you will need a sugar feeder right away. when you hive the package, the bees will be without any food supplies nor any honeycomb. they have a lot of work to do rigth away, and you need to provide them with food until they get the hive set up.

as soon as you hive the package and put on the supers, put the sugar feeder on top of the super. drizzle a little of the sugar syrup down into the supers so the bees can follow it up to the feeder.

there are many styles of sugar feeders, and i’ve found you will get some drowned bees in your feeder. ( bees can’t swim )
When you are pouring the syrup into the feeder, you will get some bees flying around you and some may land in the syrup. lift them out with your hive tool.

the top mount sugar feeders with wood floaters in them work best, i’ve found. i don’t have these kind, and i get drowned bees when i use the feeder.

for honey extraction, we borrow an extractor from a beekeeper in a nearby town. you’ll only use this a few times a year, and if a neighbor already has one, ask. its proper to return the extractor cleaned, and with a jar of your honey.

love that one.

we just finished our first year of beekeeping, and here’s what i’ve learned:

• the hand crafted hive parts are not necessary. all my woodenware is from a supplier and it is all good and works well. the bees will use propolis to seal up any gaps they dont like, and they will use it to coat all sorts of stuff inside the hive. i think the most important thing is to paint them well. don’t paint the insides of the hive bodies.

• the assembly of all this is easy, it just takes time. a nail gun or brad nailer is handy.

• you don’t need the heavy duty gloves. I use those blue nitrile gloves, they allow you to have much better feel, and i have not been stung thru the gloves. car mechanics use these gloves. a friend of mine has those big gloves, and after he worked with me once and saw the blue gloves, he now uses them.

• instead of a separate veil and coveralls, i’d suggest a veil jacket combo, and the round veils have better visibility, no blind spots.

• for people who want to come watch, i have a few simple mosquito veils you can buy at camping stores. this allows people to stand right at the hive and watch. the visitors need to wear long sleeve shirts and tuck their pants into their socks, just like i do when i work the hive. Your visitors, or family are not going to get stung unless they do something to aggravate the bees, like step on them. ( i have done this )

• i use all medium supers, or hive bodies, which are the 6 5/8 height ones. The regular supers, or hive bodies, are real heavy when they are full of bees, pollen, brood, and honey. I have a back injury, and even the mediums, when full of honey are quite heavy.
for the brood, i use 3 medium supers in place of the 2 large supers.

• plastic frame foundation is one of those things that people have many opinions about. I use wax foundation for the brood supers, and plastic foundation for the honey supers. This system has worked well.

• i suggest a screened bottom board with a wood slide that can be put under the screen, this allows mite counts and allows you to close up the hive in winter. You want some air flow, but the wood slide will allow that.

just my 2 cents here, others will have completely different thoughts.. thx, eric.

I’m probably not going to try to grow any in my garden since they did so poor. Although, I think I will grow some again next year in the community garden where they did so well.

Cheers.

They are on twitter as GlenPrairie. If you are into twitter you could drop a note and ask!

That is ridiculous. I only have one or two in the garden every year. I can’t imagine having “thousands” of them around.

Where are you in Wheaton? North Side or South side? We’re northsiders, near the train tracks.

MrBrownThumb @ Chicago Garden

I am surprised that they designers of the mower did not take height into consideration and supplied an adjustable handle.

I know of one garden center north of the city that comes to me very well recommended…

Meinke’s Garden Center on Touhy Ave. in Niles, IL

I have been using the Park Seed plug system but I just picked up a 40 cell APC. for 10.00 one can’t go wrong. I was placing an order with them for the row cover anyway so adding the APC system allowed me to use a 15% off coupon CNB83002 for purchases over 25$.

Also…Where did you get your row cover material? I never got around to cutting up that piece you loaned me so i am looking to buy some to use on the raised beds this spring.

Christina

An indoor red worm composter is another option, and it’s so much cheaper – worms and a plastic container with a lid are all it takes.

?

thx, eric.

Great website. I hope to have my first garden in the Chicagoland area this year. I am transplant from Tennessee, so Zone 5 is new.

I am interested in the cold frame in flickr pics. Did you build this cold frame or is it a kit. ( I am really hoping it is a kit) If it is a kit, can you please share where you purchased it or the brand of the kit. It look nice and functional.

P.S. I am also looking through the Fedco seeds catalog to put together my order. I haven’t had a garden in 4 years so I am excited.

Thanks

Sam