Been pretty quiet about my bees

I have had an issue with my City Council. I just did NOT feel up to talking yet.

Middle of October I got a citation stating my bees were not allowed under "nuisance" ordinance as a danger to the public. I was NOT in a good mood! After all my research and talking to people NOW they say I can't have them! After a full summer!

So I request a hearing. And wait for a date, and wait. Week yesterday (Oct 28), After two weeks, I go to City Hall. 'Why do I not have a hearing date?" "oh you do, it is Nov 4" Remember I have been THREE WEEKS worrying!

So last Friday I FINALLY get a letter from city lawyer. States the date (finally a notice! Of three days!) and that if found a "nuisance" the city will take immediate action!

Crap! In other words if I lose I get a FIVE HUNDRED DOLLAR FINE IMMEDIATELY! And they get someone to clear out my bees AND I GET CHARGED FOR IT!

So yesterday morning my ladies go on vacation! Out to the country 15 miles away! They can't get them there lol..

And as being attitudinal, I set up my nuc box in the same spot my hive was! If they want to give me a ticket for that I get to win in court rofl...jerks!

7pm..off to hearing I go. Sit and chat, after all, went to school, hubby works with, or kids had as teacher, or a cousin with all council members Rofl..I felt it was important to smooze!

First words, What do you want to say? (*&*&^*& ..no I did NOT say it rofl...

First sentence I said "First I want to know what you definition as "danger to public is"? Silence....uh oh..not good I thought! So I start my spiel. Honeybees don't attack like yellow jackets (we have lots of those!) or bumble bees. They won't chase you down! THEY DEFEND..

Next issue ...stings..has anyone been stung in your yard this year? NO, and on I go with the " hubby 10ft away in sandals, shorts, tank top while I tear hive down completely for Aug. inspection. WITH NO STINGS!

Got their attention!

To make a long nerve racking story short, I WON! Ok..I won stage one! Bees are NOT to be considered under "nuisance" ordinance  

They are now looking into other city ordinances! And they asked if I would be interested in giving some info! OH yea Oh yea!

NOT going to forget that they could still ban, but looking good!

But my ladies will be on vacation in the country till something is definite.
I will keep my nuc box up so they will not think I am giving up!

Oh and the "complaint" that someone did that started it? One of the council was really ticked the person did NOT show up! She kept at it as a "spite complaint"! She was very verbal about it! Maybe that helped!

Chief of police said there was one other incident that they made them get rid of the bees. But they never asked for a hearing so it never went before the council so no "precedent" was set. Score one!

This is the condensed version lol....

Lesson Learned

Oh my, lol, did I goof last week!

When I made Alex's sleep pants Heather called and said they were huge. Then she said she washed the material and the fit perfect.

So I proceeded to make him a pair of pants from some blue twill I bought the week before. I made patch pockets to put on the outside of the lower leg. I made an elastic waist. I messed up and cut the pants too short so I made them different, added some material to the bottom like some of his store bought pants.

He tried them on. THEY WERE HUGE!!!!

ROFLMAO!! I forgot we washed the material first this time! So the pants are in the box for NEXT year!

I bought enough to make about 4 pair for him and a couple for Danny so no shortage of material. Next time I will take each section in 1/2" and shorten the waist 2" and hem them up another 1". I still want to make the legs like I did those by accident! And I think I will make the pocket bigger. I used the measurements from one of Danny's pairs so they really could be bigger for Alex.

Live and learn. Ok..sew and make mistakes! Will happen all my life...at least this one wasn't a failure! Just a start on NEXT winter's clothes lol....

I really liked how they turned out though!!

Ramblings

I haven't really written much this month I know.

Been an up and down month!

Went on vacation (ok, camping right outside of town) but still have the boys routine to follow. Started Camping on the 1st. Then on the 6th we got notice that we had to get rid of the bee hives! I filed an appeal for a hearing on the 16th but not heard yet when. I have to get rid of the bees by the 27th so the better hurry up! If I don't hear from them by the time the mail goes on Friday I will be at city hall demanding an extension.

Heather is looking into getting a mortgage for an acreage now. She is really ticked. So we may be moving in the spring. We are all just tired of all the ordinances. We can get mauled by a pitbull now but we need protection from the little bees.We'll see what happens.

Update on the Bee Hive

My bees no likey me today lol..I did a complete inspection. Hotter than blazes! 91° and humid with a light breeze. But we are looking at a chance of rain tomorrow and then turning hotter! I needed to see what my bees were doing.

Ben sat out there and wrote the notes as I hollered them at him. He is such a good sport! 

So I have a frame by frame note of what is going on inside my hive.

I have 1.6 medium supers of honey and several frames of brood and honey. They still have a few frames to build comb on. So I don't think I will feed this fall. Still about 4/5 weeks to go.

I had a few frames that just looked like they were empty, but I could not look close cause my glasses were fogged with sweat lol.. So I took a picture of one of them.

Surprise!

This...

 

Shows up as eggs...

 

And larvae...

And lots of frames that look like this....




Changed out my top super for one with a hole for a top entrance. With the weather we have and the chance of getting a couple of feet of snow like usual, I decided to go with top entrance in the winter.

And frames of honey are HEAVY! Makes for heavy supers lol..
I also changed the large concrete blocks on the top of the ant tray with smaller ones. The hive would be way to tall for a 5'2" shorty to lift off full supers!

Naptime Project

I have figured out a way to get some of my crafts done even with babysitting the little one!
 I will have Naptime projects!

Doll Apron

I found some cute bee material. I got the pattern of ebay. It will have the yellow as the sleeve ruffle, pocket trim, and waistband/ties. The yellow is prettier than what shows.

Material washed, pattern cut out, and thread bought. Because of course I didn't have the right shade of yellow.I so can not wait!

The pattern

The material

All cut out and ready to go

All painted

They are painted a waiting! Connie was over visiting while Danny was napping. So she had fun helping.

Bee hives

I got them around and set up to air out.

The tray is to put water in case I get ants. May not be what I want. I will see..

Hives ordered

Oh my! I ordered my main hive set up this week! Hives (x2) veil/jacket, smoker, tool, velcro leg straps, bee brush. Oh my! $380 bucks! Expensive hobby! But the honey will be sooo good!
I still have to get my gloves, and I am going to make covers to slip on over my jeans!
Now to figure out exactly where I am going to set them up! Every time I make up my mind; I change it! I think on the concrete pad by our old back door. It is on the south side of the house and isn't used anymore. The kids don't play over there very often. Plus they need to learn to leave them alone anyway!
Now to decide if we are going to make a stand or use concrete blocks or what!
I am leaning towards the blocks because the hives could weigh 3-4 hundred pounds when full setup!
I am going nutz lol..

Bee Keeping

Well, I did it. I started working towards becoming a beekeeper. I have always dreamed of having a bee hive. Cost was $35 for the course but that includes year membership in the state group. Apiary.. have to get used to that lol...
First, a diagram of hives I will have,

I started a beekeeping course at the county extension office in January. It is 7 weeks long.
Craig Green is the instructor.
This is a very involved hobby! And NOT cheap lol..
Monday I stopped in Knoxville at the Farm and Home where another beekeeper has supers for sale. I want the mediums, 6 5/8" deep. These will still weight about 40lbs when they have honey!

I am going to have three of them for my hive body. It was $13 dollars for painted super x 3 and $2.75/frame x 40. Total cost, $162. I will add more for honey supers as needed.
I need to get my basic hives next payday. They will only have one super with them.
Will be about $105 each. I have done some research into what I want.
I found a pattern for a veil today. I will try to make my own. And get a wide brim hat to wear it over. I am also going to get a white jacket.
Some blogs talk about using non latex gloves so you still can feel when working with the bees. Others don't wear gloves at all. I will get a pair of leather ones to have first lol...
I also need to get a smoker and a 5-1 painter tool. That is the start.
I have bought several books I am reading. I want to get "Beekeeping for Dummies" also. Can't have too many books!
Need to get benedryl and make sure my epipen is still good lol.
Bees come in about the 20th of April. Give or take a week. That will be 2# cages at $73  apiece, $146.
And I have to study how to introduce them. I want to practice that before they get here!

This is going to be fun and scary! Um and expensive to start!