Clark's at Alberta Falls

Today we hiked to Alberta Falls in Rocky Mountain National Park.  It was unlike anything I've ever seen in person. You could feel the cool mist 50 yards away!  I'd love to go there again!

A Momentous Occasion

Everyone in our family can eat an ice cream cone in the car without making a huge mess. This is a day to be celebrated! Maybe with an ice cream cone!

Top Feeder

On both hives, I use a top feeder from Mann-Lake and filled them with a mixture of sugar water with "Pro-Health"

Three Pounds of Liquid Gold!

After harvesting one frame of honey and the remnants of ill-formed comb in the hive, we ened up with over 3 lbs of the lightest-colored, delicious honey!

First Honey Harvest!

On Saturday after inspecting hive number one, we put on a new honey super, and realized it would be okay to harvest one frame of honey. Look how good that frame looks all full of honey!

The Queen in Hive #1 is Busy!

On Saturday, we inspected hive number one and found the colony thriving. Every frame was completely filled, and there were signs of a good ratio of eggs, larvae, and capped brood. The queen is a great clean and is busy at work! See if you can identify her in the picture below!

Picked Up The Bees!

On March 31st, Dan and I drove to Flagstaff, AZ to pick up our two 4 pound "packages" of bees.  I purchased them from Craig Noorlander (Papa Bear's Honey from Englewood, NM).  Craig harvested the packages of Italian bees from a farm in northern California.

I transported the bees in the trunk of the car, with the truck slightly open to allow for some air flow to make sure it didn't get hot (I tied it down to make sure it didn't flap on the 4 hour drive back to Tucson).

Bees are emerging from the hive

After a day of getting situated in hive #1 (the one in my backyard), the bees are starting to emerge!

The Mighty Fisherwoman!

Though Ivy didn't actually catch those fish, she was successful at convincing the family to give them to her!

We had a great afternoon fishing at Rose Canyon Lake!

Photos from Hive #2

All:

Hive #2 (the one at the Hardy's ranch) is doing well. We found the queen! She was out and around on the frames and was laying!

See the attached photos

Re: Photos from Hive #1

Sorry, the previous email didn't include the photos.  Here they are.

On Apr 4, 2014 2:51 PM, "Joshua S. Clark" <joshsclark@gmail.com> wrote:

After four full days of anticipation, I opened hive number one (the one in my backyard) to discover that the Queen was free from her little cage, comb was drawn, I saw honey I, pollen, and little tiny eggs! The queen is laying! Hooray!

Photos from Hive #1

After four full days of anticipation, I opened hive number one (the one in my backyard) to discover that the Queen was free from her little cage, comb was drawn, I saw honey I, pollen, and little tiny eggs! The queen is laying! Hooray!

Great Grandparents

Here's a painting/photo of my great grandparents on my maternal grandfather's (aka Papa's) side.  Their names are Orson Franklin Foote and Matilda Tennessee Parker

The Beehives are Assembled!

So I got infected with a desire to keep bees when I went to visit my brother, Matt, last October.  Since then, I've been researching what it takes to keep bees. Finally I convinced Melissa to let me keep bees, so here we are... in less than a month,  I'll have one hive in our backyard and Jolene will have one hive at her in-laws' ranch.

Ready for Bees!

Hive #1 is built,  setup in our yard, and ready for the bees... Can't wait for March 25th!