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Wednesday, April 23, 2014

April 23, 2014 The Nuc Box

So today the weather was calmer and I headed out to the yard to check on the nuc.  I opened the top of the box and flipped the inner cover around so they could have access to coming and going with a small opening rather than have the bottom board set up wide open.  I put a stick underneath the top of the box lid cause I had some goofy bees that were not smart enough to realize once the top was closed they would be squished.  (Yikes)  Anyway when I turned the inner cover over I checked on the bees and they were pretty calm and quiet.  That usually is a good sign.  Jim had all the bee stuff in his truck so I could not poke around at all to make sure she was ok, hopefully when he comes home I will be able to check things out and I will let you know what we found later.

Inner Cover with screen over the hole.

Bees around the queen cage which is between
frame two and three from the top.


15 uses for Honey from Mother Earth Living!

Came across a great article by Mother Earth Living and thought I woulld share because so many folks have so many great ideas on how can be used!
Enjoy!

Monday, April 21, 2014

The nuc box

When we picked up the 25 boxes of bees last week we were given a spare queen in case something would have happened to the girls that came with each box.  Since they were looking pretty good we had decided that we would create a small hive (4) frames and add some bees from other hives along with the extra queen just in case we lost a hive because of a swarm.
Last night Jim had the hive box all set up and ready to go.  He screened it in so the girls we added would not leave to go back to their original hives and added a frame of honey and pollen.  When I went out to put her in, there were a ton of bees inside the box trying to rob the honey out of it.  There I was trying to balance a frame of bees in one hand the queen in another and bees coming and going.  I ended up putting the the queen in and gently brushing only one frame of bees in the box before I quickly closed it.
When Jim got home he went out to the yard, pulled frames from two other hives and after he made sure the queen was not on the frames he brushed those bees into the box.
So now we wait.  They have honey and pollen which should keep content for a couple of days, now we just have to see if they are all going to get along and if they will take to their new queen.  Time will tell.

Movie showing nuc box

Friday, April 18, 2014

Good Morning Sunshine!

Maybe I am being a bit optimistic as it is slightly overcast but Easter Weekend is supposed to be totally amazing as far as the weather goes.  We will be at the Toledo Farm Market on Saturday from 9 till 1.  I have Beeswax candles! We have Orange, Lemon, Wintergreen and Peppermint Lip Balm!  We have Hot and Spicy Honey Mustard!  And we have Honey.  We have been selling out because I am trying to limit what I bring down so I can continue to come to market for awhile longer.  I have mentioned that I will probably end up buying honey from another beekeeper this year so I can keep coming down to market until our Honey Harvest is in.  I am going to try something my "Great" and I mean amazing Uncle Ted told me about.  I will start going through the frames and instead of waiting till the whole box is full of capped honey I will take a frame here and there and replace those frames with empty frames.  I mention my Uncle Ted.  We lost him last year.  No I don't mean he is out wandering around in the Bee Yard, but he headed up to heaven.  He was a very amazing man, the folks whose lives he touched were truly blessed.  His family I know will miss him horribly but he left behind quiet a large legacy.  He might not still be here but he is in the mind and hearts of hundreds of beekeepers who he taught and shared so much with.

Thursday, April 17, 2014

What does a beekeeper do when the harvest is soo weak that she can not go to market?

This years harvest was the worst that we have ever had.  We have come to the realization that nature won out this year and things were out of our control.  Whether it was the heavy rains early on in the spring or just natures way of adjusting things, we definitely were on the short end of the stick.

I just finally got the nerve up to take a peek at the tank and found it was only 1/2 full which means we only have about 500 lbs. left.  We are averaging about  60 lbs. or so a week so I am think 8 to 10 weeks left of market.

I still have wax so I will be busy making candles and lip balm but there has never been a really strong market for just those.

A Fresh Start

Here we go, just uploaded the new website and attached a link to the blog.  I thought rather than bore folks to tears I would put links and articles on here so that if someone was looking for something they could find it here.  So since I will have a little more time hopefully I will be able to provide some great information.