Last year in the farm stand we sold honey from our beehives at Dragonfly Farm. We ended up harvesting about 7 gallons. We love having the hives and the honey for friends, neighbors, and customers, so I wanted to post about our journey as beekeepers thus far.
When we first got started on the farm, the pandemic was underway. Due to the stay-at-home restrictions, our local conservatory, which is about thirty minutes from us, had its beekeeper certification classes online, instead of the in person classes they held before the pandemic. This saved us hours of driving to the conservatory after a workday to learn about beekeeping. We could just stay in our offices at home to attend the classes. We had reading assignments and I took copious notes. Once we completed the class and felt prepared, we ordered our first two nucs. A nuc is a nucleus colony including five frames, a queen, and a small nucleus of bees to get a hive started.
We brought them home in the spring of 2021 and got started. Our beekeeping group gave us the contact information for our “bee mentor” and she came and took a look to make sure we were set up properly to get started. We kept the hives alive, checking on them weekly, and feeding them when there was less pollen in our environment as summer ended. The weather cooled and we thought we had plenty of provisions for them. However, we lost both hives in the cold winter.
We started again the next spring, in 2022. We started with just one hive, to restart. We froze the frames we had from the previous hives to make sure they were healthy, but could also give a good start to our next group. We ordered another nuc. They started off great. We put insulation on them in the winter, and they survived. The bees were so healthy that early in the spring of 2023 a swarm split off. We caught it and started a second hive. We ended up losing our original hive later. However, the newer group was so healthy, and had so much honey from the group before, that we collected honey from them twice, once in spring and oce in summer. Then we left plenty for them to have for their winter food. We used the wax to make lip balm, create some fire starters, and candles in orange peels, and sold honey in a variety of sizes.
We went into the winter with one strong hive. We insulated it, provided food for them, and thought they should survive the winter. We had a warm spell and I checked on them. They were doing great. Then we had about two weeks of a cold snap and when I checked on them afterward, they were all dead. They still had plenty of food, so we aren’t sure what happened to them. They should have been warm enough and had sufficient food supply. My heart was completely broken to open it and find them gone.
We took apart the hives, thoroughly cleaned the pieces and are ready for some new bees. We have ordered two nucs for this spring, spring 2024, and we are hoping to get it right this time. Wings crossed!
Dragonfly Farm 