Wow, what a weather change - 85 degrees to 58 degrees in one minute.  Bees started heading for the hives as I headed off of the beach to the car.

Another very informative article passed to us via Keweenaw beekeeper Sue Raker.  Tests show most store Honey isn't honey.  According to tests done for Food Safety News, most of the honey in our stores is ultra filtered to remove the pollen -- which is the only way to determine its origin.  A good read and a great reinforcement  for raising your own bees or buying local honey.

In to all of the hives yesterday. The 3 last year hives are really strong. I added more hive body to the two that only had a deep and a medium. They were full of brood and cramped for room--lucky they hadn't swarmed.
The top-bar hives are really interesting. In both of them, I made 8 bars available and in the first they had 7 with full comb and working on the 8th. In the other,6 of 8 were drawn and lots of brood in both. The comb is just....beautiful!
I made 4 more bars available in each hive. Included are some pictures of working the top-bar hive.

          CLICK ON THE IMAGE BELOW FOR A LARGER VIEW AND A CAPTION.

Aloha,
It is good to be back where the weather has some variety though the warm ocean, languid trade winds, and beauty make it pretty special. Although there are beekeepers and lots of local honey on the island, I saw only one bee among the millions of blossoms---strange.
Be aware of the possibilities of early swarming-there have been 3 that I know of.
                           -have you switched upper with lower hive body?
                           -do you have enough hive body--1 deep and a medium is the minimum?
                           -should they swarm, are you prepared to hive them?
I will be going into all of my hives today for a general inspection.
                            -1. Is there lots of brood?
                             -2.Is the brood pattern full and not spotty?
                             -3.Do they have plenty of honey or sugar syrup as necessary.
                             -4.Are they happy and healthy--determined by their smiles.
I want to especially check the progress of the top bar hives. Will let you know how it goes.   

I will be out of town (Hawaii) for the next ten days. The last of my my four daughters will be married there.Hope to attend the farmers market in Waikoloa and then visit a local beekeeper.
Lots of dandelion bloom(not just in the city of Marquette) in all areas now. Other flowers are beginning also. Bees are very active in the new top-bar hives--making comb already.

Feel free to keep the questions coming---I will do smoke signals from Hawaii.
Joel

Bees are here and hived by most of the club members.  For the most part the bees were in great shape.  Mine were hived on Thursday and a quick check on Saturday revealed that all was well and the queens were out of their cages.

New hives require feeding unless you have honey stores.  Several have asked about the length of the "feeding season".  In general, feeding should continue to mid June for optimal hive strength for the July nectar flow. Let me know if you have any questions on this.
Many THANKS to Jessica for all of her efforts in coordinating the purchase and delivery of  our bees. 

Some pictures of hiving a new top-bar hive under the watchful eye of my 4 year old grandson.

Please click on Superior Bee Club for bee pickup information.

Bees will be in Manistique late tonight. Jess will contact everyone on pickup times wed. or thurs.