First Hive Manipulation

Finally the weather cooperated last Saturday - warm, dry and only little wind.  I took the plunge and worked through the two hives I have at home and the one just around the corner.  I hadn't been through these hives since the fall so I was interested to see what had been going on.

I started with my old "Blue Hive". This produced a large quantity of honey last year and went into the winter in two deeps. I lost the original queen in July and replaced her with a new "local" Illinois Queen in September.  I wasn't sure if she had enough time to bring the numbers of bees in the hive up to a sustainable level for the winter but as the bees had been active on warm winter days, I was happy enough although it wasn't really much to shout about!  When I opened the hive I found a small cluster of bees in the top of the top box.  I did see the queen and I saw that she is beginning to lay.  It's a bit of a slow start but a start.  There weren't too many stores and the bottom hive box was empty.  So I reduced this hive down to one deep and added some 1:1 syrup.

I moved on to my so called "White Hive". This went into the winter in three deeps and had been showing a great deal of activity throughout the winter.  Lots of bees out and about at any and every opportunity. Of late they had been really busy.  So I was expecting to see bees in the top box, perhaps the top 2 boxes, but to find them in all 3 deeps was very surprising and not a little alarming!  Fortunately I saw no queen cells but I did see a couple of queen cups being built.  Are they beginning to get out of hand?  I want to reduce the bees to two deeps but what is the best way?  Well, as the hive next door is a bit weak and could do with some bees I think it would be a good idea to donate a deep of bees to this hive.  Of course without their Queen! I stuck a Queen Excluder between the top and middle deeps and in a couple of days I'll go though the top deep to see if I can see any new eggs.  It's just too busy to spot the Queen! If there are no eggs then I can be pretty sure the queen is not in this deep so I can move the whole box over to the weaker hive. I'm not sure if I need to but I may put a sheet of newspaper between the two boxes just so the bees don't mix too quickly.  I'd hate for the new bees to kill the queen that's in there now, especially as she is a new queen.

Finally I went through my old City Hive. This had been moved not least because it was very defensive in its old location. I was expecting the bees to be more than a little weary of me but I was surprised.  They seemed quite calm!  I found about 3 frames of brood in the top box and some stores.  They look in good shape!  I nevertheless managed to reduce this hive to a single deep and will likely have to add a second in a week or so.  I think I may "store" the old deep above the inner cover just for now and allow the bees to do what they want.  The inner cover should stop the queen moving up into it.

So it was a pretty good day for looking at bees!  It's seems a long time since I looked to see what my girls had been up to! And it was nice to get back into a groove with them.  Oh, I think I will also have to come up with better names for the hives this year!

Ulster Observation Hive

This year's project arrived this week - An Ulster Observation Bee Hive. It's a nice compact, portable hive - basically a 5 frame nuc with an observation frame above it.


My plan, and hope, is to be able to take it to both my son's schools. It's design should enable me to leave it in the classrooms so the kids can look at it over an extended period of time and not just for a short period.

Move to the 'Burbs

I finally managed to organize myself and got round to moving my bees in the city out to a neighbours garden, just down the road.

Last night I went to the city hive, closed it up and locked the hive boxes together with hive staples. All the thumping on the hive stirred up some interest but it wasn't enough to get them too excited. Early this morning Fred and I moved them 'home'. It was all very easy. Clearly I'm getting good at this!

I left them to their own devices today but tomorrow I may drop a patty or some sugar mush on them, just to help them settle in. Hopefully they will like their new surroundings and their temper will improve!

It wasn't very warm today but Nevertheless I took the opportunity to get into my hives at home. To one hive (my Blue Hive from last year) I added a patty on top of the frames as well as a ring of sugar mush above the inner cover. To the other (the White Hive) i added just a ring of sugar mush as this hive appears stronger.

When it's warmer I will do some organizing of the hives; a bit of equalization. Hopefully I can reduce the hives down into single or at most two boxes! I can then clean up the empty boxes!

Busy, Busy, Busy

Another nice warm day, albeit a bit windy... And the girls were out in force!

I was considering looking inside the hive just to see how things were doing. If it was less windy I probably would have, but when I saw all the activity I thought there was little point. Tons of pollen is being brought in. I may throw on some sugar mush but I think things are looking just fine for now

I will look soon, early March most likely!

Trivia Night!

The local Elementary School had it's annual Trivia Night on Friday. The theme was "Party Like a Rock Star" which in some way goes to explain wy I'm dressed like Freddie Mercury!

Anyway, I donated two "Bee in a Bonnet" honey baskets. Clear and Set honey, beeswax and a massage bar. Amazingly I raised $85- which I am very proud of! OK so I have some way to go to beat Bill Turnbull's record of about $7,500 for a pound of his honey!

Spring Preparations

I now feel spring is on the way! Last weekend saw the annual EMBA seminar and this weekend I made a new hive stand in a neighbour's yard just down the street. This new stand will be for my relocated bees from the city. I think I will try to move them in the coming couple of weeks.

I must also think about ordering new queens for my current hives.

Beekeeping Insurance - painful and pointless

I was contacted just before Christmas by my insurance agent over the fact I keep bees in my back yard.  I have a suburban lot in Kirkwood, Missouri, (a suburb of St. Louis) and I have two hives in my back yard.

My agent apparently did a routine inspection of my house (I guess as a result of me refinancing my home) and saw the hives and decided this was a risk they could only cover by putting my home on a small farm policy. Coincidentally this cost three times my household insurance policy!  They claimed they were concerned about the elevated risk of people suing me due to stings and possible allergic reactions. Thoughtfully they did add that my future policy would also cover me for selling products that might later make someone ill! I was assured that research had been done with several insurance companies to see if there may be policies that can cover me for keeping bees.  Apparently, I was told, none do! My insurance is currently was with American Family Insurance.

My initial reaction was that this was simply opportunistic.  When asked, my agent told me that most people when confronted with this issue give up keeping bees on their property!  So I can only assume that people who do keep bees in their yards do so either unaware, or in contravention of their insurance policies or they have never had their properties 'inspected' i.e. what the eye doesn't see the heart doesn't grieve for! 

I was hugely irritated by the assumption that I am (or rather my bees) are assumed to be the guilty party if someone gets stung. My agent said that if someone gets stung in my neighbourhood they may be able to sue me without proving the sting came from one of my bees.  The logic is that because I keep bees I have an elevated profile, so I am assumed to be the party responsible! It seems strange that I would have to prove it wasn't one of my bees in order to avoid being sued.  I think proving one way or the other would be extremely difficult. Anyway, I live in an area where there are several backyard beekeepers living within a small radius  - perhaps 200 yards. 

I decided to contact someone about this.  My beekeeper friends didn’t know much - they don’t have insurance! So I put an email into Kim Flottam at Bee Culture, and got a very prompt reply! Unfortunately he could not supply a name of a company or organization but he expressed his interest in finding out what I ended up doing, and he published my account of what happened initially in the letters page of the February issue of Bee Culture.

Armed with some moral support I embarked on my own research, calling up local contacts, other brokers and Texas Insurance and Financial Services who advertise in ABJ. TIFS (like most companies I called) were more used to dealing with company insurance not insuring the hobbyist / backyard beekeeper. But they nevertheless looked into my predicament and were surprised by my insurance company's approach and sympathetic to my plight!

It turns out that the insurance policy is was offered in Missouri (coverage is different across the states) is basically a farm insurance! Not sure why it has to be a farm, but hey, what do I know! The cover includes for third parties (passers by, trespassers I guess) and also covers my liability with respect to the products I sell (up to a ceiling of $2,000). If I sell more I become a business, albeit a small one I guess.  However, the documentation I have received does not include any mention of beekeeping! The only thing I have is a note from the insurance company in an email which states:

"State Auto has not excluded coverage for beekeepers. The key is: Is it a hobby? If it is a business, it is excluded by form. If it is a hobby, coverage is automatic."

Pretty key I'd say!!!

So this left me asking "What have I learnt?". Well, basically that:

1. Insurance companies are still generally greedy, opportunistic racketeers and have no scruples - my early view has not changed much!
2. The risk of keeping bees is low as is borne out by the rarity of anyone ever being sued for negligence - I challenge you to find any!
3. That if your insurance company doesn't specifically exclude beekeeping you're good!
4. If you are challenged by your broker, tell them to show you exactly where in your policy beekeeping is excluded.
5. If you feel you need insurance cover call Texas Insurance and Financial Services - Allison Moseley was very helpful.

Now the dust has settled I find that, overall, my insurance costs have not significantly increased from before I was "outed" as a backyard beekeeper. In fact I now gave a better auto insurance policy, mainly because I was damned if I was going to keep any business with American Family Insurance!  Finally, and possibly the biggest lesson, was learning you should regularly review your insurance for the best deal and don't just assume your broker is doing their best for you!  All they want is easy money and there is nothing easier than sitting back waiting for your clients to renew their policy without thinking, or helping them!!!