tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17230096019574840042024-03-06T02:01:26.787-05:00Cape BeekeepingBeekeeping adventures on Cape CodMarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14356776961390315654noreply@blogger.comBlogger46125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1723009601957484004.post-29407020663082135532011-11-27T21:46:00.004-05:002011-11-27T21:51:41.532-05:00Discouragement<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Well it is the end of November already…..<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I have not written a blog post since May.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s not that I was lacking material to write about (the bees always provides that).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s just that by the middle of June I was discouraged with the progress of my efforts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Perhaps some of you may have better suggestions for me regarding my beekeeping efforts.</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">As you can probably tell from the post title, this year was another bad year for me and the bees.</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">In late winter we always hope for a productive year, but for the past three years the bees have not produced honey for us.</span></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiixY4pCsOJMgERGi5Dg-ViYomYNydEIzv5n1S4ZAA1cROxfAdfYjX4LdVUtCT5LMCUvrfludRImLsp6T-n2oju61phFuMpcfzWobxLiVSFeEqfgyzXbIG0FBs_8ZplGf6omZ3GtGEwzeY/s1600/beesfeeding.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="156" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiixY4pCsOJMgERGi5Dg-ViYomYNydEIzv5n1S4ZAA1cROxfAdfYjX4LdVUtCT5LMCUvrfludRImLsp6T-n2oju61phFuMpcfzWobxLiVSFeEqfgyzXbIG0FBs_8ZplGf6omZ3GtGEwzeY/s200/beesfeeding.jpg" width="200" /></a></div> <span style="font-size: xx-small;"><em>Left: Bees feeding on sugar candy and pollen patty</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The season started slowly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a rainy spring, and the spring lasted much longer than usual.</span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Spring actually arrived a few weeks early.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the cold wet weather kept the bees inside the hives and not collecting honey and nectar.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAKZiQrcLGOr7XQhUJrPlfVO5bEnbrJeJ8BYvtS-jzFkz8N8YZbaUm4Dfx_gqMKtomHD3sNINOKo3K2TCZusBsHhQOma_kjfAn00OP5uqsyrtnUSUwVNmqUUHdIWMiuJ9VHqkM0AZeN3M/s1600/beepeach1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAKZiQrcLGOr7XQhUJrPlfVO5bEnbrJeJ8BYvtS-jzFkz8N8YZbaUm4Dfx_gqMKtomHD3sNINOKo3K2TCZusBsHhQOma_kjfAn00OP5uqsyrtnUSUwVNmqUUHdIWMiuJ9VHqkM0AZeN3M/s200/beepeach1.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><em>Right: Foraging worker bee</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">During the summer we had just the right about of sun and rain, no drought, plenty of flowers, plenty of work for the bees to do, but I could tell that the nectar flow was sporadic.</span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">One day the bees would be flying like crazy, the next there would be very little activity.</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">As I look back on the season I cannot point to one thing that went <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>wrong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It must have been a culmination of many factors.</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">My biggest problem this year was robbing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I thought it would be smart to start the new colonies way across the property from the old ones.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The new location would offer more sun light during the winter months. </span></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;"><em>Left: Weak hive being fed sugar syrup from a division board feeder. These feeders were robbed out by strong colonies nearby</em></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This was an attempt on my part to decrease the winter losses by allowing the hives to warm up a little more on sunny winter days than the older hives have the darker old location (we’ll see how this works).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also thought that by moving the new hives away from the older hives there would be less opportunity for robbing to start.</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Well I was I ever wrong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The new hives which had a smaller population of bees were continually robbed out not only of any sugar syrup I was feeding them, but also of any stores of nectar that they were collecting themselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Without stores of honey and pollen the new colonies would not increase.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I tried feeding the sugar syrup into the small hives first, then the larger hives….<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I tried feeding <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the sugar syrup into the larger hives first, waiting a day, then feeding syrup to the smaller hives.</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I even resorted to building a feeding station away from the hives, that all the bees could access and get syrup.</span></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Nothing I tried worked….<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes the bees from all the hives would come and take 5 gallons of sugar syrup from the yard feeder in two days, but as soon as it ran out, the strong hives would return to robbing out the weaker hives. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I also did not like feeding wasps, hornets, and yellow jackets with my precious public sugar syrup feeder.</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">So the fat hives got fatter, and the weak hives got weaker and died out.</span></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Although the larger hives produced a surplus crop of 60 pounds of honey, I could not trust the honey since it was probably mixed with sugar syrup.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I fed all the honey back to the hives.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">All this robbing was not conducive to increasing our hive numbers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New packages, hive splits, and nucs brought on site from other locations were all destroyed by the robbing bees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Only three hives survived the summer and will be over wintered.</span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Then there was the small hive beetle……<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll talk about that next time.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">And there's next year..... There's always next year.</span></div></div>Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14356776961390315654noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1723009601957484004.post-49484187320948628162011-05-30T21:29:00.001-04:002011-05-30T21:37:33.005-04:00May Bee<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">The long holiday weekend finds me posting my first blog post for the month of May.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Left: A worker bee collecting pollen and nectar from our peach tree.</span></em></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">For some reason we have experienced a 90% loss of our over wintered hives this season. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Two hive have died in the month of April alone. Not usual once they make it through March</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div>The longer than average, and cooler, spring has not helped us much. We experienced cool rainy wet weather for almost two weeks in the middle of May, not conducive for brood rearing by already weakened hives.<br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Last week however, the cold wet weather broke, and we are now experiencing warmer days. That means happy days for the bees who are now able to fly and collect the much needed nectar and pollen for the spring buildup.</div><br />
Today I started rearing a small number of queens.<br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoOqTBQMXEDS_pLN09kyjZsB-zJn8e0j490dI2H7L1n3kmb9jWufEW5RcxgiTG1q-jJ6-2t8N2-3V8S2Ds4mVOMTraP9feXFhEctsejvK17_ue-QTRLQGVgfQF_neqDGaI1_6aLeoLB4M/s1600/Graftedcup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoOqTBQMXEDS_pLN09kyjZsB-zJn8e0j490dI2H7L1n3kmb9jWufEW5RcxgiTG1q-jJ6-2t8N2-3V8S2Ds4mVOMTraP9feXFhEctsejvK17_ue-QTRLQGVgfQF_neqDGaI1_6aLeoLB4M/s200/Graftedcup.jpg" t8="true" width="200" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Right. Newly grafted plastic cell cups. These cells were wet grafted using royal jelly saved from queenrearing in 2010.</span></em></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">It takes 16 days for a queen to grow under the proper conditions. I took newly hatched eggs from three of my hives and wet grafted them into artificial cell cups. Wet grafting is the process of placing a small drop of royal jelly in the bottom of each artificial cell cup, and floating a young larva onto it. (a 50 / 50 mix of plain yogurt and water will do as well for a priming medium) </div><br />
Eggs from the different hives were grafted into different color cell cups. Red, yellow, and black cups were used. This will allow me to tell which hive the larva was grafted from later on.<br />
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The cells were placed into a cell bar and installed in a cell starter hive.<br />
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I create my cell starter hives by taking a 5 frame nuc box with a division board feeder half full of sugar syrup, add a frame of nectar and a frame of pollen.<br />
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I have modified the nuc box so it has a screened bottom. The entrance is closed so the bees will not be able to leave.<br />
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Before I graft the artificial cells, I shake nurse bees (from frames of open brood) into the 5 frame nuc box. I use at least three frames of nurse bees, and two frames of bees from adjoining frames. Of course before I do all this I find the queen, in the contributing hive, and make sure she is not shaken into the cell starter hive!<br />
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I took my grafted cell bar frame and installed it in between the pollen and nectar frames.<br />
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The trapped nurse bees will have nothing to do but feed the young larva. Because the cell starter is queenless they will build queen cells out of the young larva. <br />
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I will wait 24 hours and check to see how many of the grafts were accepted.<br />
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Our package bees were delayed from the supplier down south. Many orders were canceled. They must have been having a difficult time there as well. <br />
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Last week we finally received our new bees. They had a long trip from Florida, traveling by night, the truck would stop for the day to allow the bees to fly. It took several days to make the trip, and the trailer of bees arrived late one night. About 20 volunteers enjoyed unloading them off the trailer.<br />
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We must have been quite the site to the neighbors….. a mass of beekeepers with flashlights (and head lamps) scurrying round a dirt road, walking to and forth, unloading over 200 packages of bees. I know I received at least one strange look from passer buy on the main road. What are you doing walking at the side of the road in a full bee suite? They must have said!<br />
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That being said I brought my bees home and installed them the next morning. They were not happy to see me….. I guess they were grumpy from they’re long trip. Several met me with the message I should leave them alone. But…. Then… You have to show them who’s boss! (bees don’t listen well)<br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Left: A cell starter colony mad up of a division board feeder, a frame of pollen, grafted cells, a frame of open nectar, an undrawn frame, and nurse bees.</span></em></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">The first nucleus of bees was installed without event. Five full frames of bees, honey, and brood were installed on previously drawn out comb. They were very active, fliying the next day in the warm sun.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I noticed that the second nucleus of bees had a recently emerged queen cell, capped brood, but no eggs or larva…. I did see a queen though.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Right: A well feed queen larva. The nurse bees have added royal jelly to the cell. The larva floats on the royal jelly and eats it as it grows. It will take 16 days for the queen to grow from an egg to a fully developed virgin queen.</span></em></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">She must have emerged during the long trip from Florida… But had she mated? Or was she still a virgin, unable to lay worker eggs? I would have to wait to see. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Two days later I checked the hive…. No eggs or brood…. But the queen was still there. Perhaps I would have to replace her with a laying queen…. If one could be found this time of year…..</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Two days after that I checked the hive again…. Yes, there were new eggs laid in many cells. I guess this queen might just be fine. Perhaps she had mated during the trip north, while the truck was stopped in another state, and had managed to find her way back to the truck before it continued on. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Perhaps she has a little Pennsylvania or Georgia influence in her now! If you know what I mean!</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Maybe she will be just fine….. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div></div>Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14356776961390315654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1723009601957484004.post-20472089509369192352011-04-25T17:16:00.001-04:002011-04-25T17:17:28.456-04:00Pieces Of April<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">It is the last week of April and the flowers are just starting to bloom! </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Three weeks ago we had our first Crocus pop its head out of the ground and open up so the bees could collect some fresh pollen.</div><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">We have had a lot of rainy weather, which is typical for this time of year, but the temperatures have been cooler as well. My year to year records show that we are running about three weeks behind last year, and about a week behind “normal” with the spring foliage.</div><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">On warm days the bees are flying, bringing back small bundles of yellow and white pollen on their hind legs. This could only mean that there is brood rearing taking place inside the hive.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSsZVMqfOCCsG-cNjMJ33EdS711-2etTSyu0AbhJpofNVO-MloVWNP-Prh3mjAokYjrpuZ7rWRwT41gH4WjIVIDSJm73rA0ezBGzv6Vy91RMZY3B4N7tOHQlVSuDkc_-4F2x_Vw37dT8M/s1600/095.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" i8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSsZVMqfOCCsG-cNjMJ33EdS711-2etTSyu0AbhJpofNVO-MloVWNP-Prh3mjAokYjrpuZ7rWRwT41gH4WjIVIDSJm73rA0ezBGzv6Vy91RMZY3B4N7tOHQlVSuDkc_-4F2x_Vw37dT8M/s200/095.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Left: Warm days finally allow the bees to fly and gather nectar and pollen.</span></em><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">This is the time of year that the bees need to quickly build up in number s in order to take advantage of the spring honey flow we have here on the cape. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Starting mid May to around the end of July is our only real honey producing time here on Cape Cod. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">This year the cooler temperatures have hindered the buildup. At least in my hives!</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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<em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Right: A worker bee collects pollen from a white Crocus flower</span></em><br />
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This weekend I will begin to feed them sugar syrup, which will help stimulate brood rearing as well. <br />
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I guess when the queen sees supplies being brought into the hive she feels comfortable enough to begin laying and laying eggs. <br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Left: Another worker bee collects nectar</span></em></div><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Our scheduled delivery of packaged bees from down south have bee delayed for a second time this season. I have not heard the reason why, but perhaps they are having as much trouble with their bees as we are here in the North East.</div><br />
Temperatures reached the high 60’s yesterday and today allowing an increase in the bees activities.<br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">With the forsythia in full bloom there is much pollen to be gathered. My peach tree is just starting to bloom and I know the Red Maple is not far behind.</div><br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Right: Pollen patties and sugar candy placed in the hives allow the workers to feed even on cold wet days when they cannot forrage.</span></em></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">My battle with the mice in the shed continues. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Each time I pick up a box, or a bucket I find the evidence of mice damage. Chewed gloves, newspaper, and table cloths litter the corners of the space. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I found one dead family inside the garden tool box. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">How they managed to get in will remain a mystery forever.</div><br />
But these things too will pass. And for now I am anticipating a good honey season. <br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">After the last two bad ones, it is the least that mother nature can do,</div><br />
</div>Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14356776961390315654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1723009601957484004.post-35551513708347283872011-03-15T21:40:00.001-04:002011-03-15T21:42:11.400-04:00Middle Of March<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">It’s the middle of March and the snow drops are just starting to pop open here on Cape Cod. Spring is just around the corner!<br />
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After enduring a long cold winter, mice, mites, small hive beetles, starvation, falling trees, and poor food stores, the bees are just now beginning to emerge from their winter cluster.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9Fnmyq7wLuc3dAjYytLI_Xaujww5M54qxvV8KLd2QKtytsBO1_fyLhWM5Qm4LOtisstTku8iQyP-16R_Cqxhq1jh765Lq2Npd56QcctauCeyvlc9YGF_CF0yuBVptZXQIjfiDxA228EE/s1600/SMLBTL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="188" q6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9Fnmyq7wLuc3dAjYytLI_Xaujww5M54qxvV8KLd2QKtytsBO1_fyLhWM5Qm4LOtisstTku8iQyP-16R_Cqxhq1jh765Lq2Npd56QcctauCeyvlc9YGF_CF0yuBVptZXQIjfiDxA228EE/s200/SMLBTL.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><em>:Left: Small Hive Beetle, dead on the sticky board.</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><em> In March? Realy?</em></span><br />
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The queen should have started raising young by now, and the new bees will be taking fights for the first time. How many of them emerge fly a little too far from the hive and become too chilled to make it back home?<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ5Fi8D8GBBa1mBiQxgH9vBdkCwwM5Fo_V34gaiqXTYeK4R7bIHn3p093FiNuXDoJzBZSXQRNdd826et_HOTALZWquMR0XQaEq_Zns2XV-5XyFgkiG2tUQYI_oCeVf9H1MPprenQDGr3A/s1600/032.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="177" q6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ5Fi8D8GBBa1mBiQxgH9vBdkCwwM5Fo_V34gaiqXTYeK4R7bIHn3p093FiNuXDoJzBZSXQRNdd826et_HOTALZWquMR0XQaEq_Zns2XV-5XyFgkiG2tUQYI_oCeVf9H1MPprenQDGr3A/s200/032.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Right: Bees were finally able to take flight during warmer days here and there over the past couple of weeks.</span></em><br />
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We lost 50 percent of our hives to this long winter. We did not receive our January thaw as we do most years. Temperatures remained in the 30's for six weeks or more. But then, I don't have to tell most of you that!<br />
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Of the remaining hives two are very weak. The Kona queens I introduced last year seam to be longing to return to the warm Hawaiian weather they came from. <br />
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They did not do well here. <br />
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Of course they have done better than the dead hives… That’s it… Look on the bright side!<br />
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<em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Left: My storage shed.... Filled with beekeeping equipment, boxes, frames..... And mice!</span></em><br />
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One hive that started the winter with plenty of bees, frames of pollen, and frames full of honey was found dead a couple of weeks ago.<br />
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I had given them candy feed towards the end of January. <br />
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At that time they were robust…. 7 frames of bees. When I dissected the dead hive I found thousands of dead bees only two inches away from capped honey. There were still 6 frames of capped honey in the hive and three frames full of pollen. Why did they die? During the cold weather they probably just could not shift over to the food stores. What a shame!<br />
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<em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Right: The mice are so bold as to build nests in plain sight!</span></em><br />
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Sometimes you cannot figure out what went wrong. Is it natural selection? Or just a stupid beekeeper?<br />
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But yes…. As beekeepers often do, I spend a lot of my time during the winter thinking and dreaming about the bees. Perhaps answers come during those long months. I do have something up my sleeve… Perhaps I can do something about the weather!<br />
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The mice have been taunting me all winter as well. Despite my best attempts at thwarting them I continue to find chewed items around the storage shed. They love the newspaper wrapped wax foundation. An expensive item to snack on.<br />
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<em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Right: Outside temperature 34 degrees.... Inside temperature 60.</span></em><br />
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<em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Perhaps I've found a way to control the weather!</span></em><br />
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One family even had the nerve to build a home right in plain sight, as if to dare me to try to do something about it!<br />
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But bright days are ahead! The weather is warming. The days are getting longer. The first flowers are poking there sleepy heads above the ground. The bees are starting to fly…<br />
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Yes the bees are starting to fly!<br />
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</div>Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14356776961390315654noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1723009601957484004.post-90734015136976176452011-01-30T18:31:00.004-05:002011-01-30T18:38:03.602-05:00So you think you are helping?In the middle of December I quickly checked the bees and found that they had consumed almost all the candy feed I had installed in the hives in November. At that time I added more candy assuming that it would be consumed in about a month (January). <br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6IpC83CWbHe9lnzJZXPwLXmc-w7bbobxUcKrIe6hfLQ61G4Uc6ahXpkvTvrjV2Yys5vLeanWWiSEH8gmrJo83uAOAKDYvbyrNatcoNdf-qLnYg9T_MkQflNSs03YABiVeFPrxe2_ErFs/s1600/Jan11+021.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="263" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6IpC83CWbHe9lnzJZXPwLXmc-w7bbobxUcKrIe6hfLQ61G4Uc6ahXpkvTvrjV2Yys5vLeanWWiSEH8gmrJo83uAOAKDYvbyrNatcoNdf-qLnYg9T_MkQflNSs03YABiVeFPrxe2_ErFs/s320/Jan11+021.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Left: A dead bee in the snow about 500 feet from the hive. It is just too cold for them to be flying that far away from home.</span></em></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">With more snow predicted for our area this week, I thought it would be timely to check the hives and add more sugar candy if needed. I made the candy in the morning, let it cool and went to the apiary to install a piece in each hive. Sure enough, the candy feed was gone in most of the hives.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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<em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Right: Looking through the hole in the inner cover you can see the bees are still alive.</span></em><br />
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With temperatures in the mid 30’s I carefully slipped a piece of candy under each inner cover so as not to disturb the clusters of bees. While I lifted the inner cover I took a peak inside to see how the bees were doing. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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All the hives seemed to have plenty of bees. I did notice some dysentery spots on the top of the frames in the last hive I checked. I had fed the bees sugar syrup and medicated against nosema in the fall, so I did not think much of it.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">This morning I went out to look over the hives. This is what I found.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Left: a closeup of the mess.</span></em><br />
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We have had a long spell of cold, probably five or six weeks where the bees have not been able to fly and take cleansing flights.<br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Apparently having been disturbed by my candy the bees broke cluster and attempted a cleansing flight.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Right: An even closer look.</span></em></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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Being too cold, many of the bees were not able to return to the hive.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div>I have included photographs of the resulting mess.<br />
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I will have to wait for warmer weather before I can check these two hives to see if any of the hive will survive the rest of the winter.<br />
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And I thought I was helping them.Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14356776961390315654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1723009601957484004.post-21789788311569368542011-01-26T22:35:00.002-05:002011-02-09T23:05:19.476-05:00Bees And SnowIt is the middle of winter here on Cape Cod. In fact we are getting another snow storm as I write this blog post.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><em>Left: Icickles hanging from the cover of the hives.</em></span><br />
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Already the cold winter has claimed the life of one of our hives. It seems that they starved only inches away from stores of honey and pollen. The weather must have turned cold for too long of a time. The cluster of bees could not move to a new location.<br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I cleaned out the dead bees and placed the hive bodies in storage. There are 8 frames of honey left in the dead hive along with frames full of pollen. A new package of bees in the spring will take advantage of the hard work done by the deceased hive.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-0RAXJ06Vh7Jilh3ZeqGBzdt9Z4YSgp1UtzYjekyYSL2ozFqqeZJDOYGcs5bIKCf5JXMmQg0p8Css_jAwX1y2upm6pUpcn1WhX2wM8Aks7IxCAwbtyDfHTT7ti0rVwdl6KsjLGZuoGE4/s1600/Dec2010+050.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-0RAXJ06Vh7Jilh3ZeqGBzdt9Z4YSgp1UtzYjekyYSL2ozFqqeZJDOYGcs5bIKCf5JXMmQg0p8Css_jAwX1y2upm6pUpcn1WhX2wM8Aks7IxCAwbtyDfHTT7ti0rVwdl6KsjLGZuoGE4/s320/Dec2010+050.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Right: Bees were flying and still gathering pollen in the middle of November. They needed all the food they could gather after the bad summer season we had last year.</span></em></div><br />
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As I mentioned earlier we are experiencing an unusually snowy and icy winter this year. The snow from one storm turns to ice just before another one hits. Of course we have been fortunate compared to other towns further inland where they have received much more snow. Our deepest accumulation has only been 6 inches or so, compared with feet of snow inland.<br />
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The bees have been consuming much bee candy this winter due to the colder temperatures. It was nice to see them flying in December, on the two days temperatures climbed into the 40’s.<br />
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I have one nuc hive I am trying to over winter in one hive body that seems to be struggling. It contains one of the queens I raised last summer. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they will make it.<br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Left: A cluster of bees feeding on bee candy places on the tops of the frames of comb. This candy will last them about one month.</span></em></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">This time of year I start to get a little stir crazy. I find myself sitting and dreaming about the bees and spring. There is not much beekeeping activities to do other than wait for the new catalogs and the bee journals to come in the mail. Well... a glass of mead while reading a bee journal isn't all that bad..</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">What new products will we find and be trying out this season?</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">There it is again…. As the snow falls….. I’m dreaming of summer!</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div>Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14356776961390315654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1723009601957484004.post-73723404065280011692010-10-03T11:27:00.001-04:002010-10-03T21:15:08.742-04:00Board Bees Bad Bees<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Well it is already October and the beekeeping season for 2010 is over. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQK3PWg8Bd8TiXEQuGEbnsKoEtUXWqmR1bZ1su1_VjQFwA3xGK7XkYCW6YQ4f7I-mtVvGs6qN-aAl-2XyhBbfGWypF5_f2tVRdxiaS3GYq86a1v1wTjzAVT3s95u3OJXCXVuqb8Qyhl6A/s1600/JuneHoney.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQK3PWg8Bd8TiXEQuGEbnsKoEtUXWqmR1bZ1su1_VjQFwA3xGK7XkYCW6YQ4f7I-mtVvGs6qN-aAl-2XyhBbfGWypF5_f2tVRdxiaS3GYq86a1v1wTjzAVT3s95u3OJXCXVuqb8Qyhl6A/s200/JuneHoney.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD4Uv9UJR6bVw3KuXHnTpxtnIvuvQ54tFbHcBVr9gk5bf5qu477k7UQOb6UP1j0eBboOFMqyB-rtc_bVfHVRdhnbD92A2xGIxXnfNRoP4j1PjipTwj7d1STAY_AW2AHwArjuq2gepHjkA/s1600/EmptyHoney.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD4Uv9UJR6bVw3KuXHnTpxtnIvuvQ54tFbHcBVr9gk5bf5qu477k7UQOb6UP1j0eBboOFMqyB-rtc_bVfHVRdhnbD92A2xGIxXnfNRoP4j1PjipTwj7d1STAY_AW2AHwArjuq2gepHjkA/s200/EmptyHoney.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Left: Honey on the hives in July Right: Same colony at the end of August</span></em></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">And I for one am glad to see it go.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">A very early spring brought a very early end to the honey flow, which lengthened the amount of time that there was a lack of nectar and pollen this summer. It does not make a beekeeper happy to see his large, ready to collect hives, sitting with nothing to do.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Our nectar flow here on Cape Cod starts towards the end of June and ends the first week of August. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">This year however it started two to three weeks early, and ended two to three weeks early. This resulted in a longer period of time between the spring and fall flows, (almost two months). </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh26I1DMleSrmMvCpgtwUDUfD_Xwv_VTFa2USUT3_0GCFkiD6doUH0lqJ8Hah9qs2TTzsPaMq2tk0VXJU1b7J4FUeVZiVprUx5Wphyphenhyphenuf8SEmYagO7BGstjO7jEu0atT0TVk7fhfNO4aD3Y/s1600/Stillempty.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh26I1DMleSrmMvCpgtwUDUfD_Xwv_VTFa2USUT3_0GCFkiD6doUH0lqJ8Hah9qs2TTzsPaMq2tk0VXJU1b7J4FUeVZiVprUx5Wphyphenhyphenuf8SEmYagO7BGstjO7jEu0atT0TVk7fhfNO4aD3Y/s200/Stillempty.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Left: A colony started in spring never moved up into the upper hive body. This colony has not produced enough stores to survive the winter.</span></em></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">This combined with late and poor goldenrod nectar flow resulted in starvation conditions for our hives. Hives with 50 to 60 pounds of honey on the hives in July were starving by the end of August. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Of course I am partly to blame for this. We had such good success building up colonies in the spring that there were many more mouths to feed when the nectar flow stopped early.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">We have been feeding our hives sugar syrup and pollen substitute since the third week in August. Although the bees are doing well now, and there are plenty of stores in the hives because of the feedings, the additional sugar syrup and the length of time of the feeding has created other problems. namely, a large increase in the small hive beetle population in the hives. I haven't even mentioned the Varroa Mites!</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipvUnDWr4Cq70kj9ktqpLcLa-cQzuUpCGk89ZCX94glIrHieHPCMVN91-mMJhXtUjTMOES05lN72w73h0grEUU-_rtXv3N4_PVJKOOtuqUNva39Vl3PJMemHc8vLuOrV-boBE-MzgVry8/s1600/Hive+Beetle+Larva.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="168" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipvUnDWr4Cq70kj9ktqpLcLa-cQzuUpCGk89ZCX94glIrHieHPCMVN91-mMJhXtUjTMOES05lN72w73h0grEUU-_rtXv3N4_PVJKOOtuqUNva39Vl3PJMemHc8vLuOrV-boBE-MzgVry8/s200/Hive+Beetle+Larva.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Right: Small hive beetle larva crawling out of the hives onto the bottom boards. The feeding of sugar syrup for such an extended period caused an explosion in small hive beetle. Varroa Mites can be seen on the bottom board as well.</span></em></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Additionally our five new colonies never moved up into the upper hive bodies. Frames and new foundation were never drawn out or filled with stores for winter. This forced us to combine these weak colonies in order to ensure their survival. The queens of the weaker colonies were killed and their colonies were combined with other weak colonies.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiohuTVWesWmNGDtRcuY-F7Wh5d5v-E1WQdANIBxJNcxzIEmVAftYhjF3ZEFhDdnVyDgL2g4BCBOjuzfbNE6iuw7uFk0nZBztyPWjJPmgrVdJlnFV6EyN2oMcMGU7gDHlxYfpNCvvPHqYc/s1600/Hive1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiohuTVWesWmNGDtRcuY-F7Wh5d5v-E1WQdANIBxJNcxzIEmVAftYhjF3ZEFhDdnVyDgL2g4BCBOjuzfbNE6iuw7uFk0nZBztyPWjJPmgrVdJlnFV6EyN2oMcMGU7gDHlxYfpNCvvPHqYc/s200/Hive1.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Left: Colony being prepaired for winter. Crisco oil and sugar patty to fight Tracheal Mites, Pollen patty to provide polen when none is being collected, Menthal oil towel to fight Tracheal Mites, Small hive beetle trap, Apastan strips to fight Varroa Mites. Sugar syrup is being fed with a division board feeder in a different hive body.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">So, now that the hives are well fed, and in good shape to survive the cold, damp, cape cod winter, it is time to reflect on this past beekeeping season.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Hmmm… What would I, could I, have done different…… right now I just don’t know!</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">But I will have plenty of time to think about it over the next few months.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div>Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14356776961390315654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1723009601957484004.post-19868435842277522422010-08-03T01:37:00.002-04:002010-08-03T01:45:34.669-04:00Hot and humid days<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">It has been over a month since my last post.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">During the last week of June I placed 13 queen cells into queen-less nuc hives. These queens, once emerged, would mate naturally and start to lay eggs in about 14 days and build new colonies.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0dG3ZftRIJkplA3Q7xYx4EAqR6s_7RhrSHHPi4I1tOiM-VPhm2FpINKbehfp32KKRbpmPNUUlYDpCGb94X_nKkl1FpAecAGGH0lEJgwUIxQ3_S5zIMIb1w1jMWCn1DuDEFc1pMk_BJVU/s1600/matingnuc1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" bx="true" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0dG3ZftRIJkplA3Q7xYx4EAqR6s_7RhrSHHPi4I1tOiM-VPhm2FpINKbehfp32KKRbpmPNUUlYDpCGb94X_nKkl1FpAecAGGH0lEJgwUIxQ3_S5zIMIb1w1jMWCn1DuDEFc1pMk_BJVU/s320/matingnuc1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Above: Four mating nucs ready for queen cell introduction.</span></em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">The jars will be filled with sugar syrup to feed the nucs.</span></em></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div>Unfortunately this year’s early spring lead to early hot and humid weather. <br />
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The main honey flow stopped a month early, and because we were feeding sugar syrup to the nuc colonies, robbing ensued. Many of the mating nucs and new queens were destroyed by strong colonies that came and killed bees while robbed them of their honey and syrup.<br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Only 3 mated queens survived.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Left: Virgin queens in queen cages. These queens are being taken care of by nurse bees. They have been placed in a queenbank colony.</span></em></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">As part of an experiment I had taken eight of the queen cells and arranged them so the virgin queens would emerge into queen cages. These cages were placed into a queen-less, brood-less hive. The queens emerged into the cages and were taken care of by the surrounding nurse bees. Because the virgin queens would be in the cages, they would not be able to mate.</div><br />
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<em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Right: A closer view of the banked queens. A special frame with wire guides hold the cages in place. The plastic cell cup seals the top of the cage.</span></em><br />
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I have had some success over the past two years rising queens. One of my strongest hives this year is lead by a queen I produced last summer. She is the daughter of the queen from my strongest hive the previous year. I have noticed that the most uncontrollable part of queen rearing is the mating process. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEGifhc11CIDXtu-icd7kqwGrBbJRLILTmGMSFtMjyFW5w_ZHiXuisJoSpLzSJ4GQBm4vvAUbc6Ymga5ya7MyHgWEBfTkbA7mTSNsc9ev44HjIRtj397bORiPmfAaFlDYYPqfs0BOV6_U/s1600/Banked3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" bx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEGifhc11CIDXtu-icd7kqwGrBbJRLILTmGMSFtMjyFW5w_ZHiXuisJoSpLzSJ4GQBm4vvAUbc6Ymga5ya7MyHgWEBfTkbA7mTSNsc9ev44HjIRtj397bORiPmfAaFlDYYPqfs0BOV6_U/s320/Banked3.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Above: You can see the open queen cell inside the cage</span></em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">as well as the queen. Nurse bees surround the queen and</span></em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">feed here through the cage openings. I'm sure they are trying</span></em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">to find a way to get her out!</span></em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>You can pick the best stock to breed from, graft the youngest larva, place them into the strongest cell starter colony, then place them into the largest cell builder, move the cells at the right time into mating nucs, have the cells emerge successfully….. Only to see your beautiful large, genetically selected queens fly off to mate with…. Well, any drone that comes along! <br />
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It is all left to chance at that point.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhpmGyAVToP4APGg4fsqz533aabdTh3-CWS_IG1F9Aml1j4l1rrbEXhwx6vR4eRAeS_jXYhiBszfSMoV179Im5EMl-JKcBszhA_LsFOJ2GOnOWedIQpz2qO_BVuY5kac41477YrDNR1NM/s1600/knockout1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" bx="true" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhpmGyAVToP4APGg4fsqz533aabdTh3-CWS_IG1F9Aml1j4l1rrbEXhwx6vR4eRAeS_jXYhiBszfSMoV179Im5EMl-JKcBszhA_LsFOJ2GOnOWedIQpz2qO_BVuY5kac41477YrDNR1NM/s200/knockout1.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD-uQujU_qNA9ThZHv3hvcyuZprty3xFkDJhD58Cxzjjez0K0DDXTpJGcuQu1PzAwT5-yfnr7SeIa_kB_-FwCtIa8F1jHy2X0GiST_T-o37q9UHfw1r5Cr1-5C6_QtmOCtVV2c-ocmMdo/s1600/CO2regulator.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" bx="true" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD-uQujU_qNA9ThZHv3hvcyuZprty3xFkDJhD58Cxzjjez0K0DDXTpJGcuQu1PzAwT5-yfnr7SeIa_kB_-FwCtIa8F1jHy2X0GiST_T-o37q9UHfw1r5Cr1-5C6_QtmOCtVV2c-ocmMdo/s200/CO2regulator.jpg" width="150" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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<em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Above Left: A screw lid jar is used to put the queen </span></em><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">to sleep with carbon dioxcide. It only takes a few minutes</span></em><em><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></em><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><em>Above Right: CO2 is dispensed through water so the flow can be seen and regulated.</em></span><br />
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It is apparent that the week link, the place where you loose control, in the process is mating. So I started looking into the process of instrumental insemination of honey bees. With II the breeder can control the mating process and select the specific genetic material to mix with the genetics of the virgin queen.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHwhY0EHQ9DuG2_lwO-rllddep6ojWsA6IItcVoD3Y0FlBCOEzLJPfKaYbP0-sfKYGpbiwy37iESKP4E9pZL5_ymuXO2rAXimZApn2mypNahDZ2MrRd-w2IsxNJ_IApz_IP_10B8axfYc/s1600/II2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" bx="true" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHwhY0EHQ9DuG2_lwO-rllddep6ojWsA6IItcVoD3Y0FlBCOEzLJPfKaYbP0-sfKYGpbiwy37iESKP4E9pZL5_ymuXO2rAXimZApn2mypNahDZ2MrRd-w2IsxNJ_IApz_IP_10B8axfYc/s320/II2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Above: Insemination device I have been working on. CO2</span></em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">is fed through a hose to keep the queen asleep.</span></em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>My intent was to take the caged virgin queens and use them to learn about the instrumental insemination process.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjASwATe8-ZFAFcGn4LLcfpq4zAjNogZDIOJnTfVZl4-GhRjYdXtzhLS0Ntafzz2F-zIyYTfZ_Sq91hR5LUNwKXoTZbZHnT8092N-85Os4jH_MCMP68jaBn34mbDxXhtPZkV0mAy_oocm4/s1600/II1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" bx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjASwATe8-ZFAFcGn4LLcfpq4zAjNogZDIOJnTfVZl4-GhRjYdXtzhLS0Ntafzz2F-zIyYTfZ_Sq91hR5LUNwKXoTZbZHnT8092N-85Os4jH_MCMP68jaBn34mbDxXhtPZkV0mAy_oocm4/s320/II1.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Above: Working out the "bugs" in the system</span></em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Need smaller hooks and glass tips.</span></em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>For several months I have been learning, designing, and building the equipment I believed to be required. I read books, blogs, web pages, and watched videos.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihmSkPGcZa2PGR5cCkmz_LQUc92Q_XGYnHG6QxzMn-Vvm_hZ9DR61fISxC2qeQzA_TdkrTLWHuXHgSqPsKgau0Wgn3xIragZuRiaBrxfksK5yH99vW6stqNSb1vuwUVYOInn9YdiWZz3U/s1600/awakequeen1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" bx="true" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihmSkPGcZa2PGR5cCkmz_LQUc92Q_XGYnHG6QxzMn-Vvm_hZ9DR61fISxC2qeQzA_TdkrTLWHuXHgSqPsKgau0Wgn3xIragZuRiaBrxfksK5yH99vW6stqNSb1vuwUVYOInn9YdiWZz3U/s200/awakequeen1.jpg" width="198" /></a></div><br />
<em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Left: This queen was put to sleep, placed in the instrument, manipulated, but not inseminated. She woke up about 15 minutes later.</span></em><br />
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Needless to say my first attempts have had some successes and many failors…. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2bCdjb-LotbxAceLD071wMlWUW23IleFma2hIHwYngPxyIRVUV7muQibKDTi9Lokanrtz24bG3fHvLZpde6_ETJZ6HlqwUUyEmfNUDyCVEaIZUkqzSR9Ykl_4c8wHi1M-im1c3kUmI4M/s1600/queenawake2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" bx="true" height="143" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2bCdjb-LotbxAceLD071wMlWUW23IleFma2hIHwYngPxyIRVUV7muQibKDTi9Lokanrtz24bG3fHvLZpde6_ETJZ6HlqwUUyEmfNUDyCVEaIZUkqzSR9Ykl_4c8wHi1M-im1c3kUmI4M/s200/queenawake2.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><em>Right: Second queen was put to sleep, manipulated, and woke up. She was not inseminated.</em></span><br />
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But I have learned a lot.<br />
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I will share more in future posts.<br />
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.Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14356776961390315654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1723009601957484004.post-40363272013470986352010-06-29T22:25:00.001-04:002010-06-29T22:27:32.068-04:00Queen Cells and CountingIn my previous post I described the steps I am taking this year with my queen rearing project. <br />
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As of my last post I had managed to get queen cells into cell builder colonies. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXxFsU0sILCXb8gqmSGEu8b4x0ehaLmYlE7xbfI1Kl0AkYgKlpwJzMJJSM604lbSfIw5lN1TZL__ply7o8yQDVPjlypMcxgN_KdaXlz3H9gC-mfblyP0JyjdirVUQ5JWkG2xr4AHid90Q/s1600/18Cells.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ru="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXxFsU0sILCXb8gqmSGEu8b4x0ehaLmYlE7xbfI1Kl0AkYgKlpwJzMJJSM604lbSfIw5lN1TZL__ply7o8yQDVPjlypMcxgN_KdaXlz3H9gC-mfblyP0JyjdirVUQ5JWkG2xr4AHid90Q/s320/18Cells.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Above: 18 queen cells being removed from a queen-right cell builder colony. </span></em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Some of these cells will be placed into queen-less mating nucs</span></em></div><br />
Sunday afternoon I moved the queen cells from the cell builder hives into individual queen-less mating nucs. Usually I move the queen cells on day 14 (10 days after grafting, and two days before emergence on day 16) to the individual nucs. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikyBhzWY1q4kOeFF7CNZ-RTslIXUliSMkKMdUa06QKpCWIT8QeC94vfuvLApk0Px0h2jd2BrBKDToldmHv65TjAY69yoYn509MUmZt6p-cgkgF3KJ31De-lFyzJ4sjQc5gihPS5D0UDsA/s1600/Startercell2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" ru="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikyBhzWY1q4kOeFF7CNZ-RTslIXUliSMkKMdUa06QKpCWIT8QeC94vfuvLApk0Px0h2jd2BrBKDToldmHv65TjAY69yoYn509MUmZt6p-cgkgF3KJ31De-lFyzJ4sjQc5gihPS5D0UDsA/s320/Startercell2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Above: As an experiment I kept 3 of the cells in the queen-less cell starter colony. </span></em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">As you can see I ended up with larger cells.</span></em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I moved them a day early (day 13) this year, because, last year I had 16 cells destroyed when one of the cells emerged early.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Step 7 Continued: </div>Ok, So at this point I had 21 cells, 18 in a queen right cell builder colony, as I described last week. On the 14th day (10 days from grafting, and two days before the queens emerge) the cells should be individually placed each into its own queen-less mating nuc. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYOzOGGml64SEbasaqBsIeh1LntqogpIKvDoMfzphtUPzqgHp_wiS6kavqqIHDcFGcDYFNP0wYGrNSqGyr9fIBEiurdlaaCkCbxPtxyVrP-Nq1FARG0kftbCh4Uefy-_mFy1iB3vaiWD8/s1600/Cellstarter3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" ru="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYOzOGGml64SEbasaqBsIeh1LntqogpIKvDoMfzphtUPzqgHp_wiS6kavqqIHDcFGcDYFNP0wYGrNSqGyr9fIBEiurdlaaCkCbxPtxyVrP-Nq1FARG0kftbCh4Uefy-_mFy1iB3vaiWD8/s200/Cellstarter3.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br />
<em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Left: By adding a frame of brood to the queen-less cell starter colony, I converted it into a queen-less cell builder colony that built larger cells.</span></em><br />
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Most of my mating nucs are regular deep hive bodies that I have divided into four compartments, each with its own separate entrance. Each compartment will hold two frames. Each compartment has a cover and a sugar syrup feeder. <br />
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To make up the nucs I take frames of bees and open larva from my hives and place them into the nucs. The nurse bees will stay with the brood to take care of it. <br />
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<em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Above Left: Cells from the queen-right cell builder. Right: Cells from the queen-less cell starter.</span></em><br />
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\I place one frame of bees and brood, and one undrawn frame into each compartment. I then introduce a queen cell (with cell protectors) into each nuc. <br />
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You can see that it takes a lot of bees to raise queens. If you have 10 queen cells you need 10 mating nucs. If you have 50 queen cells you will need 50 mating nucs.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd66zBYNc185FMI9hiZdrRyDHb8IwbgCCQh2GrpQPpB6raZQbQFcaSmxEwyonHNQBwFOaCtUE5yZDy3Bvhgo7Hie27d6mRGd_d6H9cI17wnbCijikOXkNChE9n9tNT7Wvi3wyRJsoVz5I/s1600/Startercell1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="315" ru="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd66zBYNc185FMI9hiZdrRyDHb8IwbgCCQh2GrpQPpB6raZQbQFcaSmxEwyonHNQBwFOaCtUE5yZDy3Bvhgo7Hie27d6mRGd_d6H9cI17wnbCijikOXkNChE9n9tNT7Wvi3wyRJsoVz5I/s320/Startercell1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Above: One of the cells from the queen-less cell starter, converted to a cell bulder. </span></em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">You can see that there is still alot of royal jelly in the cell.</span></em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div>Step 8: Wait and allow the queens to emerge. Each queen will emerge on day 16 (10 days from grafting) into a nuc. <br />
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This nuc will become a little colony. <br />
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The bees will take care of the new virgin queen. In about a week she will take mating flights and mate with up to 35 drones (male bees). She will fly back to the hive, and if successful will start laying eggs in about another 7 days.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAz-YeYm5qhiz2ETK0uwG1UMRm419TvWTVJv03dyn-QbEqGc0gZYYzH3LdIP363ENYJ5ouyE_pW1y89rGuqp8ZSKnyk2xjEUhmGmlP1m5K_-b95MjOlvJJjjbysf1HSndORa1n7zMB2qY/s1600/Queens062510+013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ru="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAz-YeYm5qhiz2ETK0uwG1UMRm419TvWTVJv03dyn-QbEqGc0gZYYzH3LdIP363ENYJ5ouyE_pW1y89rGuqp8ZSKnyk2xjEUhmGmlP1m5K_-b95MjOlvJJjjbysf1HSndORa1n7zMB2qY/s320/Queens062510+013.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Above: Cells from the queen-right cell builder</span></em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">You can see there is no royal jelly in the cell.</span></em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Did the workers rob the royal jelly to feed to worker larva in the queen-right colony?</span></em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">All the cells came from the same cell starter. All the cells were over filled with royal jelly before they were placed in the cell builder colonies. There is a difference!</span></em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>This year I did not move all the cells into the queen-right cell builder. I left three cells in the queen-less cell starter colony. By adding a frame of emerging brood (no eggs or larva) to the cell starter I converted it into a cell builder colony. It was interesting to see that the queen-less cell starter colony built much larger cells than the queen-right cell builder colony.<br />
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It is obvious that the large number of nurse bees in the queen-less cell starter colony made a big difference in the quality of the cells. I expect I will get larger queens from the larger cells. In the future I plan to abandon the use of the queen-right cell builder in favor of a queen-less cell builder assembled specifically to build cells.<br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQwGjoHzeVZTnK34Sw0Fb30jyyvUVtkvPH4hvnpJTMtv6vgl9NszZBtqw4UM7yROP2cVB7ZvtpiwlsnhAGUjfnR5c1M0G1Jb1LzGjpsoi5duXrIYHKGr6lRKF_Bw240kEa1je7JpanqpY/s1600/Queens062510+009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="162" ru="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQwGjoHzeVZTnK34Sw0Fb30jyyvUVtkvPH4hvnpJTMtv6vgl9NszZBtqw4UM7yROP2cVB7ZvtpiwlsnhAGUjfnR5c1M0G1Jb1LzGjpsoi5duXrIYHKGr6lRKF_Bw240kEa1je7JpanqpY/s200/Queens062510+009.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Right: Red plastic cells and yellow plastic cells each contain larva grafted from different queens. The cell color tells me which queen mother the cell is from.</span></em></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Additionally I took eight of the cells and arranged them so the virgin queens will emerge into queen cages. These cages have been placed into a queen-less, brood-less hive. It is my hope that the workers will care for the emerged virgin queens. </div><br />
I have plans for these eight virgins I may share with you at a later date.<br />
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Tomorrow 21 queens will be emerging. This weekend I will look in on them to see how the new queens are doing.<br />
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I’ll let you know.Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14356776961390315654noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1723009601957484004.post-56860696451133865562010-06-23T22:33:00.000-04:002010-06-23T22:33:08.822-04:00Queen SeasonFather’s Day. A holiday to commemorate all the hard working fathers. The perfect time of year to raise queens. <br />
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Generally, on Cape Cod, at this time of year, a colony will have built itself up to about 30,000 or 40,000 bees. Over the next month they will continue to increase in numbers to about 60,000. As the bees start to get crowded they start thinking about swarming. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk7kYa5wPkQO8ovzGPpatkz-9Zreqa7PJOm3k5smH7iF_4o1sEielLOTS5L5hNAXSJ5Rt6nminPMdJzppbH8kj-4gRE8X6wbLokStE5by4-euF3lS6w1gp5tjtBSLVDtLfdvhvVNbtzao/s1600/22QCellsOf28.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ru="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk7kYa5wPkQO8ovzGPpatkz-9Zreqa7PJOm3k5smH7iF_4o1sEielLOTS5L5hNAXSJ5Rt6nminPMdJzppbH8kj-4gRE8X6wbLokStE5by4-euF3lS6w1gp5tjtBSLVDtLfdvhvVNbtzao/s320/22QCellsOf28.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Above: Queen cup frame just pulled from my cell starter hive. </span></em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">After 36 hours the bees have started building queen cells. </span></em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">You can tell the accepted cells by the wax that has been added to the cell.</span></em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">24 cells have been accepted out of 28 grafted cells</span></em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>Swarming involves building queen cells. A beekeeper can use this natural tendency of the bees to raise his own queens. <br />
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It is always easier to work with the bees rather than against them.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbHnjyTkXdTWyeZst56O_xgPcYSc_fnPb94t76TAniyfQQY8VD_IJark6HSCdUrlxfVYlcxKWoL2iChj2KYYH9ET4B7icl02Hl4ksQECLfEcmysOfRRz_RHKBcAJIaB5sQGKSF8yy8RE4/s1600/36+Hour+QCells.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ru="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbHnjyTkXdTWyeZst56O_xgPcYSc_fnPb94t76TAniyfQQY8VD_IJark6HSCdUrlxfVYlcxKWoL2iChj2KYYH9ET4B7icl02Hl4ksQECLfEcmysOfRRz_RHKBcAJIaB5sQGKSF8yy8RE4/s320/36+Hour+QCells.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Above: Close up of the started cells</span></em></div><br />
Here’s what I have been doing.<br />
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Step one.<br />
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Create a cell starter hive. Take a strong colony and locate the queen. Place her and the frame she is on aside. Now take all the frames that have open larva and shake the bees into a 5 frame nuc (at least 5 frames worth of nurse bees). What you are doing is shaking nurse bees into this nuc since they would be found on the frames with open larva. There can be no queen or they will reject the cells you put in the nuc later. That is why we located her and put her aside. To this nuc add one frame of pollen, one frame of nectar, and a wet sponge. The bottom of the nuc should be screened so the bees will not over heat. The entrance must be closed so the bees cannot return to their original colony. Put the cover on the nuc for now.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcRB8TLusnml7mH2wXwMe1KmyA9XwPWyGTPo2HGmO-5IZbUMC8A0LfDZp70j4R-S8r_JN_naJOSKZStjYuhM7i0Il_g9dM6q7yjEmQggjrcjkjgxbEZpdPNfNpHoK6WTgOyIdKh-BdwE8/s1600/QCell48hours.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ru="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcRB8TLusnml7mH2wXwMe1KmyA9XwPWyGTPo2HGmO-5IZbUMC8A0LfDZp70j4R-S8r_JN_naJOSKZStjYuhM7i0Il_g9dM6q7yjEmQggjrcjkjgxbEZpdPNfNpHoK6WTgOyIdKh-BdwE8/s320/QCell48hours.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Above: A well fed queen cell which is 36 hours old</span></em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">You can see how the larva has grown in a day and a half!</span></em></div><br />
Step Two<br />
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Choose the hive (queen mother) you plan to raise queens from. You will need her eggs! Of course you will select the strongest, best behaved, active, honey collecting colony you have to pick from. Locate the queen and put her aside. Also locate a frame of eggs and young larva (newly hatched) and brush all the bees off of it back into the colony you are taking it from. If you shake the frame you will also move the larva from the center of the cell it is in.<br />
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Step Three<br />
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Graft newly hatched larva, 3 days old, into primed plastic queen cell cups. I prime the cells with royal jelly I saved (froze) from the previous year. You will also have success if you prime the cells with a mixture of 50% plain yogurt and 50% water. Just a small drop in the center of each plastic cell will help you float the larva off the grafting tool. The larva should look like a comma. If it looks like a full C shape the larva is too old. Use the youngest larva you can find. Use a damp hand towel to cover the grafted cells so they do not dry out. Graft two bars of 14 cells each, that will be 28 cells all together.<br />
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Step Four<br />
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Place the queen cup frame into the cell starter hive you created earlier. Place the grafts between the two frames, pollen frame to one side, open nectar frame to the other. Now leave them alone for 24 to 48 hours. Place the frame of larva you took the grafts from, back into the hive you stole it from.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR4DfDWPIf1TaWg2nhC9sL_kwaWlSP2ertQSaO8C3C3SNvzJQlziDzYlLTs0Gw8I_bWOzeP_E2nacEXvwQmAad28TvyV676tJ-8NW46JimnS6tZjCkJlIejPLOLhNh-nFzKkRDDc6L7eM/s1600/QueenRoyalJelly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ru="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR4DfDWPIf1TaWg2nhC9sL_kwaWlSP2ertQSaO8C3C3SNvzJQlziDzYlLTs0Gw8I_bWOzeP_E2nacEXvwQmAad28TvyV676tJ-8NW46JimnS6tZjCkJlIejPLOLhNh-nFzKkRDDc6L7eM/s320/QueenRoyalJelly.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Above: Same cell with wax removed. See all the white</span></em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">royal jelley in the cell? I will harvest this and freeze it</span></em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">for use next queen season</span></em></div><br />
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Step 5<br />
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Prepare a queen right cell builder hive. Open the hive and find the queen. Place her in the bottom hive super with all the empty and capped frames of brood. Place a queen excluder over the box with the queen and put all the open larva, pollen, and nectar in the box. Leave an open space between open larva and a frame of pollen to place your started cells. Leave this colony over night while your cells are in the cell starter hive. This will allow time for all the nurse bees in that colony to move to the upper box. It will be 3 days before any eggs the queen lays in the lower box to hatch and require nurse bees.<br />
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Step 6<br />
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After 24 to 48 hours open the cell starter hive and remove your grafts. You will be able to tell which cells have been accepted by the bees by the work they have started on the cell. Excepted cells will have wax being added to them. This year the bees started 24 cells out of 28 grafts. Not bad. Take the queen cell frame and place it into the cell builder hive you prepared the day before. This hive will feed and build the cells.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF__t4TlNmrbdGHbwOpVyw69y_FjEIINn4V2fmviJYnY_DquvSutQcgJSv4rFQS32WufRSWAYu5XNJuALG5klMRbN1htE5aOMIOQ0K6tRvYLkuQM4efWVElwEef8lOpSf6uuahLP-97mc/s1600/Peapods.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ru="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF__t4TlNmrbdGHbwOpVyw69y_FjEIINn4V2fmviJYnY_DquvSutQcgJSv4rFQS32WufRSWAYu5XNJuALG5klMRbN1htE5aOMIOQ0K6tRvYLkuQM4efWVElwEef8lOpSf6uuahLP-97mc/s320/Peapods.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Above: Just a side note. I was pleased with the very</span></em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">large crop of peas we produced in the garden this year.</span></em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Thanks polinators!</span></em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>Step 7<br />
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Wait and count. It takes 16 days for a queen bee to be created. Remember that the larva you grafted is already 3 or 4 days old. The queens will hatch at 16 days old, only twelve days after you graft them. Before that happens you will need to move the individual cells into queen-less mating nucs, or a queen-banking hive.<br />
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More on that next time.......Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14356776961390315654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1723009601957484004.post-26461456590857836742010-06-14T22:55:00.001-04:002010-06-14T22:58:10.024-04:00Eggs In Your HoneyThe weather did not allow me to start queen rearing this week, But there was a short window of opportunity to look in on the bees. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguuHaotnIoTLqV7K3M0Z00dZwMzSH84QTu3UoMNSnieIjByZL7b5bQ9JwXNd8w6I3QGm0LKFL4MALq4LyybFoNUV8ndq5z4yfEg4U9_IMbKIh-0_hlFgBjL1tmjcey8UVjjDuilUTIpDc/s1600/Rab1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" qu="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguuHaotnIoTLqV7K3M0Z00dZwMzSH84QTu3UoMNSnieIjByZL7b5bQ9JwXNd8w6I3QGm0LKFL4MALq4LyybFoNUV8ndq5z4yfEg4U9_IMbKIh-0_hlFgBjL1tmjcey8UVjjDuilUTIpDc/s320/Rab1.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Above: Worker bee collecting pollen in my garden</span></em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">The weather was damp and humid, not the best conditions for opening up a hive. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Bees make great barometers you know. It can be a clear, warm, sunny day, (perfect weather for opening a hive), but if rain is coming in the late evening, the bees will let you know by their attitude.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghA67wkTzedwyUJEw7_1YpLLDl_WS9hN7LFiWpxmWasRuko8oB4LYt8RWZcDkkHSmQnwN1A_x3grH2emIEEdDabP8926e4HaBtYsWS4XpYqwFCdmfZJkTTLLB1tZUw4Z1KP9RggBQ75zg/s1600/Dibris.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="161" qu="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghA67wkTzedwyUJEw7_1YpLLDl_WS9hN7LFiWpxmWasRuko8oB4LYt8RWZcDkkHSmQnwN1A_x3grH2emIEEdDabP8926e4HaBtYsWS4XpYqwFCdmfZJkTTLLB1tZUw4Z1KP9RggBQ75zg/s200/Dibris.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Right: As I clean out the shed of old bee packages, old comb, and old frames, my debris pile slowly grows.</span></em></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">If you are going to keep bees on Cape Cod you will have to get use to working with them in all types of weather. One minute it will be clear, then, in a minute the weather will change. I don’t know how many times I have started the smoker with blue sunny skies, only to have dark cloudy weather by the time I pull out my first frame of bees.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimu344oA9eMe_vDJ67_-tV34u4paey7bJiS-_stkjQpQbtxtK5KFFtmfttHF3aOa1TF_M3vnFP0GLvtZS1itYSiiJ1Iti1nEtIMJbLuUtuifY1MKVntYpWtAVmH4DW6KoaViI8IXy3n-k/s1600/Dandy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="159" qu="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimu344oA9eMe_vDJ67_-tV34u4paey7bJiS-_stkjQpQbtxtK5KFFtmfttHF3aOa1TF_M3vnFP0GLvtZS1itYSiiJ1Iti1nEtIMJbLuUtuifY1MKVntYpWtAVmH4DW6KoaViI8IXy3n-k/s200/Dandy.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><em>Left: Another worker collecting nectar and pollen</em></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Saturday, between the rain, the bees were flying, obviously collecting nectar an pollen from something that is in bloom. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_8fbcZEgXeR9mpDiYEwsIvX0PTJ5aEYGTk62tnKuNVQZHVJojXtGbDsKQW2ZeY3tf3fl2dr13ADk7GDpK1fo4Umd5WXJjK1EC8JJMYe8f_46pYY0YJW5V72emaWWH5TyRVc097Ctgr04/s1600/June+Brood+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" qu="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_8fbcZEgXeR9mpDiYEwsIvX0PTJ5aEYGTk62tnKuNVQZHVJojXtGbDsKQW2ZeY3tf3fl2dr13ADk7GDpK1fo4Umd5WXJjK1EC8JJMYe8f_46pYY0YJW5V72emaWWH5TyRVc097Ctgr04/s320/June+Brood+1.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Above: A solid brood pattern layed by one of the queens I raised last season.</span></em></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I opened up the hives to find that the bees were storing honey in the honey supers. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I made a choice this season to not use queen excluders when supering for honey. A queen excluder is a grid of wire that when placed between boxes of comb prohibits the queen from passing between the boxes. The spacing in the grid allows worker bees to move through, but not the queen. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBHIWTrx8Xo10m_CAB04_O3meZRAN2CYmSD3Ki7G7CdGD7zgwY3b6fu3fydonANnlknAO_MXw65LJM6dCGBlu3rI0o0deZwVfvhhMD1cGsYixDwcVHvnkpEBFYir7Nyu7LPW-lo7p2Fps/s1600/June+Eggs+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" qu="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBHIWTrx8Xo10m_CAB04_O3meZRAN2CYmSD3Ki7G7CdGD7zgwY3b6fu3fydonANnlknAO_MXw65LJM6dCGBlu3rI0o0deZwVfvhhMD1cGsYixDwcVHvnkpEBFYir7Nyu7LPW-lo7p2Fps/s200/June+Eggs+1.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Left: An over productive queen was not able to resist the temptation to lay eggs in my honey super. Look closely and you will see the small egg at the bottom of the cell. Click on the photo to enlarge.</span></em></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">In past years I felt that the queen excluders discouraged the worker bees from moving up into the honey supers, acting as more of a honey excluder than anything else.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Of course you also take the chance that the queen will move up into the honey supers and lay eggs. Not something you want to see, that is, eggs mixed on a comb with your honey. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOpETP9evFzG5ebWFsGF43CKH9fHooW4okyoQVbSFUSxic_vwLTmUNsPu9nbEQ1oDq3iLLBmYFlmLMRklB9Et32ffZVWPHclDvkUbg5WSscsftlqsL__jD9R1A0HaPTYz06hEVg-TZ_5E/s1600/June+honey2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" qu="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOpETP9evFzG5ebWFsGF43CKH9fHooW4okyoQVbSFUSxic_vwLTmUNsPu9nbEQ1oDq3iLLBmYFlmLMRklB9Et32ffZVWPHclDvkUbg5WSscsftlqsL__jD9R1A0HaPTYz06hEVg-TZ_5E/s200/June+honey2.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Right: Opening up the hive to find ripe honey being capped over is what a beekeeper loves to see.</span></em></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I have one hive that has a queen that is laying so many eggs that she has run out of room in the brood chamber. Sure enough when I inspected the honey super, there she was sitting on six frames of eggs where honey was to be. I took her and placed her in a lower box, then added a queen excluder. In about a month those eggs will hatch out into worker bees and the bees can store honey in the empty comb.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">It is nice to see the bees storing honey in comb that I will take as my own in a couple of months. Honey comb is beautiful. The bees collect nectar from the plants and store it in their honey stomachs. Once back in the hive they place the nectar in the comb. <br />
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Nectar from flowers contains about 1% sugar. The bees evaporate the water and concentrate the sugar to turn it into honey. Once the honey is “ripe” they cap over the cell with wonderful white wax. The wax seals the honey and keeps it from absorbing moisture from the air. <br />
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It is estimated that it takes about 10,000 miles of flying to make a table spoon of honey. <br />
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It is exciting to see.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZpl6likQ1Tgc8Svojgdz4CJ89sXak_8cU1-ACHLnQn7-1X626uyed3UakKlWdyf4C7v2e9_Jb5D5PN5FNwDrMt7QPDGoqPU5CkkKm6f9FvDdtT692VCdj3Y6iYW6L_vh_SbUPq-kHyY4/s1600/June+Honey1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" qu="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZpl6likQ1Tgc8Svojgdz4CJ89sXak_8cU1-ACHLnQn7-1X626uyed3UakKlWdyf4C7v2e9_Jb5D5PN5FNwDrMt7QPDGoqPU5CkkKm6f9FvDdtT692VCdj3Y6iYW6L_vh_SbUPq-kHyY4/s320/June+Honey1.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Above: Ripe honey being capped by the workers. You can see the white capping wax.</span></em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">In a couple of months we will taste that honey. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">What honey tastes the best to me? </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div>The honey that’s in my mouth at that particular moment of course!Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14356776961390315654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1723009601957484004.post-48134496442760809212010-06-09T20:57:00.001-04:002010-06-09T20:59:23.411-04:00Strange IdeasMay and June have been good to the bees here on Cape Cod. For the first time in many years we actually had “spring”. <br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrP2dc5HkqjOMkrehOquWI0rKKC3azlPP1CU268uhFtR02VA_12vDYkEd1g167cX7O3rW53u8IEb_I9otCvAcf44d7KmigE3yNlerOj9uuRqDJO2ZJX_O3g-JFNHEePSTBDyexvxXJZYs/s1600/Package1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" qu="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrP2dc5HkqjOMkrehOquWI0rKKC3azlPP1CU268uhFtR02VA_12vDYkEd1g167cX7O3rW53u8IEb_I9otCvAcf44d7KmigE3yNlerOj9uuRqDJO2ZJX_O3g-JFNHEePSTBDyexvxXJZYs/s200/Package1.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Right: Two of the packages of bees we installed in May</span></em></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Typically here the temperatures stay cold (because we are surrounded by water on three sides), until the end of may. Then suddenly it is HOT….. Until September.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">This lengthened spring with nice weather has allowed the bees to take full advantage of the honey flow. I guess it is the least mother nature could do for us after last spring.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggQ9T7MLTSr-CQiGa3xVr3PfmOLMryOICKZhhcb8orK_dezHrt5r0cSAzLtEQ-8lupVoJuZCMKt7itASd9Zm4d7Ry95SqSepOqXMv1F8IvG23DMnTi4-kqWhnHQfCsn_tQ6kLrjBT9BQA/s1600/NewColony.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" qu="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggQ9T7MLTSr-CQiGa3xVr3PfmOLMryOICKZhhcb8orK_dezHrt5r0cSAzLtEQ-8lupVoJuZCMKt7itASd9Zm4d7Ry95SqSepOqXMv1F8IvG23DMnTi4-kqWhnHQfCsn_tQ6kLrjBT9BQA/s200/NewColony.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Left: Empty packages on top of the newly created colonies. In three weeks the bees have drawn all the comb in the first boxes. The second deep brood chambers were added to these hives last week</span></em></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Both Kona queens were accepted by their colonies, and have been diligently laying a thousand eggs each day for the past two weeks. Their patterns are beautiful. They are laying a solid worker cell pattern. I am pleased. The queens are only limited by the ability of the workers to produce new comb, and the amount of honey an pollen being stored.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I also managed to obtain a Minnesota Hygienic Queen two weeks ago. I recently discovered that this particular strain of honey bee has their roots in the old “starline” strain of bees. The Starline breed was sold by Dadant and Sons many years ago. They were the first bees I kept in my early years of beekeeping. My uncle and grandfather, who got me started in beekeeping, swore by them. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I remember that I did not know much at that time about beekeeping, and made many mistakes. Those starline bees lasted for years without any help from me. Year after year they would product honey, capped with the whitest wax I have ever seen. Alas they are no longer produced. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">We will see how their great great great cousins do!</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEishV5tsznpkP008mgr7bUxQ7xC2maYj2hJyv_nSW2FETcAQMwE0lspHeI4w8k6xOWKG9WJLb8Os-khMjCVFuwAA0yl3R8BIAOCbe_boYZ06TQao4puKR9bv8KVi2evNqhgSsfqywKdOa0/s1600/Supering.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" qu="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEishV5tsznpkP008mgr7bUxQ7xC2maYj2hJyv_nSW2FETcAQMwE0lspHeI4w8k6xOWKG9WJLb8Os-khMjCVFuwAA0yl3R8BIAOCbe_boYZ06TQao4puKR9bv8KVi2evNqhgSsfqywKdOa0/s200/Supering.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Right: Honey supers (top thin boxes) have been added to the strong colonies. The hive on the far left was the hive that had the two queens last month. Mother and daughter existed side by side for over a month.</span></em></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Kona queens are installed in the two far right colonies</span></em></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">The one queen I kept from my queen rearing project last summer is doing outstanding. Honey supers have been added and the bees are busy filling the empty comb with honey.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Honey supers were added to the colonies last week. Within 24 hours the bees were working the comb, storing nectar, which will be turned into honey over the next two months.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I have the habit of obsessing about ideas that pop into my head. An idea will come to me, and I will spend much of my free time thinking about it, sketching it, drawing it, planning it.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">This past winter I had two such apparitions, or perhaps I should call them obsessions. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I am about 80% complete with the fabrication of the second. I share here. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJflMhSUlNXZt99JwVe1RLN_1Y4if8avrGaI_jxY9g7Dd-JEjVG-xK6okTXGnT6F9eiEX5wF8Mh7eCNlLwRk5Z2NH7jWIiXZ9UeICIeqgdGelYL8QozRNEj-IDY4WLInCMKrIQ96IKDZE/s1600/Q+002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" qu="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJflMhSUlNXZt99JwVe1RLN_1Y4if8avrGaI_jxY9g7Dd-JEjVG-xK6okTXGnT6F9eiEX5wF8Mh7eCNlLwRk5Z2NH7jWIiXZ9UeICIeqgdGelYL8QozRNEj-IDY4WLInCMKrIQ96IKDZE/s200/Q+002.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Left: My latest bee endeavor.... Any guesses?</span></em></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Click on the photo to enlarge.</span></em></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Can you guess what it is? </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div>Yes… It does have to do with beekeeping.Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14356776961390315654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1723009601957484004.post-79389337420775467162010-05-07T18:19:00.003-04:002010-05-08T11:24:25.486-04:00Hawaiian QueensUpdate: We are now on Facebook at:<br />
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<a href="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=112000928841858&v=app_2373072738#!/group.php?gid=112000928841858&v=wall">http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=112000928841858&v=app_2373072738#!/group.php?gid=112000928841858&v=wall</a><br />
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Come Visit!<br />
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Last night I was informed that a fellow beekeeper had just received a shipment of queens from Hawaii.<br />
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With a quick call, and short driver over to the next town, I had two beautiful Kona Queens.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuXMRp8Lz_H6JAF-6YNj6KKLSmUMRIVQ_5zbooL_Xb2rInyyfTrVDOh_EdVfo20KRrss7CDOiHdEoG5H7Aa06VaTrQDKqResI7V_DpgqoWOj26PvjyFLKZPPmjRVivJPFUTNdAr8zzVJM/s1600/KonaQueen1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuXMRp8Lz_H6JAF-6YNj6KKLSmUMRIVQ_5zbooL_Xb2rInyyfTrVDOh_EdVfo20KRrss7CDOiHdEoG5H7Aa06VaTrQDKqResI7V_DpgqoWOj26PvjyFLKZPPmjRVivJPFUTNdAr8zzVJM/s320/KonaQueen1.jpg" tt="true" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Above: Two Kona Queens From Hawaii. The blue mark indicates they are 2010 queens</span></em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Since they did not have any attendant workers in the cages with them I needed to get them into colonies as soon as possible. From what I have heard from fellow beekeepers the Kona queens have done well here on Cape Cod.</div><br />
Last week’s inspections revealed that one of the hives was queen-less, while another had dwindled down to about one hundred bees.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><em>Right: a few of our colonies. You can see the two white 5 frame nucs, just created, in the center bottom of the photo. One of these nucs contains the old queen discovered during the hive inspection. The other contains bees, eggs, and larva. They will have to raise their own queen.</em></span><br />
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As you may remember the queen-less hive is our "nasty" hive, and being queen-less did not help their attitude much. As I opened the colony I had flashbacks of the previous week’s events, and wondered if that nasty little worker bee was still waiting for me inside.<br />
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As I looked over the frames I could see that they were attempting to build queen cells, but had nothing to put in them since the hive had no queen, larva, brood or eggs. I found three empty queen cell starts.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><em>Left: The hives are still working the dandilions.</em></span><br />
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As soon as I placed the queen and her cage on top of the frames the worker bees were all over her. I plan on letting them get to know her for a few days before I remove the cork protecting the candy in the cage. Once I remove the cork the workers will eat through the candy in a day or two and release her. I want to revisit this hive to verify that there is no laying worker before I take the chance and allow them to release her. This will provide a few additional days to help in acceptance.<br />
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Perhaps, with a new queen, this hive will settle down a bit. If the workers accept the queen she will begin to lay eggs, and the entire genetics of the colony will change over the course of two months making this hive more gentile.<br />
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I opened up the dwindling hive to look at them. Sure enough they had killed the failing queen, and in her place built five queen cells!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD7zACVZRAoZThheWHknToar4cdf9-qTrU3fCBQr4I_3dkxYgbrPVvKZmJbmTfSdSUEbWZq6Lqd8hfMMsoM7QlnybYpjMaUMJaaJZhAyq1QtMuRXp1lkv7ch2K9NzCwUvKqhMVWJMV0-s/s1600/Water1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD7zACVZRAoZThheWHknToar4cdf9-qTrU3fCBQr4I_3dkxYgbrPVvKZmJbmTfSdSUEbWZq6Lqd8hfMMsoM7QlnybYpjMaUMJaaJZhAyq1QtMuRXp1lkv7ch2K9NzCwUvKqhMVWJMV0-s/s200/Water1.jpg" tt="true" width="200" /></a></div><br />
<em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Right: Workers gather water for the colonies.</span></em><br />
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I destroyed the queen cells and place one of the new queens on the top bars in the colony. I will check again in about 5 days to make sure the workers have released her.<br />
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While I was out in the apiary I thought I should look in on the hive that superseded the queen from 2007. I opened the hive to find it full of eggs and young larva! The new queen is doing fine.<br />
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Guess what else I found! Sure enough, there in the top box, was the old queen, with her faded yellow marking and all!. I put her aside in a nuc box with an additional frame of bees and brood, and continued to look for the new queen. I found her in the bottom box with eggs and young larva! She has filled out since mating and is a good size.<br />
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This is the first time I have seen this. Mother and daughter queens existing in the same hive. <br />
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They have been coexisting for at least two weeks if not longer. <br />
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What a surprise!<br />
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I never know what I am going to find next!Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14356776961390315654noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1723009601957484004.post-31401569514080503422010-05-02T22:21:00.005-04:002010-05-02T22:31:07.666-04:00One little nasty beeMay has arrived. The apple trees are blooming and the temperatures reached into the high 70’s this weekend. <br />
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The bees were flying , collecting pollen and nectar.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfefThk6mSwn-AzYE8qu1yYKueZToaUG2iZIDNAVj6l_EcdFCBFKmJxZTcj-BJpPeG0Nr6wm4whN9yEYvMR7FyFNixD1lZ6eFgDoqrizE905nGx60xneT87ZPtupfsgQHU7b5SxFNLNGc/s1600/May+1+Bee+004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="325" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfefThk6mSwn-AzYE8qu1yYKueZToaUG2iZIDNAVj6l_EcdFCBFKmJxZTcj-BJpPeG0Nr6wm4whN9yEYvMR7FyFNixD1lZ6eFgDoqrizE905nGx60xneT87ZPtupfsgQHU7b5SxFNLNGc/s400/May+1+Bee+004.jpg" tt="true" width="400" /></a></div><div align="center" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Above: Bees were working the apple blossoms</span></em></div><div align="center" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">this past weekend.</span></em></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">As usual I conducted hive inspections Saturday. I was curious to see how the hive with the superseded queen was doing. Upon inspection I found new eggs, and larva. <br />
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She is laying, but she is very small, much smaller than the queen she replaced. <br />
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I have read recently that queens raised in an emergency situation, such as she was, are not as good. She will do for now until a suitable replacement is available later in the spring. <br />
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The workers seem to like her, and she is laying eggs. Another week will tell how her "pattern" is . Will she lay in every cell, or will there be many empty cells?</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Left: Collecting nectar</span></em></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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I continue to feed the bees sugar syrup at a slow pace, about a quart a week. I have had conditions in the past where the bees have stored so much sugar syrup that the queen has run out of room, and the colony goes into "swarm mode". <br />
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For now we just want to stimulate the queen into laying eggs…. A lot of eggs. The main honey flow is only three weeks away.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4_w4O92O_AQZlaSjFA8i6WFXB08TzqZiKjD7yEZzeBTtHH_wqSPY7YcsBajgjSz8lAz2NSBjnbmW1yN0HODYAJ0KwhGVRBWINDwE4aueh0dewwSmbc90Whcym2Nyt9pzBwEdTz3qeSJ4/s1600/May+1+Bee+018.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="163" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4_w4O92O_AQZlaSjFA8i6WFXB08TzqZiKjD7yEZzeBTtHH_wqSPY7YcsBajgjSz8lAz2NSBjnbmW1yN0HODYAJ0KwhGVRBWINDwE4aueh0dewwSmbc90Whcym2Nyt9pzBwEdTz3qeSJ4/s200/May+1+Bee+018.jpg" tt="true" width="200" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Right. Another bee works the apple blossoms.</span></em></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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One of the hives has been experiencing what beekeepers call “dwindling”. The hive came through the winter well, but has slowly been shrinking in size despite my efforts. They were down to about 100 bees so I took one frame of larva, and one frame of emerging brood from one of the strong colonies and added them to this hive to strengthen it. I also shook in two frames of nurse bees. I am hoping that this hive will do a "U" turn and start to increase.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">This weeks inspections found another surprise. A very strong colony with no eggs, larva, or brood. This could only mean one thing… the queen has gone missing. They did have two queen cells that I left for them. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">This particular hive is one of two packages of bee we received from Georgia last spring. This hive is the meanest in the apiary (it is only moderately aggressive, and then only when they have been disturbed for a while). You can work them for about five minutes before you have about ten guard bees buzzing at you. Of course the condition of a missing queen, and no brood did not make them any happier. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">One of the guard bees followed me around the rest of the day. Buzzing at me. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Even the next day he was "waiting" for me in the yard. He was determined to get me! </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Left: A guard bee watching over the opening of the inner hive cover of my nasty hive.</span></em></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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I said…. “its not my fault your queen went missing…. Maybe she left because you are so mean!”</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div>I managed not to get stung though.Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14356776961390315654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1723009601957484004.post-23650745107706112102010-04-25T10:29:00.000-04:002010-04-25T10:29:20.328-04:00You Thought You Could Stop UsIt has been 19 days since I destroyed queen cells in one of our hives. I believe the old queen was failing and the bees decided that, what was best for the hive, would be to replace her.<br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDBlbdAE-tItH3n-C-MV8ts8FPhDV3a7USIFCsbD3JAa2Wr4Idf80NDvHYmHX86dgQ00hM1hSNTL4vEuk0MVKc19QxqSLCaK6Ypv-GPaPjuBp3n45sDZS1dEWB7rN0zxbfSE7U3Ew5ivo/s1600/EmergedCell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDBlbdAE-tItH3n-C-MV8ts8FPhDV3a7USIFCsbD3JAa2Wr4Idf80NDvHYmHX86dgQ00hM1hSNTL4vEuk0MVKc19QxqSLCaK6Ypv-GPaPjuBp3n45sDZS1dEWB7rN0zxbfSE7U3Ew5ivo/s200/EmergedCell.jpg" tt="true" width="200" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Right: Emerged queen cell. A new queen has emerged from this cell within the past week. Worker bees are in the process of demolishing the cell. A new queen cell can be seen to the left of the emerged cell. A worker in inside the cell tending to the queen larva.</span></em></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Last week I found that the bees had built more queen cells and I decided to let them replace the old queen.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I have been concerned that it is too early in the spring for mature drones to be available for mating.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Left: The new queen. Can you find her? I expected to find a virgin queen since it usually takes two weeks for a queen to mate and start to lay eggs. I found new eggs everywhere in the hive. I beleive she is laying</span></em></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Sure enough, upon inspection, I found that one of the queen cells had emerged. The empty cell was in the process of being destroyed by the workers. I estimate that the new queen emerged a few days earlier.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I searched to find the virgin queen. Sure enough I found her, but I also found eggs…. Lots and lots of eggs. I guess she is not a virgin any more. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><em>Right: Enlarged area of photo above showing closeup of the new queen. I am concerned that she is small. Queen ususally enlongate after mating. I will check her in a week to see how she is doing.</em></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Could this queen have mated and started laying in less than a week? My experience has been that a queen will take up to two weeks after emergence to mate and start to lay. This queen seems to have done it in less than a week.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I am concerned that she seems a little on the small side. If the bees are happy with her I will let her stay until a better queen is available later this spring.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I am now kicking myself for destroying the beautiful large queen cell that was built at the beginning of the month. Sometimes I need to just let the bees be bees. They know their business better than I do.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Left: A worker bee bringing pollen into the hive with the new queen. With new eggs there will be young larva to feed in a few days.</span></em></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">On the other hand however, I have been watching one of my hives dwindle down in size. There is no sign of disease. The queen was very successful last season and the hive was strong all winter. Now they will not survive another week. Why… I don’t know.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">The question for a beekeeper always is, When to I let nature take its course, and when do I intervene.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div>Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14356776961390315654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1723009601957484004.post-5600041163135787672010-04-12T19:25:00.001-04:002010-04-12T19:28:55.746-04:00Do you really want to do this?Last week I wrote about finding queen cells in one of my hives. April on Cape Cod is just too early for a hive to raise or replace a queen. The weather is unpredictable, the temperatures are low, and the few drones (males) around are probably not mature enough for mating.<br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Right: Queen cell being produced by a hive that probably has a queen that is starting to fail. If you look closely you can see capped worker brood and capped drone brood. Can you find the queen? She is there.</span></em></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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This hive’s desire to raise another queen could be for only one of two reasons. </div><blockquote style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</blockquote><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Left: A close up of the queen cell. You can see the old queen just above and to the right of the cell. Around her are circled her attendant workers. Perhaps the workers are guarding the new queen cell to keep it from being destroyed by the queen. Or perhaps the queen knows she is being dethroned and is allowing it to happen!</span></em><br />
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Either they have been overcrowded and feel the need to reproduce (swarm), or the existing queen is failing and the bees have decided to replace her.<br />
The weather was just good enough on Sunday (62 degrees) to make a hive inspection. <br />
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Guess what I found? <br />
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Sure enough the bees had built two more queen cells. I said "Do you really want to do this now?"<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><em>Right. A queen larva, from one of the destroyed queen cells.</em></span><br />
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I found the old queen. She has been laying eggs, but upon closer examination I discovered that about 5% of the brood was drone brood scattered among the worker brood.<br />
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This is one of the signs that the queen may be failing. <br />
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A drone, (male bee), is produced from an unfertilized egg. Since queens only mate once in their life, (with up to 30 males), they store the semen within their bodies. When the queen starts to run out of semen she will lay more unfertilized eggs, which become males. Drones are larger than workers so their cells stick out beyond the surface of the comb.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh73Dv-keXkJAZVruk-dolk3yxZwmZIBVX0mMQA2UMu-10yRvqjEpvC5CHKTYVxTH-Zpise8sDcFpAGJ3lhA_MvxKQYVRloAKdsCWVJcEes10U9MSowwV5THd7AadxOpuJq0tDCYlItRsE/s1600/BeatleTrap1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh73Dv-keXkJAZVruk-dolk3yxZwmZIBVX0mMQA2UMu-10yRvqjEpvC5CHKTYVxTH-Zpise8sDcFpAGJ3lhA_MvxKQYVRloAKdsCWVJcEes10U9MSowwV5THd7AadxOpuJq0tDCYlItRsE/s200/BeatleTrap1.jpg" width="200" wt="true" /></a></div><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><em>Right: One of my home made small hive beetle traps which is installed under the screened bottom board. You can see all the dibris. No mites and no small hive beetle. There are beetles in the trap, but they are sap beetles.</em></span><br />
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This queen was introduced into this hive in 2007. That makes her three years old, going into her fourth season. I should have replaced her last fall, but she has been such a spectacular queen. She has out produced all my other hives. I have been using her eggs to produce other queens. I was hoping to stretch her through this last season.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaHHiezv2Vc0seFKYg6zW5fUduhHchzE7NGM3qWd-nsnvhsAY_n1f-iaB7M09lNaTEl1vYoiK7dt1F53HeTl0UvFYToY6DlFbmyU65hOfGxu7nO7GqICHTvAHHgiJgiTFucyrJaEd30lY/s1600/BeetleTrap2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaHHiezv2Vc0seFKYg6zW5fUduhHchzE7NGM3qWd-nsnvhsAY_n1f-iaB7M09lNaTEl1vYoiK7dt1F53HeTl0UvFYToY6DlFbmyU65hOfGxu7nO7GqICHTvAHHgiJgiTFucyrJaEd30lY/s200/BeetleTrap2.jpg" width="200" wt="true" /></a></div><br />
<em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Left: Closeup of the trap and beetles. The trap is baited with a mixture of mineral oil and cider vinegar. I have had alot of sucess catching small hive beetles with this.</span></em><br />
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Since it takes 16 days to produce a queen from a fertilized egg, killing the queen cells has bought two weeks time. That is, as long as I did not miss one.<br />
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<em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Right: A closeup of the sap beetle. They must be attacted to the cider vinegar. These beetles are not a hive pest like the small hive beetle.</span></em><br />
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This season has defiantly gotten off to an interesting start.Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14356776961390315654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1723009601957484004.post-74445545558419432772010-04-04T23:04:00.000-04:002010-04-04T23:04:20.150-04:00Isn't a little early for that?This weekend on Cape Cod was beautiful. Temperatures reached just above 70. This gave me the opportunity to get into some of the hives for a quick check. <br />
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<em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Right: A strong hive for the first week of April. With 7 frames of bees, emerging brood, eggs, and larva, this hive needs more room.</span></em><br />
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Sure enough all the hives I checked had capped brood, eggs, and larva. Their strength ranged in size from three frames of bees up to eight.<br />
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One of my hives has been flying very strongly the past week or so. Something told me that I should look at them! I opened up the hive. I found eggs, larva, capped brood, and the queen! I also found two queen cells! I thought to myself… Isn’t it a little early for that?<br />
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<em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Left: One of the two queen cells found in this colony. The queen was found with plenty of eggs. She is getting old, going into her fourth season. Are they trying to replace her, or are the planning to swarm? Time will tell.</span></em><br />
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This particular hive had a bad infestation of mites last fall. This particular hive of bees has had a bad case of mites for the past three years. Each fall I have had to treat them, and each spring they surprise me on how great they come through the winter.<br />
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This particular queen is three years old. She was purchase from a breeder from Vermont. She has outperformed most of the other queens in my apiary year after year. There was plenty of worker brood, larva, and eggs. I find it hard to believe they would be replacing her. Perhaps the bees felt congested, with the brood trapped between frames of capped honey (from last year) and new pollen.<br />
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I destroyed the queen cells and moved some empty comb near the brood. This should allow the queen more room to lay. I also place an empty brood chamber above them.<br />
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Right: A closeup of one of the two queen cells.<br />
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An inspection next week will tell if they are happy with the changes, or if there mind is made up to swarm!<br />
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Or perhaps this is just an early sign of a great honey season, or lots of swarms!Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14356776961390315654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1723009601957484004.post-23863779678593086692010-03-22T23:26:00.010-04:002010-03-22T23:47:09.169-04:00Spring Has Sprung<span style="color: black;">The first day of spring has arrived! And it has arrived in beautiful fashion! </span><br />
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<span style="color: black;">The crocus flowers are blooming, allowing the bees to collect much needed spring pollen. The pollen they collect will be used to boost brood production as they “build up” in size in preparation for the spring honey flow. </span><br />
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The warm temperatures over the past few days have been a wonderful reminder of days to come. <br />
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Several times I found myself sitting out near the hives just watching them fly in and out, heavily burdened with yellow packages of pollen on their back legs. Some bees were busy dragging out the dead from winter loses, while others just seemed happy to get out and into the sun shine.<br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: black;">I have been keeping a written record of the progress of the hives over the past years, and I am happy to report that the crocus bloom is running about a week ahead of schedule…. An early spring. </span><br />
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<span style="color: black;">I guess the Ground Hog was wrong!</span><br />
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</span></div></blockquote><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Left: A worker bee returning to the hive with some of the first spring pollen.</span></em><br />
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<span style="color: black;">As I mentioned the rise in temperature allowed a quick inspection of some of the hives. Sure enough, young brood, and capped larva were observed on two if not three frames of bees. The queens probably started laying eggs sometime in February. </span><br />
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<span style="color: black;">Some cells and already emerged, perhaps these were the bees I watched taking their first orientation flights in the sun.</span><br />
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<span style="color: black;">Pollen patties were once again added to the hives. I have been surprised how quickly they have been consumed. Each colony has been through a patty a week since the beginning of March. In a few more weeks we will begin providing sugar syrup to the hives to imitate the collection of nectar. This will stimulate the queens to lay even more eggs, and cause the hives to build up faster.</span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-size: xx-small;"><em>Above: With the cover and inner cover removed you can see the new small hive beetle trap installed. The trap is baited with an attactant oil. The bees will chase the beetles, and the beetles should enter the trap to hide, where they will meet there demise. You can also see a new pollen patty just added to the colony along with the remains of the white bee candy. The yellow "frame" to the far right is a division board feeder which will be used to feed the bees sugar syrup next month.</em></span><br />
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<span style="color: black;">Now is our buildup time. The more bees in the colonies come May. The more honey will be on the hives in August.</span><br />
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<span style="color: black;">Some dead hive beetles were found on the sticky boards below the screened bottom boards. This indicates that some hive beetles are continuing to survive, with the bees, through the winter. I purchased two different types of beetle traps to use in addition to the bottom board traps I have been using. These new traps fit between the frames in the upper hive body. They are baited with an attractant oil. I have not used these before. I hope they work. The next inspection will show if this trap works.</span><br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-aSf3DArD7qpNTG-KTGUoo0chcwoSEzPeOq4aSrG-QfA-z4jI_dEwerDuqZbEKhEuvRkEl4GAMJ9ehKXDWBh6oYUOfxBk4AJ9Fn2FT40_Q2oYkX5Ci_iCUC1s7XujeJy6DPnPbkIDiqs/s1600/MarchMead.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-aSf3DArD7qpNTG-KTGUoo0chcwoSEzPeOq4aSrG-QfA-z4jI_dEwerDuqZbEKhEuvRkEl4GAMJ9ehKXDWBh6oYUOfxBk4AJ9Fn2FT40_Q2oYkX5Ci_iCUC1s7XujeJy6DPnPbkIDiqs/s200/MarchMead.jpg" vt="true" width="128" /></a><span style="color: black;"></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: black; font-size: x-small;"><em>Left: Progress of the mead I started in February. You can see how much it has cleared over the past month. To the right is a photo taken at the height of fermentation. </em></span></div></blockquote><span style="color: black; font-size: x-small;"><em>I plan on drinking this mead while we are extracting honey this Septermber!</em></span><br />
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<span style="color: black;">The bee candy was once again added where needed, even though there is still abundant honey still in the combs. The bees have now been “trained” to feed off of this candy, although with so much honey left in the comb these hives will have to be watched carefully for swarming in the months to come.</span></div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: black;">I had quite the feeling of accomplishment this weekend. It is nice that all of the hives survived this winter. Perhaps, after 31 years, I have finally figured out how to prepare them for winter. </span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</blockquote>Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14356776961390315654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1723009601957484004.post-59316818082100847582010-03-08T22:57:00.001-05:002010-03-08T23:00:24.658-05:00If I knew then what I know nowThis blog post will be an examination of my queen rearing attempts over the past three years with conclusions regarding correct and or incorrect processes. <br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">My queen rearing project began out of a desire to see my bees survive the damp cape cod winters. I had been experiencing a 50% to 80% loss of colonies from year to year.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwvSBfsfknsnvlkUBHxwi3jaHQ7LVcP8JnIgF-rQ9k8hpmqTb5HUFtlQtngq9jvUya-Z49DNeOVWCq0IARd_RS-r2fcVTyjvKqgUyzO0EVCkN0Tx1-fOevPR2shYV_tx7EapkMXT3_HAI/s1600-h/t45.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="165" kt="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwvSBfsfknsnvlkUBHxwi3jaHQ7LVcP8JnIgF-rQ9k8hpmqTb5HUFtlQtngq9jvUya-Z49DNeOVWCq0IARd_RS-r2fcVTyjvKqgUyzO0EVCkN0Tx1-fOevPR2shYV_tx7EapkMXT3_HAI/s200/t45.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"><em>Left: Example of bee larva of various ages.</em></span></strong></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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I along with many beekeepers have noticed that over the past 30 years it has been harder and harder to keep bees. I have seen winter hive looses, not to mention summer hive losses, increase year after year. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I remember when I was 17 years old with my first hive of bees. They were Starline hybrid bees, and I knew next to nothing about keeping them. The hive survived for years on its own. Now that would seldom if ever happen. A hive that is not carefully kept and attended to will probably die the first season. Trachea, and Verroa mites along with the small hive beetle, as well new bee viruses, not to mention colony collapse disorder have devastated the bee population.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipR8zJ917qbC12Lv_jfvO7AyXwdO-Dj5kxnqVxWXnSAZHSJeW187IwRuEOMRlmWrLt_hhsAPhNKYhsb-GynovQU57Y_VSSwVbrq5JMgGoMQTkPmcmHnQAv7rGIX7oL_mZBQ-_A2mamwks/s1600-h/QueenLarvaSize.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="176" kt="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipR8zJ917qbC12Lv_jfvO7AyXwdO-Dj5kxnqVxWXnSAZHSJeW187IwRuEOMRlmWrLt_hhsAPhNKYhsb-GynovQU57Y_VSSwVbrq5JMgGoMQTkPmcmHnQAv7rGIX7oL_mZBQ-_A2mamwks/s200/QueenLarvaSize.jpg" width="200" /></a><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Right: Queen Pupa of the development age from different size queen cells. These queens were grafted on the same day. Their developmental variation is probably due to the age of the larva at the time they were grafted.</span></em></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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In breeding and mass production of queens have weakened the genetic quality of our bees. Queens that would once last four or five years need to be replaced every two.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbZ4R-ZdnUZ5-EwCjkeEShEhe7WUQSWQvR3aCssdRxdkzT7WTbsLhwuLg54T99rQqtP1EAwvJ0z2XqoCwSwNv-fMGwhLUBl-g9LpY_pB_jomCuTp0fgSwLuS78EkX5yyNLIr4oJ-5rV-c/s1600-h/Grafting08.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="187" kt="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbZ4R-ZdnUZ5-EwCjkeEShEhe7WUQSWQvR3aCssdRxdkzT7WTbsLhwuLg54T99rQqtP1EAwvJ0z2XqoCwSwNv-fMGwhLUBl-g9LpY_pB_jomCuTp0fgSwLuS78EkX5yyNLIr4oJ-5rV-c/s200/Grafting08.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;"><em>Left: A steady hand is needed to transfer the fragile larva from the comb into the artifical cell</em></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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So what have I done about it? Well three years ago I started learning how to raise queens of my own. With both success and failure.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">2007 (year 1). I experimented with two methods of queen rearing. The miller method, and the Doolittle method. I quickly became apparent to me that the Doolittle method allowed me much more control over the queen rearing process. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrJ_7WQcqeOYbY828AiYkMDAX2fM5RDqlKV5O2yjj0WaQQ_-EUjpgyg5k5nbKTY_HiK7u16_X-6D7enVQHhqxRcwKJ7coHK2pqGRu3iYzXZ0CQicbdxgy-_Fd4gOf-hTuf1DvAf8zD4ic/s1600-h/2008grafts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="196" kt="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrJ_7WQcqeOYbY828AiYkMDAX2fM5RDqlKV5O2yjj0WaQQ_-EUjpgyg5k5nbKTY_HiK7u16_X-6D7enVQHhqxRcwKJ7coHK2pqGRu3iYzXZ0CQicbdxgy-_Fd4gOf-hTuf1DvAf8zD4ic/s200/2008grafts.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><em>Right: Larva after being grafted. These larva should be only three days old. Their various ages can bee seen by the degree of curviture of the larva. Three day old larve look like a comma. Some of these grafts appear to be 4 or 5 days old. This would result in poor quality queens.</em></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I learned how to graft (I was dry grafting at the time) larva into artificial cells.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I learned how to create a cell starter colony</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I learned how to create a cell builder colony</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I learned how to create queen mating nucs.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I was able to have 10% of my grafts accepted by the cell builder colony (9 out of 90 grafts)</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Good size queen cells were created by the cell builder colony</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I had 8 queens emerge</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Queens were of adequate size.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I had 3 queens mate and start laying</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq7upYvxtcxDoHegSdMh-Rys8mgQRnGJhqNtkY0V9kyMZdXvwVt6nqD1hBirXqVfARCERc7gY4IDEL7X9ICDdc-PUWLUjZdhjZr5byY2JkUkIofZNIk-jAEib0BXu560e9QVhM1xdrEOA/s1600-h/3daygraft.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" kt="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq7upYvxtcxDoHegSdMh-Rys8mgQRnGJhqNtkY0V9kyMZdXvwVt6nqD1hBirXqVfARCERc7gY4IDEL7X9ICDdc-PUWLUjZdhjZr5byY2JkUkIofZNIk-jAEib0BXu560e9QVhM1xdrEOA/s200/3daygraft.jpg" width="200" /></a> </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Left: Two days after grafting and being placed in a cell builder, you can see the larva floating in a pool of royal jelly. You can also see how the nurse bees have started to add wax to the plastic cell as they start creating the queen cell.</span></em></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Only 10% of my grafts were accepted</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">No queens survived into 2008</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">2008 (year2). I continued to experiment with the Doolittle method of queen rearing. I started to learn more about bee genetics and the importance of the Drone (male). I took a queen rearing class and discovered that if the artificial cells were primed with royal jelly, or even plain yogurt, better grafting results could be obtained.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5jI0haMPcdxgmltYMqBImtDJbtEP4oCcPXYXPRnYUkxu5kZSXmIowcXl_yCzWwxhZuLiIQTufZfR-NZfj5Tt36R-L7j_sh-PajnxpG5fSfufAP5Pu3_hNCrrZEOZdtxtT2jm2TzZ2Kp4/s1600-h/2007cells.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="176" kt="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5jI0haMPcdxgmltYMqBImtDJbtEP4oCcPXYXPRnYUkxu5kZSXmIowcXl_yCzWwxhZuLiIQTufZfR-NZfj5Tt36R-L7j_sh-PajnxpG5fSfufAP5Pu3_hNCrrZEOZdtxtT2jm2TzZ2Kp4/s200/2007cells.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Left: My first queen cells from 2007. You can see how large they are. This is due to the proper age larve being grafted into the cell, and the fact that only 8 cells were accepted and fed by the nurse bees. The cell builder colony was not over whelmed by the number of queen cells.</span></em></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I raised queens three times that spring.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Wet grafting of larvae improved my acceptance rate to 90%</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Grafting 90 cells yielded 80 queen cells.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I raised 15 mated queens that season.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Queen cell size was very small. This was partly due to my over whelming my cell builder hives with too many queen cells. I believe that I also grafted larva that was 4 or 5 days old not 3 as I should have. This resulted in smaller cells and smaller queens.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I had a problem creating nucs. I was not as organized as I should have been. I attempted to make splits from nearby colonies. 50% of the nucs created returned home to the mother hives abandoning the queen cells and brood placed in the nuc. The previous year I had used relocated bees to create the nucs. That method worked much better.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3F1RjLbwO2KcsvAm51j5oS625XEAAp3ouNlzKKv_CO7aSvOx45X-JuwA0ZE7caLTpNmE24VdhyphenhyphenafB-_SE4waA4mwHQheyYQVHivKAZVngkLrkU9hCeIXItOWdH3-yT6xLMnPXuk9D2vw/s1600-h/jun08smallcellsize.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="177" kt="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3F1RjLbwO2KcsvAm51j5oS625XEAAp3ouNlzKKv_CO7aSvOx45X-JuwA0ZE7caLTpNmE24VdhyphenhyphenafB-_SE4waA4mwHQheyYQVHivKAZVngkLrkU9hCeIXItOWdH3-yT6xLMnPXuk9D2vw/s200/jun08smallcellsize.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><em>Right: Queen cells from 2008. You can see how small the cells are. This was probably due to the number of grafts placed in the cell builder and the age of the grafted larva being too old.</em></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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I had problems with small hive beetle larva infesting two of the nucs creating a situation where the bees abandoned the nuc. This was probably due to the low numbers of bees remaining in the nucs thus creating stress within the nuc colony.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Queen quality was poor due to the small cell size. I did not attempt to over winter any of the queens.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">2009 (year 3). I continued with the Doolittle method of queen rearing. It was an extremely cold wet spring. The colonies would not buildup and missed the main honey flow (May, June, and July). All the colonies were starving in August, a time where there should have been 60 pounds of surplus honey on each hive. Since there was no promise of honey that season two of the colonies were used for queen rearing.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Left: Grafts from 2009. Better cell size, but still too small.</span></em></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I continued having great success with grafting and acceptance of the grafts. This improved to a 95% acceptance rate.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I learned how to create and use, with success, a queen right cell builder colony.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Grafted three cycles of queen cells over a two month period.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Raised 25 queens.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Learned how to bank queens.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">One queen was overwintered and has survived.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU1kTdbiQh5GOYVtk5NdpGGoAm6bm3ECfn-vqooYaUDPtFfTBlKEebz_Pw8IUmzTHHG8XupbyjvjUUgq2EWi7kXScbNk-tGl4ozt8YmAL5BkZMdCFXCrbU07uP0rkJ-k7AcbxBacrQ_Tw/s1600-h/Smallcells.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="178" kt="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU1kTdbiQh5GOYVtk5NdpGGoAm6bm3ECfn-vqooYaUDPtFfTBlKEebz_Pw8IUmzTHHG8XupbyjvjUUgq2EWi7kXScbNk-tGl4ozt8YmAL5BkZMdCFXCrbU07uP0rkJ-k7AcbxBacrQ_Tw/s200/Smallcells.jpg" width="200" /></a> </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Right: More small queen cells</span></em></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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Negative:</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Queen cells were small again. It became apparent that I was grafting larva that was too old. During one cycle, queens emerged two days before the expected age of 16 days old destroying 19 queen cells.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I had the same problems with creating mating nucs. Many queens were lost because the workers returned to the mother colonies.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I became allergic to bee stings</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">2010 (year 4). We will see, won’t we!</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div></blockquote><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14356776961390315654noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1723009601957484004.post-15687086325209674812010-02-28T21:00:00.010-05:002010-02-28T21:20:25.412-05:00Flight at last!Winters on Cape Cod offer little to brighten the spirit of a beekeeper. It is much too cold to look in on them and see how they are doing. We wait and wait until warmer days, days where the temperature edges above 40, to see any activity outside the colony.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuGqqP6DO-jWPe3CkdSbORpBtf6BoJWbz429Hpx6e6ymDL7rXvYUZw6N29VPDDbL8euq-2dvL37zsrNPt0xUo1EPlrHq3908LqIsxq8JXNGrnUBpzUxQ2XOwjoimB5YpYshBvhHamRYg4/s1600-h/Hive1.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5443479803622677058" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuGqqP6DO-jWPe3CkdSbORpBtf6BoJWbz429Hpx6e6ymDL7rXvYUZw6N29VPDDbL8euq-2dvL37zsrNPt0xUo1EPlrHq3908LqIsxq8JXNGrnUBpzUxQ2XOwjoimB5YpYshBvhHamRYg4/s200/Hive1.jpg" /></a>.<br /><em><span style="font-size:78%;">Left: Hive open on a 45 degree February Day. You can see that much of the candy feed has been consumed by the bees over the last month.</span></em><br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />Will my bees survive the winter cold? Has it been cold for too long? Are the bees starving in place because it has not been warm enough for them to relocate to fresh stores of honey?<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZOv4UL52hNRUXrusLhUJ_CcM6HxNfN29nrQWnLQcI522gbK8F1QtI0keU-w4UQxxbQsz0ipeUsXbdcMi2Y5MCyhFPQcFGUeA2sdCJn0TW5au8ALQPZsHhacaPoKebEfyaOyLbrdJJLYI/s1600-h/Hive3.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5443479664302619474" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZOv4UL52hNRUXrusLhUJ_CcM6HxNfN29nrQWnLQcI522gbK8F1QtI0keU-w4UQxxbQsz0ipeUsXbdcMi2Y5MCyhFPQcFGUeA2sdCJn0TW5au8ALQPZsHhacaPoKebEfyaOyLbrdJJLYI/s200/Hive3.jpg" /></a>.<br /><em><span style="font-size:78%;">Right: Another open colony. Not as much candy feed has been consumed.</span></em><br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />After weeks of cold, the temperature finally pushed its way above 40 degrees, the bees broke cluster and commenced their cleansing flights. This gave me the opportunity to peak in under the cover to see how the bees were doing and whether or not candy needed to be added to help them survive the winter.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivWDCaFqPHqrseLkXtiJNruJ5OTSxsiLqsKejSah5axE1fpjGTLEJrzeqXxNEM3x26pe_bv0VahriA-mbnBs2GhEad-z3ksFuUHJJGz-smiyI9Yh8QIyFcGMHOazu1qHkLdw1jK8WQbrU/s1600-h/Cleansing1.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 178px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5443479801549786754" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivWDCaFqPHqrseLkXtiJNruJ5OTSxsiLqsKejSah5axE1fpjGTLEJrzeqXxNEM3x26pe_bv0VahriA-mbnBs2GhEad-z3ksFuUHJJGz-smiyI9Yh8QIyFcGMHOazu1qHkLdw1jK8WQbrU/s200/Cleansing1.jpg" /></a><br />.<br /><em><span style="font-size:78%;">Left: Bees take to the air for a cleansing flight. Winter bees do not get out much!</span></em><br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />Upon opening the hives it became apparent that the bees had consumed about half the candy I had placed in the hives in January. I was please to see that all of the hives were doing well. Most had 5 frames of bees, not bad for February. The queen should start laying eggs sometime within the next few weeks to start replenishing the workers lost over the winter.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDA3ohgMRvxOaOYMCZsv910BOrIePGoVAMxuYkhJtauFZ37GNIH0d4T8Gi2qkKO_XITSNg2CpGCQ5cy6Z7YLSkruhQFrWj1Y9etYc8Yv_Bh1lCrtZKCj_86CgAQFitF7EFKRvoFT_WglI/s1600-h/beesfeeding.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 173px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5443479653344371554" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDA3ohgMRvxOaOYMCZsv910BOrIePGoVAMxuYkhJtauFZ37GNIH0d4T8Gi2qkKO_XITSNg2CpGCQ5cy6Z7YLSkruhQFrWj1Y9etYc8Yv_Bh1lCrtZKCj_86CgAQFitF7EFKRvoFT_WglI/s200/beesfeeding.jpg" /></a><br />.<br /><em><span style="font-size:78%;">Right: Close up of bees feeding on sugar candy. This candy supplements their stores of honey to help stretch their food for the long winter</span></em>.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br /><br /><br />With this inspection I am hopeful that all the hives will survive this winter. Of course it is not the end of March yet. March is the month where the greatest bee loses occur. If their number s dwindle to low, the bees will not be able to keep themselves warm enough to survive. Many colonies die only a few weeks away from the bloom of first spring flowers.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-kG-gadKNfxaiHtdbFdnzIH3lDZXmXF7CPwYmBhDVgGdN-TfSTRZvVoU8ararmY2aHoBKqF7-uEpRMS7fcLu1JuiFgH3mVm20hzISDbh5tykVbOSyAzOPQkPRWOzA8PVv68ywG4tPwuw/s1600-h/smallhivebeetle.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 172px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5443479807208828290" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-kG-gadKNfxaiHtdbFdnzIH3lDZXmXF7CPwYmBhDVgGdN-TfSTRZvVoU8ararmY2aHoBKqF7-uEpRMS7fcLu1JuiFgH3mVm20hzISDbh5tykVbOSyAzOPQkPRWOzA8PVv68ywG4tPwuw/s200/smallhivebeetle.jpg" /></a><br />.<br /><em><span style="font-size:78%;">Left: A bee and a hive beetle on a removed sticky board. The dead hive beetle was not there on the last inspection in January. Evidence that there are small hive beetles surviving the winter within the cluster of bees.</span></em><br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />The bees in the hive now, are the bees which emerged last September, five months ago! They have not seen much other than the inside of the colony. They have spent much of their life keeping the colony warm, feeding on the stores of honey and pollen left there by their many sisters the summer before they were born.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU8-WImY67gOcoPvOIfaDSdSCrqMxRSi2uUcFqOIQLYUVe2WlxZz9uy9uWM5v-SzSWkzabbaxMjH9ejNxF8dZFz8zPFbKCvlF3ZX3nyKu2ucHHT32s6mZRBh81dbmunuiummdCe71NSRc/s1600-h/Cleansing2.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 181px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5443479662380258866" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU8-WImY67gOcoPvOIfaDSdSCrqMxRSi2uUcFqOIQLYUVe2WlxZz9uy9uWM5v-SzSWkzabbaxMjH9ejNxF8dZFz8zPFbKCvlF3ZX3nyKu2ucHHT32s6mZRBh81dbmunuiummdCe71NSRc/s200/Cleansing2.jpg" /></a><br />.<br /><em><span style="font-size:78%;">Right: A worker bee rests on the edge of a brick, warming itself in the sun before flying back to the colony</span></em><br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />Now begins the buildup of the colony in preparation for the honey flow in June and July. Starting in March we will begin feeding the colonies pollen, and sugar syrup to further stimulate their increase in numbers. We want the colonies strong in numbers for the honey flow. The more bees collecting pollen and nectar, the more honey will be produced.<br /><br />March will tell…. March will tell…<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.blogger.com/"></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><blockquote><br /></blockquote>Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14356776961390315654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1723009601957484004.post-76747189190095507982010-02-15T17:35:00.021-05:002010-02-15T18:33:18.469-05:00Winter Beekeeping - Make Some MeadWhat else to do… What else to do…<br /><br />I "must" find something to pass away the winter days without the bees……<br /><br />MEAD…<br />.<br />.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ5YcM6g_DIuF-vbj2543E1qRcJLiDwq3sl0gKVuZpJNfP-fDZHhMvM18ULoY_c-XlAtZATMUv-wlHKNaq-5phfWA6-f43_O0jG1duBCT-WXo27_SUq-XczF7FpQybAjILp71_vfuBLoQ/s1600-h/Mead1.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5438605681815980882" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ5YcM6g_DIuF-vbj2543E1qRcJLiDwq3sl0gKVuZpJNfP-fDZHhMvM18ULoY_c-XlAtZATMUv-wlHKNaq-5phfWA6-f43_O0jG1duBCT-WXo27_SUq-XczF7FpQybAjILp71_vfuBLoQ/s320/Mead1.jpg" /></a><br />.<br />.<br /><em><span style="font-size:78%;">Right: Lemon and orange zest and juice along with 12 pounds of honey.</span></em><br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br /><br />Honey was for thousands of years the main sweetening agent known to humans.<br /><br /><br />Life, Courage, Wisdom, and strength were believed to be provided by honey. The Bible, Hinduism, Aristotle, Virgil, Celtics all echo the praises of honey.<br />.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQSe_sIzAS5oURKSb8dstSNMlm28W_xNnONWOuJF9FJ4tk333vLwhGeWke5MEsuPHTjP-9yn3F55cppGtTp9_Nmy5LZGL0Aiz7TuL80QAcZhPxE1D6rm0ZlaGIecFqf00Q-9XgkIpqPBY/s1600-h/Mead2.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5438606497600843250" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQSe_sIzAS5oURKSb8dstSNMlm28W_xNnONWOuJF9FJ4tk333vLwhGeWke5MEsuPHTjP-9yn3F55cppGtTp9_Nmy5LZGL0Aiz7TuL80QAcZhPxE1D6rm0ZlaGIecFqf00Q-9XgkIpqPBY/s320/Mead2.jpg" /></a>.<br /><br /><div><div><blockquote><p><em><span style="font-size:78%;">Left: Zest and spices ready to be boiled in the "must"</span></em></p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.<br /></p><br /><p>.</p><p>There are many types of mead. Dry, Sweet, Wine like, Beer like, mixed with fruit (Melomel), mixed with herbs (Pyment, Hippocras, Metheglin, Cyser). </p><br /><p>.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrzdifWV9sYEr3idWutySduxVC2BgUgXlW5JMHkgkBaq4QoSeil_vLcak26e4_MgS-51ZhhCTrMV0vDqn3VC_IIioiH0K0-xAM9KoTGwJKwDV2R3Q8eLPkvJ1Ho0hDcdIMk8RnKSn-p1w/s1600-h/Mead3.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5438612792034631858" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrzdifWV9sYEr3idWutySduxVC2BgUgXlW5JMHkgkBaq4QoSeil_vLcak26e4_MgS-51ZhhCTrMV0vDqn3VC_IIioiH0K0-xAM9KoTGwJKwDV2R3Q8eLPkvJ1Ho0hDcdIMk8RnKSn-p1w/s200/Mead3.jpg" /></a><br /></p><br /><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikAxwtcH7R_UpEgFH-pgsugLOdNIxMQ3-cxMDkBYQ1E8eiG3Xp3NFaxdZyfo9h472MF8SRhMZ-tJeKiCR6h3lkUO9KY0PWawXDptx7hxiRuNkFO8UdT4Wx3ezAJHlDnjHAEoPWqB02WNg/s1600-h/Mead3.jpg"></a><em><span style="font-size:78%;">Right: Pure water and spices boiling to create the "must". Once cooled the honey and yeast will be added and fermentation will begin!<br /></span></em><br />.</p><br /><br /><p>In its simplest form, honey is mixed with water and fermented. The amount of honey mixed in proportion to the water controls the amount of alcohol that can be produced in the final drink. It also controls how sweet the drink will be. In this simple form the flavor of the mead will be created by two things… the flavor of the honey used, and any flavors added by the particular strain of yeast used to ferment the must (mixture). </p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcDbz7OMauW18ymaj_BcWgoJBf0OFIndS7BG78I5s6vsde0enRxVSQEevglVKT8ri69Ja0ZfotL9QZ2vBkeTaEUb3ztSdN5VuQ5k_wq3SYSOgsQGb9E9Q1RAzpN_vw0tz-zme_rKbhBaA/s1600-h/Mead4.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5438614174934096722" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcDbz7OMauW18ymaj_BcWgoJBf0OFIndS7BG78I5s6vsde0enRxVSQEevglVKT8ri69Ja0ZfotL9QZ2vBkeTaEUb3ztSdN5VuQ5k_wq3SYSOgsQGb9E9Q1RAzpN_vw0tz-zme_rKbhBaA/s200/Mead4.jpg" /></a>.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8gdOOD2Q5VWekZvs4C7ISKChx7hxYwSDjV2RV2pRpXUjCbngs-PuwLE7RikkewIhqohGLT9kHQ_gWTHxZP5UYv38pFymEE5_VrKdz1NuKyJ64ynyRqp6x-VEENZ9u3Ve0ZNVT2xtA3zg/s1600-h/Mead4.jpg"></a><em><span style="font-size:78%;"></span></em><br /><p><em><span style="font-size:78%;">Left. The empty fermentation bucket after two weeks of fermentation. You can see how mudy the must looks from the yeast.</span></em></p><br /><p>Meads will taste different if different types of honey are used. A wild flower honey will impart a different flavor to the mead than say a cranberry or orange blossom honey. A champagne yeast will have a different flavor than a merlot yeast.<br /><br />There are hundreds if not thousands of recipes for mead. Choosing one is difficult.</p><p>Back in 1978 I made my first batch of mead. It was just a simple honey, water, yeast mixture. It fermented, bottled, and aged. At just the right moment a bottle was opened and tasted. </p><p>Reminded me of kerosene!...... Others liked it. </p><p>This year I created my own recipe, actually a combination of two that seamed interesting. I would be using honey from our hives of course. Cape Cod Wild Flower Honey to be exact. I wanted a spiced fruity mead. More of a Metheglin I would say.</p><p>I started with orange and lemon zest, and juice, a touch of chamomile, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, yeast nutrient, and tannin in a muslin bag. Boiled in water for 15 minutes, and then rested the must for 15 minute. The must was added to a sterilized fermentation bucket along with 12 pounds of honey. Once the must was cool the specific gravity of the must was taken and champagne yeast was added and fermentation started within hours.</p><p>.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihur8fQD8dDDu_5fpcWHT4qCuti1reXecj-tlNyoTa8xMzz-E90njF9T_asqILxokEhPgAPdjvF_EE9uogEaVCmXQZnMW3YoTOAeilgWz9X6Mi_u_Z0w_6q7Qvdf4iVLj-ZOpCn6i3lms/s1600-h/Mead5.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 240px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5438605691194094130" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihur8fQD8dDDu_5fpcWHT4qCuti1reXecj-tlNyoTa8xMzz-E90njF9T_asqILxokEhPgAPdjvF_EE9uogEaVCmXQZnMW3YoTOAeilgWz9X6Mi_u_Z0w_6q7Qvdf4iVLj-ZOpCn6i3lms/s320/Mead5.jpg" /></a></p><p>.</p><p><em><span style="font-size:78%;">Right: The "must" is "racked" into a secondary fermentation container fitted with an air lock. The air lock protects the mead from wild yeasts or other thinks that could ruin the mead.</span></em></p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>Why check the specific gravity you ask? </p><p>By taking a specific gravity reading prior to fermentation, and comparing it to a reading after fermentation is complete allows us to calculate how much alcohol was produced in the mead. An alcohol content between 12% and 13% will preserve the mead and keep it from turning bad. The bees would not be happy if all that honey went to waste now would they!</p><p>The alcohol, being produced, is a byproduct of the fermentation process. Yeast is a living organism that consumes sugar and nutrients from the must, and produces alcohol and carbon dioxide as waste. The carbon dioxide comes out of the must as bubbles (gas). </p><p>Its fun to watch the mead bubble away. Especially knowing that for every tiny bubble of carbon dioxide, an equal amount of alcohol is produced. </p><p>Eventually the yeast runs out of sugar (food) to eat, and the fermentation process is complete. </p><p>Now we will have to wait for the mead to “clear” which means all the yeast settles to the bottom of the container and a clear drinkable liquid can be bottled. Mead takes a couple of months to clear.<br /></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlzlohWzzh6BG73yXnRwyaVXU3GpKU43pHGwIoYPwPaWC-OkbkMM3kP7w6N0mBgUalrMQuPh9XixB6KoeZg2gbf9FpmYDV9uWU5iAsOT1nl8rV_XQQO7y_KUUfmuRkIMTmLK2G4bZ_TdE/s1600-h/Mead6.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 240px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5438606510528896162" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlzlohWzzh6BG73yXnRwyaVXU3GpKU43pHGwIoYPwPaWC-OkbkMM3kP7w6N0mBgUalrMQuPh9XixB6KoeZg2gbf9FpmYDV9uWU5iAsOT1nl8rV_XQQO7y_KUUfmuRkIMTmLK2G4bZ_TdE/s320/Mead6.jpg" /></a> .</p><p><em><span style="font-size:78%;">Left: You can see the bubbles created by the yeast. Toasted oak chips have been added to give the mead an oak cask flavor.</span></em></p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p></p><p></p><p>.</p><p>Once bottled, the mead will have to age for a year or so before it will taste good enough to drink. </p><p>I don’t think I will be able to wait that long though!<br /></p><p></p><p>Good Mead web pages:</p><p>The Joy Of Mead:</p><p><a href="http://www.stormthecastle.com/mead/index.htm">http://www.stormthecastle.com/mead/index.htm</a> </p><p>Eckraus: </p><p><a href="http://www.eckraus.com/wine-making-mead-honey.html">http://www.eckraus.com/wine-making-mead-honey.html</a> </p><p>The wine making home page: </p><p><a href="http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/reques28.asp">http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/reques28.asp</a><br /><br /></p></blockquote></div></div>Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14356776961390315654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1723009601957484004.post-75228793555476693272010-01-27T23:10:00.010-05:002010-01-28T19:46:27.500-05:00Minding your own beeswaxWinter Beekeeping<br />Minding your own beeswax<br /><br />It is the end of January, about the most boring time of the year for a beekeeper. There are no bees flying around the hives, no spring flowers, and it is too early to order more bees.<br /><br />The new beekeeping catalogs have not even arrived in the mail yet!<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRowW3nSVxYb5AG0XSp0_l-kJ-7cnqdJbcFProSDfljj5SDinfuHzwxWJ2h4ULi0SKySLoR2EnCVLG9YbeTw8i7mr9RA9pjfm8SKuGO-GlzFQvizvcmK93-n2QYNHFOZ-x6aXV9gxtcMs/s1600-h/Wax3.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 311px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431639040037336210" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRowW3nSVxYb5AG0XSp0_l-kJ-7cnqdJbcFProSDfljj5SDinfuHzwxWJ2h4ULi0SKySLoR2EnCVLG9YbeTw8i7mr9RA9pjfm8SKuGO-GlzFQvizvcmK93-n2QYNHFOZ-x6aXV9gxtcMs/s320/Wax3.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><span id="2" class=" transl_class" title="Click to correct"></span><span style="font-size:78%;"><em>Right: <span id="2" class=" to_transl_class" title="Click to correct">Uncapping</span> <span id="3" class=" transl_class" title="Click to correct">the</span> <span id="4" class=" transl_class" title="Click to correct"><span id="5" class=" transl_class" title="Click to correct">Honeycomb</span>.</span> The hot electric knife melts the comb and sizzles as it slices its way through the wax.<br /><br /></em></span><span style="font-size:78%;"><em></em></span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Suddenly you remember that bucket full of wax cappings, from the fall honey extraction, sitting in your basement <span id="1" class="transl_class" title="Click to correct">।</span> AHHH a bee project at last!<br /><br />Beeswax was being used by people more than 5,000 years ago. The ancient Egyptians used wax for embalming and making waxen figures.<br /><br />The Romans used wax tablets to write private messages on. The message, once read, could easily be smoothed out and erased by running your fingers over the message etched into the soft wax.<br /><br />In the fourteenth century having beeswax candles was a sign of nobility. Beeswax candles burned more cleanly, burned longer, and smelled much better than the cheaper candles made from mutton fat.<br /><br />That is actually one of the things that hooked me on beekeeping when I was in my teens. No not nutten fat…. It was that sweet, sweet smell of beeswax. There is only one thing better….. That’s the sweet smell of melted beeswax and hot honey on extracting day.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1dIIGLXJekPk6CBJDNwLnqBCyen2O6i0iGb10dx3E-uNCx4htWbqwt7VD_JbfGNnIo96usGjFu_TcW8Brlnipqp0ZepPeeRHQl-TTlRyMxFlZ9y35gsQPaSlc2qTc-QjD0tq_hdBGc3E/s1600-h/Wax1.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431639264512218658" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1dIIGLXJekPk6CBJDNwLnqBCyen2O6i0iGb10dx3E-uNCx4htWbqwt7VD_JbfGNnIo96usGjFu_TcW8Brlnipqp0ZepPeeRHQl-TTlRyMxFlZ9y35gsQPaSlc2qTc-QjD0tq_hdBGc3E/s320/Wax1.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><em><span style="font-size:78%;">Left: Frames of honey comb sits in the uncapping tank. Wax cappings can be seen at the bottom of the tank. The screen at the bottom of the tank allows honey to drain off the cappings and into a holding tank.</span></em><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />I use the beeswax produced by our bees for candles, lip balm, and hand cream. But before the beeswax can be used for these items it must be cleaned. How do you clean beeswax…. Well I tell you my secrets.<br /><br />You may not know that beeswax is produced by glands located on the underside of the worker bees. These glands become active when the young bees reach a certain age. It takes a lot of energy (food) to produce wax, and some colonies are much better at producing it and building comb than others. The wax that the bees produce is the construction material of the hive. Wax is molded by the bees to create the comb that is used to raise young bees and store the pollen and honey they use as food during the winter months. It is interesting to note that although wax production and comb building is the work of younger bees, If by chance something were to kill off all the younger bees, the older bees would suddenly become able to produce wax again.<br /><br />So how do we get the wax from the bees?......<br /><br />We take it of course.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW09smxESCPkkLagSGewELLW6gW_tcCpLstW-fCpL5PKN7kqdenTs-b0D6EHn44bFCmqlCXWjMvQJujCGU53rpPQn1ba8VHqJi3OkCPimgz8yLvdzaD-DD2RYfmTNNw9clm47b8wpWj-8/s1600-h/wax2.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431639047271237058" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW09smxESCPkkLagSGewELLW6gW_tcCpLstW-fCpL5PKN7kqdenTs-b0D6EHn44bFCmqlCXWjMvQJujCGU53rpPQn1ba8VHqJi3OkCPimgz8yLvdzaD-DD2RYfmTNNw9clm47b8wpWj-8/s320/wax2.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><em><span style="font-size:78%;">Right: Melting the wax cappings in an old pot containing water.</span></em><br /><em><span style="font-size:78%;"></span></em><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Bees are avid builders. They will build comb everywhere. Where you want it, and many times where you don’t. The hives we use are designed to encourage the bees to building comb were the beekeeper wants it..... In the frames of the hive.<br /><br />We start with a sheet of wax in the frames as a starting point for the bees. The bees will then produce wax and build out the frame by building the comb. Bees will also produce comb between boxes and on top of frames. This wax is removed from the hive during inspections. Some of the wax we use is collected in this manner.<br /><br />Some of the comb is used by the bees to store honey, hopefully a lot of honey, although some years not enough. When the honey is "ripe" the bees will “cap” it with a layer of very white wax. This layer of wax protects the honey from absorbing moisture from the air, and thus preserves the honey until it is needed by the bees.<br /><br />In a good year the bees will produce an abundance of this honeycomb allowing the beekeeper to “steal” some of it for his own personal use. We can’t take all of it, even though we want to, because the bees need to keep about 50 pounds for themselves in order to survive a typical New England winter.<br /><br />In a good year the bees will produce about 60 pounds of surplus honey per hive. I have had hives produce up to 90 to 100 pounds of surplus honey.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgletuiJrGkl6uYG5iKAQsFNQV7CuGOYLZZ6kp5-W2mImUyqdmmpArIbxoswHQ5visLYOoRuIYQzCSeVkNRrD0HjBdQQh9agtIIh7iaXGFRVwXhDfQ7xWPRIkU9lTYIAVs-xz9qc_vFk54/s1600-h/Wax4.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 278px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431639269338269474" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgletuiJrGkl6uYG5iKAQsFNQV7CuGOYLZZ6kp5-W2mImUyqdmmpArIbxoswHQ5visLYOoRuIYQzCSeVkNRrD0HjBdQQh9agtIIh7iaXGFRVwXhDfQ7xWPRIkU9lTYIAVs-xz9qc_vFk54/s320/Wax4.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><em><span style="font-size:78%;">Left: Dibris left on the cheese cloth after the melted wax and water is poured into the disposable container.</span></em><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The frames of honeycomb are removed from the hive and taken to the extracting room to have the honey removed. This process includes using a hot electric knife to cut off the white cappings exposing the liquid honey. The frame can then be put into an extractor (basically a large centrifuge) and the honey is spun out of the frames.<br /><br />At the end of the process you end up with frames containing empty comb, liquid honey, and the beeswax cappings. The empty comb will be placed back in the hives the following season allowing the bees to just refill them without having to rebuild them.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIq_9597yryRcecVohNt3iD0QgVwF9prmpDUQVDZL-BABkkIfVkh6b6F9K7eB9L5mQyzfJLvCmpl-mDRPiG6PJ_-ydfrKBqRmbKAZFNBc4V-T1KL93LRFkOOmAe6xAULR3M_llCQpSMCo/s1600-h/wax5.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 278px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431639047859000850" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIq_9597yryRcecVohNt3iD0QgVwF9prmpDUQVDZL-BABkkIfVkh6b6F9K7eB9L5mQyzfJLvCmpl-mDRPiG6PJ_-ydfrKBqRmbKAZFNBc4V-T1KL93LRFkOOmAe6xAULR3M_llCQpSMCo/s320/wax5.jpg" /></a><br /><em><span style="font-size:78%;">Right: Clean wax floats to the surface while the water and dibris settles to the bottom of the container. This process must be completed three times to clean the wax enough for use.</span></em><br /><em><span style="font-size:78%;"></span></em><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The wax cappings along with all the burr comb can then be processed into usable wax. There are probably many ways to clean and render the wax. This is just my method.<br /><br /><strong>Remember that wax is flammable and care must be taken when heating it!</strong><br /><br />I use an electric heating element to melt our wax. I always mix water with my wax when melting it down. This insures that it will not over heat and burst into flames. The water also helps “clean” the wax. Once melted I pour the wax and water through two layers of cheese cloth into a disposable container. The wax and water is allowed to cool. Once cool the container can be cut open releasing the dirty water and the solid wax. The wax will have many impurities left in it, and this process is repeated two additional times before it is clean enough to use.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWpK7jmeI2chdr2CbwlMvmlPZkDsepPCCZeXJnkZrqIKfCsWeO2OMNGOhirrmKtSCzu_YzswhTanvU6NUHAXv4LHN8UQU8ppErNdFxTZmidw_j3RuOxOvhQBwZmSSFG3MECqLq0fNeZ4w/s1600-h/wax6.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 262px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431639279842621602" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWpK7jmeI2chdr2CbwlMvmlPZkDsepPCCZeXJnkZrqIKfCsWeO2OMNGOhirrmKtSCzu_YzswhTanvU6NUHAXv4LHN8UQU8ppErNdFxTZmidw_j3RuOxOvhQBwZmSSFG3MECqLq0fNeZ4w/s320/wax6.jpg" /></a><br /><em><span style="font-size:78%;">Left: The reward for all the hard work. Sweet smelling clean bees wax ready for use in candles and balms.</span></em><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />It is a lot of work!<br /><br />But the sweet yellow beeswax reward is well worth it!Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14356776961390315654noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1723009601957484004.post-43966013261019989912010-01-16T15:51:00.009-05:002010-01-16T16:17:56.411-05:00Candy for the BeesIt is mid January here on Cape Cod, and we have had our first thaw day of the winter. Today’s temperature managed to climb into the 40’s. That meant that it was warm enough for the bees to take their all important cleansing flights. You see bees cluster at temperatures below 40 degrees.<br />.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk2ta8D6tysxTK4I-N1IxoSRz8-A0ZS14Y2j0lQ7f1vAYTDqCUBuwfenJEil_XkN8Ep-0h5Tl-uTTnidqEm2qPJQj9prCy8l9B3DShB-JwLZxY6trdJesWtttRsmnz-0t6yXkqF7aXeDc/s1600-h/Candy1.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427444067241539330" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk2ta8D6tysxTK4I-N1IxoSRz8-A0ZS14Y2j0lQ7f1vAYTDqCUBuwfenJEil_XkN8Ep-0h5Tl-uTTnidqEm2qPJQj9prCy8l9B3DShB-JwLZxY6trdJesWtttRsmnz-0t6yXkqF7aXeDc/s200/Candy1.jpg" /></a><br />.<br /><em><span style="font-size:78%;">Left: Making Bee Candy. All ingredients mixed in the pot on top of the stove.</span></em><br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />That means they group together in a tight ball. By moving their wing muscles without moving their wings they generate heat to keep the inside of the cluster of bees between 80 and 90 degrees. The bees will remain in this cluster and slowly move around the hive in order to access the stores of honey which is their food.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxmAF-VM37oUix7A7l_tTg5SOnopzSz8NrtnEku0lttO742koYpB0rBsSUkPP7ZctHMYjw0bXdxFiQrQKz3EZudh_lE3tOKd-GDvmiKkFuFaOrsYktGcHjha8_mbp2x052e6_8vY6OjXU/s1600-h/Candy2.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427444144962096498" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxmAF-VM37oUix7A7l_tTg5SOnopzSz8NrtnEku0lttO742koYpB0rBsSUkPP7ZctHMYjw0bXdxFiQrQKz3EZudh_lE3tOKd-GDvmiKkFuFaOrsYktGcHjha8_mbp2x052e6_8vY6OjXU/s200/Candy2.jpg" /></a><br />.<br />.<br /><br /><div align="right"><span style="font-size:78%;"><em>Right: Heating the mixture to 245 degrees F.</em></span></div><div align="right"><em><span style="font-size:78%;">Remember to hold it at this temperiture for 3</span></em></div><div align="right"><em><span style="font-size:78%;">minutes.</span></em></div>.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />If temperatures remain too low for too long a period of time then the bees can run out of food and starve to death only inches away from stored honey. To help them survive conditions where they cannot relocate to other areas containing food, beekeepers will often place candy above the bee cluster. This provides them with additional food stores in the event they run out of honey where they are clustered.<br />.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaPaXZVNyZuxgLrm0_Vscq1DyWa8foJ7JSjkkE6Dkyz9xH8uBdgUS2FM60YsnucRBmSF9PjjY4Jh_vy8f3nxwH0BGkkAtl2eiMgyVnC3W2eUxhsrrDjY-BYfZ3xlqMYKxCLFXAqwLAg_A/s1600-h/Candy3.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427444269637047586" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaPaXZVNyZuxgLrm0_Vscq1DyWa8foJ7JSjkkE6Dkyz9xH8uBdgUS2FM60YsnucRBmSF9PjjY4Jh_vy8f3nxwH0BGkkAtl2eiMgyVnC3W2eUxhsrrDjY-BYfZ3xlqMYKxCLFXAqwLAg_A/s200/Candy3.jpg" /></a><br />.<br /><em><span style="font-size:78%;">Left: Mixing the Candy in cool water. It is ready to pour out when it cools to 200 degrees F.</span></em><br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />When temperatures manage to increase above 40 degrees the bees can break cluster and move around freely. They will take cleansing flights to rid themselves of the waste that they have been “holding in” all winter. Glad I’m not a bee!<br />.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBpA5pD2L_saw1kUi_NhCq2zyVtv16RNUkJtaJOe9Q1_bUsAMvg_g1Y0dN-nStoLb0DadrFu1EPzjjjJ_dTMdx6Jiyor8TahkyyG5kAT68Zur5gVjH04zwXU4NwGuE7CvMZlh6LW8KOBE/s1600-h/Candy4.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427444902729703314" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBpA5pD2L_saw1kUi_NhCq2zyVtv16RNUkJtaJOe9Q1_bUsAMvg_g1Y0dN-nStoLb0DadrFu1EPzjjjJ_dTMdx6Jiyor8TahkyyG5kAT68Zur5gVjH04zwXU4NwGuE7CvMZlh6LW8KOBE/s200/Candy4.jpg" /></a>.<br /><br /><div align="right"><span style="font-size:78%;"><em>Right: Harden candy in the cookie sheet</em></span></div>.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br /><br />Since the temperature was above 40 degrees today I decided to open up the hives and check the status of the bee candy I had installed in the hives in late November. In fact, each of the hives had eaten all the bee candy in a four to five inch diameter area around the cluster.<br />.<br />.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlfiKj2yTyzFbke_ZpHY1v-6bZyOth83Ys81ujvrGne-6eYsxupsDgnJh6abfOfq3RHl0DaZlyaI1KGknyQ4A-pVuERpmZGoTc6MPq06rgqWKonPyvakxpJCnQ1jvu9MFGk8uxCDUeAWg/s1600-h/Hive3.jpg"><strong><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427444465781001410" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlfiKj2yTyzFbke_ZpHY1v-6bZyOth83Ys81ujvrGne-6eYsxupsDgnJh6abfOfq3RHl0DaZlyaI1KGknyQ4A-pVuERpmZGoTc6MPq06rgqWKonPyvakxpJCnQ1jvu9MFGk8uxCDUeAWg/s200/Hive3.jpg" /></strong></a><br /><br /><div align="right"><span style="font-size:78%;"><em>Right: Hive being prepared for winter. Notice pest strips between the frames which need to be removed before winter. Additional items seen include menthal oil paper towels used for tracheal mite treatement, and sugar grease patty used for varroa mite treatement. After the pest strips are removed this hive will be ready for winter candy feed.</em></span></div>.<br />.<br />I installed additional candy as required in each of the hives.<br /><br />Since it was warm enough, and I was disturbing the cluster of bees, they started their cleansing flights.<br /><br />By the time I was done installing the bee candy I had brown drops of bee droppings all over me. Such are the hazards of beekeeping.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlfiKj2yTyzFbke_ZpHY1v-6bZyOth83Ys81ujvrGne-6eYsxupsDgnJh6abfOfq3RHl0DaZlyaI1KGknyQ4A-pVuERpmZGoTc6MPq06rgqWKonPyvakxpJCnQ1jvu9MFGk8uxCDUeAWg/s1600-h/Hive3.jpg"><strong></strong></a><br /><br />Here is my recipe for bee candy:<br /><br /><strong>Ingredients:<br /></strong>5 lbs granulated cane sugar, 1 pint corn syrup, 1 & 1/3 cups water<br /><br /><strong>Equipment:<br /></strong>Candy Thermometer, Cookie Sheet, Four oven mitts, Mixer, Sink with cold water<br /><br /><strong>Directions: </strong><br />1. Line the cookie sheet with wax paper and set aside on two oven mitts. Make sure the cookie sheet is level.<br /><br />2. Take all ingredients and place in a pot. Mix until all ingredients are moist. Place on medium high heat. Place the candy thermometer on the side of the pot.<br /><br />3. Heat the mixture until the temperature on the candy thermometer reads 245 degrees. Hold the mixture at that temperature for 3 minutes.<br /><br />4. Turn off heat and immediately place the pot into the cool water (using the other two oven mitts). Use the mixer to mix the candy until the temperature drops to 200 degrees.<br /><br />5. Pour mixture into the cookie sheet and allow the candy to harden and cool. While the candy is still warm make slices to form 8 or more squares.<br /><br />6. Remove the candy from the cookie sheet and place pieces in the hives above the cluster of bees. Check monthly to see if more candy is needed.Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14356776961390315654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1723009601957484004.post-87268302949658783372009-10-31T13:58:00.009-04:002009-10-31T14:44:29.837-04:00Bad BeesOctober 2009<br /><br />Bee season summery.<br />Well. My last post on this bee blog is almost a year old. A year ago I stated that I would do a better job keeping up with monthly blog posts. I guess not!!<br />.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG7FDN44aA6NVmmFt1BG-YHeJWOZszDHbdseq4kwsOJZbp4nboAjSpvbpuZe3Xnpf7UpEZza_dy7vKAt3SsCLNajCvoVAbDlegF-uwezTLYhpAV16mbx3zil6W_7b9cbuddmNrHO4yC1k/s1600-h/2009Layingpattern.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398828461033465554" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 156px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG7FDN44aA6NVmmFt1BG-YHeJWOZszDHbdseq4kwsOJZbp4nboAjSpvbpuZe3Xnpf7UpEZza_dy7vKAt3SsCLNajCvoVAbDlegF-uwezTLYhpAV16mbx3zil6W_7b9cbuddmNrHO4yC1k/s200/2009Layingpattern.JPG" border="0" /></a> <em><span style="font-size:85%;">.</span></em><br /><em><span style="font-size:85%;">Left: Beautiful pattern of brood layed by one of my queens.</span></em><br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />The 2009 honey season, here on Cape Cod, was a complete bust. Our nectar flow on the Cape is in the spring. It rained so much this spring that the bees could not take advantage of the abundant nectar that was available. This resulted in very little honey being produced by the bees.<br />.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyu3bnFQzobqBuk3g26-KdkqyHOkVCh0gQfZftSlk7jnrl_MlWk9T81bJDjfmohEOBlF4R8_IMZ2q82ffiDE1wGpCAVCGxKlxf7tuCgYsrvPWmkfeh9br3ibWYqp-CHHs-20UNUFDveas/s1600-h/2009GraftLarva.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398828463312938738" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 179px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyu3bnFQzobqBuk3g26-KdkqyHOkVCh0gQfZftSlk7jnrl_MlWk9T81bJDjfmohEOBlF4R8_IMZ2q82ffiDE1wGpCAVCGxKlxf7tuCgYsrvPWmkfeh9br3ibWYqp-CHHs-20UNUFDveas/s200/2009GraftLarva.jpg" border="0" /></a>.<br /><em><span style="font-size:85%;">Left: Larva and Eggs ready to be grafted into plastic queen cups </span></em><br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />A hive of bees needs about 50 pounds of honey to survive the winter here on Cape Cod. In an average season the bees will produce about 110 pounds of honey. 60 of that will be taken by the beekeeper, and 50 left for the bees for winter. The honey production was so poor this year that, in August, the bees had no honey in the hives and were in danger of starving. A couple of hives actually had no honey or nectar at all in the hive. Usually at this time there would be at least 60 pounds of extra honey in the hive in addition to the 20 to 30 pounds that would be stored near the brood or young bees.<br /><br />Never in my 32 years of keeping bees have I ever seen a condition like this. I was forced to feed each hive of bees about a gallon of sugar syrup to sustain them. Fortunately it has been a good fall for the bees and we have been able to feed them substantially. The goldenrod has produced abundant pollen as for them as well. Even today bees were bringing in bright yellow packages of pollen to store for winter.<br /><br />The verroa mite infestation has been the worst I’ve seen in years. This year I have gone back to treating the hives with chemical strips. The pesticide strips are designed to kill the mites but leave the bees alone. Thousands of mites are dropping out of the hives. Small hive beetle has been an issue as well. Fortunately not as bad as last year where I actually had bees leaving hives because they could not deal with the small hive beetle larva, which looks like groupings of small worms living in the combs.<br />.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3nj_ABz6dvpq0m-wsL33mzScylwIOqHbyeBV74CbodBJ3sWEWwkWJ_fgXFMWjmH3a51Ip85DVG4S7fjsfpdrOqvg5VWAhGV0Rd06Xw837QknRt809S277ZgHJmfC3Jnltem-iwhpL-PQ/s1600-h/2009queenlarva.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398828469636588674" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 178px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3nj_ABz6dvpq0m-wsL33mzScylwIOqHbyeBV74CbodBJ3sWEWwkWJ_fgXFMWjmH3a51Ip85DVG4S7fjsfpdrOqvg5VWAhGV0Rd06Xw837QknRt809S277ZgHJmfC3Jnltem-iwhpL-PQ/s200/2009queenlarva.jpg" border="0" /></a>.<br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><em>Left: Queen larve foating in royal jelly. This larva was grafted into this cell 48 hours earler. The larva is 6 days old</em></span><br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />The most disturbing incident however took place in March while I was installing two packages of bees we received from Georgia. Upon shaking the first package into an empty hive, I received a bee sting on my knee. As usual I brushed off my knee thinking that a bee just stung me from the outside of my pants leg. I finished installing the bees in the first hive and then continued to install the second package of bees in the second hive. Then I notice that my hands were burning. I thought to myself “That’s strange I don’t remember using these gloves for chemical or anything that would burn my hands”. I continued picking up and putting away my beekeeping equipment and noticed that my knee where I had been stung was still hurting… A lot. So I lifted up my pant leg and sure enough there was the stinger still in my knee pumping away. I removed it and noticed that one of my contact lenses felt strange. Then I started to itch all over. Sure enough… After keeping bees for 32 years, I now had developed an allergic reaction to the bee sting.<br />.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoe3A9lydb4k1SFi-PxgqRlh1Eql48l8X-t29vCTgtZKp9RqdaA4ld40HqpFkLPU-l3qnDI0923sglmLU3WVogJML1AFkyRVy5tfUmRVyy7ntcdzWDhZU4YthVvSsStmPfblXuv0LEHPg/s1600-h/2009QueenCell.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398828473965598002" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 165px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoe3A9lydb4k1SFi-PxgqRlh1Eql48l8X-t29vCTgtZKp9RqdaA4ld40HqpFkLPU-l3qnDI0923sglmLU3WVogJML1AFkyRVy5tfUmRVyy7ntcdzWDhZU4YthVvSsStmPfblXuv0LEHPg/s200/2009QueenCell.jpg" border="0" /></a> <em>.</em><br /><em><span style="font-size:85%;">Left: Queen cells produced as part of my 2009 queen rearing project. This summer I raised 12 mated queens.</span></em><br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />.<br />I got to take my first ride in an ambulance!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><blockquote><br /></blockquote>Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14356776961390315654noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1723009601957484004.post-3828588416357213642008-12-30T22:30:00.008-05:002008-12-30T22:56:41.536-05:00A Happy Beekeeping New YearWell as you can tell, I have not been a consistent blogger in 2008, only one entry. Well I’ll use the excuse that I was too busy keeping my bees! Or should I say… building them. <div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div></div><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitMEFeh9cdCE-YBaE11QbDAiwv_MTkq7oQxDV0_YuGqVApbJdbtQKd2171I4imlNh4Xx9H2dBBvCxP2b8j6GRsWOSTpC0r_iZAsVli2GDEbUG1Nx9SiWD7y2QUpJW7d9pUOSjIus_E-4I/s1600-h/DSC06281.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285792503535420242" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitMEFeh9cdCE-YBaE11QbDAiwv_MTkq7oQxDV0_YuGqVApbJdbtQKd2171I4imlNh4Xx9H2dBBvCxP2b8j6GRsWOSTpC0r_iZAsVli2GDEbUG1Nx9SiWD7y2QUpJW7d9pUOSjIus_E-4I/s320/DSC06281.JPG" border="0" /></a> .<br /></div><em><span style="font-size:78%;">Left: A wild swarm of bees we removed from a picknic table at the local conservation area. As you can see, this swarm was very small.</span></em><br /><div></div>.<br /><div></div>.<br /><div></div>.<br /><div></div>.<br /><div></div>.<br /><div></div>.<br /><div></div>.<br /><div></div>.<br /><div></div>.<br /><div></div><br /><div>As you can see from previous entries, I started 2008 with only 3 surviving hives, out of 10 strong wintered over hives from the previous fall. With much effort I built those three hives into 8, while harvesting 60 lbs of honey, and rearing about 20 queens. Some of those queens failed, some are now reining in my hives, and some of the better queens were sold to fellow local beekeepers here on the cape. We had a great time with the bees this year.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxdLtjP5jc6HVyAN3nLDvr5-RT2km5K0B3RJkDiOwzKg7NPMNtFaUcgK0GpYWKx7jbAOZGpQPhyk6-lOCzgleCj1sYYleCQwMTH2cC9-bg8rKHyqhFniSx2Sg25Dl4iu6M-mw0av96E0g/s1600-h/Picture+087.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285793442441302850" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxdLtjP5jc6HVyAN3nLDvr5-RT2km5K0B3RJkDiOwzKg7NPMNtFaUcgK0GpYWKx7jbAOZGpQPhyk6-lOCzgleCj1sYYleCQwMTH2cC9-bg8rKHyqhFniSx2Sg25Dl4iu6M-mw0av96E0g/s320/Picture+087.jpg" border="0" /></a> <em><span style="font-size:78%;">Right: A swam of bees we removed from a storage shed at the Otis Air Force Base.</span></em></div><em><span style="font-size:78%;"></span></em></div><div><em><span style="font-size:78%;">The bees are sure amazing architects!</span></em></div><div>.<br />.<br /></div><div>.<br /></div><div></div><div>.<br /></div><div></div><div>.<br /></div><div></div><div>.<br /></div><div></div><div>.<br /></div><div></div><div>.<br /></div><div></div><div>.<br /></div><div></div><div>.<br /></div><div></div><div>.<br /></div><div></div><div>.<br /></div><div></div><div>.<br /></div><div></div><div>.<br /></div><div></div><div>.<br /></div><div></div><div>.<br /></div><div></div><div>.<br /></div><div></div><div>Some of our adventures included gathering two wild swarms. One was found in the middle of a local conservation area, attached to the corner of a metal picnic table. The site was right against one of the capes largest ponds in the middle of nowhere. The swarm was probably two miles from the nearest beehive. I think the swarm was from a wild hive. </div><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7qIp8pnzZNhr_cH7EvdiaEkCgGQIscDMc3Y6cRbPdPTO0-oEYVxw-qTnIC-7pRR0_yIu1dzmtAFlxYM0rbIwnT3gHcI2bBrKF4T5mn6Lb463SJKgfvUDbj7SUOayk_LW3h-NKkzUyFTc/s1600-h/Picture+084.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285794228391868610" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 150px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7qIp8pnzZNhr_cH7EvdiaEkCgGQIscDMc3Y6cRbPdPTO0-oEYVxw-qTnIC-7pRR0_yIu1dzmtAFlxYM0rbIwnT3gHcI2bBrKF4T5mn6Lb463SJKgfvUDbj7SUOayk_LW3h-NKkzUyFTc/s200/Picture+084.jpg" border="0" /></a>.</div><div><em><span style="font-size:78%;">Left: A close up of the swarm, now acutaly an established colony. Where is the queen? We did find her (by luck) and put her into the new hive. Click on the photo for an enlarged view</span></em></div><div>.</div><div>.</div><div>.</div><div>.</div><div>.</div><div>.</div><div>.</div><div>.</div><div>.</div><div><br />The other swarm was gathered from a storage shed at the Otis Air Force Station, right next to the airstrip. The swarm had established itself inside the storage shed, accessing their new home through rusted holes in the siding. Comb had been built attached to various packs and boxes which contained who knows what. We spent a good part of a day removing items to access the bees. They had built beautiful curved comb attached to the metal siding of the shed, and everything else. In a way, it was a shame to remove them. It took us a while to cut out the comb and attached bees and install them into a hive. What a challenge. Bees were flying and honey was dripping everywhere. We neglected to bring a bucket to put the extra honeycomb in, so we used an empty rifle locker. Bees were stuck to everything! </div><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilH6kQ7b5XHUBtIfZ1k6tP-DnFfqO7CwQVXKWqwny6SOsWFTJ0pRtD8GaGjC7wEtWwD9I9v_HUkllwBntV94HyeFlUQSvx8o5H6HlIFrgfhtFozukPuArLtxT8ipkCz9XSMGzWiK8X7qY/s1600-h/DSC06346.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285792505464657602" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilH6kQ7b5XHUBtIfZ1k6tP-DnFfqO7CwQVXKWqwny6SOsWFTJ0pRtD8GaGjC7wEtWwD9I9v_HUkllwBntV94HyeFlUQSvx8o5H6HlIFrgfhtFozukPuArLtxT8ipkCz9XSMGzWiK8X7qY/s320/DSC06346.JPG" border="0" /></a></div><div>.</div><div><em><span style="font-size:78%;">Right: My first attempt a queen rearing this spring. See how small the cells are. I destroyed all these cells and started over. These cells were dry grafted. On my next attempt I primed the cups and got a 85% acceptance rate.</span></em><br />.</div><div></div><div>.<br /></div><div></div><div>.<br /></div><div></div><div>.<br /></div><div></div><div>.<br /></div><div></div><div>The biggest challenge I had this year was keeping the bees in the mating nucs. I had about a 60 percent success rate with keeping the bees in a nuc. Some would abscond, or return to the parent colony, or migrate to a neighboring nuc. I had two nice queens, and established colonies abscond due to small hive beetle infestation. As we discussed at the bee association, this pest is increasingly becoming a problem. I believe my beetle problem came with the packages of bees I received from Georgia two years ago. They have increased unchecked for two years, and I saw many of them in my hives. </div><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_eVY_cqqX1DmP29S0TOR_WoQMNmD6NoYRhFSt5QjR0kul3pEhMAZkGrAcS2ztswr4Ne3Edp4iF9xkU9DWrK6I-lNCdsIXOBP-cJIsfVtOoH3Xjsqo6tvvElqZuX_WaYMxkNaJijvH6EE/s1600-h/DSC06345.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285792509543168418" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_eVY_cqqX1DmP29S0TOR_WoQMNmD6NoYRhFSt5QjR0kul3pEhMAZkGrAcS2ztswr4Ne3Edp4iF9xkU9DWrK6I-lNCdsIXOBP-cJIsfVtOoH3Xjsqo6tvvElqZuX_WaYMxkNaJijvH6EE/s320/DSC06345.JPG" border="0" /></a> </div><div>.</div><div><em><span style="font-size:78%;">Left: Removed queen pupa. These queens are all the same age. You can see how the cell size effects the development of the queen. Larger queen cells mean larger queens. Larger queens mean more overies and better laying.</span></em></div><div><em><span style="font-size:78%;">.</span></em></div><div>.</div><div>.</div><div>.</div><div>.</div><div></div><div></div><div>I was just thinking today that the 2009 beekeeping season has already started. The work we do in preparing the hives for winter will have a great effect on the condition of the bees this spring. This year some of the hives have been wrapped in black building paper. It is my understanding that the wrapped hives will be about 5 degrees warmer than the unwapped hives. We will see how this works out. </div><div></div><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjQPOM_wztVSKyic3eqwF6TrSxUBbQlhYmrN5g7JXujENqLarCKCJZPZ4wDAXv9kaxouZYK2zcHiUEJZl7TrZefNppZHgm1gKBj-KVTG8z8oaTug-_py0yxjYW9ZNbk1hoC3Wti1J1hAg/s1600-h/Picture+018.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285793459749389570" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjQPOM_wztVSKyic3eqwF6TrSxUBbQlhYmrN5g7JXujENqLarCKCJZPZ4wDAXv9kaxouZYK2zcHiUEJZl7TrZefNppZHgm1gKBj-KVTG8z8oaTug-_py0yxjYW9ZNbk1hoC3Wti1J1hAg/s320/Picture+018.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><div>.<br /><em><span style="font-size:78%;">Right: This is what it is all about.... The beekeepers reward.... Honey right from the extractor. We harvested 60 lbs this year.</span></em></div><div>.</div><div>.</div><div>.</div><div>.</div><div>.</div><div>.</div><div>.</div><div>.</div><div></div><div>My new years resolution is to maintain this blog. If you read this, post a message. Let me know what you think. </div><div></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb-FzKG3KoIk6yJu30s8LjBdxcvLtY8ySD7F_jPj-SiigvkSPoDenZLamdEsmS4183PAqDAxeP9YU6w7KKsWVP5YNTDioZfOO2Hmzd86fReV50lcJMBLPfYt9T7iuhFlo3MxYbw7r6bxw/s1600-h/Picture+022.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285793452269659842" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb-FzKG3KoIk6yJu30s8LjBdxcvLtY8ySD7F_jPj-SiigvkSPoDenZLamdEsmS4183PAqDAxeP9YU6w7KKsWVP5YNTDioZfOO2Hmzd86fReV50lcJMBLPfYt9T7iuhFlo3MxYbw7r6bxw/s320/Picture+022.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><div>.</div><div><em><span style="font-size:78%;">Right: My friend, and fellow beekeeper, Gene and I on extraction day!</span></em></div><div>.</div><div>.</div><div>.</div><div>.</div><div>.</div><div>.</div><div>.</div><div>.</div><div>.</div><div>.</div><div>.</div><div></div><div></div><div>And have a happy new year!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><div><br /></div><blockquote><br /></blockquote></div></div></div></div></div></div>Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14356776961390315654noreply@blogger.com3