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Posted: 7/6/2018 10:04:01 PM EDT
[#1]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By paulthepreacherman:
What’s the danger of feeding honey to my bees? I thought about picking up some cheap honey at the discount grocery store and open the jar, and set it in the hive. Thoughts? |
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Posted: 7/6/2018 10:04:50 PM EDT
[#2]
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Posted: 7/16/2018 12:41:18 AM EDT
[#3]
Busy weekend. Pulled my 3 supers, 2 were full, one was empty. They just never built it out. Pulled two deep frames out of the empty super hive just because there are no free lunches. Not too much on those though.
Ended up with 55lbs of honey. Just under 5 gallons. Good stuff. Got half of it bottled. As I was going through the freeloading hive, they had a ton of brood in there ( double deep hive). Im thinking about a late season split. Wont freeze till late November maybe early December. I put a 4 gallon top feeder on it today. Only problem is I cant get a queen from my regular guy for 2 weeks. |
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Posted: 7/16/2018 7:18:19 AM EDT
[#4]
I’m glad a made two (nuc) splits off one of my hives, because even after two splits, that hive is looking to hit 180-200lbs honey. Unbelievable. Naturally mated queen.
I think I’ll be finishing the year with 400 pounds or more! I currently have 9 10 frame hives and two double decker nucs with fat queens. I’m going to try to overwinter the nucs Mike Palmer style. |
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Posted: 7/16/2018 4:24:49 PM EDT
[#5]
Just added the 2nd honey super to the better hive today, it was full!
 Attached FileOther hive, that swarmed and was requeened a while back is still working on it's first super. |
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Posted: 7/17/2018 10:00:09 PM EDT
[#6]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By BustinCaps:
I’m glad a made two (nuc) splits off one of my hives, because even after two splits, that hive is looking to hit 180-200lbs honey. Unbelievable. Naturally mated queen. I think I’ll be finishing the year with 400 pounds or more! I currently have 9 10 frame hives and two double decker nucs with fat queens. I’m going to try to overwinter the nucs Mike Palmer style. |
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Posted: 7/18/2018 11:05:10 AM EDT
[#7]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By cuttingedge:
We run about 30 of the Palmer style nucs. Our success rate is much higher with Nucs overwintering than full size hives. Good luck, I think you will like them. Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By cuttingedge:
Originally Posted By BustinCaps:
I’m glad a made two (nuc) splits off one of my hives, because even after two splits, that hive is looking to hit 180-200lbs honey. Unbelievable. Naturally mated queen. I think I’ll be finishing the year with 400 pounds or more! I currently have 9 10 frame hives and two double decker nucs with fat queens. I’m going to try to overwinter the nucs Mike Palmer style. |
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Posted: 7/18/2018 3:14:12 PM EDT
[Last Edit: FrankSymptoms]
[#8]
Treatment Free Beekeeping.(
The answer is simply a philosophy that goes something like this ~ any time you treat your hive for any kind of pest or disease you are selecting for bees that cannot take care of that pest or disease without your help. By continuing on the path of using treatments you end up breeding stronger pests and diseases resistant to treatments, instead of breeding better bees resistant to pests and disease. |
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Posted: 7/18/2018 10:52:54 PM EDT
[Last Edit: cuttingedge]
[#9]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By FrankSymptoms:
Treatment Free Beekeeping.(From the Palmer Beekeeping web site) BTW: Mike Palmer treats all of his colonies when necessary. I don’t know why you posted that stating that it’s from Palmers website? |
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Posted: 7/18/2018 11:13:20 PM EDT
[#10]
BTW: Mike Palmer treats all of his colonies when necessary. I don’t know why you posted that stating that it’s from Palmers website? |
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Posted: 7/19/2018 6:20:48 AM EDT
[#11]
I’ve turned people away from treatment free this year. (Their first year).
Treatment free is a great concept, worth striving for. It is also a very advanced concept that requires knowledge of breeding, good record keeping, etc. Anyone who grabs a couple packages of Italians and declares that they are going the hippy route, is going to bee a package customer for life. Palmer loves treatment free, but it is a goal to work toward as a part of a self sustainable apiary. |
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Posted: 7/19/2018 10:27:01 PM EDT
[#12]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By BustinCaps:
I’ve turned people away from treatment free this year. (Their first year). Treatment free is a great concept, worth striving for. It is also a very advanced concept that requires knowledge of breeding, good record keeping, etc. Anyone who grabs a couple packages of Italians and declares that they are going the hippy route, is going to bee a package customer for life. Palmer loves treatment free, but it is a goal to work toward as a part of a self sustainable apiary. We all want that. We will reach for it, while doing what we have to do to keep our bees alive. Kitties, back from the abyss, and hoping to stay above the water from here on out. Thank you so much, CE, Bustin Caps, Frank, and all the other beekeepers who've responded in my absence. If I were not here, this thread would keep going, and that is an amazing, wonderful thing. 
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Posted: 7/19/2018 10:41:25 PM EDT
[#13]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By BustinCaps:
I’ve turned people away from treatment free this year. (Their first year). Treatment free is a great concept, worth striving for. It is also a very advanced concept that requires knowledge of breeding, good record keeping, etc. Anyone who grabs a couple packages of Italians and declares that they are going the hippy route, is going to bee a package customer for life. Palmer loves treatment free, but it is a goal to work toward as a part of a self sustainable apiary. I'm going to perform a mite count tomorrow or Saturday, time and weather permitting. I've recently gotten a Varroa Easy Check, which unfortunately kills the subject bees, but (they say) provides a more accurate count of varroa mites. Good news: We have had a few rainstorms in the last week. One of them actually hit my house! So the long-promised monsoon season* is upon us! This will mean new growth, especially in the tiny flowers that carpet the desert and are so easy to miss. I mention this because Kitties was interested in the differences with high desert beekeeping. *The weather scientists say that the La Nina weather patterns are weakening, allowing a more moist monsoon. |
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Posted: 7/20/2018 10:22:05 PM EDT
[#14]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs: That is very well said. We all want that. We will reach for it, while doing what we have to do to keep our bees alive. Kitties, back from the abyss, and hoping to stay above the water from here on out. Thank you so much, CE, Bustin Caps, Frank, and all the other beekeepers who've responded in my absence. If I were not here, this thread would keep going, and that is an amazing, wonderful thing. Welcome Back! |
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Posted: 7/20/2018 10:26:00 PM EDT
[#15]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By FrankSymptoms:
Thank you all for the clarification! I'm going to perform a mite count tomorrow or Saturday, time and weather permitting. I've recently gotten a Varroa Easy Check, which unfortunately kills the subject bees, but (they say) provides a more accurate count of varroa mites. Good news: We have had a few rainstorms in the last week. One of them actually hit my house! So the long-promised monsoon season* is upon us! This will mean new growth, especially in the tiny flowers that carpet the desert and are so easy to miss. I mention this because Kitties was interested in the differences with high desert beekeeping. *The weather scientists say that the La Nina weather patterns are weakening, allowing a more moist monsoon. As our State Apiarist tells people that have a problem with killing the 300 bees per sample, “it’s 300 now or 30,000 later” the choice is yours. |
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Posted: 7/23/2018 9:09:40 PM EDT
[#16]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By cuttingedge: It has not been the same with your absence. Welcome Back! I'd like to get back to me a little more. I miss seeing what y'all are doing. 
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Posted: 7/24/2018 8:39:09 AM EDT
[#17]
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Posted: 7/25/2018 7:03:37 PM EDT
[#18]
Quote HistoryOH!
CWO, you ought to post that in Virginia Hometown! Might be some folks there who wouldn't see it here! |
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Posted: 7/30/2018 10:04:21 PM EDT
[#19]
Alrighty we made the jump.
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Posted: 8/4/2018 12:33:13 PM EDT
[#20]
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Posted: 8/4/2018 4:06:27 PM EDT
[#21]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By FrankSymptoms:
Has anyone heard of this solution to controlling varroa mites? Oxalic acid and glycerine. |
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Posted: 8/4/2018 4:10:39 PM EDT
[#22]
Roadside stands do well around here! $250 in sales for 2 hours out. Kids think they are Lebron James spending Bill Gates money, lol.
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Posted: 8/9/2018 1:57:23 PM EDT
[#23]
Honey crop is looking good this year!
  
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Posted: 8/9/2018 8:30:12 PM EDT
[#24]
The weak El Nino we're experiencing in New Mexico is working to my bees' advantage. It'll rain maybe once a week, either on top of me or near enough that my bees can gather pollen. The sparse rains are enough to make the tiny purple dye plants bloom; they get dry weather for a few days and the bees just have a ball! Both hives are almost full of comb.
As they are both newly-packaged hives, I'm going to follow Kittie's earlier advice and treat them like colonies on a remote planet, and keep what they'll gather (this year). I've already gathered a few pounds from burr comb, but I'll let them keep this year's crop for the winter. |
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Posted: 8/9/2018 9:00:32 PM EDT
[#25]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By rustyhawk:
Honey crop is looking good this year! https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/121096/20180807_202320-635079.jpghttps://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/121096/78455-635080.jpghttps://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/121096/79174-635081.jpg 
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Posted: 8/9/2018 9:01:41 PM EDT
[#26]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By BustinCaps:
Roadside stands do well around here! $250 in sales for 2 hours out. Kids think they are Lebron James spending Bill Gates money, lol. I think roadside stands do well in most areas, if you have any traffic. Do you have pics of your stand or the signs? Are you getting local traffic? or out-of-towners? |
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Posted: 8/9/2018 9:02:38 PM EDT
[#27]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By SSF556:
Alrighty we made the jump. https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-KF5dNvL/0/8e8b2e11/L/i-KF5dNvL-L.jpg (forgive me if I should know. I've been consumed with family stuff since late winter.) |
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Posted: 8/9/2018 9:04:11 PM EDT
[#28]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By FrankSymptoms:
The weak El Nino we're experiencing in New Mexico is working to my bees' advantage. It'll rain maybe once a week, either on top of me or near enough that my bees can gather pollen. The sparse rains are enough to make the tiny purple dye plants bloom; they get dry weather for a few days and the bees just have a ball! Both hives are almost full of comb. As they are both newly-packaged hives, I'm going to follow Kittie's earlier advice and treat them like colonies on a remote planet, and keep what they'll gather (this year). I've already gathered a few pounds from burr comb, but I'll let them keep this year's crop for the winter.
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Posted: 8/9/2018 9:52:22 PM EDT
[#29]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By FrankSymptoms:
Has anyone heard of this solution to controlling varroa mites? Oxalic acid and glycerine. 
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Posted: 8/9/2018 10:09:13 PM EDT
[#30]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs: We must give our remote colonies all the help we can! 
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Posted: 8/10/2018 7:23:40 AM EDT
[#31]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs:
Very cool. I think roadside stands do well in most areas, if you have any traffic. Do you have pics of your stand or the signs? Are you getting local traffic? or out-of-towners? Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs:
Originally Posted By BustinCaps:
Roadside stands do well around here! $250 in sales for 2 hours out. Kids think they are Lebron James spending Bill Gates money, lol. I think roadside stands do well in most areas, if you have any traffic. Do you have pics of your stand or the signs? Are you getting local traffic? or out-of-towners? Lesson: I need to have more kids before these grow up. lol. |
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Posted: 8/10/2018 8:43:05 AM EDT
[Last Edit: SSF556]
[#32]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs: @SSF556 is that your first hive??? (forgive me if I should know. I've been consumed with family stuff since late winter.) |
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Posted: 8/11/2018 3:27:59 PM EDT
[#33]
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Posted: 8/12/2018 8:55:08 PM EDT
[#34]
Isn’t she pretty?
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Posted: 8/12/2018 9:15:58 PM EDT
[#35]
My bees just seem to downright refuse to draw out new comb. They initially swarmed on me even though I added a second deep and tried the pyramid technique of drawn comb. A friend of mine gave me a split that we put in the hive. It has had two full deeps, and I’ve been feeding them but they just won’t build comb on the super I’ve given them. My friend suggested I buy beeswax then melt and spread it on the bare foundation. I’m going to give that a try hopefully next weekend. I’m using RiteCell from Mann Lake for foundation. According to some research, it says they can be a little finicky with RiteCell sometimes versus some Acorn products. Does anyone care to share their experience?
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Posted: 8/12/2018 9:51:32 PM EDT
[Last Edit: cuttingedge]
[#36]
Acorn is the best hands down by far that I have used. I buy the heavy waxed version directly from Nick at Acorn. It costs a little more and shipping SUCKS but my bees love it so I do too. I have tried Rite Cell and a few others and have not been happy at all.
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Posted: 8/12/2018 10:47:57 PM EDT
[#37]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By mr2143:
My bees just seem to downright refuse to draw out new comb. They initially swarmed on me even though I added a second deep and tried the pyramid technique of drawn comb. A friend of mine gave me a split that we put in the hive. It has had two full deeps, and I've been feeding them but they just won't build comb on the super I've given them. My friend suggested I buy beeswax then melt and spread it on the bare foundation. I'm going to give that a try hopefully next weekend. I'm using RiteCell from Mann Lake for foundation. According to some research, it says they can be a little finicky with RiteCell sometimes versus some Acorn products. Does anyone care to share their experience? |
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Posted: 8/16/2018 11:58:47 AM EDT
[#38]
Is it possible to have a laying working in honey supers that are protected by a queen excluder?
Or is my queen into crossfit? I had a few drone brood cells one of my frames on both sides, in a cluster. I just scrapped them out, because I don't want to wait for them to hatch out cause the frame is getting full of honey otherwise, and want the bees to fix em up and fill them. I know I have a queen, cause I see regular brood and larva in the deeps. |
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Posted: 8/16/2018 10:36:43 PM EDT
[#39]
Yes, you can have both a laying queen and one or more laying workers at the same time in a hive. You can also have multiple queens (usually mother/ daughter) in the same hive for months. We notice it a lot in the fall and come spring the daughter kills the mother queen and we only find one. It could be that you have two queens and one was not mated properly and is a drone laying queen.
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Posted: 8/20/2018 8:11:48 PM EDT
[#40]
Beekeeping be like it be. Except when it ain't.
This could be my motto. I opened the hives and found NO bare larva. So I started looking around thinking I'd need to buy 2 new queens. Then I found this: "The presence of the queen will keep the worker bees calm.” And our bees are calm. And this: The bees seem calm during inspections and a few foragers are still bringing in pollen — both good signs that a queen may be present. Link I just came in from opening and visually inspecting the hives with no suit, no veil or gloves. And while they bumped me a few times they did not get aggressive or sting-ey. I have a lot to do tomorrow, though: a few pieces of larva-filled comb fell off because of the heat, and a LOT of comb seems to be fused together. (I have top bar hives and the cross-combing gets out of hand.) Still lots of foraging going on, too; the frequency of pollen-bearing bees entering the hive is fairly high, even in the heat of the day. So when I suit up tomorrow I'm going to look for the queens- although I've never been successful at finding them in the hive. |
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Posted: 8/20/2018 8:27:52 PM EDT
[Last Edit: FrankSymptoms]
[#41]
I came across this as a sidebar to another article. Hope you enjoy it!
Why Honey Bee is Two Words
Regardless of dictionaries, we have in entomology a rule for insect common names that can be followed. It says: If the insect is what the name implies, write the two words separately; otherwise run them together. Thus we have such names as house fly, blow fly, and robber fly contrasted with dragonfly, caddicefly, and butterfly, because the latter are not flies, just as an aphislion is not a lion and a silverfish is not a fish. The honey bee is an insect and is preeminently a bee; “honeybee” is equivalent to “Johnsmith.” —From Anatomy of the Honey Bee by Robert E. Snodgrass |
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Posted: 8/26/2018 7:08:03 AM EDT
[#42]
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Posted: 8/30/2018 9:18:19 PM EDT
[Last Edit: JQ66]
[#43]
had a huge swarm of dragon flies massacaring one of our hives today. I have a hive on the deck of my workshop - first swarm we ever caught and were able to hold on to.
dozens of big dragonflies flying all about around the house and workshop. I've never seen anything like it. You could see them going after the bees coming and going, and sometimes see them catching a bee. I got my marlin garden gun (its a smoothbore 22LR for shooting shotshells), which is mostly used for carpenter/bore bees going after the log house, and tried to shoot them. They are the toughest prey ever! unpredictable flight paths, wicked fast, and hard/impossible to see against trees in the backgound. I winged a couple, and nailed one good - it started to head to the ground, but then it regained itself and flew off into a tree. They are tough! must be armored bodies. Later I went up to our garden where we have four hives, and there were more dragonflies there. I must have fired off about 50 shotshells, and did nail one good - he went in like a Jap Zero at Leyte Gulf! I feel bad I couldn't do more to help the bees. I shot until the hammer broke on that little garden gun. Its only had maybe 500-600 rounds through it ever. I think before I'd only ever see a couple dragon flies buzzing around. Not enough to do any harm to the bees. but this was an all out assault by the things. Anyone else ever have this happen? My dad is good friends with one of the leading apiarists in SW PA, he said he has never seen anything like this. Added pic of garden hives, last weekend (before today's dragonfly attach)  Attached FileThe blue one was a swarm, or random bees from when we got the nice this spring, that stayed behind by the house. We got a queen for them, but they didn't make it. |
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Posted: 8/30/2018 11:05:55 PM EDT
[#44]
dragonflies are de debil! There's a rather horrifying Youtube video showing a d-fly eating a honey bee, alive.
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Posted: 8/31/2018 9:30:45 PM EDT
[#45]
no dragonflies today, which is good.
but I was ready to run over to one of the local gun shops and buy a 410 shotgun. that was a very odd thing yesterday, so many dragonflies in the small area of the backyard. amazing how they all knew where to go for my bees. they seem to be fairly solitary bugs. there is a big lake/reservoir behind where I live, maybe a little less than a half mile to the water. and some little creeks and boggy ground down the road. |
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Posted: 9/5/2018 2:45:39 PM EDT
[#46]
Pollen but no nectar?
My bees are bringing in the pollen pretty regularly but they are gulping down the sugar syrup, about a cup per day. I always thought that they preferred nectar over sugar water, but they are slamming the syrup. Can we have a strong pollen flow without a strong nectar flow? The monsoons have hit us pretty lightly, but it's enough that the flowers the bees like are blooming like crazy. Could the rain be washing the nectar away? Inquiring minds, and such... |
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Posted: 9/5/2018 2:51:18 PM EDT
[#47]
Now WTF?? DON'T FEED DURING THE FALL???
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Posted: 9/6/2018 8:21:42 PM EDT
[#48]
I received this through my local beek Listserve. I enjoyed it and thought I would share.
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Posted: 9/7/2018 9:57:13 PM EDT
[#49]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By CWO:
I received this through my local beek Listserve. I enjoyed it and thought I would share. http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y91/Eyesofsilver/40684664_2135735029824044_2940788125028319232_n.jpg |
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Posted: 9/8/2018 9:05:11 AM EDT
[#50]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By cuttingedge:
That’s a nice harvest. It seems that pre varroa, everyone was producing more honey. Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By cuttingedge:
Originally Posted By CWO:
I received this through my local beek Listserve. I enjoyed it and thought I would share. http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y91/Eyesofsilver/40684664_2135735029824044_2940788125028319232_n.jpg Spring flow is so hard it is almost impossible for me to not split a new package install by mid June. They just backfill the brood nest faster than they can draw foundation. Next year I am using nucs as comb factories since I can’t keep enough on hand. |
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