a new bee keeper

[Archie]

Good morning all.

First I want to tell you about my solar wax melter.  I used  plans from Bee Source.  It was easy to build.  The temperature hits a high of about 200 degrees around noon and the wax just melts away and leaves all the junk and dirt in the pan.  The only slight problem is the foam insulation in the box.  It gets so hot the foam start to break down but has not created any problems.  

The other thing is I have a student at the Bennington College who is very interested in bees.  I have bought some equipment for her and she is ready to go.  I will be picking up two 3 pound packages of bees from Better Bee on April 23 and she will be here to help put them in the hives.  

I lost three out five hives the winter.  One was my fault, the other two was just an act of nature.  My learning curve has really gone up.  I am going to make some calls today to try to find some Russian bees.  Wish me luck.

The last few days have been just great weather wise.  I'm back in my old chair watching the girls bringing in lots of pollen.  The Maple trees are starting to blossom and there are a lot of trees around the house.

That's it for now.  Enjoy nature at its best.

Archie