Hanlon Hill Honey Farm
(Page 3 of 4)
November/December 1977
By the Mother Earth News editors
Back in the apiary, things were progressing ... poorly, Somewhat panicked by the loss of nearly a third of our bees (we now had only 17 or 18 hives left out of the original 25), 1 slavishly followed the advice of the local beekeeper and "fed" my poor bees sugarwater with a watering can. The feed washed down over the insects, onto the bottom board of the hive, and out onto the ground. I admit this did appear peculiar at the time ... but who was I to question the advice of someone who had raised bees for 40 years?
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My winged friends continued to struggle and die ... as well they should have, since I was both starving and drowning them simultaneously. Had this gone on, no doubt our first year with bees would've been our last. Fortunately, though, help was on the way in the form of the local bee in. spector, who moseyed by in July to inspect our hives for disease. (Lord knows, I hardly had enough bees to support a disease. I now strongly suspect he came by just to lend me a hand.)
"Your bees are starving," the inspector observed laconically.
"Oh," I said lamely. "What do I do about it?" In five minutes, he had me feeding the bees properly, using a syrup-filled tin can with holes punched in one end. (The bees sip daintily from the openings.) A one-week course at Penn State followed, after whichtaking to heart the advice of the bee inspector (and the college prof essor)-Jean and I began to speak softly to the bees in their language, instead of cursing at them in ours. And lot Our hives began-at last-to prosper (although we took only seven of them into the following winter).
We have since read, by the way, that of all homesteading skills, bee. keeping is the hardest to pick up just by reading a book. "Hands on" ex. perience (as we used to say in the computer biz) is what the novice needs most ... that, plus accurate advice from a helpful beekeeper. To this we can only add, "Amen!"
Over the two years that followed, we continued to learn a great deal. With the help of a knowledgeable neighbor, we built the "honey house" in which we now extract honey (see photo). We also brought 100 hives in from Indiana ... hives which were so strong that, in two weeks, many of them had produced 60 pounds of honey apiece!
Another large hive purchase (this time 200 colonies from Ohio) set us back terribly, however. The first time Jeanne and I examined the hives we were to buy, they were "bubbling over" with bees. The equipment was sturdy, and the paint glistened. When we returned a month later with a truck to haul them away, however, the hives weren't the same. Somehow, the paint had all peeled off, and many of the boxes' protective outer covers had to be discarded before they disintegrated. Also, quite a few of the colonies lacked queens. We'd been bamboozled ... but we needed the bees so badly, we took the lot anyway (and at the original price).
