When I get home from work, I go outside and watch them – it feels perverse. Like I should tell them to rub the lotion on their skin or something.“Killing is not so easy as the innocent believe.” – Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince I’ve said it once but I want to be clear…
Tag: stories
Wedding at Dr. D’s
My energy is split between what I have to do and what I want to do. However, it is absolutely impossible to devote time to everything. Family, work, and sleep are non-negotiable. So I am left to juggle downtime, beekeeping, writing, and inventing. While it sounds like a rationalization of my shortcomings, the truth is…
Failure: My First Hive Removal
He looked so happy… He had no idea ofthe carnage to come. My fortune cookie Saturday night read, “Failure is the chance to do better next time.” Saturday, Noah and I performed our first hive removal. While this could prove to be a good little side business, we didn’t charge. One reason that we didn’t…
Summer of 2015 Final Tally: 7-Hives
Dale (father-n-law) moving supers Hello beekeeping fans, Well, it is now the end of summer and time to tally my efforts for the 2015 year. No suspense, the answer is 7 hives. So here is a summery of this years splits. I started with 4 hives but one of those died shortly after the spring…
Just Bathroom Humor
My wife and I had planned to harvest honey last week but the temperature here reached 103F with a Heat Index of nearly 115F. That compounded with the fact that I was at the doctor’s office or hospital all last week with either my mom (who has a torn rotator cup) or my father-n-law (who…
Supersedure – Queen Cell
Very little knowledge is ever gained through success – it is through failure that we truly learn. I’m sure I am not the first one to say that but nonetheless, it’s absolutely true. So it is with beekeeping. As Andrew Davis said in, The Wonders of Beekeeping, “Bees survive, not because of the beekeepers…
Failure to Thrive
Failure to Thrive is a medical term to describe children who are not gaining weight as expected and have poor height growth. However, today is seems like a good description of my beehives. Today I visited my hives at Dr. D’s place – I have been avoiding my 3 hives at the old farm since…
The Breath of Death – oh how my bees hate CO2
Found on iwastesomuchtime.com My mother had a stroke about ten years ago. She has recovered but the stoke left the left-side of her body paralyzed. After a few months of therapy, she was able to walk short distances and is able to live alone – though my brother lives across the street from her and…
Bees Can’t Swim – Feeding My Bees.
“Great is our terror of the unknown” – Titus Livius. The day after I found wax moths in one of my hives I placed cedar chips across the hive entrance of all of my hives. I also sprinkled a little on the top bar of the infected hive. It seemed like a good idea at…
The Beast – A story of a angry hive
Okay, I want to fill you in so far on my dealings with The Beast. The Beast is what I call my most aggressive hive. In truth, I would not be surprised to find out that the hive contains Africanized Bees but it most likely contains an aggressive Caucasian verity found in Southern Mississippi. At…
Repairing Rotted Supers
On first inspection of my ruined apiary, I counted about 100 supers. However, I soon found out that the decade of neglect, water damage, and mice had destroyed nearly all them to one degree or another. My friend Marvin reassured me that things were not nearly as grim as they seemed and encouraged me to…
The New "Bee"ginning
As previously stated I bought 50 bee hives in 2006. At the time the plan was for me and my brother to go into the business together and build up to 1000 hives. Since I worked offshore and was between wives at the time, I had a bit of disposable income. So I put up…
Born To Keep Bees – My First Paid Publication
In 2006 I began keeping bees. In 2009 I sent the following story to Farm and Ranch Living – It was published later that year. David pretending to be stung – then he was actually stung. Born to Keep Bees, by Wm. Bryan Layton Apiology is a way to commune with nature while learning about the…
Honey Homestead 