Seasons Of The Bee Keeper

Winter Disaster For The Bees

2012-01-25T21:57:00.000-08:00

Most of the time winters here in the Pacific Northwest are mild and wet, as you can see by the green algae on the side of this hive. Honey bees do not hibernate during winter but cluster together inside the hives to keep warm.

There are many days above 50 degrees , so my bees are active and fly out to take a potty break. ( cleaning flight) Winter hit us this month with a vengeance. We had 11 inches of snow all at once, more than we usually get all together in a whole winter. In the pictures above, my bees are safe in their hives with lots of honey to feed on. Who could have foreseen an ice storm so destructive only the day after these pictures were taken that would destroy the cozy life of one of my hives ?

We spent 12 hours listening and watching branches fall. It was too dangerous to go out so this is what I found the next morning. One of my hives destroyed, broken boxes and lots of dead bees.

I was able to save a few frames so If the Queen was among then they might survive.
I will let you know!!

Honey Harvest & State Of The Hives July 2011

2011-07-25T20:50:00.000-07:00

Our oldest granddaughter is all fitted out to help me check out the state of my bee-hives, and possibly harvest honey.

First we had to get the smoker going . Smoke is used to calm the bees.

I burn fir cones or burlap in the smoker, I find these work best and are readily available.

The 'Leaning Tower Of Beeza'. The placing of this hive was not my choice. We had some empty old hive boxes sitting here until I could get around to cleaning and storing them. A swarm of bees from somewhere else decided this would be the perfect home for them.

In the top box the bees are bringing in honey but very little is capped yet. The honey in the cells of the honeycomb needs to be capped with wax by the bees before harvesting. Bees won't cap the honey until the honey is at the proper moisture level, about 18%.

The darker area are cells being filled with honey.

We need a bit of a breeze to clear out the smoke, but it is working well ,the bees are calm.

Here is a frame with drone brood. Drones are male bees.

A closer look. The drones are larger, so need more room~ thus the larger cells.

My other hive. I think I need to trim some of the vegetation as there is too much shade.

We collect a few frames of honey from this hive.

Where is that queen?

Spring?

2011-04-30T11:21:00.000-07:00

We have just had the coldest April on record. There has only been one day where the temperature reached above 60 degrees. I left an extra box of honey on each hive going into winter this year so I would not have to feed the bees this spring but I did not anticipate Spring being so long, cold, and wet. The first dry weekend I saw the bees busy in two of the three hives but only a few coming and going from the one started last season. Upon closer inspection these bees were coming from the adjacent hive, a hint that it was being robbed. I got into the hive and found that what few bees it had left were all dead , just their heads stuck in empty cells. There was capped honey in the outer frames and just above them the upper two hive boxes were full. I extracted one box and put the other on this hive. I'm not sure why this hive did not survive the winter as this had been the most prolific first year hive I have ever had. I was talking to other beekeepers who purchased bees from the same supplier as me , and they had the same problem. Many Californians have trouble with the Pacific Northwest winters and that is where these bees came from... hm-mm.

These bees have created a new entrance. I wonder if mice tried to get in during the snowy weather.

It is the last day of April and we may get above 60 degrees for the second time this month. There are a few early blooming plants the bees are collecting pollen from, but most is coming from Dandelions.

The bees have started moving into the extra upper box and with the hope of warmer weather I may not have to feed them this year... we'll see.

Bees in the Winter

2011-01-15T15:09:00.000-08:00

There is not much for the beekeeper to do with the bees during the snowy days of winter.
We don't get a lot of snow here in the Pacific Northwest and occasionally we get daytime temperatures above 50 degrees so the bees come out for a cleansing flight (elimination of waste).

This year has not been as mild as some so the hives should have plenty of stored food to last until spring. I gave away most of this years honey at Christmas but have a couple of gallons left for our own use. Now back to the playoffs. Go Seahawks!!!

The Littlest Beekeeper

2010-11-08T21:11:00.000-08:00

The honey has all been collected. Winter is coming and it is an unusually warm day for November, so we are going to check on the hives to make sure they have enough stores ( frames of capped honey) to last the winter. Our youngest grand child is over for a visit with Papa and wants to help. This hood is a little big but will work just fine.

"Papa can I see the bees?"

"They look good to me but they are not too happy."
They all have enough to last until Spring but these boxes are so full of bees that I may have to feed them if Winter lasts too long.

"That was fun but I like playing with trucks too,"

"But a bowl full of whipping cream is the best!!!

BeeKeeper At The Fair

2010-09-13T01:00:00.000-07:00

I , the Beekeepers' wife,have high- jacked the Beekeeper's blog to show you a glimpse of a wonderful time we had today at the Puyallup Fair with our oldest Grandchild, C.T. The Beekeeper and C.T. enjoy many of the same things so it is always fun to spend time with him. Here the Beekeeper and C.T. tickle and tingle their feet after we have walked for a few hours.

C.T. got a toe-tickling twice!

One of the Beekeepers' and C.T.s favorite indulgence is root beer floats. These two are root beer connoisseurs, but on a day like today, full of sunshine and happy things to see and do, most any root beer will satisfy.

Especially when you add it to vanilla ice cream.

See? Oh, happy, happy day!

I'm Back!!!

2010-08-28T18:34:00.000-07:00

I am back from my business trip to Southeast Florida. It is a beautiful place but I'm glad to live in the Pacific Northwest. ( Above :honeybee on thyme blossoms.)

For some reason they wouldn't let me take this big boy home on the plane. I think he would make a better watchdog then the ones we have. Not so great on early warning but a great deterrent to unwanted visitors.

I have finished harvesting honey from all three hives and you can see the difference in color between the new and old hives.

I pour the honey from the extractor into gallon jars and the filter it and place in pints.

I was watching the honey bees work the thyme in the herb garden when a bald-faced hornet attacks, kills and eats one of the bees. I have killed three yellow jacket nests this year, maybe I should look for his nest also.

Next I will be harvesting some late season honey.....yum!

No Bees Up Here

2010-08-25T01:57:00.000-07:00

There are no honeybees up here in my hotel room in Florida. Here is the view from my room. The temperatures are in the 90's and the humidity is 100%. Maybe I will find some Tupelo honey to bring home and see if it tastes much different than the honey my bees produce. Wish you were here Kathy! Are you keeping my garden watered?

Summer's Here, So Is The First Honey

2010-07-29T21:05:00.000-07:00

Well we didn't have much of a Spring so the bees got off to a slow start but they have made up for it the past three weeks. One of the three hives swarmed last week even though it had an empty box on top. The other two however have filled two deeps and three western boxes. The new hive has not finished capping the comb in their top box but it is time to harvest the one on the old hive.

My helper (the oldest granddaughter) looks on while I remove the inner cover. I am going to remove seven frames from the top box. I usually leave the two outside frames in the box because they are usually not fully capped.

Yep, the hive is full. They are building comb on the inner cover so I should probably check for queen cells to see if they are getting ready to swarm.

Here is a frame of honey ready to harvest.

I brush off the bees with a soft brush over the cover in front of the hive. I then move to an empty box several yards away.

I move the frames to the honey house and begin to uncap them (remove the wax caps that cover the cells). I use this uncapping fork rather then a knife. it is much slower but I only extract one box at a time.

Here are frames spinning in the extractor. The Honey is thrown to the sides then runs down to the bottom. This is a small extractor so only holds two frames at a time.

My helper and I remove the empty frames.

Seven frames yield just over two gallons of honey. Next it needs to be filtered and put into pint jars. You can see the bits of wax starting to float to the top.

We now return the wet empty frames back to the hive. In a few days we will do the other hive.

The Bees Are Asking "When Will Spring Arrive?"

2010-06-01T20:31:00.000-07:00

I should have done two or three posts about the new hive by now and while the bees have been out working the flowers that are in bloom it has been a cold and very wet spring around here.

It has been great for the hostas and ferns but the vegetable garden is a month behind.

Yes it is the first of June and I am still feeding the new hive...

and even the established hives!!

I bought a few new tools to work on frames and boxes, wire cutters, tack hammer, and a scraper.
Something that I would normally do during the winter months.

Cleaning up and repainting old boxes.

Cleaning, repairing, and putting new foundation in old frames.

But at least I have a new honey house to work in. It even has an electric heater!

2010-04-21T21:48:00.000-07:00

The package of bees I ordered have arrived. I lost one hive this winter so am replacing it with this three pound package.

It was a cool and wet day this past Saturday which means the bees may be a little grumpy so I suit up to empty the box.

The package comes with a feeding can that is filled with syrup and here I place it in an empty box on top of a hive box filled with frames.

Then I shake the bees into their new home.

I remove the queen cage from the package and put it into the hive then finish shaking the rest of the bees into the boxes.

They would not all come out so I place the package in front of the new hive.

My son-in-law is starting a hive also, so he watches how it is done. To see how he is doing go to his family blog at A.Joy At Home.

Here you can see the bees leaving the package and walking up the ramp into the new hive. I use an entrance feeder until they put away enough reserve stores to make it on their own.

Bee-Keeper's Birthday

2010-04-18T04:23:00.001-07:00

The Bee-Keeper has a birthday, he is another year older.

The first candle is placed in the cake.The first candle of many.

We must remember to move the cake before we light all the candles, more than half a century's worth of candles. ( as in, one candle for every year)

Candles enough to cause one to think we are having a bonfire on the table!

The Bee-Keeper can still blow ALL the candles out, and that is saying a LOT!
Happy Birthday Bee-Keeper!

The Best Bee-Master

2010-02-28T04:33:00.000-08:00

"The bees have their definite plan for life, perfected through countless ages, and nothing you can do will ever turn them from it. You can delay their work, or you can thwart it altogether, but no one has ever succeeded in changing a single principle in bee-life. And so the best bee-master is always the one who most exactly obeys the orders from the hive." fr. 'The Bee-master of Warrilow' Tickner Edwards - 1920

False Spring, The Bees Are Out & About

2010-02-23T04:08:00.000-08:00

It is still officially winter here, yet we have had a few warm, as in upper 40's and lower 50's degree days. The bees are hungry and the few late winter blooms are busy diners for the bees. The Hellebores, crocuses and some of the tree blooms are feeding my bees. Before the sun sets though the temperatures are back in the lower 30's and get as low as the upper 20's, so you know winter is still here.

I feed my bees sugar water to tide them over until spring is in full bloom.

Here are old hive boxes that were perched near our woods prior to me cleaning them out and storing them. They were too tempting for bees looking for a home and the boxes on the left are filled with bees that swarmed in the end of last summer. I moved the old hive boxes on the right and the hive is still thriving. They get fed sugar water too. You can see the woods are still showing the barrenness of winter . "Once or twice in the depths of winter, when the temperature goes above 46-50 degrees and the watery rays of sunlight delude them into thinking spring is just around the corner , the bees come out to do their business. Soon the queen resumes her laying programme in readiness for the busy days of early spring when the nectar begins to flow. The bee-keeper's year starts in earnest." fr. 'Honey, From Hive to Honeypot' by Sue Style

Bees Are Resting But the Bee Keeper Is Not!

2009-12-01T22:07:00.000-08:00

It has been awhile since I last posted but things have been a bit busy. We have built a new pump/honey house (need a new place to store all the bee supplies) and installed a new well pump. Then there were the business and hunting trips to Eastern Washington.

Autumn is almost over and the hives are ready for winter. None of my hives are real strong so I will have to watch them carefully.

I will give the hives some extra food during the warmer days. Because two of my hives are from captured swarms they did not build up enough winter stores to make it through a long winter so I will help them out by feeding them syrup.

Of course there is always time to spoil the grand kids,
(Well...don't you love whip cream straight from the can?)

to go bird hunting in Montana,

And spend some time with your best friend!

Where is the Honey?

2009-09-27T21:33:00.000-07:00

I have been busy with what little spare time I have building a new honey/well house (I will talk about in a later post) and so I'm about three weeks late in harvesting some honey. I didn't expect to get much this year as I started with only one hive and it swarmed this spring. I captured two swarms this year so hope to begin next year with three hives. When I inspected the old hive I found yellow-jackets and bald-faced hornets attacking the hive (they have been particularly numerous this year).

There were about three pounds of bees left and the bottom two boxes were empty except for a few guard bees. I reduced the hive down from six to three boxes and found no capped honey frames. Bald faced hornets had been killing and eating the honey bees and the yellow jackets were stealing the honey.

The honey bees were gathering nectar and pollen and all the drones had been kicked out ,but no honey for me this year.

I also found very little brood ( baby bees ) cells but this is often normal in the fall as the hive gets ready for winter.

A picture of one of the frames with only a few bees left on it.
It looks like I will be feeding the bees this year instead of them feeding me!

I went out and dispatched a couple of in-ground yellow jacket nests. How dare they fill up on honey before I get any?

Bee Skeps

2009-08-30T20:47:00.000-07:00

Today bee skeps are meant for decoration but these coiled straw hives are made much the same way as they have been for the past 5000 years. While primitive hives were made from clay pots to logs these basket hives were easier to vary in size, small ones were used by beekeepers who wanted their colonies to swarm early to populate empty hives. The skeps provided the bees and their combs with protection; their flight entrances were made small enough for the bees to guard and some had other openings so the beekeeper could get at the honey without destroying the whole hive. (excerpts from The Hive and the Honey Bee)

Primitive beekeeping was little more than catching and hiving bee swarms, much like I did this spring, although I will keep mine through the winter.

Bee Skep

Time to Add Boxes

2009-08-13T18:57:00.000-07:00

The weather has cooled and even some rain showers to help water the gardens. The bees are working the sedums and fireweed and I will soon be harvesting some honey.

The new hive that swarmed into the wood shed has grown to fill half the upper box.

While there is still plenty of room I have decided to add the final box before fall. Here in the north I like to have three boxes on the hives to help carry them over till spring. I know I could harvest more honey but then I would be feeding sugar water in the late winter and early spring.

Here is a frame with a few cells of pollen but mostly being filled with honey. Once filled and the right moisture content archived (about 18%) the bees will cap the cells with wax.

There are several sizes of boxes that can be used to make up the hive. The larger are Standard Hive Bodies that provide the living quarters for the bees. The Queen lays eggs and brood is raised here. Honey and pollen are also stored around the brood. The smaller boxes are shallow supers that are used for surplus honey. These are what are harvested by the beekeeper.
A good video series is A Year in the Life of an Apiary with Dr. Keith Delaplane produced by the University of Georgia.

Summer Heat Wave

2009-08-02T21:57:00.000-07:00

I have returned from two weeks away on business. I left the 85 degrees of Miami Beach to come home to a 90 - 105 degree heat wave here in the northwest.
I added another box to the existing hive and will harvest the honey when the fireweed stops blooming (three to four weeks).

The new hives that swarmed in are doing well with a little feeding to help out.

During this heat wave the bees need a lot of water to cool the hive so they can be seen frequenting the bird baths...

...and fountain.

We have several varieties of Rudbeckia on our property . The honey bees love them for both pollen and nectar. Much more later!

Away in Port Angeles

2009-07-18T20:33:00.000-07:00

We spent this past week in Port Angeles, WA most of the time at business meetings but Kathy and I did get a chance to see the sights and visit a few wineries

.

The first winery was Olympic Cellars with their Working Girl Wines, La Dolce Vida Series, and Dungeness Series.

Many wineries have magnificent doors and we have made a habit of taking pictures of the ones we visit. Doesn't this door look like an entrance to a Hobbit house?

Here are the wines we purchased at Olympic Cellars.

Posing with the unique sculptures.

Entrance to an outside seating area. You can see we had nice weather.

We also visited Harbinger Winery, a small boutique winery with some very good wines. A harbinger is a sign of things to come.

Some of their award winning wines.

While we were away another swarm of bees moved into some empty boxes we have on the property.

They Swarm In

2009-07-13T23:13:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago I checked my one hive and found the bee population had reduced by a third.
Then early this past week a swarm moved into a box I had in the wood shed.

Here is a closer look at them entering. A few minutes later I added another box.
Below is a video I took as the began to swarm in. I'm not sure if they are from the other hive and if they are, where they have been for a week.

Santa on Holiday

2009-07-05T22:05:00.000-07:00

We went to my sisters home for the 4th of July. there is a neighborhood parade, great food, and fireworks that would satisfy any enthusiast.

For some reason our grandchildren think their Papa is Santa. I'm not sure where they get that idea but I do love Christmas. Another favorite holiday of mine is July 4th. Maybe its the similarity between lights and fireworks.

Kathy and the beekeeper pose for a picture by the lake side.

Relaxing after dinner! Even Santa needs a vacation.

Ah!! Let the Fireworks begin.

The Beekeepers Apprentices

2009-06-24T20:23:00.000-07:00

The industrious bee extracts from every flower
Its fragrant sweets and mild balsamic power
Learn thence with greatest care and nicest skill
To take the good and to reject the ill.
from a piece of embroidery by Sarah Ann Hitch, 1790

Here is our #1 granddaughter (KB) suiting up to inspect the bees.
Her dad was about a year older when we first started keeping bees.

Together we inspect the hive; don't worry you are well protected.
They look to be doing very well!

This little apprentice is Kai, Lanny's grandson ( "It's The Dirt"). His mom helps get him suited up. He is fearless and loves to catch bees and study them. He does not complain when stung.

He handles the smoker like a pro. It is used to help calm the bees while working the hive.

Here he helps put a package of bees into boxes to start a new hive.
He now helps work hives at his house.
I think another one is hooked (stung ) on beekeeping.

Mead - the sacred drink of gods and men!

2009-06-17T21:07:00.000-07:00

"The principal things necessary for the life of men are: water, fire, iron, salt, milk, and bread of flour and honey, and the cluster of grape and oil and clothing. " Ecclesiaticus 39:31

Mead brewed from honey was believed to have descended from the Heavens as dew and then gathered in by bees. Mead was thought to bestow harmony, wit and poetry. The Viking deity Thor is said to have consumed three tons of this magical brew in one sitting in Valhalla. Much of the action of Beowulf takes place in the Danish mead hall of Heorot. The Hindu gods of light called Asvins, drove chariots full of honey and mead bestowing blessings on mortals below. Shakespeare drank mead and King Charles II employed a royal mead maker to supply his table. Common folk brewed mead at home from leftover honeycomb. Henry Best of Yorkshire explains how recently harvested honeycomb was transformed into this household beverage in 1641. It is said that a fire in Meissen, Germany, was extinguished with mead owing to a shortage of water and a typical abundance of the honey drink. ~ "Monasteries across northern Europe demanded tributes of mead, but it was often insufficient to quench the thirst of the church, so monks augmented their taxation supply by producing or purchsing huge amounts of honey for the in-house brewery." ROBBING THE BEES by Holley Bishop

Mead is a rewarding indulgence sipped chilled on a hot summer afternoon or

heated and spiced on a cozy winters eve.

A Honey Of A Snack!

2009-06-07T21:32:00.000-07:00

This past week has been warm and sunny. The bees are working several different flower sources. Thyme's, Rosemary, and Lemon Balm in the herb garden.

They are still busy in the vine maples.

With the very warm spring days they can often be found at the ponds edge getting water to take back to help cool the hive.

As I sat by the pond ,I was watching this red-legged frog and a bee landed close by ... you guessed it! A tasty snack. ( It was too quick to capture with my camera)

Another bee landed,and oops, some competition. This soon became an intense stare down. ( it is a little hard to see because the frogs are very well camouflaged, but there are 2 frogs )

We also put feeder goldfish in the pond that the Heron feast on in late summer. It's nice we can assist in keeping the wildlife well fed! posted by Jim B.

Where the bees are!

2009-05-29T21:45:00.000-07:00

It's Spring and many plants are in bloom. Honeybees tend to work only one food source at a time, so what are they feeding on this 84 degree day. Here are the transplanted strawberries, lots of blooms but no bees.

How about the Rugosa..... Nope!

Lots of flowers on the Creeping Thyme . They were here a few days ago but not today.

The Vine Maples are blooming.

Yes the bees are working the Maples. Can you find it?

They are also feeding on the Rosemary. I'm not sure how Rosemary-maple honey would taste.
I don't take any honey off the hive until August so it is made up of lots of different nectar.

How about the Rhododendrons? No that's a Bumblebee.

A Season to Sow in 2009

2009-05-25T20:40:00.000-07:00

This holiday weekend was beautiful and much of it was spent out in the vegetable garden. The peas and onions are already in and up and I've started another bed of strawberries. This time it is potatoes, beans, lettuces, and carrots.

The garden is 40' x 40' with 12 raised beds and three rows for potatoes and beets, that is what I'm working on in the picture. The structure behind me is where we pen the ducks up at night.

Bee note: They have not swarmed but there are more drones than normal so will check the brood frames later this week.

Bees on the Ajuga

2009-05-18T20:49:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was warm and sunny so the bees were busy. This is the only hive I have left after losing one each of the past two years to colony collapse disorder. I left plenty of honey on over the winter and fed this spring so this hive is very strong.

We planted a couple ajuga plants several years ago and they are taking over near our front porch. The bees love it and the hum was almost deafening as we sat on the porch and read the morning paper.

Here is one of the gals busy at work.

Ajuga, Hostas, and Bleeding Hearts grow between our front walk and the porch.

Spring & Threats of a Swarm

2009-05-14T01:50:00.000-07:00

The bee hives are so full of bees that the threat of swarming is ever present. You can see the bees appear to be gearing up for swarming.

To help prevent a swarm I added another bee box to the hive. Ideally the queen should have been found and contained, but I was unable to locate her and so far , giving the bees more room has helped. The bees have remained, and are very busy in this warm weather ripe with blossoms of all kinds.