our goodies from the convention

Every bee keeper should have one :)

Future bee keeper.....Can you tell she was happy to "bee" at the convention?