Mind Your Own Beeswax!

Nectar Flow

2010-05-04T09:10:00.003-04:00

If you've been feeding your bees, you can stop. The nectar flow has started and will probably last the rest of the month into June. You need to add supers to your hives if you haven't done so to take advantage of comb building and honey production. If you're adding supers of foundation, only add one super at a time. At least 70-80% of frames need to be used before adding another super.

A Late April Assessment

2010-04-22T15:35:00.002-04:00

The queen's egg laying has started to decline a bit in my established hives as a minor nectar flow started a few weeks ago. I'm waiting for the big nectar flow to start about any time now. Few of my hives were interested in swarming this year despite their strength. There might be some swarms in the coming weeks, but most of this will start to dissipate as the main nectar flow begins. I've got my fingers crossed that this will be a year that will make up for last. I've a lot of comb that needs to be pulled this year.

Things to look for: queen cells, nectar, new comb construction

Getting Busy

2010-03-25T08:45:00.001-04:00

The bees ramped things up these last two weeks. It seems the early pollen producers (maples, willows, etc.) are producing heavily, and the bees have had several good days to forage. Several of my hives have whole frames filled with pollen. One hive had even started making queen cups, but after a thorough check, the queen had not laid in any of them yet. Queen cups and cells are a sure sign that the bees have plans to swarm in the not-so-distant future, especially this time of year. My current objectives are to continue feeding 1:1 sugar syrup until the major nectar flow begins and to start making splits for increase and to head off swarming.

I've got some packages coming in a week. I intend on using some brood from my strong hives to supplement the packages so they start out more like nucs. I also have several supers to build and get foundation in. I should have had these finished by now, but I've been busy.

Observations in Early March

2010-03-11T19:38:00.002-05:00

I looked into a few hives on Sunday. All the hives had brood, and the foragers were bringing in maple pollen. If you currently have hives, the strong ones may be thinking about swarming in the next couple of weeks.

I've been moving the frames of brood (and queen) to the bottom brood chamber and putting the empties above so the bees can move upward as they need room. I use all mediums, so moving stuff around is easy. I've also been feeding the hives that are light on stores a 1:1 sugar syrup.

Mountain Hives

2010-03-10T16:45:00.000-05:00

Well, I played hookie from school - needed a mental health day and nothing is better for the soul than a day with Clayton and my bees.
We headed up to Ararat (near Levering Orchard) to see whats what and to put a little feed on the bees if they needed it. Last time we checked on them, they were all pretty heavy except for one that felt a little light. When we got there, the weather was perfect (about 70) and it was around 10 am. We stood there and observed them coming and going for a few minutes, then we got the smoker lit and suited up. I wore my full gear (learned my lesson last year when I got popped on the face 3 times and swelled up into the most grotesque looking person ever - I would have scared Frankenstein.) One hive had very little action so I was worried about that one. The first 2 hives I went into had clusters about the size of large grapefruit. I found the queens right away (not hard when there aren't many bees) they were laying and had some nectar put up, but the food stores were low so we put a gallon or so on them. The third hive had a cluster the size of my fist, and I have small hands, so that's not saying much. Saw the queen right away and before I could even lift a frame out, she flew away! Damn! Guess she's not a laying queen. My mentor says that sometimes, they will come back so I just left the hive there. But, I'll probably be breaking it down next time I go up. The fourth hive was a complete deadout! Bummer! The cluster was just inches away from plenty of honey. They even had a full super of honey above them. It's true what they say, bees won't even move 2 inches if it means they have to break the cluster or leave the brood. The fifth hive still had plenty of honey and the cluster was grapefruit size like the first 2. So, I have to recoup my losses by doing some splits when they are ready. In spite of the losses, I have to say that I felt so relaxed at the end of the day...until the baby started throwing up...ugh, back to reality.

Bee School - Day 2

2010-02-27T13:53:00.000-05:00

     Mmmmm...Elaine brought donuts today! I meant to pick up a raspberry filled - ended up with a lemon filled - hate it when that happens! We beekeepers are all about the food!
     Anyways, today Buddy went over more on bee anatomy, bee castes (worker, drone, queen...) and brood nest inspection.
     I brought my Jr. Beekeeper, Alex with me today.  Beekeeping is a good way to stay connected with my teen. He and I ran a station on when/how and why to do hive inspections. He helped me get everything together last night down at the honey house, again really good bonding time. I like helping with bee school - it is nice to meet so many interesting people, plus I get a little refresher course each year right before spring beekeeping starts. We aren't meeting next Saturday for school, but there will be a FCBA meeting. I'm looking forward to bee school in 2 weeks.

First Day of Bee School

2010-02-20T17:18:00.001-05:00

     Wow, what a turn-out! We had about 85 people come to learn about bees today. I'm so happy to see that so many people are signing on to take care of our precious little honey bees. It is such a gratifying thing to do. You might feel like you are being a good environmentalist when you recycle and conserve, but nothing makes me feel more like a steward of the earth like keeping bees.
     I always wonder when I look out over the class of new, "recruits", what on earth put the, "bug" (haha, I made a joke) in their head to keep bees. Maybe some are gardeners and want the pollination services of the bees. Maybe some just love science. Maybe some need something therapeutic to do. Maybe some inherited bees and/or equipment from a relative and figured they might as well put them to use.  Or maybe, some just really love honey. But I will issue this caveat to any of you who are hoping to strike it rich with all the honey you are gonna make and sell. It ain't gonna happen! Now if you plan on maintaining 75 or more hives, then you might make some money, but let me tell you, you will earn every penny of it. It is hard work!
   So, what did we talk about today at Bee School? Let's see, mostly bee biology - and how to assemble hives. Christopher and I had a station on types of foundations and how to assemble frames. I hate to bombard students with so much information but on the other hand, I don't want to leave anything out. I remember how I felt when I took the class - information overload! I wasn't even sure what to buy to get started. I guess the best advice that I can give to new beekeepers is - just dive in and do it. You'll make mistakes, but whoop-dee-doo!

Bee School

2010-02-20T00:27:00.001-05:00

So, tomorrow is the start of "Bee School" and yes, you gotta go to school to become a beekeeper. This is my, hmmmm, 5th year? Or 4th? as a beekeeper ...I dunno. Anyways, I'm off to Bee School tomorrow to help teach the next generation of beekeepers. I still don't really know what to do when I open a hive. I wish I was like George, my precious mentor (I miss him), he could get outta the truck and know pretty much from the way the beeyard smelled, what was going on. He showed me some pretty amazing stuff my first few years and I was simply wowed by his strong connection to the bees. One time he told me I could help him with a hive that was fixin' to swarm. It was about 4 or 5 boxes high (brood chambers, heretoafter) of brood (that's fancy talk for eggs and larva) and had oohhhh, maybe 30 queen cells drawn out. He said he was gonna create a "false swarm" and I was just glad to be invited. Being a fairly new beekeeper (and still not too fond of getting stung) I suited up. George laughed at me and said I looked like an astronaut as he stood there in short sleeves, no veil and no gloves. I actually think he liked getting stung. The task was to cut out all the queen cells, then shake about 60- 70 thousand bees onto the ground so that they could crawl back into the hive. When you shake those bees out, they just pile up on the ground, then you take a stick and make a sort of ramp for them to crawl up to get back into the hive. You have to search for the queen to make sure she gets back in and if she isn't marked, it's like playing to hardest game of "Where's Waldo" you've ever played. The strangest thing is they don't fly back into the hive - it's like they have forgotten they can fly.
I was kidding when I said you have to go to Bee School to become a beekeeper - don't get me wrong, it helps, but the real education comes from actually doing it (kinda like parenting, except this time you have 60,000 kids -mostly girls) Oh, and having a mentor is a MUST! Just don't ask me - talk about the blind leading the blind!
So, this new blog is for my new beekeeper friends and my old ones too (who can sit back and laugh at me "pretend" to know more than I do) and for anyone else who just thinks what I have to say is interesting. And, that's about it for today - check back tomorrow and I'll let you know how the first day of Bee School went.