Honey On My Mind

Sweet Honey Treats

2011-12-31T13:29:00.001-05:00

This Christmas we wanted to give some honey themed gifts and treats so we whipped up a batch of Honey Caramels and a double batch of Cinnamon Honey Butter.

I had read about other people making Honey Caramels. Yum! That sounded wonderful but all the recipes that we came across looked like regular caramel recipes with a little honey added. I really wanted the taste of the honey to shine so I checked out The National Honey Board recipes. We were not disappointed with the Holiday Honey Caramel Recipe .

I made a slight change to the recipe so I added my version below. The ingredients stayed the same but I used a bigger pan and parchment paper.

Holiday Honey Caramels

Makes lots of caramels

1 cup butter (no substitutions)
2 cups honey
2 cups whipping cream
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
finely chopped almonds, optional

Line bottom and sides of 9x13 inch pan with parchment paper; set aside. Melt butter in medium-sized heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Add honey, cream and brown sugar; mix well. Cook over medium-high heat until mixture comes to boil, stirring frequently. Reduce heat to medium and continue boiling, stirring frequently, until candy thermometer registers 255°F, about 45 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla; pour into prepared pan. Let cool completely in refrigerator before cutting into individual caramels with very sharp knife. Roll in chopped nuts or coconut, if desired, and wrap each individually in clear plastic wrap. Store, tightly wrapped in refrigerator up to 1 month. Caramels will be soft at room temperature and firm if kept chilled.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Bake Time: About an hour

Seriously these are the best caramels I ever had!!

The Cinnamon Honey Butter was a huge hit as well. Most of the recipes I found online added powdered sugar so this is my version of a combination of recipes.

Cinnamon Honey Butter

2 sticks of softened butter (1 cup)
1 cup of honey
2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon

Whisk butter until smooth with mixer then add the honey. Mix until smooth and fluffy again then add the cinnamon one teaspoon at time, beating after each addition. Whisk until you are happy with the texture. We found it easier to use a decorator’s bag to fill the jars rather than spooning it in. The results were much neater.

We doubled this recipe to fill nine 4-ounce canning jars with a tiny bit left to try. :) Store in the refrigerator.

I hope you find these recipes helpful and as enjoyable as we have. Have a Happy New Year!

The Bee Tree

2011-12-27T18:28:00.001-05:00

Within a week of bringing home the dog box bees, Joe was asked to remove a bee tree from a construction site in Calcutta (a shopping area nearby). He stopped after work one evening and took the following photos so we could plan the removal.

As it turned out, Joe did the removal with the help of the men on the construction team. He had to remove the tree while I was at work the first week of school. I wasn’t there to take any photos so we’ll jump ahead to him pulling into the yard with a tree in the back of the truck!

We still laugh at the phone call from a neighbor wanting to know what in the world we found bees in this time!

Joe had covered the entrance with mesh but as you can see, several bees clung to the mesh and made the trip home.

My parents came to help and Dad drove the tractor while I drove the truck out from under the tree and Joe maneuvered the tree into place. Mom and Alex took lots of pictures!

Joe used chains to lift the tree with the bucket.

As I pulled the truck away, Dad lifted the tree slightly and Joe guided it into place. I think we were all holding our breath.

After Joe carefully removed the chains, Dad was able to back the tractor away so the the girls could settle in. Surprisingly though the bees had been calm the whole trip. There were only a few bees really agitated.

As soon as it was dark we went and gathered the bees that remained at the tree stump.

We took them home and put the vacuum box by the bee entrance to the tree so they could rejoin the colony. We also removed the wire mesh to open the entrance back up. It’s a lot of fun to watch these bees come and go!

To prepare this tree for winter Joe and I put some plastic corrugated board (the same stuff you can see of the top of the hive) over part of the opening to close down the entrance. We now have another interesting conversation piece in the yard! Almost everyone wants to see the bee tree when they come to visit!

Dog Box Bees

2011-12-27T17:38:00.001-05:00

In mid August Joe received a call about a bee colony living in a dog box nearby. The gentleman told Joe that he thought they had been there all summer but now they were seeing more and more bees coming and going.

When we got to backyard we were able to see that the bees had moved into the insulated space between the floor and bottom of the box. They had a perfect entrance in the rotting bottom corners.

Being so late in the summer we weren’t willing to do a cut out and the owner said we could just take the whole box….So we did!

First we put cardboard around the opening so that fewer bees would would be flying around during the move. Even in the late evening there was quite a beard on this hive.

Then Joe slowly slid the box onto the truck.

Then we very carefully made the trip home.

And put the dog box bees in the bee yard with the rest of the girls!

There was a nice beard every evening all through the fall. In the spring we will open up the box and finish moving these ladies into a regular hive. Until then we often use the stethoscope to check on them on cold days and Joe put heavy cardboard over the dog entrance to reduce the amount of wind going inside. Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful week.

Bee-Bee Trees

2011-11-25T09:54:00.001-05:00

We had been wanting to start some seeds for Bee-Bee trees ever since Joe read about them on the various beekeeping forums over a year ago. Tetradium daniellii, commonly referred to as a Bee-Bee tree, is a valuable source of nectar and pollen in the late summer when little else is blooming.

At our March Beekeepers’ Association meeting Bruce offered us a baggie of seeds to try. He took the remaining seeds to a local nursery to grow seedlings to use at a club event later in the spring. We took the seeds home and followed the directions but we only had two of the 24 seeds sprout in the first 2 months. It was so discouraging but we kept watering the sad looking tray of dirt. At the April meeting Bruce brought the seedlings that the nursery started and they were several inches tall! I wanted to know what we were doing wrong! Summer began and we continued to care for the tiny trees.

By August this is what our seedlings looked like.

While transplanting the large nursery seedlings from their cups one day, I discovered that the soil was mostly sand. Hoping that this was the key to a successful bee-bee tree, we went and bought a bag of play sand. It was amazing the difference it made! Within a month all of the seedlings were the same size as the tree pictured below.

In early October Joe planted all the seedlings in the yard. We have a baggie of seeds ready to start in March too. I can’t wait to see how much difference using sandy soil makes.

Returning April’s Honey

2011-07-11T19:24:00.001-04:00

We had a a few baggies full of comb still in the freezer from the early April cut out so we decided to let the bees clean their honey out of it. Our first attempt involved thawing the honey comb and scratching the cappings with a fork before putting it into the hive.

We placed two paper plates full of comb on top of the inner cover and added an empty super to the hive before putting the telescoping cover on. The bees quickly found their new treasure and cleaned it all up. The next morning we found that the bees had moved the honey into the hive and started to attach the combs to the plates and walls of the super!

It was not a fun time smoking the bees and chasing them out of all their new little tunnels. As we prepared the next batch for the hive, I used the fork to twist the comb so that it was more broken up. We were hoping that the bees would be less likely to attach everything again.

The girls still have some work to do on this plateful but they haven’t tried to glue it all together with wax or propolis so we’re keeping our fingers crossed! Overall this has been a pretty efficient way to clean up the wax for melting and feed the honey back to it’s hive.

Swarm Season 2011

2011-05-08T09:30:00.002-04:00

Are you ready? Swarm season is here. It seems so early for our part of Ohio. Two weeks earlier than last year as a matter of fact. But it’s time. On Monday, April 25th is was raining and warm. We had heavy showers throughout the morning but the afternoon was turning out beautiful. I texted Joe to tell him that the bees were really busy as I enjoyed them flying by the back window. Our dog Annie was laying by the open door watching the birds and bees swooping in the yard. I thought her whining and dancing just indicated a need for a walk so Alex took her outside. The pair came running in, Alex was shouting “Mom come quick! There is a big swarm and it looks like a raccoon in the tree!”

Capturing this swarm was really pretty easy. We gathered a few things that we might need, including a medium hive body. Alex held the hive body just under the swarm and I proceeded to shake them in. In fact I shook so hard the bees bounced into Alex’s veil and right down the front of him into the box. Perfect. Alex placed the hive on the ground up close to the tree and we brushed a few stragglers down to the entrance.

After placing the inner cover on top of the hive we just watched and the bees at the entrance began to fan and the rest just march right in. What a fantastic thing to watch, bees fanning, directing the other bees to their new home. Joe came home from work just in time to see it also.

Later that evening we closed up the entrance and moved them to a stand with the other hives in the yard. Alex named this hive Blossom because they landed in an apple tree full of buds.

An Early April Bee Removal

2011-04-10T20:23:00.002-04:00

Last weekend we did a bee removal from a very old house. Using the stethoscopes we determined that the bees were in the upstairs bedroom wall rather than in the roof as previously suggested. Joe opened a small window in the wall and exposed some newer comb that had winter stores of honey.

After carefully cutting the lath and plaster away with a multi-tool, Joe vacuumed the bees off the comb. This colony of bees is so calm and gentle!

As he cut the comb away and handed it down to me we could see the bees scrambling through the wall stud. Then we were sure that the hive continued into the next space.

Alex is so helpful with running the bee vac and taking care of the bees.

If you click on this photo you can see how we vacuumed the bees as Joe cut the wall. I’m still amazed at how calm the girls stayed through the entire process!

As Joe cut the comb out he handed it to me. I cut it and placed it in frames with rubber bands. I started out putting all the comb into the frames but I ended up choosing which comb to put in frames and which to put into the containers. We filled a deep box with the brood and pollen comb. We also managed to vacuum all the bees filling a medium box with them.

Joe even caught the queen after he cut the comb out!! As you can see in the photo above we twistied the queen cage closed so we didn’t accidently open it when we were putting it in the box.

I’m sorry this picture is so hazy. I’m not sure what happened to the last few photos that I took in that room but they all look this way.

Anyway, it was a chilly day and it began to drizzle as we loaded all the bee equipment so I took the hive in the van with me. The calm hum kept me company on the long drive!

I kept the van closed up and warm while we waited for the rain to pass once we got home. We were able to put the hive in the bee yard and add a feeder but we didn’t take the queen out of her cage until the next day.

Today we had wonderful spring weather so we removed the vac base and shim and filled the feeder.

Now the April hive is settled in and the girls are working hard. We were so pleased that they are bringing in so much pollen.

They already seem to be right at home. I hope you’re enjoying some beautiful spring weather and time with your bees!

Spring Update

2011-04-01T21:14:00.003-04:00

Happy Spring! Pollen collecting has finally started here! This picture was taken on St. Patrick’s Day and it was the first pollen that we saw the girls bring in so far this year. Click on the photo to see the cute yellow ‘pants’ on the bees! Joe and I have been watching the maple trees and the bees since the very beginning of March but we kept getting more snow and rain. The blooming started about a week and a half later than last year.

This picture gives you an idea about the progress of our winter feedings. The hives that we fed using the Mountain Camp Method all look similar and sound strong. There are a lot of bees in each one. When we opened the tops of the hives, we found sugar igloos. The sugar mounds have hardened and the bees have been using it from the underside so the lumps are hollow. It was so much fun to watch the bees move about on the sugar and pollen patties. Did you notice that the newspaper looks wet? Surprisingly it was dry! Obviously it have absorbed quite a bit of moisture from the bees but it has since dried. We have been very pleased with our results of the Mountain Camp Method. We’ve also been very thankful that we fed the bees when we did. Winter seems to be holding on here and it snows quite a bit still. There isn’t as much pollen and nectar sources as usual for early April.

The girls inside are doing well. On warmer days it is so loud in the bee room and just outside the basement windows! Their activity is evident. It’s incredible to watch them too. The room is kept between 60* and 70* F but the colonies clustered when the temperature outside was low. Even though the cluster wasn’t as tight as it would need to be outside, the bees clearly knew it was cold out. We’ll put hives inside again next year if we have some that aren’t quite strong enough to winter over. We’ve enjoyed it and learned so much!

We are fortunate that so far all eleven hives are doing well. As soon as the weather changes we will be ready to add additional boxes to the hives and move the two nucs back outside. We’ll keep you posted. Have a great weekend!

Keep Calm and Carry On

2011-01-21T06:59:00.003-05:00

We’ve been reading about winter feeding methods for quite a while. There are so many great articles and threads about the subject out there. Last year we made sugar cakes to add to the hives in January. You can read about it in the post titled Winter. It worked out really well but we never leave well enough alone. Joe and I are always looking for methods that are better for the bees. This year we decided to give the Mountain Camp Method of feeding a try. Placing the sugar right about the cluster is makes perfect sense and the added benefit of moisture absorption put this method on the top of our “try it” list.

We prepared all of the materials needed for the three hives that we felt needed a little help. I traced the inside edge of a medium box onto three sheets of newspaper and cut the rectangles out. We poured white sugar into three one gallon buckets and got the hive tools ready along with three empty medium honey supers. Then we waited (and waited and waited) for a day that was warm enough and still enough to open the hives.

While we waited we attended our monthly Beekeepers’ Association meeting on Sunday. As it turned out, Phil did a great presentation about feeding bees and we felt confident that we were on the right track.

As you can see from this photo, on Monday we were able to open the hives. We put everything we needed at each hive before we began. If you look closely you can see the white bucket of sugar in the snow.

Joe removed the inner cover of Alex’s hive first. We were please to find that the cluster was still low in the boxes and they had frames of honey above them.

We quickly added the honey super, sheet of precut newspaper and sugar.

Then Joe replaced the inner cover and telescoping cover.

When we got to the third hive we found the cluster at the top of the hive. I was surprised because we could hear them so clearly with the stethoscope in the lowest box but Joe wasn’t surprised at all.

Those subway signs that I keep seeing around the crafty blogs kept playing in my mind while we did this “Keep Calm and Carry On”.

I don’t think I took a breath the whole time we had this hive open.

There aren’t any pictures of us adding the newspaper or sugar to this hive because it took all four hands to take care of it. But we did manage to get the sugar on and when we were done, Joe and I both felt good about it.

This last picture shows Joe closing the first hive. We added about 5 pounds of sugar to each one that day. We’ll check them again in about a month as long as we get a day that is warm enough. In the mean time we will continue to read, prepare equipment for spring and watch our indoor hives. It felt so good to be out in the bee yard!

More Snow and an Update

2011-01-12T10:53:00.003-05:00

We woke up to six fresh inches of snow today. The wind has been blowing and you can see from the photo that the sun is finally starting to come out. We’ll be headed down to clear the entrances this afternoon so the snow won’t turn to blocks of ice at the openings.

We were fortunate last week. The temperature went up and the layer of snow and ice that covered everything all through December had a chance to melt. It was so warm on New Year’s Day that the girls were out flying. We spent quite a bit of time watching them come and go from the indoor hives. Those ladies were so active that it was loud in the honey room!

Here is a photo that Joe took from the backyard. One of the things that I have really missed this winter is watching the bees fly. Having the indoor hives helps because we can see them and watch them take honey and water but there is nothing like watching honey bees come and go from the hives. The hives in the yard were busy as well. Those bees came and went all afternoon but the indoor hives were much more active.

Now that the temperature is below 20* again even the indoor hives are clustered again. I took this last photo a short while ago. There isn’t a sound in the honey room right now. The girls are snuggled in staying warm and waiting for brighter days.

As we wait for warmer days, Joe is busy putting boxes and frames together. He has most of the boxes painted and ready. I am working on making lip balm and hand lotion. I’ve been reading about both and I’m anxious to give it a try. We’re reading about bees and beekeeping and planning for this year. How are your winter beekeeping tasks going?

Winter Preparations Part Two

2010-12-28T12:22:00.003-05:00

We continued our winter preparations for the outdoor hives during the first week of November. First we took in the poultry fountains and checked each hive for ample winter stores. All of the hives seemed stocked and ready for the cold days ahead so we slid the bottom boards in and made sure each hive had proper upper ventilation. During one of our cooler evenings that week Joe and I wrapped the hives and added the entrance reducers.

We wrapped a couple of the hives before the entrance reducers were installed. This was not a good idea. I am recording this on the blog so I don’t forget next year. As I pushed one reducer in around the black paper, it went clear into the hive stirring up the bees. They came pouring out into the cold night air at me. It took quite a while for the girls to settle back in so I could pull the reducer out and place it correctly. Poor bees. So next year we will put all the entrance reducers in first then wrap the hives! :)

Here is a photo of the back of the hives. Each hive is wrapped in black roofing paper. We secured the paper in place with banding and clips. The black paper absorbs the heat from the sun and warms the hives enough to let the bees move their cluster to a new area of honey. It also helps shed moisture from rain and snow and acts as a windbreak.* This information is from Walter T. Kelley’s book How to Keep Bees & Sell Honey. It is a fantastic beekeeping resource and an enjoyable book to read!

This is a shot of the front of the hives with the entrance reducers in place and the wrapping. The bees come and go on the warmer days doing their relief flights.

Joe used the stethoscope yesterday and listened to the hives. All of them seemed to be buzzing with life and are still low in the boxes. We’ll continue to do whatever we can to help the girls through the winter. Thanks for stopping by today. Stay warm and have a great day!

*How to Keep Bees & Sell Honey by Walter T. Kelley

From Our Hive to Yours Merry Christmas!

2010-12-27T11:16:00.002-05:00

Hello! I hope all of you are enjoying this Holiday Season. Today I thought it would be nice to share the top bar hive that Joe built for his dad, Joe, for Christmas. He has been telling us that he would love to build one and give this type of beekeeping a try.

The hive is 16” wide and 48” long.

Joe was part way done with this project and his dad called to try to convince him to come over and make one before Christmas. Fortunately, their schedules didn’t work out. In this photo you can see the top bars because the lid is removed.

Joe cut a groove in each bar so that he could insert a starter strip of wax. The wax is held into place with a few drops of melted wax.

You can click on the pictures to enlarge them.

This is looking down inside the hive. You can see the screened bottom and the follower board.

Here is the follower board inverted so you can see the shape.

We took the hive over to Joe’s parents’ house after they left for a Christmas trip. We set it up with a big bow in the living room so they would find it when they returned home. We had a great time doing this but Joe’s mom was “creeped out” as she put it by having a hive in the living room. She doesn’t share our enthusiasm for bees apparently. Te he he I wonder if she realizes that we have bees living in our basement! Oh well, Joe was delighted and is looking forward to finding a swarm with Joe and Alex in the spring. Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Winter Preparations Part One

2010-12-18T18:55:00.003-05:00

We began winter preparations in early fall by bringing home the last three colonies from the out yard. We decided that it would be much easier to care for the hives in our own yard, especially if we had another winter with deep snow.

Even though this isn’t the best picture of our bee yard, it is my favorite. It’s the view from our kitchen window where I can watch the bees fly in and out of their hives on sunny days. This photo was taken in early October when the leaves began to turn and the golden rod flow had slowed down. The days were still warm enough for the bees to gather water from the neighbor’s fish pond and the top of our swimming pool. You can see the poultry fountains on top of the hives. Joe coiled rope in the wells to give the bees something to stand on while they gathered water. Even with this close water source, the girls continued to prefer the pool and fish pond!

Within a few weeks we were concerned for the two nuc boxes. Both seemed light on stores and bees. Rather than combine them with other hives we decided to try something else. We brought them into the honey room. Joe started by making an enclosed base and lid for each hive. The next photo shows the base with the entrance pipe covered in mesh screen.

After he lifted the hive onto the base, Joe carefully shook the bees from the inner cover and placed the new lid on. We secured the hive and carried it inside.

We kept the entrance closed for a couple of days so the bees would re-orient to their new spot. The picture below shows the lid with the opening for the feeder and a mesh observation window. Joe created a cover for the window but we don’t leave these girls alone!

We are learning so much from our houseguests. They stay in cluster when it is cold out even though the room is always over 60*. Just like the outdoor hives, these bees aren’t taking any pollen patties.

The bees come and go through the vacuum tube on warmer days and take a little bit of honey. It’s enjoyable to sit and listen to the hives stir and buzz. I’ll be posting updates on these hives throughout the winter. I’ll also share pictures of the wrapped hives in the bee yard soon. Thanks for stopping by today. Have a wonderful day!

Late August Swarm

2010-11-17T22:09:00.009-05:00

It’s been a busy fall. Lots going on, lots to do and although we keep caring for the bees at the top of our list, we let our blog slip. It’s high time we get back to recording our beekeeping adventures! There is lots to share.

On my first day back to work I got a phone call from one of my friends in another building. Glenda said she had a swarm of bees in her tree that had been there a couple of days. She wanted to know if Joe and I would like to come and get them because she hated the thought of spaying honeybees. In all honesty it was all I could do to not just leave right then! But I stayed in my meetings and stopped to check the swarm on the way home. One look at the busy cluster of ladies and I knew it was a good size amount of bees. When I called Joe he was skeptical and I know he debated my ability to decide if it was honey bees or yellow jackets. But a few photos from my phone convinced him!

We loaded up the back of his truck with a ladder, our jackets and all the other stuff we use. He said we were just going to look but I know him better than that.

Joe knocked the majority of the bees into a nuc box. And handed it down to me.

Then he continued to scoop bees and look for the queen. After doing this for quite some time we were sure the queen was in the box because the bees were going to it. I am so amazed by the bees marching into a hive. They are so orderly and deliberate. It’s always one of my favorite parts of capturing a swarm.

By late evening we had gathered almost all of the swarm and cut the branches from the tree. Since Glenda’s grandson plays in this tree we wanted to make sure no other bees would return to get the wax that the swarm had left behind. Joe also sprayed the tree with bee quick to keep the few stragglers from settling back in.

We have been pleased with this colony this fall. They started with five frames that had very little drawn out comb. By October they had three medium boxes on their nuc that they had drawn out, filled with honey and the queen was laying in. The girls have been quite busy making up for lost time but we are overwintering them in the nuc.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope to share our winter preparations with you later in the week. Have a great day!

Foundationless Frames

2010-08-19T17:43:00.002-04:00

Where did summer go? Two months ago Sam Smith asked if we had ever considered trying foundationless frames. We had been talking about it, reading about it and thinking about which hives would be the best to start with. As beekeeping goes, the opportunity presented itself. On June 20 we added a third brood box to each of these hives.

The hive on the left is Elizabeth and Lucie is on the right. Elizabeth and Lucie are splits from the two hives that overwintered successfully last year. As you can see from the photo above, Elizabeth had two medium boxes while Lucie had a deep and a medium box. We placed 5 medium foundationless frames and five frames containing foundation on to Elizabeth and 10 medium frames with foundation on Lucie. The bees were quite busy over the next few weeks.

Preparing the frames turned out to be pretty straightforward. Joe cut 1-1/2 inch starter strips with an old paper guillotine. The guillotine blade made quick work of that task. The strips were straight and the edges were crisp so they went into the frames nicely.

Back to the bees… When we inspected the hives on July 18 we found that Elizabeth had drawn out almost all of the frames. The foundationless ones were not only drawn out but filled with brood and nectar. One was even full of capped honey! On the other hand, Lucie had only started to draw out the majority of her frames. Since the two hives sit side by side and share resources we found that so interesting!

We noticed that the foundationless frames each contained a large section of drone brood. This gave us a great opportunity to check for mites.

Fortunately we only spotted one mite in all the cells we opened.

Here is a shot of the capped honey that we discovered in Elizabeth! We were able to harvest three frames from her. I can honestly say we were a little nervous when we had the foundationless frame in the extractor but everything turned out ok. It seems that the bees love the foundationless frames! Have you tried foundationless frames? What are your thoughts? Thanks for stopping by today. Have a wonderful day!

The Bees Know Best

2010-08-09T10:49:00.002-04:00

On June 17th our son Alex re-queened his hive Melissa with a VSH queen from Walter T. Kelley . He and Joe found the old queen, pulled a couple of frames of bees and started a nuc box. Alex let Melissa be queen less for the afternoon. After a few hours he and I walked down to the bee yard to add the new queen. It was already apparent that they knew they were missing their queen. The bees were disorganized and loud. We added the new VSH queen just as we have in the other hives, hanging the cage between two frames. When we returned four days later she had been let out. We didn't inspect the hive again until June 26th. At that point the guys got a big surprise. There wasn’t any eggs or larva in the hive at all , just capped brood and there was over 20 capped queen cells throughout! I wish I had some photos of that afternoon but we were so stunned that I never even lifted the camera out of my pocket. Convinced that the VSH queen had been rejected, we closed up the hive and left it alone long enough for a new queen to emerge, let her wings harden and make her mating flight. On July 26th we inspected the hive again, expecting to only find eggs and perhaps some young larva. We found eggs, larva and capped brood all throughout the hive!

Here is a picture of the new Queen Melissa on one of the foundationless frames. She doesn’t look anything like the VSH queen that we put in the hive. We spent a lot of time doing Bee Math in the following days trying to explain the presence of capped brood. The only conclusion that we have come up with is that the VSH queen started laying after our inspection on June 26th and was doing well until the new queen emerged. The new virgin queen killed the VSH queen, made her mating flight and started laying quite soon after that. So much for our new VSH queen but as always, the bees know best!

New Friends and a Hive Named Kay

2010-06-21T15:58:00.002-04:00

Beekeeping has brought us to so many wonderful people. Several weeks ago Joe responded to a thread on the Beesource Beekeeping Forums about a colony of bees living in a tree. The original poster was from our area and was looking for some guidance in moving the bees to a Langstroth hive. After a short email correspondence, we paid a visit to Kay and her husband Bob to see how we could help. As it turned out, they wanted the bees removed from the tree and decided they would go another avenue to become beekeepers at a later time. I think Bob was ready to be able to cut the grass around the tree.

We returned later in the week to cut the top out of the dead tree. It was the final weeks of school and our evenings were full of activities and lots and lots of rain. We didn’t want the tree to fall during one of the storms.

After a couple of days of hot sunshine we were able to go and begin removing the bees. We started Friday afternoon about 1:30 and finished nearly five hours later.

Alex began vacuuming the bees out of the main entrance. Since the bees had “doors” all over the tree we were able to use gauze pads sprayed with Bee Quick to chase the bees to that entrance. If you click on the picture below to enlarge it, you will see gauze sticking out of the trunk. A small hand pump helped force air through the gauze and into the hive making the process go so well. Joe was able to cut chunks from the tree with his hand saw until we created a hole in the top of their hive.

Then the real fun began…

Joe slowly scored down the sides of the tree about a foot and a half and across the front. Then as Alex and I held our breaths he pried the front section off to reveal the comb. Honest Mom, I held the ladder most of the time. I stepped back to take these pictures.

There aren’t very many pictures from this point on because I was sticky with propolis and honey trying to cut and fit comb into the frames. But the process continued for quite some time repeating those steps and we made our way down the tree a few more feet. As it turns out the colony had swarmed shortly before. We found several hatched queen cells, lots and lots of drones and only patchy areas of capped brood. We think there may be a freshly mated queen with the colony because they are still quite calm. (Unlike queenless hives that can be very grouchy.)

We filled eight medium frames with comb and transported a few sections of honey filled comb in a container. Those sections will be added later. The hive, Kay, is doing well so far and I’m sure Bob and Kay are happy to have their yard back. We truly appreciate that they didn’t destroy the bees. Since Bob and Kay’s home is less than a mile from our home, the hive Kay had to go to my parent’s house before being added to our bee yard.

Here she is hanging out by the grapevines. The girls are busy getting settled in but they seem to be adjusting to their new surroundings. I’ll keep you posted on their progress. Thanks for stopping by!

A Quart of Bees

2010-06-19T10:48:00.004-04:00

The day after Joe and Joe retrieved the Bella swarm, Joe got an email from a doctor’s office asking him to come and get a swarm that had settled into a tree. The guys set out for some more bee gathering fun while Alex and I were in school!

Joe was able to get a couple of shots before they gathered up the bees.

The swarm had started to get cozy in the tree by beginning to draw out some comb. I snapped this picture once they got home that evening.

They placed these pretty little girls into a nuc box to take to his dad’s house. Below is a picture of them tucked under the tree in the front yard.

This wasn’t intended to be their permanent spot but I think we are all enjoying watching the bees coming and going so maybe they will get to stay. Thanks to D Coats over at the Beesourcee Beekeeping Forums for sharing his plywood nuc plans.

The colony is doing well and we added a second box with five additional frames on Monday, June 14. We knew it was time for the addition since three and a half of the frames contained capped brood. This queen is producing a beautiful brood pattern and I didn’t think to pick up the camera to show you.

I wonder how many more hives we can convince Joe to keep in their yard…. Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Welcome Bella

2010-06-09T05:50:00.002-04:00

On the afternoon of May 25 Joe received a call about a swarm of bees in the trim work of a couple’s garage. They said the bees had settled there a couple of days before. School was still in session so Joe and his dad, also Joe, went while Alex and I sat out this adventure.

See the bees flying into the box? Here is another shot to show the location of the ladies.

Joe and his dad got to work vacuuming the swarm out of their cozy spot. Since I wasn’t there to take pictures as they worked, I can’t offer a glimpse of that. I will tell you though that both Joes talked about how wonderful that ladder was and we ended up going and getting one to add to our beekeeping supplies!

Overall this ended up being a basket ball sized swarm of bees! They have adjusted to their new hive in our back yard and Queen Bella is quite busy laying eggs. We named her Bella after the name of the street that the garage was on. Thanks for dropping by. Have a great day!

A Surprise On Mother’s Day

2010-06-07T21:01:00.002-04:00

Mother’s Day was quite chilly here. It had rained in the morning so it was breezy and damp. Late in the evening, close to 7:30, Joe decided to plant one of our new trees. As he walked down through the yard, he spotted a swarm of bees all balled up on the ground. They had snuggled into a groove in the grass. As he gathered the medium nuc box parts I put on my jacket, veil and gloves. Alex took the lemongrass oil and spray bottle of sugar water, hoping to entice the bees to stay in the box. We scooped handfuls of bees onto the frames and it quickly became apparent that we needed the deep nuc box too. It got dark as the three of us brushed bees together, combed the grass (the capping scratcher worked great for this) scooped bees up and watched as hundreds of the lovely little ladies marched into the hive. I don’t have any pictures of that evening because we were frantic trying to get the girls into a home before the night became any colder. By the next morning the temperature had dropped to below 30* so the girls would have perished if Joe hadn’t come across them. We kept the nuc box in spot that the swarm had landed. Now we have a hive right in the middle of the yard! The story doesn’t end there though. The next day Joe arrived home from work before Alex and I only to find a small ball of bees on the ground by the hive. After scooping them into the box, he discovered the queen in the grass dead. Her wing was quite tattered making it impossible for her to fly. By the time we got home Joe had put some pseudo queen into the hive and called Walter T. Kelley to order a new one.

On Thursday, May 13 the new VSH queen arrived. We placed her in the hive and put a pollen patty on the frames. On Monday, May 18 we found eggs! The hive continued to thrive until they outgrew the nuc.

Tonight we moved them into a 10 frame hive! That’s me in the picture. I’m happy the girls are queen right and calm so I can leave my gloves in my pocket! We named this hive Anne. We believe that Mary swarmed on Mother’s Day so it is fitting that this hive be named for Saint Anne . Thanks for stopping by! I’ll be back to share Joe’s swarm stories soon.

Marking Melissa

2010-04-23T17:59:00.002-04:00

After a lot of research we came to the conclusion that the advantages of marking the queen outweigh the disadvantages. The most obvious of these is that a marked queen is quite a bit easier to find with the bright colored dot on her back. We will also know that the queen in the hive is the one that we introduced and be able to keep track of her age. Younger queens lay more eggs and produce more pheromones that keep the hive working together. When we purchased the packages we decided to make sure that we found the queens and mark them as soon as possible. We knew that it would be much easier to spot her before the population of the hive grew. We went searching for queens on Monday, April 19 and found Melissa in Alex’s hive. I thought I’d share a few photos of the experience.

Here is Alex inspecting a frame and finding lots of eggs and larva. We have found that keeping the sun over your shoulder really helps you see the tiny eggs in the new white comb.

Can you see Melissa in the top center of this photo? She is a darker orange color than the workers. It’s like looking at a moving “Where’s Waldo” book! I should tell you that I’m not finding it easy to take close-up pictures of the bees while wearing my veil. I need practice…

Joe gently picked up Melissa by her wings and placed her in the marking tube. Then he slowly slid her to the screened end. We won the marking tube and pen as a door prize at the Columbiana Mahoning County Beekeepers Association Fall Banquet. Blue Sky Bee Supply donated them. That made marking queens even more fun!

There is a worker bee in with her and as soon as Joe put the dot on the queen’s back, the worker started cleaning it off. He tipped the stopper so the worker couldn’t get to her while it dried.

Then very gently she was returned to the frames. It looked like the workers were very happy to see her even though she had only been gone a few moments.

There she is in the middle of this photo sporting her new blue dot. One queen marked and three more to go. Have a great day and thanks for stopping by! It’s fun to share our adventure with you.

CMCBA Is Now On The Web!

2010-04-20T21:20:00.002-04:00

Thanks to a fellow association member, the Columbiana Mahoning County Beekeepers Association has a new website! We’ve enjoyed looking at the photos and reading about club news. If you’re interested in checking it out you can find it at Columbiana Mahoning County Beekeepers Association . Thanks to Sheila H. for taking on the task and doing a great job!

New Bees and Newbies Part 2

2010-04-18T11:45:00.002-04:00

As you may already know from reading our blog posts, we really believe that beekeepers have a responsibility to educate others about honey bees and encourage people to become beekeepers. I thought I’d share pictures of Mom and Dad’s new hive that I mentioned in the last post.

This photo shows Dad, Joe and Alex getting the package ready to invert into the hive. That’s Mom taking pictures too! Between us we have some great shots of our guys.

It’s been a dream of Mom’s to have honey bees since they moved into their house nearly forty years ago so she was as excited as we were when we got our first hive last year. Imagine how she feels now that she has her own! Here she is getting ready to remove the package box from the hive on Saturday.

Unlike our hives that had a couple of drawn out frames to coax the girls down out of the packages, most of their bees decided to hang out in the box. Joe assisted in knocking the bees onto the frames.

They closed up the hive and left the bees alone to finish settling in to their new home. On Monday afternoon we went for a visit to help remove the queen cage and check on the progress of the hive.

We found an empty queen cage and four frames of freshly drawn out comb. It is beautiful! Mom and Dad are off to a great start on their beekeeping adventure!

New Bees and Newbies!

2010-04-13T20:22:00.002-04:00

On Thursday, April 8 our packages arrived! Joe was able to leave work and go to North Lima to pick them up. Alex and I met him at Mom and Dad’s house to help install their first colony (I’ll share more on that another day), then we headed home to get our girls settled in. The weather cooperated with a fine drizzle and no wind. Even though it was cool, we didn’t notice with all our excitement. We had planned to spray the bees with sugar water and shake them into the hives but since it was so chilly we changed the method and as you can see from the photos it went pretty smoothly. I’m so anxious to share this post with you because this is Alex’s first hive.

He decided he wanted his own hives too so he and Joe spent lots of time this winter building and painting his equipment. He chose a beautiful color called Honey Blush and the hive looks so pretty among our cream ones.

The first thing that needed done was to attach the queen cage to a frame with the rubber band.The candy filled entrance faces up so the bees can work at getting her out as they get accustomed to her scent. Then Alex added a deep box.

We used a deep box to accommodate the size of the bee package and since Alex’s hive is made up of medium boxes, he needed one of our cream deeps. First Alex hit the package on the hive to knock the bees down into the cage. After he pried the can of food from the top of the package, he gently inverted the box putting the hole right over the queen cage. That’s Joe in the white jacket and Dad in the blue offering encouragement.

I took so many pictures that clicking from one to the next makes a short movie! But hey, what can I say? I’m his mom, this is his first hive and he’s gloveless!

They quickly closed the hive up and we moved on to installing our package.

On Friday after school the sun was shining and the air was much warmer. This is a shot of the hive when we opened it up.

If you click on this photo to enlarge it, you will see that the bees were very active. So active that we strongly encouraged (yes we made him) Alex to wear gloves. The remaining bees were shaken out of the package and we were able to put the jar of food on.

On Monday, April 12 Alex and Joe removed the queen cage and observed lots of newly drawn out comb. The cardboard was used to keep the bees calm while they pulled the frame out to clip the rubber band. It was a chilly afternoon.

After a lot of thought and research, Alex named this hive Melissa for a nymph in Greek mythology.

It Must Be Spring!

2010-04-05T14:50:00.002-04:00

…Because there are gallons of sugar syrup on the counter in the kitchen! We put the two new hives in the yard this weekend so that we would be ready for the packages that should arrive this week. It is delightful to look out and see four hives and we can’t wait for the bees to be in them. Today I thought I’d share Joe’s feeding solution. He worked on these boards and jars this winter. Rather than use entrance feeders with one quart jars on that need filled every day, we will be using the two quart cracker jars inside the hive. Let me give you a tour starting with a photo of the hive. You can see the feeder board in between the deep and medium boxes.

This second picture shows the hive open with the feeder in place.

See how the inner cover piece has a hole cut out to hold the jar? It is covered with mesh screen. We’re hoping this will make it easier to fill the jar. If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you will see it more clearly.

Here is a close-up of the underside. Joe created an indention to staple the screen in place. The bees will be safely clinging to this screen in their hive rather than on the jar itself as we lift it away at filling time.

This last photo shows the holes Joe punched in the lid of the jar. We are anxious to use this feeding method and see how it goes. After reading about having a possible reduction in robbing, we were all for it. I’ll let you know how it works out. Thanks for stopping by today. We’re having bee-utiful weather and I hope you are too!

Hey Turkeys!

2010-04-03T15:52:00.001-04:00

All through the winter our bees had visitors. This group of turkeys would come through from the woods and meander around the yard. Watching this curious group gave us lots of entertainment!

In the fall we began clearing more brush from the area around the hives. We are making room for more stands! The turkeys seem to love to pick around for a snack in the freshly cleared dirt then move through the yard in the same manner.

No matter what the weather was like, the turkeys came.

And of course one of us grabbed the camera to record the visit!

Thanks for checking out our feathered friends. Did you know that a group of turkeys is called a rafter? I just learned that from the internet! ;-) Have a great day!

Winter

2010-04-03T15:29:00.002-04:00

Now that it’s April I feel a little bit better about saying that two of the three hives made it through the winter. In late October we combined two hives since one was so weak and clearly without a queen. We fed each hive with sugar blocks that we made and pollen patties.

This photo shows the hives on January 10, 2010. At the time we thought this would be the worst snow we would get. Boy, were we wrong! I included this picture so you can see the relationship of the sun to the bee yard. We found that the bees kept the clusters over toward the side that had sun on it all day. Wrapping the hives really helped.

On January 23 it was so warm (almost 50*) that we were able to check the hives and add more sugar. We were delighted to see that the bees were quite happy in both hives.

During the weekend of February 5 we had a big snowstorm. By Saturday night we had over 18 inches of snow on the ground. As you can see from the picture above and the one below, the hive stands were buried and the entrances were well under the surface of the snow mounds. Alex trudged down the hill to dig out the entrances that evening and we all made our way to the girls to dig them out on Sunday.

It was a few weeks before it warmed up enough to open the hives but we were still able to check on them. Using a stethoscope we could listen to the bees keeping warm in their cozy homes. I was amazed that we could hear them so clearly! I hope that we can find a better quality stethoscope before next winter. It really gave us piece of mind to hear the activity in the hives. Thanks for stopping by today! I hope to post more often now that we’re into a more active season. Have a bee-utiful day!

The Buzz About Bees in First Grade

2010-01-30T11:41:00.002-05:00

As beekeepers we have a responsibility to educate others about honey bees. After this experience I think I see that statement in a whole new light. I was shocked at the misconceptions that people (and I don’t just mean the little ones) have. In December I had the pleasure of sharing my love for honey bees with the first grade students in our building. There is a non-fiction story in our Reading book called “Honey Bees” so we spent an entire week learning about these wondrous creatures. For the final activity I brought my bee suit, a partially drawn out frame and some equipment to show them.

Because I have been teaching first grade for many years, I know to expect the kids to react in unpredictable ways. I know that no matter how much I prepare any lesson, one of them could throw me a curve ball. But I still just stood there for several seconds when Becca asked me what type of cigarettes I use when I smoke the bees! Even though I had read a book about beekeepers that contained pictures of a smoker being used, she still had it in her mind that I was smoking and blowing the smoke onto the bees! I’m so thankful that I took the smoker that day!! They got to see it, hear the whoosh of the air moving through it and smell it.

It’s so important that children have the opportunity to learn about honey bees first hand. Knowledge will lead to respect which will lead to a more bee friendly world. The children were so excited and are still talking about what they learned. As a matter of fact many of them were quite disappointed that I didn’t bring any bees with me. I told them maybe in the spring…

Please get in touch with someone at your child’s or grandchild’s school. Call your local after-school program. Offer to come and share your love for honey bees and beekeeping. Earth Day is coming up quickly so many teachers are looking for speakers or programs. Even though we’re all busy with the bees in the spring, it would be time well spent! If you’re interested here are a couple of my favorite bee books for kids.

Honey Makers

The Magic School Bus Inside a Beehive

Honey Bees

DK Readers: Busy Buzzy Bee

If you also have some favorites to share with me, please leave a comment. I’d love to add to my bee book collection.

A Snowy Surprise

2010-01-26T07:50:00.001-05:00

Hello! I’m taking a break from out catch-up posts to show you what we woke up to this morning. This is the “flurries” that were forecasted for today.

It must be about 3 inches of heavy snow. We even had a delay for school! I never miss an opportunity to take more photos of the hives. When we checked on the girls over the weekend they were busy. I hope they are all cuddled in their cluster keeping warm as it is around 24* and windy with a wind chill of 12*. As you can see in the first photo, it’s still snowing. Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Dealing With Varroa Mites

2010-01-24T20:30:00.002-05:00

Since their accidental introduction to the United States in the late 1980’s, Varroa destructor mites is something that nearly every beekeeper must contend with.

In our effort to avoid using harsh chemicals in the hives we decided to try to reduce the varroa mile load using a powdered sugar shake.

Powdered sugar does several thing to help reduce the number of mites. First, it lessens the grip that a mite has on a bee. This causes the mite to drop off and fall through the bottom board of the hive. Second, the powdered sugar causes the bees to groom. As the bees groom they remove additional mites.

Our equipment is quite simple but effective. It is a quart jar with holes punched in the lid. Pictured here are Joe and Alex using the jar to shake the powdered sugar over the frames of each super. Starting on August 29, 2009 we applied the powdered sugar in this manner every seven days for three weeks.

It was quite a site to see the ghostly white bees visiting the flowers around our house in the hours right after treatments! The thought still makes me giggle.

In our ongoing efforts to protect our girls we have been reading about other ways to deter or eliminate this pest. As we decide what direction to take in the coming year, I’ll keep you posted.

Our First Experience At The Fair Booth

2010-01-16T21:08:00.005-05:00

As mentioned in previous posts, we belong to the Columbiana Mahoning County Beekeepers Association. Our group sponsors a booth each year at the Canfield Fair. We were all three quite nervous about taking part in this activity. (What if we didn’t know enough about the bees? What if we didn’t seem enthusiastic enough?) But the excitement of being part of the organization and the love of talking about bees won out and we signed up for a morning shift. We were so fortunate to work with veteran beekeepers Ben and Karen.

They were terrific! They helped us and answered any questions we had along the way. It was so much fun to talk about bees for hours! As you can see from my mom’s photos (Thanks Mom!) there was never a lull in the crowd of curious people around the booth and observation hive. It was the highlight of our weekend! Hopefully next year we will be able to enter some things. We’d be delighted to have a candle, basket or some honey sitting on the display with the other members’ items.

And Then There Were Three

2010-01-02T21:20:00.002-05:00

In late July we received a call from Joe’s dad that a friend needed a hive removed from a wall in a cabin at a church camp. Even though we were all very excited, the cut out removal had to wait until Joe’s parents would return from their vacation a week and a half later. Joe, Alex and I spent that time preparing for our upcoming adventure by making hinged cut-out frames and a bee vac. The days went by rather quickly and on August 5, 2009 the Holy Mary hive joined our bee yard.

An adventure. That’s how we describe the experience. All four of us. It was exciting, nerve-racking and satisfying all at the same time! The best part of this cut-out adventure wasn’t that we increased to three hives, it wasn’t that we had the chance to try doing a cut-out, it wasn’t even that we managed to get the queen safely to her new home. No, the best part was that this is when Alex really got excited about beekeeping. He was hooked!

In the days that followed we discussed what to name this hive. The answer came the afternoon we spotted the queen. Her name is Mary because it is a nothing short of a miracle that we were able to sweep her into the bee vac from that wall and have her survive the move.

Here they are just after gathering our tools that evening. All three generations—in one place, at one time, working together. Joe, Joe and Alex. …And then there were three.

First Year Objective

2009-12-18T16:37:00.002-05:00

Our objective for our first year in beekeeping was to learn as much as we could by watching the hives and allowing the bees to build up to strong colonies. We did what we could to help by feeding the hives so that they could draw out comb and have strong brood patterns within the hives. The weather this year was very wet and cold, not providing much help, but for the most part our hives did quite well in drawing out comb and building up stores.

The hive that we started from the swarm that we captured, has taken off really well, especially considering they started from next to nothing. We had only placed five frames of drawn out comb and they have filled out two deep brood chambers and a medium super.

We have tried the all plastic frames and foundation, with varying results. The bees don’t take to it very well even spraying them with sugar syrup. The amount of wax that is applied at the manufacturer just isn’t enough. It wasn’t until we applied a thicker coat of wax ourselves then they would draw it out. We have since switched to wooden frames and wax foundation sheets for new frames. The bees take to it much faster than the plastic.

Within That first Month

2009-12-03T10:49:00.017-05:00

Starting with our first hive, whom we call Susan Bee Anthony, we found out we have a lot to learn. Sitting and staring at that hive and wondering what was going on inside and not really knowing what we should or shouldn't be doing can get maddening. Not really being sure where to begin we purchased as many books as we could, such as Beekeeping for Dummies (how fitting), The Backyard Beekeeper, Natural Beekeeping, ABC & XYZ of Bee Culture, The Hive & The Honey Bee.

All good beekeeping books will tell you to get a mentor. You need someone to go to for help, someone who will assist you, as well as tolerate you assisting them. Most beekeepers are very friendly and are eager to talk about bees. They often times will welcome the help, an extra pair of hands and a strong back is always useful, and needed. For us choosing a mentor came easy, I look to my Dad to fill this role for us, after all he got us started beekeeping anyway.

He has always been there for us, ready to answer questions and help when needed. In turn I try and help them when ever I can. I try and take on the role of the strong back, and extra pair of hands.

Some of his first advice was to join the local beekeeping association. These local associations provide an important link to other beekeepers in your own area. They also help promote beekeeping in a positive way within the local community.

We are members of both the Columbiana-Mahoning County Beekeepers Association and
The Ohio State Beekeepers Association.

We joined the Columbiana- Mahoning County Beekeepers Association in May 2009. At our first meeting there was discussion from a member that does cut-outs and swarm removal. He has a swarm list that members sign up on and if he gets a call and cannot go he passes this on to someone located close on the list. He was stating that swarm season was approaching and if members wanted on the list they need to get signed up. While tempting, my apprehension was that we were just getting started and had no spare equipment. Perhaps next year, when we are better prepared, or so I thought.

Within one week of that first meeting, we had just came home from work and was out checking the hive, and we could hear the phone ringing at the house. A swarm call, but not from the club member, it was my Father-in Law. They had a swarm of honeybees in front of the plant where he works and they wanted us to come get it. They didn't know who else to call.

I called my mentor, Dad, and asked if he would like to help and if I could borrow a hive body. He agreed to help.

This brings us to our second hive from that swarm.
We call it Bee-atrix Potter.

Let's Start at the Beginning

2009-12-01T16:15:00.002-05:00

April 27,2009
Our first hive came by way of a split that my Dad and his beekeeping partner Tim had performed on one of their hives. This hive started from a feral colony that they had removed (cutout) from the eaves of a house that was undergoing a remodel. It has since became their most productive hive. It had swarmed on them last year so to try and prevent this from occurring this year they asked if we wanted to get started in beekeeping and they split the hive, providing us with a medium hive body full of brood and a deep hive body with frames and foundation. They even purchased a new Italian Queen and brought the whole hive to us.
We came home from work and there it was all set up ready to go.