Today's wind is why we put rocks, bricks, or weights of some kind on our top covers. Holy snowdrift, it's a powerful wind. I went out early to refill the bird feeders (deer come up and empty them at night) and many species of birds are coming and going like crazy. So far I haven't seen any hawks or falcons stop by for a meal, but I can always tell when they're around by the way the birds scatter into the trees, bushes and brambles. Such a contrast to yesterday. Although we had snow and rain in the morning, it was warm and calm in the afternoon. Tucker and I went back to check the home 8, and several hives had bees busy at the entrances cleaning out dead bodies and taking off on cleansing flights. Some were making their final flight and kamikazed into the snow and didn't get back up. We still have some winter to go, and who knows what will all get thrown at us, but hopefully some of our colonies will make it past the finish line and will be with us when the maples and willows come out of dormancy. I'm preparing myself for that hope and am studying up on swarm control. I would like to have super strong colonies that didn't swarm to make honey. Lots of honey. If you read Dr. Meghan Milbrath's article on Swarms that was attached to the last newsletter, you might have noticed her reference to Walt Wright's paper, "Nectar Management". I found this paper a little hard to comprehend at first, but I'm starting to get the concepts on my third reading/study. Nectar management, and where the bees are placing it in the hive, are indicators of what the colony is thinking. I've attached Walt's pdf for anyone thinking they may have survivors in spring and want to attempt maximizing honey production from the flows. (Jack B., you don't need to read it.) For new beekeepers, the season is coming up fast and hopefully you have your supplies gathered, bees ordered, and are getting things ready to go. My recommendation is to use (2) deeps for the hive body (some use (3) mediums), and have (3) medium supers for honey per colony. My second year, with my first Langstroth hive I needed (3) supers to keep ahead of the bees. That first year colony produced 240 lbs of honey (20 gallons), a feat to not be repeated to date. I didn't know what I was doing at that point, but the planets had aligned perfectly. You'll also need a bottom board (screened or not, I recommend screened), inner cover (with a notch for bees to exit and enter), and a telescoping top cover. Frames with foundation, or not. There's a number of ways of dealing with frames to encourage the bees to draw out comb, but if you choose plastic, I have heard it's a good idea to paint some melted beeswax on them. The original coating is pretty thin and bees often won't draw out comb on plastic foundation as it comes out of the box. Or whatever it comes in. I'm old school, wax foundation. I just got a new toolbag yesterday because my tools kept falling out of the one I was using, but you don't really need all that many tools to start. A "hive tool" is essential (I have (3), fear of losing another one), as is a smoker (I have 2). A bee brush comes in handy at times, and it's really nice to have a "J" hook and frame lifter. (Yes, I have two or three of each of those too.) Protection gear is among my essentials because I'm not nuts about getting stung. I get stung enough with the gear by doing stupid things. For me it's a ventilated jacket with globe veil, ventilated goatskin gloves, and bee britches. By having a jacket and britches I have a choice to wear the britches or not, whereas with a bee suit there is no choice. On a nice day with the bees busy and happy, jeans are good enough. But come harvest time and the bees are totally defensive, the britches give me an extra layer over the jeans. Almost forgot, you'll need a means of feeding your bees syrup. Entrance feeders (Boardman) have gone out of use for the most part because the syrup jar is exposed outside of the hive (cooling the syrup at night in spring), and they encourage robbing in fall. I use top feeders, but there's also frame feeders, ziplock baggies, and jars with perforated caps on an inner cover with a circular hole to accommodate it with a super around that. (If syrup is cooler than 50 degrees F, the bees won't touch it. It stays warmer in the hive.) Mite treatments are essential at this point, and we'll be talking about that a lot again this year, and every year until they're no longer a problem. Fred has packaged oxalic acid for distribution at our next meeting, "at cost". (More on that below.) If you choose to use OA, it can be used in a dribble (but feed your bees first) or vapor. For those with a few hives, ask to borrow a vaporizer from someone in the club that owns one. Study up on mite treatments using formic acid (FormicPRO and Mite Away Quick Strips (MAQS)), ApiGuard (thymol), Apivar (Amitraz), HopGuard (hops), etc., and choose the treatment plan that will work for your lifestyle incorporating at least two different products. ALWAYS FOLLOW LABEL DIRECTIONS. Figure on (3) complete treatments, minimum, during the season. As mentioned previously, Fred will have the oxalic acid available at the March meeting and I will have Hive Alive and Lecithin (for making homemade HBH) available. Oxalic Acid: From Fred: Made up 24 containers of oxalic; 16 one pounders and 8 1/2 pounders. Costs-20 lbs oxalic-$49.90, containers-$9.84 Total $59.74 Round up $59.74 to $60; or $3 per pound of oxalic. No profit for club, but that's what the club is about. Therefore sell one pounders at $3 and 1/2 pounders at $1.50. If these sell out we can do it again. One pound of oxalic will treat a 10 frame double deep 227 times. For most members 1/2 pound will last them all year. Hive Alive: Hive Alive is a supplement that can be added to syrup to promote bee gut health. It has been shown to increase bee populations by 89% in field tests, and it helps in combating Nosema cerenae. There are still (6) 100 ml bottles available at $15.00/each, and I will distribute ounces at $4.45/ounce. Bring your own vial, bottle or other container if buying ounces. Hive Alive has a 6 month viability after opening the bottle (all expire on 1/2020) so it will be good through 2019 spring and fall feedings. Also, syrup will not go moldy if it contains Hive Alive. Note: 1 ounce will treat 3 gallons of syrup at 2 teaspoons per gallon. 100ml will treat 10 gallons at 2 teaspoons per gallon. Lecithin: And lastly, I will bring pouches containing 1 teaspoon of lecithin granules for anyone that would like some for making homemade Honey Bee Healthy (or homemade salad dressing). The recipe is on our blog site, and you only need a little bit. A teaspoonful will last me years so I keep it refrigerated. Okay, so I'm thinking about venturing out to Echoes of the Past at Sunnyview Expo Center so I gotta go. I'll check the drifts in the driveway first, and if they're too deep I'll visit beekeeping suppliers on the WEB instead. I already have stuff on on Wish Lists so it's a matter of deciding what I NEED. (Did you see that one-handed queen catcher yet?) Next meeting: March 23, Caestecker Library, Green Lake, 9:30 a.m. Gerard
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ECWBA NewsletterSince 2009 Archives
March 2019
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