12-10-15

What a wonderful day it has been. I had planned to check the bees yesterday however I noticed today was even going to be warmer. Little breezy but not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Checked and fed all hives. Relaxing now with a cuppa coffee watching one of the hives in my back yard gobble up some of the surplus honey that was left over from the hive that died.

The girls eating on some winter patty at their entrance. This was at the orchard.

This is what both Vinyard hives looked like. Two left there.

From one hive in my backyard. Can't imagine what they're thinking except for it's Christmas!

12-6-15

 The girls popped their head out and are doing some cleansing flights I'm sure. Was able to open boxes at home and feed them, though they did have some left from over a month ago. One box had decent numbers coming to top when I opened the top cover however on the other I couldn't even see any in honey super on top. Hoping they are down below as I did see a few coming out of reducer. Hoping it isn't just being robbed. It's 48° and sunny.

Update 11-13-15

Wrapped all colonies. Found one at vineyard already defunct. Two others there seem week. Others very aggressive as I closed down their reducers and protected them from mice. The defunct hive had been totally raided. Very little bees were left so I assume they did not just die of freezing.

It's been a very busy past two months. Have been only out to harvest frames twice and reduce honey supers down to two deeps boxes and and a honey. About ready to extract honey from frames and add winter patties to supplement going into late fall and start of winter. The bees are still bringing in pollen and it's been unseasonably warm. It was in mid 90's here yesterday. Stay tuned!

Gnarly Girls

So...where do I start? Last week I decided to harvest some frames from the vineyard hives. I brought a family friend, John M. and introduced him to beekeeping. Didn't have much time so was unable to harvest more than one hive. They weren't to happy and one got me through my jeans.

Here's a pic from that visit of a nice garden spider that was camped out in front of the hive.

So today Alex an I went down near Sidney, Iowa to help out fellow keeper Mike G. Checked his bees and gave him some tips. Again one girl got me through my suit on my stomach.

After that, it was getting close to 6 which should have been my clue. Normally you do not do major checking or harvesting typically in the evening.

Guess what I tried anyway. Went through smaller hive without much issue which was a small MoValley swarm. Doing well, but there will not be any harvesting this year. Moved on to next hive which I recall was a split from orchard hive. First few minutes were fine as I smoked but slowly the hive became more irritated and the hum more intent. Focusing the soldiers on my being their pheromonal stings brought more and more to my suit and head gear. So many in fact they began stinging through my suit. Of course finally unnerving me allowing some to creep up under my jacket and inside my head gear. Trying to keep my head as they began stinging the side of my head. I quickly closed hive after only harvesting 2 small frames but only with the help of Alex as he picked up some tools and dispatched a couple on my head as I took off my garb. Thanks for my helper.

Hopefully will be back at it tomorrow.

How bees in Nebraska, Iowa play crucial role in local food economy - Living - Omaha.com

How bees in Nebraska, Iowa play crucial role in local food economy - Living - Omaha.com

8-1-15 Visit

I checked one of our yard hives as I thought the numbers I had reduced suddenly. However everything looked good, so, many brood and lots of capped. Was difficult to see eggs but pretty sure there was some in there. And after that Alex and I check the orchard hive as it had been several weeks. Harvested about 40 pounds of honey. Checked down to second deep and there were many brood capped. Guessing there's 50 to 60,000 bees in this particular hive.

Courtesy my wife Melanie, a photo of me with the yard hive.

Extraction Day 7-25-15

Spent most of the day extracting honey from four out of the nine hives. Out of the four this is only a small percentage of honey that was ready.

Stifling to say the least. Feeling for the girls this week.

 

7-20-15 Visit

Had been a couple weeks since I visited these hives. 1/2 were harvested and the other 1/2 almost ready. Was thinning out weeds on 1st hive and the girls were not happy. Of course I had yet to smoke them and got nailed through my jeans. Not bad as stinger really can't stay in through the fabric. Anyway, harvested 60lbs worth. Which is just a fraction of what might be harvested.

7-16-15 Visit

85° with 82% humidity. Yeah, pretty sweaty after I was done. And I only checked 2 hives. MoValley Swarm is doing ok but slow. Found eggs immediately in top deep box.

Other split hive has two deeps and honey super. Harvested 3 frames from honey super. They got so riled up that I thought all out anarchy was upon me. I stopped harvesting at that point. It was almost sunset. Alex through sticks for Hershey dog and Schweeps dog.

7-8-15 Visit

Had been several weeks since I had checked the orchard hive. The honey super on top was almost full but yet still several that needed to be fully capped. I checked the deep below and was able to harvest four full frames with all the others almost completed as well. The unseasonably cool weather still continues, several days this week in the mid-70s with lows in the 60s.

7-7-15

Cool air prevails a few days this week. Highs in mid 70's. Lows in low 60's! These shots are from the Peterbilt swarm that was caught a couple months ago.

6-18-15 Visit

Added last honey super to Vineyard hives. Mid 70s and cloudy and will rain today.

All looked good in the photo. Orchard hive is doing well. Was going to add an additional honey but they still have space. Third deep is filling up with honey.

6-12-15 Visit

It's been almost a month since I last blogged. Been so busy with my photography business and just the weekly upkeep of the hives, just haven't made time.
Here's what I had time to capture in photos this evening. Hope you enjoy and ask questions.
Otherwise yesterday had our yearly tour group come and visit and Clarence Seale, Jackson, Alex, and Joshua all helped. Bummer, was too busy to take any photos. The people from Kansas and Oklahoma were very satisfied with the presentation.
Caught a hive a while back and was unsure of the queen, supplemented a brood frame but have found that there was a queen and she is laying quite nicely! It's been very hot and wet the last couple of weeks so I think that has held back the growth in some hives yet they always seem busy when it stops raining.
It was a nice cool evening to get out and make photos and check a couple hives.

A rose from my garden

Yes, there are other pollinators waiting in the wings!

Beautiful comb pattern.

Getting beezey

Close of brood in comb.

Four is never a crowd.

Each honeybee contains 9000 "little eyes"

Garden flower from Jayna's Country Store & Gardens

Rainy Days

This is about the 4th weekend in a row with rain. Went to check NUCS I installed last. Very different numbers. One hive I also didn't notice eggs or very many larvae. I'll have to check again soon. The other had good numbers and was starting to rain so I went ahead and added another deep. Cut grass with hand weed cutter I bought at a garage sale. Worked well! Temp was in the mid 70's at time of check.

Trying to save 150 bees!

Leftover honeybees after a NUC need to be saved. Well, I'm going to try anyway. Soooo, they need to raise larvae, feed the royal jelly and make a new queen? How hard can it beeee?

Stay tuned. 80 degree day. INSTALLED IN MY BACK YARD!

NUC Install

Installed my very first NUCS for myself today. I've always had packages or wild swarms in the past.

Nucs, or nucleus colonies, are small honey bee colonies created from larger colonies. The term refers both to the smaller size box and the colony of honeybees within it. The name is derived from the fact that a nuc hive is centered on a queen, the nucleus of the honey beecolony.

It was a quick install of two of them because I was trying to get to a soccer game. It's about 75° and a little bit breezy but a perfect day to install. Wasn't expecting them until tomorrow but with honeybees you never know when they come in and you have to be ready.

Mite Treatment and Expansion

The hive that I split a few days ago had varroa mites so in addition to adding another brood box I also treated them. This will go on for about 4 weeks but should eradicate most of the mites. Not harmful to humans at all they can be devastating to the honeybee hive and can weaken them greatly if they get out of hand.
It was about 68 degrees and all the apple trees have been blooming for about 10 days.

The Split

The temperature was 55° while making the hive split. Original hive has phenomenal numbers but many drones. I could not find the queen in original hive so it's hard to tell at this point which hive has original queen with the new queen. Got stung on left calf as a worker made its way up from my boot. I deserved it. Established the split down south near Vineyard at the antique and gardens store named The Swallows Nest.

Decision To Split Hive

One of my orchard hives has tremendous spring numbers and I didn't really have time to look at it fully until today. Temperature was 65 degrees with a light breeze. Lots of capped brood and an inordinate number of drone chambers. A sure sign of possible swarming hints as well as queen  possibility of going bad.  So with that being said I placed a queen excluder between bottom two brood boxes and placed another deep on top with mostly capped brood from below on top as well. I have two queens coming and will plan on moving the split soon.

Swarm Season Is Almost Upon Us

Please stay vigilant for any swarms of honeybees you see that are wild. Call me as soon as you find them so I can round them up and help them survive.

4-12-15

Day after installation.

These ladies have released their queens and are already bringing in pollen! There is a nice consistent hum, as they are keeping their hive cool in this 80° day.

Honey and Bad Cholesterol

Accumulating evidence is suggesting that phenolic acids and flavonoids act as free-radical scavenging agents and can produce anti-inflammatory effects to protect our body cells against oxidative stress. Specifically, according to The Honey Revolution by Dr Ron Fessenden, the main antioxidant compounds in honey, floral-flavones are able to exert powerful, significant influences on our body by improving fat metabolism and disposal of undesirable cholesterol that can narrow and stiffen the arteries and block blood flow to the vital organs including the heart, brain, intestines and kidneys.

Unlike honey, highly refined and processed sugars (which include white table sugar) that are void of any minerals and vitamins, draw upon the nutrients in our body for metabolism and when all these nutrients are exhausted, the ability for the body to break down harmful cholesterol and fatty acids is affected. This explains why it is possible for obese people who have excessive sucrose in their diet to suffer from malnutrition, high cholesterol levels, and many severe, chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancers, diabetes and neuro-degenerative diseases. Regularly consuming honey on the other hand, combats free-radicals, eliminates oxidants and prevents cholesterol, which cannot dissolve in the blood, from being moved out of the blood and into the lining of the blood vessels, reducing metabolic stress and enhancing fat metabolism over time.

In 2010, a study by the School of Exercise and Nutritional Sciences, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, comparing the consumption of honey versus sucrose over a period of 116 days showed that, honey lowered the total cholesterol level in the blood. Another earlier study published by ScientificWorld Journal, 2008, also pointed to honey as a cholesterol fighter. The study investigated the effects of honey on overweight individuals, including total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C, also known as Bad Cholesterol), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C, also known as Good Cholesterol), triacylglycerol, and body weight. Results not only showed that honey caused a reduction in body weight and body fat, but it also reduced total cholesterol, LDL-C and triacylglycerol (a form of fat in simple laymen terms and the main ingredient of the fatty tissues stored underneath our skin and around organs) and increased HDL-C in the subjects studied. It concluded that honey could reduce cardiovascular risk factors in obese patients with elevated risk factors.

"In a research with sixty volunteers with high cholesterol, the LDL (bad) cholesterol value increased in the group which took 75g of sucrose solution once daily over a period of 14 days but not in the group which consumed 75g of honey solution daily." 

~ Journal of Medicinal Food. June 2009, 12(3): 624-628.

1-18-15

This sums up today's visit to the vineyard hives. Broken hearted I guess. 3 more gone. All froze even though they were covered/wrapped and had food.

1-16-15 Visit

Very nice January day. It got up to 62°. Was planning on feeding them if I could. I was able to visit the orchard hives. Alex and I built more fondant boards and Jackson assisted mixing the sugar. 

Unfortunately we've lost yet another hive to the frigid temps. It did look like their numbers were weak so may have been one of the issues going into winter. The other hives seem ok, especially a wild hive that I caught last year.