Honey Update

We extracted the second hive today and I was shocked that we only got 3.5 lbs even though it seems the frames were more full than yesterday's super.

So, 10 lbs total from 2 hives.  Not really that great... but we learned some lessons.  Now that we have our own extractor, we can take the honey next spring as soon as it's capped.  I think the bees uncapped a lot of it and either moved it or ate it, as I swear the supers were much more full earlier in the season.

The honey today was darker and thicker, which was also interesting.

Here are the labels I came up with (not that there's much to give away, only 5 of the 10 pounds are ours!).  I think they are cute.  I hate the plastic bottles but I won them at the VA State Beekeepers meeting, so I'm using them up!

Why "Can Do Bees"?  It's a nod to the Seabees, whose motto is "Can Do"... our permanent apiary will have a permanent name once we can settle down in one spot, but this will do for now!

First Honey Harvest

We decided to harvest some honey today and give the new extractor a whirl (heh.  No pun intended!)  The first step is to rob the bees.  I used Bee-Gone and a fume board to send the bees in the top box back into the lower boxes.  This allowed me to remove the top honey super with no problems at all.

We brought the super back to the garage, where we uncapped the frames.  Joanna remembered exactly how to do it from the one lesson she had last year at the Honey Bee Festival!

Then, we put the uncapped frames into the extractor and we were pleasantly surprised at how quick and easy it was.

 We only had about 3-4 frames worth of honey, but it was such a joy to see it flowing!

We ended up with about 6 pounds of liquid gold.  It's very light... and very delicious!  Now I just need some cool labels to make the jars pretty.

We still have the other hive to extract, and there should be even more honey in there.  Fingers crossed!  As it is now, those six bottles of honey cost us about $150 each!!!!

EAS 2013 Conference

I just got back from an amazing bee conference in West Chester, PA.  My friend Donna Rae and I left Tuesday morning and got back yesterday afternoon.  It was a full schedule of classes and seminars, so my brain is mush right about now.

The highlight for me was Thursday, when we spent all day learning about Apitherapy and how bee stings and hive products are used to treat many, many medical conditions.  It was absolutely fascinating! 

We got to hear some renown speakers... Dennis VanEngelsdorp (above), Tom Seeley, Wyatt Mangum, and Buddy Marterre to name a few. 

And... I bought an extractor!  This means that in order to harvest honey, I don't have to wait until I can go pick up the extractor from the Guild, and I don't have to worry about bringing it back.  I am excited to taste our first drops of liquid gold!

We met some really nice people... Hi Kenny!  and Mary, who actually teaches at the same school my mom used to (small world!) and lots of other beekeepers from all over the eastern seaboard. 

The five hour trip home turned into ten, because we stopped at every non-scary looking thrift store and farm stand we saw on the way!  Next year's conference is going to be in Kentucky and the year after that it's going to be in Quebec, so it will be a few years before I can go again... but I definitely will be back at some point!

Scarlett Update... but First, a Bee Update

We got in the bees today.  We confirmed the queen is alive and well in our single-story Nuc.  Which means it's ready to go to a new beekeeper!

The last time we got into the 2-story Nuc, there was no queen.  So we left it alone for 3 weeks and were thrilled to find lots and lots of eggs in it this morning.  Unfortunately, we couldn't find the queen even though she was obviously there! So, in a couple of weeks we'll get back in and make an effort to locate her.  As soon as we do, we can mark her and send that Nuc on its merry way, as well.

In other news, Scarlett continues to be spoiled rotten, living in the kitchen.  She's walking fine and putting weight on her left leg.

And trying to escape the little 'cage' we made to contain her under the kitchen table, since she is back to being able to jump.

Her abscess is beginning to heal (look away now if you don't want to see a picture!)

You can see where it's closing up, and the lump is definitely getting smaller. 

I'm just spraying it a couple times a day with Vetericyn... keeping an eye on it to make sure it's not getting red or hot.  So far, so good.

Extractaganza

Today the Bee Guild hosted the annual Extractaganza, where we all get together to extract some honey and have a yummy potluck lunch, then invite the public in to see how it's done.

Right off the bat, Dave showed us how to sterilize the bottles by dipping them in a solution and letting them air-dry.  Some day, I'll want to sell our honey and this will be important.  But right now, when the honey is just for us, I plan to use canning jars that will be washed in the dishwasher.

The set-up for actually extracting the honey is pretty simple.  A utility sink is ideal, because it has the drain in the bottom to catch all of the honey and cappings that drip out.  The board across is so you have something to lean the frames on.

In order to extract the honey from the frames, you first have to scrape off the wax that the bees use to seal in the honey.  There are several methods used to do this.  These folks here are using a multi-pronged tool that looks like what we used to tease our hair with in the 80s.

 Here, Gene is using a heat tool which is really nice.  But they are pretty pricey.

Once the frames are uncapped, they are placed in the extractor.  They must be placed with the top of the frames on the outside edge.  This is because the beeswax is actually built on a slight angle to keep the honey 'in', so placing them this way ensures the centripetal force will actually move the honey out.

Once the extractor is turned on (or cranked, if it's not an electric one), the honey starts to flow.  It's amazing to see, and I confess I can't wait until it's OUR honey that's flowing!

One tip I learned this year is that paint strainer bags are useful for straining the beeswax out of the honey.  This is why I love events like this... I always learn something new and helpful. 

After the honey is extracted, you need to let it sit for a week.  This is because no matter how much you strain it, there is always some sediment that will settle on the bottom, and using a bottler like this will ensure it stays on the bottom instead of getting transferred to the cute little bear honey jars.

And did I mention that it needs to be warm for the honey to flow?  That means no AC.  Extracting honey is not a comfortable job.  But it's worth it in the end!

Bee Mama Drama!

We got in the bees this morning... our goal was to confirm the presence of the queen in the 2-story Nuc so we can sell it, and also to find the queen in the newer Nuc (there were eggs last time, but we couldn't find the queen.)

In the 2-story Nuc, we saw a couple of capped queen cells and no eggs.  (Just last week there WERE eggs, and a couple empty cells, but we couldn't find the queen because they were so crowded so we couldn't sell it, and we put the second story on to give them more room.)  Hmmm.  Wonder what happened to the queen, but relieved they were raising a new one.

In the new nuc, I was able to locate the queen and got her into the queen catcher so we could clip her and mark her. 

Except.

She was ALREADY marked.  With a green dot (if you click on the pics above, they will enlarge and you can see the green on her).  Which means SHE was the queen from the OTHER nuc!!!  Now, green was last years queen color, but she is a new queen this year (This was the first queen we ever marked and clipped, and at the time didn't know what the 'bee' color of the year was.  Turns out, it's red.)

So, since the green was fading, we remarked her with pink, which is the closest-to-red paint marker we had.

Apparently they 'swarmed' from the original Nuc because they were too crowded.  But because she was clipped, she couldn't fly.  So she crawled back into the other Nuc and set up housekeeping, which means THAT'S now the one that is ready to sell.  We'll have to wait on the 2-story hive to be queen-right, and then it will be ready to go, as well.

Life is never dull when there are bees involved!

Virginia State Beekeepers Association Spring Meeting

Our local club, The Beekeepers Guild of Southeastern Virginia, hosted the state spring meeting this weekend here in Chesapeake.  It was a great opportunity to learn from some amazing beekeepers, including Wyatt Mangum and Dennis van Engelsdorp (UMD).

One of my favorite workshops was entitled "Why Treat for Varroa" by Buddy Marterre.  I had already pretty much decided I wasn't interested in treating... There's no hard evidence that the confectioner-sugar method works, and you need to do it four times each fall... and everything else involves chemicals that I sure don't want in the hives.  But I went in to the workshop open to hearing what Dr. Marterre had to say.  For the first half, he discussed the pros and cons of different treatments.  And then he presented us with results from his own hives, and I was pleasantly surprised to discover that he'd stopped treating years ago.  This is right in line with Dr. Fell from Virginia Tech, who says he doesn't treat his own hives, either.  I realized, then, that the title of the talk should have been "Why Treat for Varroa?"  Amazing how much difference a question mark makes!  Click on the link above to read through the presentation if you're interested.

Yesterday afternoon we got to take a Mead-Making workshop which was very interesting.  I didn't realize how easy it was.  There's Donna Rae with her mead-in-the-making!

I am now really excited to attend the Eastern Apicultural Society Conference in August.  Donna Rae and I are planning to go to PA together and between the workshops and the company, it guarantees to be a blast.

Goings On

We finally got around to getting in the bees yesterday.  The first Nuc we made is ready for its new home!  All the frames are drawn out and queenie is laying well.  We were also pleased to discover eggs in the second Nuc, which hopefully means we've got a good queen in there, too.  We'll check back in a few weeks to see if we can find her for marking/clipping.  We didn't really get into the two hives... took off the honey supers and verified we had eggs and closed them back up!

Wednesday's Produce Auction haul included a $4 case of zucchini, $15 for 30 lbs of tomatoes, an $8 box of sweet potatoes... new red potatoes, onions, and a cantaloupe.  I also stopped and got the first peaches of the season at the orchard right down the road.

So, yesterday after I got back from the bees, I spent the whole day working on those boxes.  I made my Basil Simmer Sauce... and only ended up with about 10 pints after it all cooked down.  Not very time or cost effective, considering the same amount of Ragu would have cost about half that... but I love how it tastes.  Ragu is actually one of the few 'processed' foods that I still buy... it has 5 ingredients that are 'real' food and there's no way I could make enough sauce for our family.  This batch will be used judiciously for special occasions!

Since I knew I wouldn't be giving any of the sauce away, I decided to give my reusable Tattler lids a try (I bought a case of the regular and a case of the wide mouth last year when they were on sale.)  I've read over and over again online that there's a learning curve and I expected to have some that didn't seal... but I got 100% on my first try!

I still have shredded zucchini in the freezer from last year (it took up so much room!), but I recently read about dehydrating it, instead.  In this quart jar is twelve cups of shredded zucchini that will be reconstituted for use in breads and our beloved lunchbox squares... talk about saving freezer space!  I can also grind it up and sneak it into sauces for some additional veggie-boosting goodness.  1/2 cup of the dried stuff is equal to 2 cups fresh (needed to put this in here in case I forget!)

I will be spending this afternoon and all day tomorrow at the Spring meeting of the Virginia State Beekeepers Association.  I'm looking forward to learning all sorts of new things, and especially tomorrow/s session on Top-Bar Beekeeping by Wyatt Mangum.

Confirmation.... FINALLY!

We got into the bees today, hoping to find convincing evidence of a queen in the second hive.  We saw eggs, we saw larvae.  We launched an all-out search for the actual queen.  And low and behold, we found her.  And she was HUGE!

This time, there were three of us crammed into the half bath (you need a confined space for marking in case the queen escapes the catcher and flies off!)  Lisa's job was to catch the worker bees that got caught up in the queen catcher.  Then I somehow managed to hold her enough for Donna Rae to clip her wings.  Then we put her in the new plunger to mark her... in red... since we now know what the official bee color of the year is!  It was a much easier, calmer experience than the last comedy of errors we had trying to mark and clip!

 (Pink boots and overalls... Which picture above is the real Donna Rae?)   :-)

If you are wondering why we mark and clip the queen...  well, we mark her so she's easier to find.  When you've got 50,000 bees in a hive it's almost impossible to find her.  And the last thing you want to do is accidentally squish her.  The reason I was so adamant about finding the queen is that right now, the hive is relatively small so it was never going to be easier for us.  Now was the time.

As far as clipping goes, it means that when she tries to swarm, she won't be able to fly and the bees will simply congregate at the front of the hive instead of taking off.  So we'll then be able to catch them and start a new hive with them.  You can't STOP them from swarming, but you can keep them in your apiary instead of losing them... or you can start a NUC to help supply new beekeepers with bees...

Now that we know all is well in our hives, we can pretty much stay out of them for another two weeks, at which point we'll want to check on the NUC we started last week to see if a queen has emerged.  We opened it up today and there were a lot of bees, but we didn't take any of the frames out because we didn't want to accidentally squish the queen cells.

Listen!  Do you hear that?  It's me, exhaling a huge sigh of relief!  That second hive of ours has been nothing but drama for several months, and it's nice to know everyone is queen-right... and all 3 of our queens are marked and clipped.  That's never happened before!

Inspected!

Today our apiary was visited by one of the state bee inspectors, and we have been cleared to sell nucs for the next 12 months!  I feel all official.

The Nuc we started last month is doing well.  The queen is laying with a good pattern and the next step is to contact the Coordinator of the Nuc Program for the Guild to see who is next on the list.  They will then bring their own box and we'll transfer the frames to it.  The next day, they'll be able to take them home!  (It's a 2-day process to make sure all of the forager bees return to the hive at night, when we'll close them in.)  However, we want to be sure our own hives are both queen-right before we do this, so we're going to hold off a week (more on that later).

Our original hive had some swarm cells WITH LARVAE in them, which means they want to swarm.  It's not a big deal, because that queen's wings are clipped, so she can't actually fly off with half the hive.  She'll do a belly flop off the front of the hive and all the bees will congregate around her, at which point we'll go out and sweep them into a new Nuc.  However, we took the frames that had the swarm cells and started another Nuc box with them.  If all goes ideally, a month from now, those queen cells should be hatched, fertilized, and beginning to lay... and we can sell THAT Nuc to another new beekeeper.

In the hive that's had all the drama this spring, we saw some cells that had two eggs in them, which is a sign of a laying worker.  However, we also saw enough capped brood in a good pattern to believe that there is indeed a queen.  We'll go back in next week and hopefully have a better idea (which is exactly what I said LAST week...)

Bee Update

I have been negligent in updating about the bees.  Which is not a good thing, considering this blog is supposed to be my on-line bee journal!  Last I posted, we'd discovered one of our hives didn't have a queen.  We went back in a week later, and still didn't see any eggs.  Nor did we see any queen cells.  My mentor suggested waiting another week to combine the Nuc back into the hive, because a) the weather hadn't been good so there might have been a queen but she couldn't take her mating flight, and b) the reason they weren't making queen cells was because there WAS a queen (see reason a!).

So, we put another frame of eggs in just to be safe, giving them another opportunity to raise a queen if they needed one.  Then we closed everything up and decided to wait another week.

This past Monday, we checked the hives again.  The Nuc had lots of eggs and still had room to grow, so we didn't have to worry about doing anything there.  They haven't been taking a lot of the sugar water, either.  Our original hive was going gangbusters... lots of activity and eggs and larvae.

And, in the 'queenless' hive... I knew something was different as soon as we opened it up.  Instead of the typical roar we'd been hearing, we heard the peaceful buzz of bees who didn't care we were there (this has ALWAYS been our docile hive, except for the past month!)  And sure enough, we had a whole frame of eggs!  No larvae, so the queen had just started laying.  We are optimistic that it was a queen and not a laying worker for three reasons: 1) the buzzing.  In most queen-right hives, especially this one, the bees just go about their business... unless there is no queen, and then the work themselves into a tizzy when you open up the hive.  2)  There was only a single egg in every cell, and 3) the pattern was perfect, meaning they weren't laid helter-skelter.  Laying workers are notorious for popping multiple eggs in each cell, and bouncing around the frame.  Needless to say, I was greatly relieved!

We will go back in next week to confirm that they aren't drone cells (ie, laying worker) and also because the Inspector will be here.  Assuming he doesn't find anything out of the ordinary, we will be able to sell our Nuc to a new beekeeper in the Guild and get them started up.  We were hoping to be able to make a second Nuc from the other hive, but after a month of no eggs, the numbers are really down and it's just not strong enough at this point to make another Nuc.  But after a year of costing us money, it'll be nice to recoup a very small portion of our expenses!

This morning I was able to attend a workshop where we made swarm buckets and also got some pieces to make a bee vac using a Nuc box body.  I am hoping they will come in very handy (not that we've gotten any swarm calls this year... but I'm into beekeeping for the long haul!)

More Bee Stuff

With the next few days forecast to be rainy, we decided today was the day we needed to get back in the hives and see what was going on.

First, we checked the Nuc that we made last time, and saw eggs and larvae.  We knew a queen had successfully hatched.  Since there were only 5 frames, we decided to find her so we could clip her wings and mark her.  Easier said than done. 

Finally, I spotted her on an empty frame (what was she doing there?) and nabbed her with the Queen Catcher.

We decided to take her inside to the bathroom... the smallest enclosed space we could think of.  We had a heck of a time trying to hold her still so we could clip the wings, but after many failed attempts we finally did it... and then marked her with a bright green dot to boot, so she'd be easy to spot.

Now, each year has a different color (to make it easier to tell how old the queen is)... and I'm pretty sure this isn't a green year... but we grabbed the brightest marker Lisa had.  Not looking forward to doing THAT again!

The first hive was fine... the second one (which had swarmed earlier) didn't appear to have a queen.  So, for lack of a better idea, we stole a frame of eggs and put it in, hoping they will raise another one.  If not, we can always combine the Nuc back in with the hive and split it again later. 

Beekeeping... always a challenge with no real 'right' way.  It could drive an analytical person like me crazy.

But we have a new Nuc queen, and she's marked and clipped.  Hallelujah.

Bees, Bees, Bees...

In addition to serving as an on-line garden journal, this blog is also a beekeeping journal of sorts.  It's good to keep records because the older I get, the less I remember.  And when it comes to beekeeping, there's lots to remember.

We last got into our hives a month ago, and all was well.  We were just starting to see drone cells, and were very lucky to have both hives survive the winter.  40-60% of hives were lost here in VA, and no one knows why.

A few days ago, my neighbor and co-beekeeper Lisa saw a ton of activity outside one of the hives.  I suspected a swarm, as that queens' wings weren't clipped, but didn't know what we'd find.  We were also going to check and see if they were storing honey and whether or not we needed to add another box of frames.

The first hive we got into had drawn out some wax in the honey super, but there wasn't much stored.  We saw eggs, we saw lots of drone cells, and we even saw the queen (she is marked).  The hive wasn't teeming but with all the eggs and larvae, it's just a matter of time before numbers quickly build.  We did take some frames of brood/larvae/eggs and one frame of honey and put it in the Nuc box to make a new hive.

We also saw some bees being 'born'... crawling out of their capped cells.  Can you find them in the abpve picture?

The second hive was going gangbusters.  We had to remove some wonky wax, but they had pretty much filled the first honey super so we added another.  We also saw CAPPED swarm cells and not one egg, which means only one thing... the old queen had flown the coop as suspected.  We left a couple of the cells in the hive so that one of the new queens would hatch and take over.  We also took a couple of them and put them in the Nuc box, so that those bees would also have a queen rather than having to rear their own.  Once they are capped, it only takes a few days for the new queens to hatch.  In spite of the fact that they didn't currently have a queen, the bees were very docile.  I have high hopes for this Nuc, as the other queen (who was only a year old, I don't know why she swarmed) was a good layer and her girls have good, patient personalities.  The queens were raised by A LOT of bees, which bodes well.

In about three weeks, we will check back into all of the hives.  Why 3 weeks?  That will give the new queens time to hatch.  Six days after they hatch, they will go on their mating flights (and we'll hope they make it back safely.)  It normally takes about 20 days to go from a capped queen cell to laying eggs.  What if we get back in and there are no eggs?  All is not lost.  We will simply take frames of eggs from our queen-right hive and put them in the Nuc or the second hive (or both if Murphy's law prevails) and let the bees raise their own queen from those eggs.  This is why it's better to start with two hives than only one.  You can rob Peter to pay Paul.

Blessed Bee!

It's been in the 60s for several days this year.  Unfortunately, they've either been rainy or I've had plans... so we couldn't get into the bees.  Finally, today, the stars aligned and we finally got to have a peek for the first time since... well, I forget.  November?  At that time, we weren't sure they had enough honey stored for winter, so we've been feeding them off and on with heavy sugar syrup.

The hives are 1/4 mile down the road at my neighbors house, so I don't get to see them out and about on those nice days.  So when I arrived this afternoon and saw them flying around and in and out of the hive, I was thrilled.  They were all loaded up with pollen!

Normally, there's not such a back-up at the entrance, but during the winter we reduced the size to make the hive easier for the bees to defend.

We were absolutely thrilled to see that we had eggs.  Although we didn't see them, it confirms that both queens are alive and well.  If you click on the picture above, you'll be able to see the tiny eggs in each of the cells.

This picture doesn't do it justice, but I just gasped when we pulled this frame out.  It was absolutely gorgeous.  What you're looking at is all different kinds of pollen, which will be used to feed the brood.  I encourage you to click on this picture and get a better view.

I came home absolutely thrilled... like a mother who got to see her kids after a long separation, relieved to see that they were doing well.

Right about now, I am feeling incredibly grateful and blessed that we got into our hives and found them thriving.  Tonight at our monthly Beekeeper's Guild Meeting, members were abuzz about the number of hives lost.  Many beekeepers have lost multiply hives so far this winter.  The bees just disappeared, leaving behind frames full of honey.  One lost 4 out of 10 of his hives.

Someday it will be us.  Beekeeping is like farming, and some years are better than others.  There will be mites and beetles and Nosema Virus, and probably CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder).  It is impossible to avoid.  But I am grateful that so far, our girls are okay.  They've got plenty of food-stores to get them through the rest of the winter, even if it gets colder (or, should I say, ESPECIALLY if it gets colder.  They actually eat more in warmer weather because they are out flying and not huddling in the hive.)  And we have eggs!  That makes it a heck of a lot easier for them to raise a new queen if something were to happen.  Fingers crossed for the rest of the winter... February can be brutal.

Honeycomb!

The other day, we moved our bees from their little Nuc box into their actual hive.  They were going crazy drawing out comb.  Unfortunately, it was underneath the frames and not ON the frames.  So, we had to take it off in order to fit them in the hive box.

We couldn't find the queen, but we know she's there.  There were lots of eggs and larvae so we know she's laying.

I took the Nuc box home and put it in a tree in hopes of catching a swarm.  I think my chances aren't as good now as they were a few weeks ago, but you never know.  I had lemongrass essential oil, so I put some on a q-tip and put that in the Nuc.  It mimics the pheromones from the queen and will attract scout bees to the box.  Ideally, I would put a piece of comb in there, too, but I need to treat it first to prevent wax moths from moving in.

If I were a bee, I'd want to live there.

Bees!

For the past 3 Saturdays, I have attended the "Beginner's Short Course" held by the Beekeeper's Guild of Southeastern Virginia.  I didn't know what to expect, and I certainly wasn't going into it with any thoughts of keeping bees... both kids are afraid of the most innocent insects, not to mention ones that have stingers (try explaining that honeybees are docile and only sting when they perceive a threat to the hive or honey...)  My intent was to gain more knowledge so that when the time came for us to settle in our forever home, I could set up some hives and have honey and make soap, etc.

I loved the classes.  The people are so welcoming and eager to answer newbie-questions.  The bees are amazing.  After the first class, I felt myself getting more excited than I should have been.  Then, a friend in the area (who was unable to go to the class, and who lives on a larger lot than I do that is NOT adjacent to a school or neighbors with pools) said they really wanted bees and offered to share the hives with me, but keep them at her place.  Deal!!!

So in a matter of days, we were signed up for the Mentor program offered by the Guild, and also on the Nuc list (for a 'Nuclear' colony of bees, a small colony that can move into the typical hive boxes and grow.)  At the last class, I bought my gloves and jacket/veil.  This week, we order the hives and other tools.

Start-up costs, including EVERYTHING, will be under $400 total.  We probably won't have honey this summer (our goal is to keep them alive over next winter, then have honey in 2013).  I am super excited about having this opportunity to learn and get familiar with beekeeping... so that when we do get settled in our forever home, I won't have a learning curve.  I'll be able to immediately get going. 

Our new girls should arrive some time in May or June.  In the mean time, we have to order the hives, assemble them, pain them, and read all we can.  We'll also attend the monthly meetings of the Guild (conveniently held 5 minutes down the road from us) and pick the brains of those who know more than we do!  In a few weeks, we'll be hooked up with our Mentor and be able to watch them in their hives.  It's all very thrilling.

Except for the occasional "Oh my word what I have gotten myself into!"