10 Saturday Feb 2018
Posted in beekeeping, honey recipe, recipe
Tags
I love everything in this recipe. Fruit, cream, honey, roasted nuts. What’s not to like?
Tropical and seasonal fruits, dry fruits are used. Dressing is done with fresh cream and honey. Here I present fresh and juicy fruit salad with honey n cream dressing to relish during festive days or anytime. Njoy Cooking, Serving n Savoring!
Continued…
Read full recipe with pictures here: Fruit Salad With Honey N Cream Dressing — akshayakumbham
09 Friday Feb 2018
Posted in beekeeper education, beekeeping, mentoring
Tags
Accepting What Is
As the local beekeeping association Secretary I received lots of email and often it involved a request from non members wanting to get into beekeeping. They’d done their homework which, mostly, has consisted of surfing Facebook and Youtube. They’d also asked lots of people how to best get started in beekeeping. After polling the answers they’d start to see two particular suggestions rising to the top: 1) Join your local association and 2) get a mentor. From there they deduced that they can most likely accomplish both by sending an email to the local association asking for a mentor to help them get started.
I had a very nice, polite email I send back moving them in the right direction to accomplish both getting them in contact with experienced beekeepers and a course of action to increase their likelihood of success.
As beekeepers here know, it takes numbers to be successful. If you don’t believe me make a split with insufficient nurse bees or capped brood. Timing is essential as well, start a task at the proper time and all goes easily. Success with a swarm in early April is a piece of cake; success with a swarm in August is difficult. And so it is with folks not yet knowledgeable of the mechanics of beekeeping. They want bees and a mentor not knowing the amount of effort it will take nor the proper timing in order to increase the chance of success that first year.
You too will get inquiries from friends and people you come in contact with once they know you are a beekeeper. Be prepared to help them get off to a realistic start if you want them to be successful. And that’s what it’s really about isn’t it? One hundred new beekeepers joining the association is great but not so impressive if half fail their first season because they had unrealistic expectations.
Let’s look at the “getting a mentor” concern. The old school model of getting a mentor went something like this: The mentee sought out a mentor and agreed to spend the first year helping the mentor in the mentor’s bee yard. The mentee would show up at an agreed on day and time and look over the shoulder of the mentor as he went through his hives, talking as he did so. Watch, listen, learn. Move boxes as needed and help the mentor as the tasks necessitated. This would go on for a season and the next Spring the mentor would make a split and give it to the mentee to take care of at the mentor’s yard. The mentee would work his new hive and the mentor would look over his shoulder to make sure he didn’t make any mistakes and was able to correctly comment on what he was seeing and the correct action to take. At the end of that season the mentee took his hive home and became a beekeeper.
Somewhere along the way we have deviated from this model. Now we take new comers into the hobby, put them through a 20 hour course and expect them to survive. It’s like making an early March split – risky. Nowadays the mentee wants the mentor to make visits to the mentee’s yard for instruction. And inasmuch as the clubs and associations have promoted getting the newcomers’ bees perhaps that seems reasonable to take some responsibility for assisting with issues that will naturally come up.
If we are going to move to a new model then perhaps we need to clarify and revise some terms. As it now stands we’re mixing and matching old school and new school. The new beekeeper wants a mentor, bees, and instruction. That’s reasonable. The problem is one of numbers though (remember that early Spring Splits analogy?). Most clubs can’t provide a 1:1 mentor for 100 new beekeepers every year nor should anyone expect mentors to volunteer to run around town visiting mentees weekly. So we must marry the expectations of the new beekeeper and the club acting as mentor. Each side gives and gets a bit and both walk away with more.
We do that by returning to the old school model whereby the mentee gets his/her education by visiting the mentor, but no longer at the mentor’s beeyard nor by a single mentor. The new model has the mentee visiting many mentors at events like 1) monthly meetings, 2) local educational events, 3) dinner before meetings, 4) online discussion groups 5) State Conferences, 6) connecting through fellowship with bee buddies, community outreach, etc. The list goes on… The mentee that wants to learn this art, like historically, has the resources offered and available and they go to learn – as before. The club or association organizes monthly meetings, presentations, events, newsletters, club library, allows for face to face fellowship time monthly, and online discussion groups. All things considered, the new beekeeper has more opportunity nowadays to gather knowledge than they used to with the old school model AND they get their bees their first year.
If you’ve suffered through my ruminations this far, I commend your endurance. I gave two similar presentations at this year’s state conference. I encourage the new beekeeper to take advantage of what is. There are multiple opportunities available to new beekeepers – more than enough to succeed. I also push the concept of bee buddies and fellowship for those that need a 1:1 relationship. Occasionally I hear someone complain about not having a 1:1 mentor for more personal, individual instruction as they had hoped. That’s unfortunate because they are cheating themselves out of the good of what is while wasting time wishing for the unlikelihood of what they envisioned. The fact of the matter is they have a room full of mentors at every meeting, at every gathering, at every conference. My mom used to say, “Go do the very best you can with what you’re offered. You do everything You can and You’ll succeed.” Mom was smart at marrying “what is” with success.
08 Thursday Feb 2018
Posted in beekeeping, humor
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A bit of humor here from Rusty. Well, I think she’s being humorous. Let’s hope so!
Many of my web visitors are soon-to-be beekeepers preparing for their first delivery of honey bees. They have read, attended classes, and talked to other beekeepers. Some write to me with a few last-minute questions. But what they envision and what I foresee are completely different.
I was reminded of this beekeeping reality while watching a beginner video on YouTube. While sappy music played in the background, a lilting voice explained that once you become a beekeeper you will embrace nature for the first time! You will become attuned to weather and blooms! You will blossom as a person!
Wow. I imagine a barefoot flower child romping through a verdant meadow, a ring of daisies in her hair and a bouquet of dandelions clutched in her fist. Beekeeping is your entry into a world of peace and love and grass stains. Kumbaya in a box.
Read the full article here: Beekeeping will change you for the worse — Honey Bee Suite
07 Wednesday Feb 2018
Posted in beekeeping, diseases, honey bees
Mr Woodley and Restocking
Let’s first look at Mr Woodley’s experiences, he writes in 1917:-
“I, as a scourged member of the craft, am not chastened by being wiped out [by the “Isle of Wight” Disease], or nearly so, twice…I set about repairing the damage at the outset with some success; in fact, by using formalin and Lysol in equal proportions spread on strips of thin board and pushed in at the entrances twice weekly of many of my hives, the first spring of the outbreak of “Isle of Wight” disease I preserved every stock so treated, and I quite thought I had got a remedy, and had a good take of honey from these hives, but the following winter and spring I lost most of them. Then I bought new swarms, both English and Dutch. Both strains were hived in disinfected hives, boiled frames, new foundations. Again using most of the advertised remedies, I had a fair take of honey.”1
Read the fully article here: Restocking Honeybees — Beehive Yourself
06 Tuesday Feb 2018
Posted in beekeeping, education
Don’t listen to me. That’s my advice, right there. I don’t advise new beekeepers. There’s no point in my adding to the confusion and overwhelm of someone just beginning beekeeping. I teach beekeeping classes, do presentations and offer hands-on apprenticeship opportunities for people interested in apiculture. Could be beginners, could be long timers. Who knows.…
via Big Bear’s Beekeeping Advice For New Beekeepers — Bee Smart beekeeping project
05 Monday Feb 2018
Posted in beekeeping
An excellent assessment of the beekeeping learning curve with some good advice.
In 2016 I developed an urge to add bees to our thriving urban farm here in Emerald Hills. The gardens were producing year round, our chickens were productive, and I was exploring a lot of interesting technology for monitoring and irrigation. I needed a new project, honey bees.
I bought a hive from a guy on Craigslist who discovered one of his children was allergic to bee stings and decided to sell off his hives. Easy, everything was already functioning. I put the hive in my garden in what I would later learn is a bad location (afternoon sun only and positioned in a manner that wind would blow into the opening) and didn’t really know what I was looking at when I inspected the hive.
Lesson learned: I didn’t know what I didn’t know.
(continued at link below)
Read the entire article here: My two year beekeeping journey — Altamont Farms
31 Wednesday Jan 2018
Tags
Saying goodbye to January.
Posted by Beekeeping365 | Filed under beekeeping, beekeeping calendar, beekeeping seasons, calendar, seasons
29 Monday Jan 2018
Posted in beekeeping, varroa, varroa destructor, varroa mites
I posted this last year and, with the start of our season coming soon, I can’t help but repost. I few years ago I assessed my colonies preseason and found they needed a mite cleaning. The difference in their appearance and performance was notable. They were the prettiest bees that spring – vigorous and prolific. Since then I make a point of getting my bees off to a good start early in the spring buildup. Enjoy.
To a carpenter with a hammer everything is a nail. And so it is with me. Registered Nurse with close to 30 years of inpatient hospital unit management, a few graduate level Public Health courses, and 60 years of observation. And so everything looks like a health care management problem (well not everything). Anyway, I thought I’d preface the following comments with a warning that this is just my perspective.
There is a beekeeping saying, “Take your losses in the Fall.” That doesn’t necessarily mean let them die. It typically means combine hives as needed. The economist in us tries to take the least hit possible and combine all of the weaker hives thus at least salvaging one hive out of the mess. My limited experience has been that combining 2 or even 3 weak colonies in the fall still results in a loss. Better to add each of them to a strong hive and take the hive numbers hit right then in the fall. But from a public health or infectious disease standpoint how can we do this safely? If the queen is simply weak that’s one thing, but if an infectious agent or Varroa is the issue you may be causing yourself more anguish by combining an infected hive with a good strong colony. For example, if you were in a hospital room how would you like it if the person in the next bed was being admitted because he/she was weak with a highly infectious disease? Hey, anyone want to share a room with a TB patient? Back to beekeeping… My beekeeping answer is to treat first, pinch the queen, then combine them and even then only if I suspected they were not sick. If they appeared to have succumbed to an infection and are in steep decline then I wouldn’t add those sick bees to another hive, period.
I got to the point of cringing with every Varroa lecture at conferences. But somewhere along the way after looking at the evidence left in my own combs, hives, and other symptoms, I became convinced of a few things. Varroa explains most of the unexplainable. I think successful beekeepers treat early and often. Nowadays, if a hive crashes, I suspect Varroa first. Yeah, maybe they absconded but it was probably secondary to Varroa infestation. Maybe they were robbed but it was probably after they became weak and crashed due to Varroa. I believe Varroa to be the primary cause in most cases. The other events are secondary but that’s what we can see so that’s what we believe happened. We humans are visually oriented to a fault.
But how does it happen so fast you may ask? Ever worked on a hospital ward or lived in a dormitory type housing situation where a flu outbreak occurred? How many sick individuals did you see prior to the epidemic putting everyone in the bed with symptoms? Probably just a few. That’s how it happens. A few sick individuals carrying a potent virus and BAM! Overnight everyone is vomiting with fever and diarrhea. The viri take over and, in the case of bees, a seemingly healthy colony crashes suddenly and we find ourselves perplexed. But why are we perplexed, have we not seen the flu virus in humans close schools? Or cruise ships turn around to return to port after a sudden virus puts all of the occupants in their cabins too sick to continue. Have we been too long without a world plague to have forgotten the infectious disease process?
If you’ve ever read a death certificate it states cause of death. It also allows the physician to state medical factors affecting death. So, cause of death may say “esophageal hemorrhage” but the medical factors might state, “chronic alcoholism.” And so it is with Varroa. Cause of death is “robbing” or “abscond” while the chronic illness would be listed as “Parasitic Mite Syndrome with high virus loading.”
Moving on, so when a colony crashes and robbers come in to clean up the honey guess who takes home something they didn’t ask for? Your other colonies, that’s who. Once the robbing starts the Varroa get distributed among the other hives.
First, in my opinion, you may not want to get into beekeeping if you’re not willing to treat for Varroa and use IPM methods – it’s just too difficult. But then, that’s me. I also take my kids to the doctor when they are sick and don’t let my dogs walk around with ticks in the hope they build a resistance. If you want to be treatment free at least give the bees a chance and buy property 5 miles away from the next closest beekeeper, get clean survivor bees to start, aggressively utilize IPM methods such as screen bottom boards, splits, queen caging, small cell, sugar shakes, and artificial swarms. You’ll be extremely busy but I do believe it can work for some people. For others it becomes an exercise in frustration and disappointment.
Me? I’m going to treat them early and often after a preseason mite level assessment to establish a baseline. I also monitor mite counts post treatment to ensure the treatment was effective. As a primary offense to prevent outbreaks, I treat every spring before honey supers go on the hives. Then, typically, I do a series of 3 weekly OA treatments in June after pulling supers. During the long hot summer, if a colony starts to weaken I treat that single hive after assessment. If a hive collapses and gets robbed everyone gets a treatment. During December broodlessness everyone gets a single vaporization or dribble. I primarily use OA but I may replace one of the seasonal treatments above with a different method. That’s the two pronged plan of 1) Primary preventative treatment and 2) Aggressive Secondary post infection treatments. That’s what you do when you visit your health care provider – expect preventative measures first, and predictable, effective treatment when you get sick.
Hey, look at your hands right now. How many bacteria and viri do you see? Count them. You can’t but if you get sick you may have wished you had washed your hands a little more frequently. Prevention first, but if you get sick take your medicine!
It’s viri spread by Varroa killing our bees. You don’t see the viri, rarely see the mites that spread the viri, and frequently don’t see the symptoms until it’s too late. Good luck managing your bees’ health.
28 Sunday Jan 2018
Posted in beekeeping, beekeeping author, beekeeping history
Trained as a nuclear physicist, world renowned bee expert Eva Crane is easily one of the most intriguing and accomplished figures who have found their way onto the Land Library’s shelves. Her sudden shift from quantums to bees came on the occasion of her wedding in 1942. Among the wedding presents that day was a […]
via On the Honey Trail with Eva Crane — Rocky Mountain Land Library
27 Saturday Jan 2018
25 Thursday Jan 2018
Posted in beekeeping, beeswax, humor
Tags
Finished waxing some frames today. Now I just have to return the crock pot to the kitchen without my wife noticing I borrowed it.
21 Sunday Jan 2018
Posted in beekeeping, beekeeping books, beekeeping history, book review, education
Tags
art, beekeeping, beekeeping books, beekeeping history, book review, education, Maurice Maeterlinck, print art, The Life of the Bee
Below is a nice enticement to appreciating the art in The Life of the Bee by Maurice Maeterlink and illustrated by E.J. Detmold. The text can be read online here: The Life of the Bee by Maurice Maeterlink. And more on the illustrator at: Edward Julius Detmold
via Art Book of the Month, July 2016 — Books & the City:
The Life of The Bee by Maurice Maeterlinck
(Translated by Alfred Sutro)
Illustrated by E J Detmold
George Allen & Co Ltd
Illustrated edition 1911
The Life of The Bee by Maurice Maeterlinck is a wonderfully eccentric book written in a variety of genres. It is informed by the author’s years of experience studying the complex behaviour of bees. Yet this intricate factual account is suffused with epic drama and wildly poetic philosophical digressions.
Maeterlinck, in telling the story of the bee, explores the subjects of life, death, truth, nature, humanity, and everything in between.
The story of the bee becomes almost a mystic parable to describe all human experience. It has the added charm of being one of the most beautifully illustrated books in our collection. Edward Detmold’s paintings perfectly reflect the sentiment and beauty of the writing.
Below I have gathered together some of Detmold’s illustrations and selected a few memorable passages from the chapter entitled, ‘ The Nuptial Flight’ which presents the tragic sex life of the heroic male bee. I hope you enjoy them.
‘Most creatures have a vague belief that a very precarious hazard, a kind of transparent membrane, divides death from love and that the profound idea of Nature demands that the giver of life should die at the point of giving. Here this idea, whose memory lingers still over the kisses of man, is realised in its primal simplicity. No sooner has the union been accomplished than the male’s abdomen opens, the organ detaches itself, dragging with it the mass of the entrail, the wings relax, and, as though struck by lightning , the emptied body turns on itself and sinks into the abyss.’
(Part V THE NUPTIAL FLIGHT 87 –page 166)
‘Nor does the new bride , indeed, show more concern than her people, (for the poor male Bee ) there being no room for many emotions in her narrow, barbarous, practical brain. She has but one thought, which is to rid herself of as quickly as possible of the embarrassing souveniers her consort has left her,…She seats herself on the threshold, and carefully strips off the useless organs…’
(Part V THE NUPTIAL FLIGHT 89 –page 173)
‘Prodigious nuptials these, the most fairy-like that can be conceived, azure and tragic , raised high above life by the impetus of desire; imperishable and terrible, unique and bewildering, solitary and infinite. An admirable ecstasy, wherein death, supervening in all that our sphere has of most limpid and loveliest, in virginal, limitless space, stamps the instant of happiness on the sublime transparence of the great sky;…’
(Part V THE NUPTIAL FLIGHT 90 –page 174)
20 Saturday Jan 2018
Posted in beekeeping, honey
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An interesting article which helps explain the science of honey and cooking with honey. Enjoy this article by A.V. Walters at tworockchronicles blog.
Honey is a foodstuff of almost mythical proportions. It is one of a handful of foods that, left in its original form, never spoils. Honey has been known to last literally thousands of years—and still be edible and sweet. Honey will crystalize—a condition that may put off the uninformed consumer—but crystalized honey is still good. If it offends, you can simply warm it gently and it will resume its liquid amber loveliness.
Read more of this interesting article here: Honey, Cooking, and The Science Behind The Sweet — tworockchronicles
19 Friday Jan 2018
Posted in beekeeping
Both my son and daughter have inherited my sense of re-purposing and conservation. My son continues to get a kick out of the fact that nothing in the bee operation goes unused – it all gets recycled in some way at some time.
Pictured is a melting block of beeswax. From nectar or sugar the bees create wax which is used to build comb. The comb is used to rear brood or store honey. Wax cappings are removed and saved when honey is harvested. Even the brood frames are eventually removed, scraped, and the wax melted down. The block in the picture made the above trip from bee to comb to wax cappings and eventually into a block of wax, to the SC State Fair and back to the barn. Now, it’s being melted down for application to foundation for use by the bees this coming spring. The cycle is complete.
19 Friday Jan 2018
Posted in beekeeping, Winter
There is no good reason to open your hive during periods of extreme cold. None. Even if you suspect they have died, for whatever reason, opening the hive can typically wait.
Honey bees will form a protective spherical cluster and shiver, the outermost bees rotating with the inner bees, to warm themselves. The bees shiver to generate heat and the outer bees form an insulative layer. Being cold blooded, all bees exhibit some degree of slowing down when they are unable to warm themselves sufficiently. As the temperature continues to drop a protective physiological mechanism called torpor begins: a semi-hibernation, reaction to the cold, that reduces their metabolism and allows them to conserve energy and survive by significantly slowing down their physiological processes. Dependent on cluster size this may affect a larger percentage of the bees surrounding the core of the cluster. The role of the beekeeper is to allow the colony to conserve what heat is available by not opening the hive. In a case where it is known the colony is running out of food wait until the hive and bees have warmed enough to move about and only then briefly open the hive enough to insert frames of honey or other food. During extended periods of cold weather it may take a few days for the bees to warm up and begin to move about freely.
Honey bees’ ability to survive winter temperatures is related to both the formation of a winter cluster as well as physiological mechanisms. Another physiological mechanism involves a sugar within honey bee hemolymph called trehalose. Monosaccharides in honey bee diets are fructose and glucose but the most common circulating sugar in hemolymph is trehalose which is a disaccharide consisting of two glucose molecules. Trehalose acts as a protection to cells by preventing the crystallization of cell membranes and enables the bees to come very close to freezing yet recover without ill effects after warming.
18 Thursday Jan 2018
Posted in beekeeping, Winter
Yesterday some of my colonies were flying – some seem more cold tolerant than others and fly when the temps get to the upper 40s. Anyway, there was a fair number of bees hitting the dry pollen substitute from about noon to 4pm. I went out to do some work just before dark and while out decided to replenish the pollen feeders. I found a couple dozen bees inside that had missed the last opportunity to return to their hives and were in a state of torpor inside the feeders. Wanting to refill the feeders I dumped them and the leftover pollen substitute onto a baking pan before refilling the feeders. My thinking was I’d place them somewhere protected until it warmed up today. Most of the bees looked like popcorn after I dumped them – covered with pollen sub.
So after I refilled the feeders and placed them back on their poles I went to retrieve the baking pans to separate the pollen sub from the bees. They were gone. Everything was gone.
Then I spotted the culprit slinking off. My dog Buster had eaten the pollen sub and the bees. I wonder if he found them tasty? He’s still here his morning and seems no worse for it.
15 Monday Jan 2018
Posted in beekeeping
Have you ever wondered what solitary bees do if they emerge from overwintering into an environment without flowers? We often worry about how flowering plants would fare without local bees to pollinate them, but what about the other way around? – = ? Here’s another question you might not have considered: […]
via What do bees do when flowers are few? — Six Legs, One Corolla: Meditations on Pollination
14 Sunday Jan 2018
Posted in beekeeping, beekeeping author, beekeeping books, book review
Bee Time: Lessons From the Hive is more or less officially out. Hard copies have arrived in most bookstores and can be found for sale on the usual websites; the e-book will be available 6 October from Amazon and Harvard Press.
Read full article here: The Book is Out! — Mark L. Winston
13 Saturday Jan 2018
Posted in beekeeping, honey, raw honey, recipe
Tags
This summer, I became immersed in the world of honey. It began with my reporting on a magazine story about backyard beekeepers, which then led to lessons in how honey is made and why it’s been a treasured food for millennia. Did you know there are more than 300 documented varieties of honey in the US alone? Or that the University of California, Davis developed a tasting wheel to categorize the hundreds of flavors that can be detected in these many hues of honey? All this research, of course, ended up with me back in my kitchen, testing recipe after recipe. I write today to share this, my favorite new honey recipe. Think of these fritters as tasty, hearty hush puppies, good enough to make into a meal. The honey flavor is subtle, yet a perfect complement to the corn and pork.
Read entire article with recipe here: Corn Fritters with Honey-Bacon Drizzle —
11 Thursday Jan 2018
Posted in beekeeping, beekeeping chores
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My WordPress friend Erik recently posted the blog post below, which I believe fully explains and illustrates much of what beekeeping entails. Set goals, make plans, assess your progress, and above all, “Bee… or bee not, there is no try.”
If one is to take up the avocation of beekeeping one should devote the effort required to succeed, and by doing so, expect success. There are a few shortcuts which may make you more efficient but many which will cause failure. Above all, do all of what needs doing and in a manner which leads you to expect success.
It has been bitterly cold the last two weeks (at least by Virginia standards), often below 10 F (-12 C) overnight, and that is without the wind. As a young beekeeper, I worry that my hives will not handle the cold well. One or two may already have died out, for all I know. Unfortunately it is still January so we must wait. Nothing to do but publish my beekeeping goals for 2018.
Setting goals can be tricky, especially short term ones. You want something achievable, yet interesting. New, but building on past success. Perhaps a stretch goal as well to challenge yourself.
Read the full article by visiting Bees with eeb here: Bee… or bee not, there is no try — Bees with eeb
10 Wednesday Jan 2018
Posted in beekeeping
It was The Bee’s Knees yesterday. Today, it’s honey. To get you into the mood, have a listen to this racy little number
Now, let’s reach for the honey.
Honey just never goes bad. That’s because when those busy little bees are flapping their wings to turn the nectar into honey, excess moisture is drawn out. That, and a bee enzyme, creates a substance in which bacteria and other bugs don’t grow. Which is why they found edible honey in some of the ancient Egyptian tombs.
Read full article at: Echoes of Honey — soulgifts – Telling Tales
09 Tuesday Jan 2018
Posted in beekeeping
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‘Bees During Prohibition’ 1920 to 1933.
Celebrating the Anniversary of the Repeal of Prohibition – Dec. 5th. 1933
1931- ‘Bootleggers Destroy Apiary’
…
Image: Beekeepers across America frequently found themselves keeping bees in the same remote locations where moonshine stills were hidden. This still is located in Southern Georgia where beekeepers set up apiaries to collect Tupelo Honey.
Moonshiners needed to place their stills in remote areas near a reliable source of water. Beekeepers also needed to situate apiaries near water and in remote areas where forage was abundant. This occasionally placed beekeepers in direct conflict with moonshiners. In 1931, revenue officers destroyed three whiskey making outfits in the swamp behind an apiary of 85 colonies owned by Mr. Scott of North Carolina. Although Mr. Scott did not know the stills were there, the bootleggers piled up thirty- seven of his colonies and burned them and turned most of the other hives over on their sides. All this was done because the bootleggers suspicions that Mr. Scott had given information as to the location of the stills. -Raleigh, North Carolina -Bee Culture Magazine, 1931.
08 Monday Jan 2018
Posted in beekeeping, beekeeping history, pollination
(click to enlarge to full size) The British Black Bee (Apis mellifera mellifera), or European Dark Honeybee, was common until the beginning of the 20th Century. Fully adapted for the cooler climate she was responsible for the pollination of the wild flowers you see in the British Isles today. Sadly a virus practically wiped the […]
07 Sunday Jan 2018
Posted in beekeeping
Sassafrasbeefarm: Listening to a Randy Oliver lecture he mentions the book, The Rambunctious Garden. It speaks to our ever changing environment and one way of looking at it as we become more and more global. I did end up purchasing the book for my daughter for Christmas. I can’t wait until she’s finish and I can borrow it. 🙂 Enjoy the review.
…
Last month in a post entitled Making the Case for Saving Species, I reviewed an article written by Emma Marris about doing all we can to prevent species from going extinct, even when the approach is not a popular one – like introducing rust resistant genes into native whitebark pine populations. Intrigued by Marris’ words, I decided to finally read her book, Rambunctious Garden: Saving Nature in a Post-Wild Word, which had been sitting on my bookshelf for several months and had been on my list of books to read for at least a couple of years before that. At only 171 pages, Marris’ book is a quick read and comes across as an introduction to some sort of revolution. Its brevity demands future volumes, which are hopefully on their way.
Read entire review at awkwardbotany: Book Review: Rambunctious Garden
06 Saturday Jan 2018
Posted in honey, honey recipe, recipe
Tags
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups of flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinn.
1 cup sugar
1 cup honey
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
2 teaspoons orange zest
1 cup orange juiceDirections:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Grease and flour a 9 x 13 pan. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinn.
3. In a large bowl (separate), combine sugar, honey, oil, eggs, & orange zest
4. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with orange juice, mixing just until incorporated
5. Pour batter into prepared pan
6. Bake 40-50 minutes or until cooked through.
Read more and entire recipe here: Honey Cake — Farm, Garden and Beyond
04 Thursday Jan 2018
Posted in beekeeping
Bees make investment decisions every day, expending much time and effort searching for returns, which in their case is nectar from flowers. The link between investment and bees was explored by ecologist Leslie Real of Indiana University back in 1991 in a study that monitored honey bees’ behaviour to better understand attitudes to risk. This study will be unknown to most investors but offers some valuable insights.
During the experiment bees were given their own investment choice to make: Either feed from blue flowers which always contained 2ml of nectar without fail, or gorge on yellow flowers, which were randomly mixed so that one in three contained a triple payoff with 6ml nectar.
(cont.)
Read full article here: Bees teach investors handy lessons
03 Wednesday Jan 2018
Posted in beekeeping
The turkey’s been stuffed. The first snow has hit the pavement. Ambitious merry folk in white-trimmed red-felt hats are already weighing down conifers in their living rooms with glass globes and tinsel. Yes, ’tis the season when one naturally begins to wonder, “Hey, where do all the bees go in winter?” Good question! After all, […]
via Hibernate like the Bees — Six Legs, One Corolla: Meditations on Pollination
02 Tuesday Jan 2018
Posted in beekeeping
If you’re itchy for signs of life over the winter, lord knows you can’t open the hive! But given the right “ear”, you might be able to hear the crunching sounds of life within those four wooden walls. This week, during Albuquerque’s wicked cold snap, I borrowed a “mechanic’s” stethoscope from a local computer hardware […]
via Using a stethoscope to “hear” if your bee hive is alive — mistress beek
30 Saturday Dec 2017
Posted in beekeeping, honey recipe, recipe
Tags
Just in time for game day!
Wings are fun, festive, quick to make and delicious. Perfect as apps before your holiday party or as a simple dinner paired with mashed potatoes and salad. When my family last bought a batch of local chicken, we picked up six fresh whole chickens and cut them into parts before we froze them — ziplock baggies of breasts, thighs, wings, legs and leftover bones/parts — each destined for different dinners. It was a fun shakeup from the whole chickens we typically make. And it gave us enough wings to pull off this dish. Whether you’re getting your wings locally or no, the honey, spice and yogurt combo make these hard to resist. Feel free to double the recipe for twice as much goodness.
Read fully recipe here: Chicken Wings With Honey Yogurt Sauce — christinanifong.com
30 Saturday Dec 2017
Posted in beekeeping, honey recipe, recipe
Tags
Mmmmm…there is nothing more amazing then the smell of good food. Going through school one of my favorite classes was soups, sauces, and consumes. I could really put my personality, passion, and love into anything I made. It was like signing my signature through food and showing people what I was really made of. This special honey spaghetti sauce has been one that I have been trying to make versatile for many years. I think I have accomplished that because I like to use it as spaghetti sauce, on meatball subs, for chili, on pizza, and for Frito pies. I hope you enjoy this sauce as much as we do at The Honey Cottage.
Read full article and get the recipe at: Bee Queen’s Honey Tomato Sauce — The Honey Cottage
29 Friday Dec 2017
Posted in beekeeping, swarms
I know, you really just want another piece of fruitcake and another glass of egg nog. But you also need to start getting ready for swarm season. So while you’re chillin’ inside on this cold day, here’s Jack Lalanne to help you prepare physically for this coming swarm season. If you’re like me, in just a couple months, you’ll be looking in the trees every time you visit the bee yard. I’m not going to get a sore neck this swarm season by walking around looking for swarms everywhere and thinking I hear one anytime I’m outside. What am I going to do? I’m going to get started with Jack Lalanne now! Fast forward to the 40 second mark for swarm fitness!
27 Wednesday Dec 2017
Posted in beekeeping, beekeeping equipment, equipment
Tags
It really is not that complicated -James E. Tew
A beehive is not very complicated. Handy craftsmen frequently build their own in their home shop. Essentially, the common hive requires an outer cover – or simply a roof. Directly beneath that rooftop is an inner cover that is primarily used to prevent bees from soundly gluing the roof to the top edges of the hive box immediately beneath it. An inner cover is not absolutely necessary, but it is a very useful piece of equipment. Beneath the inner cover is an assemblage of supers and hive bodies that is determined by the annual season. Some beekeepers use a queen excluding device to restrict the queen to the brood chamber(s). During the spring season, something like two supers and two hive bodies would be common in a typical hive. Beneath all the various boxes that are being used, a bottom board provides the landing platform for bees and gives a bottom for the hive. Generally a hive stand supports the entire beehive infrastructure. (Hive Diagram from Skinner, Parkman, Studer, and Williams. 20041)
via Equipment Requirements for the First-Time Beekeeper — BEEKeeping: Your First Three Years
26 Tuesday Dec 2017
Posted in beekeeping
Tags
Set your meetings, phone calls and emails aside, at least for the next several minutes. That’s because today you’re a bee.
It’s time to leave your hive, or your underground burrow, and forage for pollen. Pollen is the stuff that flowers use to reproduce. But it’s also essential grub for you, other bees in your hive and your larvae. Once you’ve gathered pollen to take home, you or another bee will mix it with water and flower nectar that other bees have gathered and stored in the hive. But how do you decide which flowers to approach? What draws you in?
In a review published last week in The Journal of Functional Ecology, researchers asked: What is a flower like from a bee’s perspective, and what does the pollinator experience as it gathers pollen? And that’s why we’re talking to you in the second person: to help you understand how bees like you, while hunting for pollen, use all of your senses — taste, touch, smell and more — to decide what to pick up and bring home.
Maybe you’re ready to go find some pollen. But do you even know where to look?
Read full article here: You’re a Bee. This Is What It Feels Like. by By JOANNA KLEIN
24 Sunday Dec 2017
Posted in beekeeping
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I have always thought this story is an unsettling mix between fact and fiction. Is the crazy beekeeper Albert Taylor for real? Is he serious about feeding his malnourished daughter tons and tons of royal jelly to make her nice and plump?
Eccentric character Albert Tayler refers to beekeeping magazines and scientific research discussing the great benefits of the magical royal substance. He tries to convince his wife with the “scientific facts”. For a long time I have wondered whether these scientific articles were real, or whether the amazing imagination of Roald Dahl had exceeded to the next level. Today, I want to find out.
Read the full article at: The Secrets of Royal Jelly – Roald Dahl’s version. — wiggledanceforme
And if this bit of fiction spurs an interest in science:
Secret of royal jelly’s super-sizing effect on queen bees appears to be special protein royalactin. 27 April 2011, by Bob Yirka. (PhysOrg.com) — In a paper published in Nature,. Japanese researcher Masaki Kamakura describes a process he used to determine that the protein royalactin, is at least one of the components. of fiction spurs an interest in science: [PDF] Secret of royal jelly’s super-sizing effect on queen bees … – Phys.org
and
in royal jelly that enables the larvae to develop into queens, but rather the optimally balanced composition of the diet – and the fact that the nurse bees feed the queen bee larvae up to 10 times more frequently. The secret of the caste system in honeybee colonies evidently lies in specific genetic programming of the larva … [PDF]Jelly Fit for a Queen – Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
23 Saturday Dec 2017
Posted in beekeeping, honey, honey as food, honey recipe
Tags
Appetizer platter made for the Mid-State Beekeepers annual holiday potluck.
This year my contribution to the local beekeeping holiday dinner was an appetizer platter featuring this year’s comb honey. The honey was from my yard here and made using the Ross Rounds system. It seemed well received and was cleaned up by the end of dinner.
As pictured, Comb honey sitting atop cream cheese, green seedless grapes, blackberries, blueberries, Townhouse Focaccia Tuscan cheese crackers, Triscuit Fig and Honey crackers.
21 Thursday Dec 2017
Posted in beekeeping, beekeeping seasons, honey bee behavior, management, seasons, winter solstice
The winter solstice signals more than the first official day of winter. In the natural world, animals use the changes in available daylight to signal their actions. Eventually, longer daylight hours will signal song birds to sing more to attract mates and begin laying eggs and dormant plants to emerge and begin anew. Remarkably, the winter solstice signals honey bees to begin spring preparations now.
Read the full article here: Winter Solstice and Honey Bees — settlingforbees
19 Tuesday Dec 2017
Posted in beekeeping, nomenclature
Tags
I’m not a grammarian, I don’t have the most hugest vocabulary, and I have been known to produce some pretty bad spells of whetther – but even I appreciate the right word, used and spelt correctly. Without rules, confusion reigns (and rains and rains). I’m glad when someone points out errors I’ve made – it gives me a chance to learn.
I’m coming back to something I’ve written about before and then I’m moving on to something I’ve never written about. Honey bee – it really should be two words, not one. I think the single word honeybee is just plain wrong. But I notice that some dictionaries disagree with me. Webster’s, for example. Webster’s has also allowed yellow jacket instead of yellowjacket, which is just plain ridiculous. But then, Wikipedia also has an entry for ‘yellow jacket’ instead of yellowjacket, so maybe the whole world is coming to a spectacular illiterate end.
(cont.)
Read fully article here: Spelling Bees with Uncommon Names — Bad Beekeeping Blog
17 Sunday Dec 2017
Posted in beekeeping, humor
Tags
You know you’re a beekeeper when… By John Caldeira, with contributions from many others.
The windshield of your vehicle has at least two yellow dots on it.
You have answers ready for questions about Africanized bees and the value of local honey in preventing allergies.
You eagerly await the phone call from the post office asking you to please come pick up your bees.
You check out all the honey labels and prices at the supermarket.
You’ve gone through the supermarket checkout line buying nothing more than a big load of sugar, and maybe some Crisco.
You’ve estimated just how much money you spent to control mites.
You pick up matches at restaurants, even though you don’t smoke.
Your friends and neighbors think you are the answer to every swarm and bees-in-the-wall problem.
You are keenly aware of the first and last freezes of each winter.
There is propolis on the steering wheel of your vehicle and the bottom of your boots.
There is a bucket of something in your garage that can only be good for smoker fuel.
You are called “the Bee Man,” or “the Bee Lady” by a lot of people who don’t know your name.
You know the bloom period of more local flowers than the state horticulturist.
You welcome a rainy weekend if it will stimulate nectar production.
You don’t mind driving home with a few honey bees inside your vehicle.
Your family and friends know exactly what they’re going to get for Christmas.
You don’t mow the lawn because the bees are working the weeds.
You drive down a road and find yourself evaluating the roadside flowers for their honey-producing potential.
You pull over and check the bees on the wildflowers just to see if they are YOUR bees, AND — you can tell the difference.
You come home smelling like a camp fire, and you haven’t been camping.
You saw Ulee’s Gold and didn’t think there were enough shots of the bees.
You overhear your 9 year old daughter explaining to her friends how to tie a trucker’s hitch.
The school principal calls to ask that you never again let your child take a drone tied with a thread to school for show and tell.
You never stop marveling at these wonderful creatures.
Excerpts from the above list were published in American Bee Journal (December, 1998), which prompted the following responses from readers:
You know you’re married to a beekeeper when…
You spend at least one day a week on your hands and knees with a sharp knife scraping wax and propolis off your kitchen floor.
You’ve ever used bee boxes as furniture in your house, for coffee tables, chairs, night stands, and storage boxes.
You mow around mountains of bee equipment that never seems to make it to the barn.
You plan weddings, child birth, surgery and funerals around honey extracting time.
When buying a new truck, your spouse checks weight loads and measures the bed to see how many hives he can fit in it.
You get stung by the bee that was clinging to your husband’s bee suit when you picked it up to wash it.
and from our local discussion group:
You know you’re a beekeeper when the seat of your car or truck has a hole where the hive tool punched through.
If the smell of bananas at your local farm stand sends you into a momentary panic…
You might be a beekeeper if, while cleaning out the garage, you get excited when you find a couple misplaced SHB traps.
You might be a beekeeper if you visit the SC Surplus Salesroom and the only things that interest you are table saws (for cutting boxes), kettles (for melting wax), deep freezers (for freezing frames), and hot water heaters (for that distant honey house).
You watch Ulee’s Gold just to see the shots of the honey bees.
You might be a beekeeper if you go into a manic state of excitement when your spouse reminds you that you left a 50# bag of cane sugar in her car trunk 2 months ago and she’d like it removed.
You look through beekeeping catalogs for beekeeping equipment you think you can make.
When you have more pictures of your bees than of your kids — and justify it by claiming bees only live six weeks, there are different bees in each picture.
When, after being asked how the bees stay warm overwinter for the eighth time, you’ve joked about knitting them sweaters — and someone believed you.
When you finally said, ‘no, they don’t sting me’ because it was faster to say that than spend the time explaining things to non-beekeepers.
The inside of your clothes dryer has propolis spots.
You have to buy a new freezer for your food because the other is full of frames.
When you buy a second dishwasher to put in the garage to clean plastic frames prior to re-waxing because it’s easier than the pressure washer.
Someone gets in the car with you and ask if you had been smoking!
You might be a beekeeper if you consider using Swarm Commander as an aftershave.
You might be a beekeeper if you use a tractor front loader and deer stands to retrieve swarms.
15 Friday Dec 2017
Posted in beekeeping, beekeeping history
Next time you have a reason to check out Napoleon Bonaparte’s coat of arms, look closely at the left hand side. You will see a grouping of honeybees — Napoleon’s choice to represent his imperial rule.
The bee apparently sent several different messages to Napoleon’s constituents. It referred back to earlier French kings who chose the bee as a symbol of immortality and resurrection. The bee is also a nod to French industry where it was incorporated into clothing, curtains, carpets and furniture.
Read the entire blog post here: Napoleon and the Honeybee — Bees on the Roof
Featured image of embroidered bee source: The Honey Bee Conservancy
14 Thursday Dec 2017
Posted in beekeeping, honey bee biology, honey bee genetics, management
Tags
African Bee, Apis mellifera, beekeeping, Buckfast bee, Cardovan bee, Carniolan, Caucasian Bee, choosing honey bee stock, German Black Bee, honey bee biology, Italian Bees, management, Minnesota Hygienic Bee, Russian bee, Survivor Stock Bees, Varroa sensitive hygienic (VSH) Bee
In my experience, selecting bee stock is the most important decision when starting in Bees. If you choose the wrong type, you can wind up with an aggressive bee or a disease ridden colony. Here is a quick-start guide to help aid you in your search for the perfect strain for you.
Apis Mellifera is the main scientific classification for European Honey Bees. There are several sub-species and hybrid species available. We will start our journey with the German Bee.
Read more of this at: Lesson 1: Selecting Honey Bee Stock by deltavalleyapiary
10 Sunday Dec 2017
Posted in beekeeping history, birthday, birthdays
Happy Birthday Emily Dickinson – Born Dec. 10, 1830
Like trains of cars on tracks of plush
I hear the level bee:
A jar across the flowers goes,
Their velvet masonry
Withstands until the sweet assault
Their chivalry consumes,
While he, victorious, tilts away
To vanquish other blooms.
His feet are shod with gauze,
His helmet is of gold;
His breast, a single onyx
With chrysoprase, inlaid.
His labor is a chant,
His idleness a tune;
Oh, for a bee’s experience
Of clovers and of noon!
…
A team of archaeologists is rediscovering just how extensive Emily Dickinson’s garden was. Historical evidence shows Emily Dickinson’s Garden contained an abundance of blooming flowers. Archaeologists recently uncovered portions of a pathway leading to nineteenth-century flower and vegetable beds.Emily Dickinson – was an American poet born in Amherst, Massachusetts. (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) ~ during her lifetime she “was known more widely as a gardener, perhaps, than as a poet”. Emily Dickinson’s niece, Martha Dickinson Bianchi, remembered “carpets of lily-of-the-valley and pansies, platoons of sweetpeas, hyacinths, enough in May to give all the bees of summer dyspepsia. There were ribbons of peony hedges and drifts of daffodils in season, marigolds to distraction—a butterfly utopia” Archaeology – Remnants of Emily Dickinson’s Gardens Sought
AMHERST, MASSACHUSETTS—Emily Dickinson is known today as one of the greatest poets of the nineteenth century, but in her lifetime she may have been more renowned for her gardening. At her family estate, she helped to tend an orchard, a greenhouse, and an expanse of flower and vegetable gardens. The size of these gardens was dramatically decreased in the decades after Dickinson died in 1886, but now a team of archaeologists is searching for their remnants. Last summer, they uncovered portions of a pathway leading to nineteenth-century flower and vegetable beds. “If we can follow out the historic path to its end, then theoretically we would find the location of past gardens,” Kerry Lynch of Archaeological Services at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, told the New York Times. If they do locate these gardens, the archaeologists hope to find seeds or other botanical evidence dating back to when Dickinson was alive.
Source:
Archaeology – Remnants of Emily Dickinson’s Gardens Sought
http://www.archaeology.org/news/4458-160513-massachusetts-dickinson-gardens
Emily Dickinson
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Dickinson
08 Friday Dec 2017
Posted in beekeeping
An interesting article on beekeeping in an earlier era. Especially a Mr. Abraham Graffis II, beekeeper of Rushcreek Twp.
View original post 1,323 more words
08 Friday Dec 2017
Posted in beekeeper education, beekeeping
Tags
ere 
Varroa: your new nightmare…
I have been keeping bees now for seven years. In spite of taking courses, reading every book I could, keeping my eyes and ears open, and earning my Master Beekeeper designation, I have made every mistake I could.
Sometimes twice.
And I know more are out there waiting for me to make. Such is beekeeping!
We all have to do things in our own way and in our own time, but for what it is worth, here is what I wish I had known in my first year…
View original post 311 more words
05 Tuesday Dec 2017
Posted in beekeeping, varroa mites
I’m out in the bee yard vaporizing oxalic within the hives to kill Varroa mites today. Oxalic Acid is harsh on humans and I think it probably isn’t exactly kind to honey bees either although they seem to live on the acid side of the ph scale. I’m reminded though, as I vaporize the oxalic acid within each hive, of a time my son Danny had a nasty wart on his foot. We had tried everything, night after night, to remove it. Finally Danny agreed to go to a podiatrist . He thought it was going to be cut off and he was good with that. Instead the doctor applied a strong acid for a couple hours. Over the course of the next week or so it was basically blistered and burned in appearance. We felt badly for Danny but he was okay with it. He wanted it off. Anyway, applying oxalic acid to the bees kind of reminds me of the same. I hope they appreciate the mite removal.
04 Monday Dec 2017
Posted in beekeeping, beekeeping author, beekeeping books
Tags
beekeeping, beekeeping authors, beekeeping books, beekeeping winter activities, famous beekeepers
It’s holiday season. And if you’re normal, you’re thinking about beekeeping books for everyone you know. Even the non-beekeeps. I spent a few minutes today scanning the Amazon.com site to see what was bee hot. Not that the best sellers are always the best books. (My own book fell from the best seller ranks back in 2008, but I think Bad Beekeeping is still an OK gift for your friends.) But there are some good ideas to get you started.
Read entire article here with booklist for winter reading: Bee Book Season — Bad Beekeeping Blog
02 Saturday Dec 2017
Posted in comb honey, honey, honey recipe
Tags
What’s Cooking in Gail’s Kitchen? Simple Sensations: Honeycomb Sweet Bee! Raw honeycomb has the most incredible flavor concentrated with the sweet nectar of wildflowers. The first time I tasted it, with a crisp apple slice and a nibble of sharp cheese, I realized what all the buzz was about. This edible mystery is a conversation-starter at every gathering. And a little goes a long way. Store honeycomb at room temperature in a covered container.
HONEYCOMB SWEET BEE
Ingredients:Raw Honeycomb Square
Granny Smith apples
Cheddar Cheese, Extra Sharp*
Seedless Grapes
Smoked Almonds, whole with sea salt
Multi-Grain Crackers
Read more here: Eating My Way Through the Alphabet: Letter H — snapshotsincursive
30 Thursday Nov 2017
Posted in beekeeping, varroa, varroa destructor, varroa mites
Below is an excellent article by David the Apiarist on understanding the varroa mite population cycle as relates to management of Varroa mites. Understanding the pest is key to maximizing the impact of the treatement. I’ve chosen to crosspost it on this date to benefit my readers in the Midlands of South Carolina as we enter the period of time when the presence of brood is at it’s yearly low. References to the Eagles and Don Henley are entertaining as well.
Why bother treating colonies in midwinter to reduce Varroa infestation? After all, you probably treated them with Apiguard or Apivar (or possibly even Apistan) in late summer or early autumn.
Is there any need to treat again in midwinter?
Yes. To cut a long story short, there are basically two reasons why a midwinter mite treatment almost always makes sense:
- Mites will be present. In addition, they’ll be present at a level higher than the minimum level achievable, particularly if you last treated your colonies in late summer, rather than early autumn.
- The majority of mites will be phoretic, rather than hiding away in sealed brood. They’re therefore easy to target.
I’ll deal with these in reverse order …
Read the full article at: Kick ’em when they’re down — The Apiarist
30 Thursday Nov 2017
Posted in beekeeping
The other day I received an automated congratulations from WordPress. It was the anniversary of this blog. A little over a year ago this blog was created with the goal of capturing one complete year of beekeeping – trying to follow the seasons with corresponding articles, pictures, and posts – some original and many shared. My thanks to all of the contributors who allowed me to re-blog their articles along the way.
Where are we going from here? I’ll add more original blog posts and refine some of the current posts to be more informative to visitors. I’d like to add more very short snapshots of my daily interactions and beekeeping preparations. I’ll add more links within the posts for visitors to link to more information. I also hope to add more introductory comments to posts contributed by others. Posts from the past twelve months will be recycled into the current year to continue to provide an ongoing calendar-like diary of the beekeeping year with the improvements mentioned above.
Also in the plans I will be replacing Beekeeping Vocabulary on Sunday’s with Book of the Week. Our Saturday morning recipe post(s) will continue as it has become a favorite of many people and receives a good number of hits each week. Beekeeping Birthdays will also continue as I add more famous beekeepers. Those that wrote non-copyrighted books, pamphlets, and other written works will list links as I am able to find.
I hope you have enjoyed the ride this past year. I have, and in the process learned a great deal from you as well. Thanks!
28 Tuesday Nov 2017
Posted in beekeeping, hive inspections, inspections
Tags
Hive Assessment
Assessment: Called to look at a hive that had experienced a sudden (less than one week) drop in population and an increase in dead bees accompanied by “sawdust” like material.
Location: Swansea, SC Weather: Mid 60’s overcast. Light wind.
Hive is a 10 frame Langstroth, three hive bodies tall (two deeps, one medium).
By history, this is a new hive installed this season from a package (H&R). Hive has been doing well until a couple days ago. Owner inspected hive last week and reports “full boxes of bees”. Became concerned this weekend with increase in dead bees on ground in front of hive and “sawdust” like material in front.
On arrival I noticed an open feeder located a couple feet to the side of the hive. Noticing more bees coming and going at the feeder than the front entrance of the hive I watched and saw bees coming to the feeder and on departing going elsewhere . Owner reports neighbor has multiple bee hives.
The hive had little activity at the entrance reducer which was set on about a two bee width setting. No fighting.
Owner showed me “sawdust” like material. Appeared to be animal scat largely composed of bee parts.
Hive opened and no bees noted on opening. Top medium all frames filled with capped honey.
Middle box deep had a cluster of bees approximately 200. No queen observed. Three emergency queen cells observed but these were away from cluster but on same frames. Appeared queenless. Approximately 20 capped brood cells. No open brood noted.
Bottom deep partially filled with open nectar. Apparently cured as passed the “shake” test.
Screened bottom board had about 20-30 dead bees.
Sticky board was under the SBB. Had been in place for unknown period of time. Had notable number of mites, a few SHB, minimal wax particles.
While I generally discourage viewing individual bees as an assessment of Varroa load, I did observe the bees on the top of the small cluster. Approximately 25 bees were on the top bars of the middle box gathered together at top of cluster. I counted 4 or 5 mites on the top surface of the bees’ thoraxes and abdomens.
Removal of pupae from capped brood. No mites observed. Pupae had been dead several days and starting to dehydrate and decompose.
Analysis of Assessment:
Upon seeing bees other than the bees from the owner’s hive I initially suspected an abscond due to robbing pressure. However I ruled this out after seeing 1) no fighting or increased activity at the front entrance of the hive; 2) No torn cappings or wax on SBB; 3) hive stores intact.
The scat like droppings containing bee parts led me to suspect harassment from a raccoon or other small animal. However, it is my understanding that raccoons will scratch on the hive box or entrance at night to get bees to come out so they may eat them. However, I saw no scratches on the box or landing board. Additionally, I understand that raising the hive off the ground is a method of discouraging raccoons because it causes them to expose their undersides which the bees sting. This hive was raised further discounting the raccoon harassment leading to an abscond. The scat remains a mystery however, it is possible the scat was from another animal, perhaps a snake regularly eating dead or dying bees off the ground in front of the hive. I have lizards at my home yard that eat the dying bees on the ground and are a benefit to yard hygiene.
Owner reports increased yellow jacket activity. Not noted on inspection. We have had a couple recent freezes so that may account for lack of activity today. It is, however, noted as another pest pressure on this hive.
Varroa on bees. Counting 5 per 20 bees is a 25% Varroa load and well beyond economic threshold for treatment. It is generally considered that a functioning hive cannot withstand a mite population greater than 3000 total and is considered doomed. I suspect this hive had a mite load sufficient to cause death / absconding.
Plan:
Reconfigure hive
Remove capped honey
Safely store comb for next season
Provide educational tips
Implementation:
Box with small cluster placed on hive stand. Owner advised that they are hopelessly queenless and doomed. However, as the owner had no other hive to work with and she did not wish to shake them out on the ground. Owner advised to recover and save comb after the bees die.
The hive bodies containing capped honey were removed for processing.
Combs with extracted honey will be placed outside for neighbor’s bees to clean up for 24 hours prior to being stored. Owner instructed in proper comb storage options.
Restart hive(s) in spring with packages placed on drawn comb.
Tips:
Do not open feed in close proximity to hive. Feeding close introduces your hive to the neighbor’s hive and during times of dearth weaker hives are identified. I do not think this was an issue in this instance however it can lead to a “stressor” on the hive to defend its stores. Additionally, open feeding promotes viral disease transmission via contact with other, possibly infected, colonies.
Treat for Varroa earlier in the year. Given that we now know there are multiple hives located in close proximity to the owner’s bee yard, I recommend treatments at the close of the nectar flow, and again in early fall. An assessment of Varroa counts in the spring as well would be advised.
Perform the final “deep” inspection a bit earlier in the fall. Do final total inspection in early fall to ensure the queen is where you want her (lower boxes) and to assess stores prior to any fall feeding. After early fall inspection let them get their house in order. Remember, while we are trying to help the bees, we are not perceived by them as helping. To them, we are another pest in their hive.
27 Monday Nov 2017
Posted in beekeeping, book review
Tags
Markus Imhoof outlines many of the problems facing beekeepers today in his book More Than Honey: The Survival of Bees and the Future of Our World, which Imhoof had originally produced as a documentary. His slant is strongly pro-bees and anti-pesticides and, in conjunction, anti-commercial agriculture. In particular, I found his interviews with a large almond farmer and with a migratory beekeeper fascinating both for their own awareness about the problems that their businesses engendered while still maintaining their capitalistic outlook.
Imhoof includes information that is of an introductory nature to a backyard beekeeper, e.g., the breakdown of the various responsibilities by which bees in the hive, before discussing in detail some of the research that is being conducted in laboratories on how bees behave. This chapter was filled with engaging experiments and tidbits. For example, I learned that a particular bee, dubbed Red-23, had observed another’s waggle dance for a food source but had decided to return to its own previous food source, which the researchers had removed. Rather than return to the hive or search for another nearby food source as had been expected, Red-23 flew off to the location described by the other bee in its waggle dance, which Red-23 had observed at the hive. Not only did the bee preserve the memory of the directions in the waggle dance, but Red-23 had sufficient locational memory to fly from its location to the described location without returning to the hive first. Wow!
Read full article here: A Beekeeper’s Book Review of More Than Honey: The Survival of Bees and the Future of Our World — casula mellita
26 Sunday Nov 2017
Posted in beekeeping, varroa, varroa destructor, varroa mites
Oh, had we but seen this video a few days earlier, in time for Halloween! A three-minute thesis competition is a contest for PhD students in which they condense their thesis into a three minute presentation comprehensible to an intelligent audience lacking any background in the research area. Doctoral candidate Samuel Ramsey was the winner […]
Read the complete article at: Werewolves Not Vampires — The Prospect of Bees
25 Saturday Nov 2017
Posted in beekeeping, honey recipe, recipe
Tags
cough, flu, ginger, home remedy, honey, honey recipe, opinion, recipe
If you are feeling under the weather then look no further than honey and ginger. This combo is an autumnal flu fighter and life enhancer. Other ingredients that I take in abundance this time of the year are garlic and turmeric. However, my love of honey remains enduring. Honey is a favourite, winter, spring, summer or…
Read full article here: Honey and ginger remedy — Honey Hunter
25 Saturday Nov 2017
Posted in beekeeping, honey recipe, recipe
Tags
bacon, benedict, breakfast recipe, honey, honey recipe, recipe
September is National Honey Month and a perfect time to celebrate HONEY! What a fabulous time to promote honey as a natural and beneficial sweetener, bee culture, as well as the beekeeping industry.
Read full article and recipe here: Baked Honey Bacon Benedict, a Buzzworthy Delight during National Honey Month — From Behind the Pen
24 Friday Nov 2017
Posted in beekeeping, comb, comb honey, drawn comb
Tags
Artificial foundation was developed shortly after the invention of the removable frames. The first foundation frame was invented by Johannes Mehring in Germany (Graham, 1992). But as more people began producing artificial foundation for Langstroth hives, beekeepers began experimenting with different sized cells. Fast forward to today; we see both small cell and standard comb, but why is that? Well, that is the topic of part 2 of this 4-part blog series.
- History of comb management- https://beeinformed.org/2017/09/14/comb-management-part-1/
- Cell size: why so much variation between producers?
- Management strategies of foundation
- Benefits of replacing old comb
In part 1, I wrote about the history of comb management. In part 2, I decided to write about cell size. Cell size is a highly heated and debated topic that I, as a former commercial beekeeper, did not know of until recently. As a commercial beekeeper, we would buy foundation in bulk, which had a “standard” cell size (5.2mm to 5.4mm). I had zero concept of small versus standard cell size, and I became curious about why beekeepers would use small cell instead of standard cell. So I did what any eager millennial would do- I googled it. I found Michael Bush’s (http://www.bushfarms.com/beesnaturalcell.htm) and Randy Oliver’s post (http://scientificbeekeeping.com/trial-of-honeysupercell-small-cell-combs/) about small cell size (and I went down a few other rabbit holes), and I instantly became fascinated about small cell size. I hope you enjoy reading this blog as much as I enjoyed writing it.
In 1857, Johannes Mehring produced the first comb foundation (Graham, 1992). His goal was to provide bees with a template, which would encourage bees to build worker comb in the frames. From that day forward, artificial foundation became a part of beekeeping. However, beekeepers began to experiment with different cell sizes. In 1927, Baudoux hypothesized that larger cell sizes would produce larger bees, and based upon anecdotal evidence from his own colonies, he claimed larger bees produced higher yields of honey. Without scientific evidence, manufacturers in Belgium and France began to produce foundation with larger cells. These manufacturers asserted that bees raised in larger cells produced more honey and this concept took off (Grout, 1935). Those fallacies faded into history as cell size become standardized at 5.2mm-5.4mm.
Read full article with more detailed pictures here: Comb Management Part 2: Comb size — Bee Informed Partnership
23 Thursday Nov 2017
Posted in beekeeping, comb, comb honey, drawn comb
Comb management is an important aspect of beekeeping, but comb management has not always been a management strategy of beekeepers. Rather, comb management is a fairly new concept. Beekeepers started managing comb with the invention of the Langstroth hive in the 1850’s. Today, comb management is a common practice for beekeepers, and an aspect of beekeeping beekeepers must be cognizant of. Because of the importance of comb management, I am writing 4-part blog-series on the subject. The blog-series is split into 4 parts:
- History of comb management
- Management strategies of foundation
- Cell size: why so much variation between producers?
- Benefits of replacing old comb
(cont.)
Read full article with more detailed pictures here: Comb Management: Part 1 — Bee Informed Partnership
Part Two will be posted tomorrow.
16 Thursday Nov 2017
Posted in beekeeping, beekeeping history
SassafrasBeeFarm: Beautiful pictures accompany this blog post titled: “Honey and Keeping Bees in Slovenia.” Take a few minutes out of your day to appreciate the painted beehives and craftsmanship found here by following the link below.
Honey and Keeping Bees in SloveniaWhen I first saw the traditional beehives that beekeepers in Slovenia use to house their bees, I was in awe.
In most places around the world, beehives are kept in wooden boxes, which open from the top.
In some places they paint the wooden boxes in bright colors, to attract the bees.
In Slovenia, a traditional beehive is built like a beautiful cabinet, with many drawers and with a roof, to keep it dry.
The bees create their colonies inside those cabinet drawers, and the fronts of the drawers are elaborately painted with either religious scenes, or scenes from daily life.
The beautiful naive paintings were usually done by professional or semi professional artists, but some also served as church painters, while others were entirely self-taught.
The paintings were done to identify the owners of the beehives, and to bless the production of honey.
View much more of this beautiful artwork here: Honey and Keeping Bees in Slovenia — Tali Landsman
15 Wednesday Nov 2017
Posted in beekeeping, beeswax
This time of year beekeepers have a little more time available for things unrelated to tending the hives. One thing we do is render the excess wax obtained by scraping the various hive parts and the wax associated with extracting honey. Much of this has been saved over the past season, placed in buckets or otherwise stored until we have time to render it for our own use or for sale to others. The article below rings true to the efforts that are made to process this product of the hive and the work involved by both the bees and the beekeeper. Thanks to honeybeequeenblog for the pictures and article.
It’s been a long time since we’ve made any candles. I guess between the farm work, house work and school fun the fun stuff that I love has been pushed to the side. That plus the fact that we really needed a solar wax melter to render some more beeswax. He did get the […]
Read the entire article with lots of pictures here: Beeswax Candles —
13 Monday Nov 2017
Posted in beekeeping, beekeeping management
The bees are looking good going into winter, been feeding right along as I’m raising bees and growing my apiary. So I still have a lot of brood and the drones are just getting pushed out. So I still have a late oxalic acid vaporizing treatment for mite control to get done on a good day. I have my mice guards on(I like 4″openings), inner covers flipped(hole taped), rigid insulation over the inner covers(outer cover on top), and providing wind breaks at my windy yards. I don’t do any wrapping but I might try bubble insulation on some of my single deeps and nucs to see if it makes a difference.
Read full article here: Getting Bees Ready for Winter — Chautauqua Apiary
12 Sunday Nov 2017
Posted in beekeeping, varroa, varroa destructor, varroa mites
Tags
beekeeping, beekeeping vocabulary, honey bee vocabulary, honey bees, varroa, varroa destructor, varroa mites
Image of Varroa Mite supplied by Kika De La Garza Subtropical Agricultural Research Center Weslaco, Texas, USA {{PD-USGov-USDA-ARS}
Today’s beekeeping vocabulary word is, “Varroa.”
From Wikipedia:
Varroa is a genus of parasitic mites associated with honey bees, placed in its own family, Varroidae.[4] The genus was named for Marcus Terentius Varro, a Roman scholar and beekeeper. The condition of a honeybee colony being infested with Varroa mites is called varroosis (also, incorrectly, varroatosis).
Varroa mites are recognised as the biggest pest to honeybees worldwide due to their ability to transmit diseases such as deformed wing virus to larval or pupating bees, resulting in death or severe deformity of the pupae.
Varroa mites feed off the bodily fluids of adult, pupal, and larval honey bees, and may carry viruses that are particularly damaging to the bees (e.g., deformed wings, and IAPV), and accordingly they have been implicated in colony collapse disorder. Research has indicated that alone, neither Varroa mites nor deformed wing virus are particularly deadly, yet together they can pose an incredible risk to colonies.[5][6]
Varroa mites were first discovered in Java about 1904,[7] but are now present in all honey bee populations except Australia, Isle of Man and northern parts of Norway. They were discovered in the United States in 1987, in New Zealand in 2000,[8] and in the United Kingdom in 1992 (Devon).
Bee-breeding efforts to develop resistance against Varroa are ongoing. The USDA has developed a line of bees which uses Varroa-sensitive hygiene to remove reproductive mites. This line is now being distributed to beekeepers to be used as part of their integrated pest management programs.
Source and to read more: Wikipedia
11 Saturday Nov 2017
Posted in beekeeping, honey recipe, recipe
Tags
almonds, ginger cinnamon, honey, honey recipe, recipe, tomatoes
Put all the ingredients except the honey, almonds and sesame seeds in a large pan. Cook gently, covered turning the chicken gently until the flesh is tender – actually I browned the chicken thighs first.
Remove the chicken and reduce the sauce until very thick but take care not to burn. Stir in the honey, return the chicken and heat through. Serve covered with sauce and sprinkled with sesame seeds and almonds.
For full recipe with ingredients: Chicken with tomatoes and honey — My Mediterranean Recipes
Beekeeping365 