Hi there, everyone. Hope that you had a wonderful weekend. I thought I’d add a new Spring thru Late-Summer segment on this blog on the bee hives. There always seems to be some interest in how the hives are doing and this might be a great forum to share and provide a bit of knowledge on beekeeping. It really is a very interesting hobby and a fun thing to do with friends.
We have three hives on some acreage south of Paola. We would keep the hives in our backyard, but our city does not allow that. There are numerous municipalities within the KC Metro that will let you keep hives on your property so, if you have interest, you might want to check your city’s ordinance and find out their requirements.
The clover is coming in and, with the Spring warm up, the bees are out foraging/collecting nectar. We went out and looked at the hives yesterday and they are very strong. This is the time of year we add a box on top of the hive called a “super”. This box is has 10 frames of comb and is where the bees will store their nectar. Once they fill the comb, the bees will cap it with beeswax. These storage areas (frames) will be collected when full. Sometimes, when the hive is very strong, we might add two of those top boxes (supers) if they are running out of space to store.
One item I’d like to note. This time of year is what is referred to as “swarm season” for the honey bees. Sometimes, a large section of the bee colony will take off with the queen. Since they aren’t in the hive any longer, they will need to be looking for a new domicile so to speak. If that turns out to be your tree limb in the backyard, or the eves in your attic, you will want them out of there. The photo above was a swarm hive that we collected and took out to the farm. You can see that they had begun to build out their honeycomb. Call us and we will put you in touch with a swarm removal company (yes, that is a thing) or we will do it ourselves depending on where they are.
Looking forward to our next post and the progress over the summer!
Have a great week,
Terry Jackson — Realtor and Broker Owner of Domicile One Realty
913-488-5623 www.DomicileOne.com
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Domicile One Realty | Kansas City Metro Real Estate Brokerage 
Awesome my hives are still encased in snow and ice but i can still hear them thin there humming away. another 2 months before we get and clover
Hope your bees are out and you are getting a good season. Looking good down here so far. Take care and thanks so much for your comment.