I've talked in the past about how I find it important to not open a hive too often or for unnecessary purposes.
For the most part, I plan on only two mandatory internal hive inspections over the course of a season. The first on e in the Spring, late April/Early May to inspect colony strength and do splits and to add new boxes to the stack as determined by the colony strength.
The second internal inspection is at harvest time in mid to late August, depending on the weather. the purpose then is to harvest from the hive and to determine colony strength going into Fall/Winter. I may combine weak colonies at that time or re-allocate honey resources depending on what the inspection shows.
In between those two inspections, I rely on external inspections of the hive to indicate if an internal inspection is necessary. If I deem the colony healthy based on external indicators, then I will not open the hive.
How do beekeepers determine if the colony is healthy based solely on an external inspection? What exactly are we looking for that indicates a healthy colony from the outside?
The first things we will look for externally is the behavior of the colony from a distance. How are the bees behaving as you approach? If the bees start warning you from 20 feet or more distance, there is a problem and the bees are agitated. Likely something has been rousing their defensiveness. A skunk perhaps? Look for animal tracks and leavings on the ground surrounding the hives for evidence of bee pests.
If the bees do not accost you as you approach to within about a foot from the entrance, the bees are calm and there likely is no external agitation. That is a good sign.
Look at the box itself. Is it covered in mustard colored fecal spots? If so, there is likely a problem inside having to do with dysentery, nosema or another disease. Are the spots thin or thick? Dark colored or light colored? Runny or clumpy? These are all indicators of what might be the issue. If you see no spots or very few, then there seems to be no problem or an early indicator needing more investigation which could head off worse problems.
Are there bees on the ground around the hive entrance? No, then all seems well. Some dead bees is not necessarily a problem, especially in the Spring. Lots of dead bees or bees that are still moving but with issues are indicators of internal problems.
Do you see where this is going?
The bees live and work outside of the hive as much as they do inside the hive. Being aware of the sights, sounds, even smells outside of the hive can let you know all is well or if you need to investigate internally. Let the bees tell you if there is a need for an internal inspection before you just go ripping open a possibly perfectly healthy hive. We're not helping the healthy hive by opening it up unnecessarily.
A good book with many specifics about external inspections is "At The Hive Entrance" by H Storch. It provides detailed explanations of what we can see, hear and smell external of a hive and give information on what those indicators likely refer to.
Thursday, August 14, 2014
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Homestead Beekeeping
Let's talk about this approach I refer to as "Homestead Beekeeping". I use this term in contrast to "Conventional Beekeeping or "Commercial Beekeeping".
Let's keep facts up front shall we? Both commercial beekeeping and conventional beekeeping are approaches of beekeeping that focus on beekeepers working hives to maximize honey production in the best interest of the beekeeper.
Conventional beekeeping is, the way I refer to it, using the same equipment, management techniques and prioritization of beekeeper intent over bee intent, just on a smaller and generally more localized scale.
Homestead Beekeepers also want to harvest product from the hives. However, the motive isn't for profit necessarily as it is to contribute to the beekeeper's ability to be self sufficient. Not to say that every hobbyist that follows conventional beekeeping is in it for profit, but that the practices they use and the view they take to beekeeping is essentially the same as commercial beekeeping.
No, I'm not calling these people bad people or bad beekeepers. I'm just saying that a homestead beekeeper has a bit of a different set of priorities and outlook toward the bees.
Homesteading in general is an approach to life that is centered around a person being self sufficient. The self sufficient person is looking for ways to provide for their lifestyle that is not dependent on the surrounding social system. They prefer to make and grow and do things themselves to have more control over the process and to use the harvested items in their everyday life.
Homesteaders grow fruits and vegetables. We raise livestock for food and materials. Homesteaders try to be as efficient as possible, getting the most out of our efforts as possible and be as resourceful as possible. We also have a healthy respect for those animals and creatures we include in our efforts.
When it comes to honey bees, we want to not only get the surplus honey, but the extra wax as well. We want the surplus pollen and the extra propolis. We also want the pollination for our gardens and fruit trees. We want to be able to harvest over the long term as much as possible meaning we look out for the welfare of the bees above all.
We have a lot of respect for the bees as being very self sufficient themselves. They are a role model and example of this worthwhile lifestyle. Bees do not "need" people to survive. They have adapted with flowers over 150 million years. They are actually very able to over produce to meet their own needs and tolerate harvesting of their surplus resources very well all things considered.
What the Homestead beekeeper understands is that the bees don't need us to do it for them. They need us to generally stay out of their way and be a good neighbor to them. The need us to plant lots of flowers all year long. this benefits them as well as it benefits us.
They need us to stay out of the hive unless it's absolutely necessary. Whether it is harvest time or because we observe a problem when we inspect the external area of the hive, they will let us know when they need someones attention and assistance to overcome problems they cannot handle themselves.
We as Homestead beekeepers learn the signs of a hive in distress simply by paying attention to the external environment of the hive. We study honey bee biology and natural behavior to identify and differentiate between a healthy colony and one that needs help.
Homestead beekeepers tend to use hives and methods that allow the best of both worlds, as we see it. We use top bar hives or even framed hive setups that allow harvesting of honey and wax combs. This gives us more of those items and it gives the bees fresh, unpolluted wax to raise their brood in each new Spring. Because we take combs and all, we are very, very careful not to take too much or leave the bees with too little. In fact, a Homestead beekeeper will be more likely to leave a little more just to ensure the bees have enough for Winter.
We try to use hives that meet the ideals that scout bees look for for when swarms leave a hive in their annual reproduction of the colony. We look for hives that have similar dimensions and attributes that are sought out by swarms. In other words, we want to encourage the bees to live "naturally" or as they would outside of human management.
Why do Homestead beekeepers want to keep bees in this manner? Because we have a great respect for our bees and e want to promote long term health and prosperity for our bees. The longer our bees stay healthy and prosperous, the longer we can continue to harvest their surplus and be self sufficient on our own.
Let's keep facts up front shall we? Both commercial beekeeping and conventional beekeeping are approaches of beekeeping that focus on beekeepers working hives to maximize honey production in the best interest of the beekeeper.
Conventional beekeeping is, the way I refer to it, using the same equipment, management techniques and prioritization of beekeeper intent over bee intent, just on a smaller and generally more localized scale.
Homestead Beekeepers also want to harvest product from the hives. However, the motive isn't for profit necessarily as it is to contribute to the beekeeper's ability to be self sufficient. Not to say that every hobbyist that follows conventional beekeeping is in it for profit, but that the practices they use and the view they take to beekeeping is essentially the same as commercial beekeeping.
No, I'm not calling these people bad people or bad beekeepers. I'm just saying that a homestead beekeeper has a bit of a different set of priorities and outlook toward the bees.
Homesteading in general is an approach to life that is centered around a person being self sufficient. The self sufficient person is looking for ways to provide for their lifestyle that is not dependent on the surrounding social system. They prefer to make and grow and do things themselves to have more control over the process and to use the harvested items in their everyday life.
Homesteaders grow fruits and vegetables. We raise livestock for food and materials. Homesteaders try to be as efficient as possible, getting the most out of our efforts as possible and be as resourceful as possible. We also have a healthy respect for those animals and creatures we include in our efforts.
When it comes to honey bees, we want to not only get the surplus honey, but the extra wax as well. We want the surplus pollen and the extra propolis. We also want the pollination for our gardens and fruit trees. We want to be able to harvest over the long term as much as possible meaning we look out for the welfare of the bees above all.
We have a lot of respect for the bees as being very self sufficient themselves. They are a role model and example of this worthwhile lifestyle. Bees do not "need" people to survive. They have adapted with flowers over 150 million years. They are actually very able to over produce to meet their own needs and tolerate harvesting of their surplus resources very well all things considered.
What the Homestead beekeeper understands is that the bees don't need us to do it for them. They need us to generally stay out of their way and be a good neighbor to them. The need us to plant lots of flowers all year long. this benefits them as well as it benefits us.
They need us to stay out of the hive unless it's absolutely necessary. Whether it is harvest time or because we observe a problem when we inspect the external area of the hive, they will let us know when they need someones attention and assistance to overcome problems they cannot handle themselves.
We as Homestead beekeepers learn the signs of a hive in distress simply by paying attention to the external environment of the hive. We study honey bee biology and natural behavior to identify and differentiate between a healthy colony and one that needs help.
Homestead beekeepers tend to use hives and methods that allow the best of both worlds, as we see it. We use top bar hives or even framed hive setups that allow harvesting of honey and wax combs. This gives us more of those items and it gives the bees fresh, unpolluted wax to raise their brood in each new Spring. Because we take combs and all, we are very, very careful not to take too much or leave the bees with too little. In fact, a Homestead beekeeper will be more likely to leave a little more just to ensure the bees have enough for Winter.
We try to use hives that meet the ideals that scout bees look for for when swarms leave a hive in their annual reproduction of the colony. We look for hives that have similar dimensions and attributes that are sought out by swarms. In other words, we want to encourage the bees to live "naturally" or as they would outside of human management.
Why do Homestead beekeepers want to keep bees in this manner? Because we have a great respect for our bees and e want to promote long term health and prosperity for our bees. The longer our bees stay healthy and prosperous, the longer we can continue to harvest their surplus and be self sufficient on our own.
Sunday, July 13, 2014
More Than One Way To Play With Bees
Ever since Lorenzo Langstroth introduced his hive system, American beekeepers have overwhelmingly used and taught one main way to go about beekeeping. That approach to beekeeping is essentially the same model regardless the size of the operation by a beekeeper. Hobbyists, Sideliners and Commercial beekeepers alike essentially use the same approach to beekeeping regardless.
I would suggest though, that modern beekeepers should consider another beekeeping approach. An approach that is not new or dramatically different from anything that has been done in the past. Simply an outlook that has been overlooked for at least a hundred years or longer.
First of all, the modern, conventional approach is the Commercial approach. Nearly all beekeeping in America is done with an eye on surplus honey production. I'm not saying that this is bad or wrong in and of itself. I am suggesting though that it may not be the best approach for every beekeeper and possibly for most hobbyists.
In the conventional commercial approach, hive bodies are supered, meaning that new boxes are added tot he hive stack on top of the current boxes.This is done because beekeepers know that bees prefer to store honey above the brood and so by adding more space above the bees, the bees will most likely fill that excess space with honey.
What I would propose might be a better approach for beekeepers with smaller interests is what I refer to as the Homestead approach to beekeeping.
The Homestead approach focuses more on collecting resources from the whole hive instead of just one primary crop like honey. The Homestead approach seeks to collect honey, beeswax, propolis and even pollen from the hive not so much to sell to others but as a way of being self sufficient in one's own home.
As a result of this smaller scale of beekeeping, a Homestead beekeeper is looking to minimize interaction with the colony beyond harvest. This doesn't mean the Homestead beekeeper doesn't inspect hives or take measures to help hives stay healthy. It just means the beekeeper is going about managing the bees differently from a high honey crop production approach.
I think we can see the interest in many newer beekeepers in looking for another approach to beekeeping that is outside of the conventional approach. A great interest in top bar beekeeping and other types of hives and methods has become obvious in beekeeping magazines, beekeeping club meetings and presentations and in other ways.
In future posts, I will elaborate on how I see Homestead Beekeeping as an alternative approach to beekeeping and how it can successfully be done.
I would suggest though, that modern beekeepers should consider another beekeeping approach. An approach that is not new or dramatically different from anything that has been done in the past. Simply an outlook that has been overlooked for at least a hundred years or longer.
First of all, the modern, conventional approach is the Commercial approach. Nearly all beekeeping in America is done with an eye on surplus honey production. I'm not saying that this is bad or wrong in and of itself. I am suggesting though that it may not be the best approach for every beekeeper and possibly for most hobbyists.
In the conventional commercial approach, hive bodies are supered, meaning that new boxes are added tot he hive stack on top of the current boxes.This is done because beekeepers know that bees prefer to store honey above the brood and so by adding more space above the bees, the bees will most likely fill that excess space with honey.
What I would propose might be a better approach for beekeepers with smaller interests is what I refer to as the Homestead approach to beekeeping.
The Homestead approach focuses more on collecting resources from the whole hive instead of just one primary crop like honey. The Homestead approach seeks to collect honey, beeswax, propolis and even pollen from the hive not so much to sell to others but as a way of being self sufficient in one's own home.
As a result of this smaller scale of beekeeping, a Homestead beekeeper is looking to minimize interaction with the colony beyond harvest. This doesn't mean the Homestead beekeeper doesn't inspect hives or take measures to help hives stay healthy. It just means the beekeeper is going about managing the bees differently from a high honey crop production approach.
I think we can see the interest in many newer beekeepers in looking for another approach to beekeeping that is outside of the conventional approach. A great interest in top bar beekeeping and other types of hives and methods has become obvious in beekeeping magazines, beekeeping club meetings and presentations and in other ways.
In future posts, I will elaborate on how I see Homestead Beekeeping as an alternative approach to beekeeping and how it can successfully be done.
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
What's In Your Spray Bottle?
I can tell you that in mine you'll find Honey-B-Healthy.
I "discovered" HBH about two years ago. At the time I was just wanting to try it out as a stimulant for Spring rearing by mixing it it with 1:1 sugar syrup.
At this point, I cannot see being a beekeeper without it. It helps with so much more than that.
Mind you, this is all circumstantial evidence, but hey, I believe what I see with my own eyes.
Here are things that I do with HBH that help my beekeeping;
1) Stimulate brood rearing as a feed additive.
2) Spray directly onto queens (usually HBH mixed with water or even not mixed at all) when they are introduced into a colony as a replacement. The bees just seemingly automatically and unquestioningly accept her even without spending time in a cage.
3) Mix with water to use instead of a smoker. This seems especially useful when dealing with swarms, cut outs and trap outs. Spray the bees a bit if they are flying a bit too much or they seem a little too grouchy. Takes most of the grouchy right outta them.
4) Spray onto frames or foundation to encourage bees to draw wax there. This seems to especially work well when used as a mix of 1:1 sugar syrup with HBH. I have been using leftover black plastic foundation that I noticed bees have been reluctant to draw out in the past. I had a need for the foundation recently and thought it might be interesting to see if the HBH would help that out any.
WOW, did itever! On average, I have found that bees will draw out frames sprayed with HBH almost completely within 5 days and often sooner.
I still use a smoker on hive inspections, but boy is that spray bottle with HBH handy for working with bees outside of a typical hive inspection scenario.
I "discovered" HBH about two years ago. At the time I was just wanting to try it out as a stimulant for Spring rearing by mixing it it with 1:1 sugar syrup.
At this point, I cannot see being a beekeeper without it. It helps with so much more than that.
Mind you, this is all circumstantial evidence, but hey, I believe what I see with my own eyes.
Here are things that I do with HBH that help my beekeeping;
1) Stimulate brood rearing as a feed additive.
2) Spray directly onto queens (usually HBH mixed with water or even not mixed at all) when they are introduced into a colony as a replacement. The bees just seemingly automatically and unquestioningly accept her even without spending time in a cage.
3) Mix with water to use instead of a smoker. This seems especially useful when dealing with swarms, cut outs and trap outs. Spray the bees a bit if they are flying a bit too much or they seem a little too grouchy. Takes most of the grouchy right outta them.
4) Spray onto frames or foundation to encourage bees to draw wax there. This seems to especially work well when used as a mix of 1:1 sugar syrup with HBH. I have been using leftover black plastic foundation that I noticed bees have been reluctant to draw out in the past. I had a need for the foundation recently and thought it might be interesting to see if the HBH would help that out any.
WOW, did itever! On average, I have found that bees will draw out frames sprayed with HBH almost completely within 5 days and often sooner.
I still use a smoker on hive inspections, but boy is that spray bottle with HBH handy for working with bees outside of a typical hive inspection scenario.
Sunday, June 8, 2014
Urban Beekeeping: Rule 1; Bee A Good Neighbor
With the increase in urban beekeeping one of the things I get asked about a lot as President of the Omaha Bee Club is "What is different between beekeeping in the city vs beekeeping in the country?"
Urban beekeeping is indeed increasing and it's exciting and full of potential. At the same time, it persents problems that don't exist or aren't pressented the same way in country beekeeping.
Urban beekeeping requires us to think more about our neighbors and the neighborhood we have our bees in. Country beekeepers might not have neighbors within a half mile to a mile or even further from them.
The first rule of urban beekeeping, I tell people, is to bee a good neighbor. This means, don't let your beekeeping become someone else's problem.
Make sure to provide a good water source for your bees so that they don't take over your neighbors swimming pools or bird baths.
Your bees will swarm. Plan on it. Try to prevent it if you feel you can or must and be prepared to set out strategically placed bait hives to hopefully catch any swarms that get away. Your neighbors might think it's cool and wonderful that you're keeping bees, but they don't want your swarms moving into their eaves, roofs, walls and sheds or garages.
Some people have an irrational or ignorant fear of bees. While the idea of a 6 foot tall, 250 pound construction worker being afraid of some little bees might amuse you or even annoy you, remember that in "normal" society, beekeepers are the weird people. Try to keep in mind that these people can be your greatest ally or they can be the biggest thorn in your side. Try to educate them on how your bees are pollinating their gardens, fruit trees and ornamental flowers. This gives them bigger and more fruits, vegetables and blooms. Maybe drop a small jar of honey on them once a year, let them get them hooked on the good stuff. Whatever you do, don't antagonize your neighbors (at least, not unnecessarily). You, whether you like it or not, are representing all other beekeepers, why make it harder for the rest of us?
Keep your bees happy. Now we as beekeepers know that some colonies are more grumpy than others, especially as people get closer to the hive. Keeping our bees more docile by not unnecessarily riling them up and paying attention to the bees environment by keeping certain predators like skunks, racoons and others away so as not to get them aggressive all the time. This will help in not having people complain that you have "mean" bees.
In times of dearth, when the temperatures and weather conditions keep flowers from blooming and not much is available in terms of forage, you can put out sugar syrup feeders (try to keep them more than 75 feet away from the hives to prevent robbing). By putting syrup out for them in your own yard, you can minimize how much they go out to investigate neighbors trash and picnics. Some beekeepers will use in hive frame feeders at these times to help keep bees in food stores during a dearth. Keep in mind that if you use outdoor feeder pails with sugar syrup during these times, you will likely get a lot of other visitors to the pails as well like Yellow Jackets and Wasps.
To be a happy urban beekeeper means keeping your neighbors happy or at least tolerant. You can go a long way by beeing a good neighbor.
Urban beekeeping is indeed increasing and it's exciting and full of potential. At the same time, it persents problems that don't exist or aren't pressented the same way in country beekeeping.
Urban beekeeping requires us to think more about our neighbors and the neighborhood we have our bees in. Country beekeepers might not have neighbors within a half mile to a mile or even further from them.
The first rule of urban beekeeping, I tell people, is to bee a good neighbor. This means, don't let your beekeeping become someone else's problem.
Make sure to provide a good water source for your bees so that they don't take over your neighbors swimming pools or bird baths.
Your bees will swarm. Plan on it. Try to prevent it if you feel you can or must and be prepared to set out strategically placed bait hives to hopefully catch any swarms that get away. Your neighbors might think it's cool and wonderful that you're keeping bees, but they don't want your swarms moving into their eaves, roofs, walls and sheds or garages.
Some people have an irrational or ignorant fear of bees. While the idea of a 6 foot tall, 250 pound construction worker being afraid of some little bees might amuse you or even annoy you, remember that in "normal" society, beekeepers are the weird people. Try to keep in mind that these people can be your greatest ally or they can be the biggest thorn in your side. Try to educate them on how your bees are pollinating their gardens, fruit trees and ornamental flowers. This gives them bigger and more fruits, vegetables and blooms. Maybe drop a small jar of honey on them once a year, let them get them hooked on the good stuff. Whatever you do, don't antagonize your neighbors (at least, not unnecessarily). You, whether you like it or not, are representing all other beekeepers, why make it harder for the rest of us?
Keep your bees happy. Now we as beekeepers know that some colonies are more grumpy than others, especially as people get closer to the hive. Keeping our bees more docile by not unnecessarily riling them up and paying attention to the bees environment by keeping certain predators like skunks, racoons and others away so as not to get them aggressive all the time. This will help in not having people complain that you have "mean" bees.
In times of dearth, when the temperatures and weather conditions keep flowers from blooming and not much is available in terms of forage, you can put out sugar syrup feeders (try to keep them more than 75 feet away from the hives to prevent robbing). By putting syrup out for them in your own yard, you can minimize how much they go out to investigate neighbors trash and picnics. Some beekeepers will use in hive frame feeders at these times to help keep bees in food stores during a dearth. Keep in mind that if you use outdoor feeder pails with sugar syrup during these times, you will likely get a lot of other visitors to the pails as well like Yellow Jackets and Wasps.
To be a happy urban beekeeper means keeping your neighbors happy or at least tolerant. You can go a long way by beeing a good neighbor.
Monday, June 2, 2014
Spring Management of my Modified Warre Style Hive
I've mentioned before that my hives are sorta, kinda Warre-ish types of hives.
I use 5 frame Lang boxes and frames. Custom built bottoms, tops and quilt boxes. I nadir all the boxes according to Warre's method and I only harvest the boxes above the bottom two in the stack as they are the brood and winter stores boxes. The entrances are about 3/8" high by 7 1/2" long at the bottom board.
I don't recall if I ever discussed this particular hive with you but I meant to (and I might have somewhere but I don't remember) and so I will recap it's beginning and then get to where things are now.
This hive started April 28th with a "Baby Nuc" or a 3 frame nuc with a queen which was "salvaged" from another colony that had been re-queened because the owner insisted on a new queen even though this queen was still doing just fine.
I started them in a single deep 5 frame box placing the 3 frames in the center of the hive in frame spaces 2, 3, and 4 with foundation-less frames on each side in spaces 1 and 5.
A second box was added to the stack underneath the first box (nadiring) one week later. That box had 1 frame with black plastic foundation in the center at frame space 3 with foundation-less frames surrounding it in spaces 1,2, 4, and 5. This is the "default" new box for every hive I run.
The two box stack was then moved to it's permanent location about three days after adding the second box and has been in place there, un-opened and un-inspected since then. Based on recent bee yard visits/external inspections I determined last week that the time was coming to add a third box to the stack based on activity at the entrance of the hive.
This week, today actually, the third box was added to the bottom of the stack with the same setup as described above. No smoke was used and the bees were not aggressive or feisty but did exhibit some defensive behavior which is to be expected. Of the two of us there, no one was stung.
Next week there will be a full inspection of the hive. Inspections are scheduled to occur at about every 4 weeks or once a month. The hive is visited weekly with observation and environmental checks to ascertain that the hive is not in need of immediate inspection.
The goal is to minimize intrusion in the nest and disrupting the inner environment such as nest scent and heat.
I'l post again after the inspection and go over how I do inspections and what I look for.
I use 5 frame Lang boxes and frames. Custom built bottoms, tops and quilt boxes. I nadir all the boxes according to Warre's method and I only harvest the boxes above the bottom two in the stack as they are the brood and winter stores boxes. The entrances are about 3/8" high by 7 1/2" long at the bottom board.
I don't recall if I ever discussed this particular hive with you but I meant to (and I might have somewhere but I don't remember) and so I will recap it's beginning and then get to where things are now.
This hive started April 28th with a "Baby Nuc" or a 3 frame nuc with a queen which was "salvaged" from another colony that had been re-queened because the owner insisted on a new queen even though this queen was still doing just fine.
I started them in a single deep 5 frame box placing the 3 frames in the center of the hive in frame spaces 2, 3, and 4 with foundation-less frames on each side in spaces 1 and 5.
A second box was added to the stack underneath the first box (nadiring) one week later. That box had 1 frame with black plastic foundation in the center at frame space 3 with foundation-less frames surrounding it in spaces 1,2, 4, and 5. This is the "default" new box for every hive I run.
The two box stack was then moved to it's permanent location about three days after adding the second box and has been in place there, un-opened and un-inspected since then. Based on recent bee yard visits/external inspections I determined last week that the time was coming to add a third box to the stack based on activity at the entrance of the hive.
This week, today actually, the third box was added to the bottom of the stack with the same setup as described above. No smoke was used and the bees were not aggressive or feisty but did exhibit some defensive behavior which is to be expected. Of the two of us there, no one was stung.
Next week there will be a full inspection of the hive. Inspections are scheduled to occur at about every 4 weeks or once a month. The hive is visited weekly with observation and environmental checks to ascertain that the hive is not in need of immediate inspection.
The goal is to minimize intrusion in the nest and disrupting the inner environment such as nest scent and heat.
I'l post again after the inspection and go over how I do inspections and what I look for.
Saturday, May 31, 2014
How Do People Treat Bees
There are two kinds of "treating" most folks associate with beekeeping. "Treating" such as a "treatment" for an issue or concern such as using Apistan or something to deal with a colony health or pest issue. Then there is "treating" as in, "I treat my bees like ranchers treat cattle".
I want to touch on the second type of treating here.
I hear the approach of treating and thinking of bees as a domesticated animal like cattle, sheep, pigs, etc... a lot. A domesticated animal cannot survive on it's own or is dramatically reduced in it's ability to survive on it's own outside of human care and management. The example often given is that if a domesticated animal were to "run away" from it's managed care and wander into a place where it had to survive on it's own, The odds are it would soon perish due to not being adapted to foraging, hunting, defending, for itself.
The equivalent of bees "running away" is what is called "absconding" where the colony decides that something is wrong or insufficient in the current hive and decide to relocate to another location to start over.
Everything they need to know how and be able to do, they can do. They do not need humans for food or shelter. They are not limited in continuing their existing away from us. The only things that limit them would limit them no matter where they made a home and those are primarily genetic traits that exited before they got to us.
Randy Oliver recently had an article in American Bee Journal talking about how bees bred by man for specific traits can be or should be considered domesticated. On one hand, I can see what he means by thinking of these bees bred to show very specific traits of docility, high brood and honey production as domesticated.
I think he is correct in thinking that bees specifically bred to such traits can use all the help they can get from beekeepers, they aren't exactly unable to swarm or abscond and potentially survive in feral conditions either. The odds of success are lowered but they are there enough to give them a higher chance than a cow or a sheep or another "domesticated" animal might ever have.
What I think is a problem is that many beekeepers only or primarily see bees as a commodity. Something to be bought or sold for profit. If they (the bees) aren't performing the way the beekeeper expects, the bees are seen as as liability and sold or even exterminated to reduce losses.
The primary view of these types of beekeepers is that the value of the bees is tied to those bees ability to produce and the investment the beekeeper has in them. These beekeepers seem more often to be willing to use chemical treatments inside a hive even if all the potential effects are unknown or possibly hazardous in order to preserve their investment.
A counter perspective would be to look at the bees as independent creatures who have certain needs in which a trade agreement is arragned.
I provide these creatures a hive to build their nest in and because I know they will over-produce with more space available, I take rent in the form of honey and wax. Never taking so much that I should leave them without enough for their needs. Maybe it could be better seen as working with a neighbor cooperatively in a garden. I have plenty of space available and they are the experienced honey maker who does the lions share of the labor to grow the garden. I step in to help with the harvest, taking some for me and making sure not to take from their stockpile.
We can look at bees as neighbors and like any human neighbor, most beekeepers have a "good neighbor" outlook that encourages us to help out our neighbors in times of need. We are more than glad to provide some sugar if they need it. Often we help our neighbors who have fallen on hard times or are afflicted by circumstances beyond their control such as dearth and drought, storms and disability.
The point is to be ready to help out these buzzing little neighbors without intruding or stepping on their integrity and self sufficiency. They know what they need and want, If they are of good stock, they will withstand most problems on their own with minimal assistance from their neighborly beekeeper.
How do we treat our bees? Do we treat them like property, having no independence beyond our intentions or do we see them as capable living creatures that we can share a cooperative existence with?
I want to touch on the second type of treating here.
I hear the approach of treating and thinking of bees as a domesticated animal like cattle, sheep, pigs, etc... a lot. A domesticated animal cannot survive on it's own or is dramatically reduced in it's ability to survive on it's own outside of human care and management. The example often given is that if a domesticated animal were to "run away" from it's managed care and wander into a place where it had to survive on it's own, The odds are it would soon perish due to not being adapted to foraging, hunting, defending, for itself.
The equivalent of bees "running away" is what is called "absconding" where the colony decides that something is wrong or insufficient in the current hive and decide to relocate to another location to start over.
Everything they need to know how and be able to do, they can do. They do not need humans for food or shelter. They are not limited in continuing their existing away from us. The only things that limit them would limit them no matter where they made a home and those are primarily genetic traits that exited before they got to us.
Randy Oliver recently had an article in American Bee Journal talking about how bees bred by man for specific traits can be or should be considered domesticated. On one hand, I can see what he means by thinking of these bees bred to show very specific traits of docility, high brood and honey production as domesticated.
I think he is correct in thinking that bees specifically bred to such traits can use all the help they can get from beekeepers, they aren't exactly unable to swarm or abscond and potentially survive in feral conditions either. The odds of success are lowered but they are there enough to give them a higher chance than a cow or a sheep or another "domesticated" animal might ever have.
What I think is a problem is that many beekeepers only or primarily see bees as a commodity. Something to be bought or sold for profit. If they (the bees) aren't performing the way the beekeeper expects, the bees are seen as as liability and sold or even exterminated to reduce losses.
The primary view of these types of beekeepers is that the value of the bees is tied to those bees ability to produce and the investment the beekeeper has in them. These beekeepers seem more often to be willing to use chemical treatments inside a hive even if all the potential effects are unknown or possibly hazardous in order to preserve their investment.
A counter perspective would be to look at the bees as independent creatures who have certain needs in which a trade agreement is arragned.
I provide these creatures a hive to build their nest in and because I know they will over-produce with more space available, I take rent in the form of honey and wax. Never taking so much that I should leave them without enough for their needs. Maybe it could be better seen as working with a neighbor cooperatively in a garden. I have plenty of space available and they are the experienced honey maker who does the lions share of the labor to grow the garden. I step in to help with the harvest, taking some for me and making sure not to take from their stockpile.
We can look at bees as neighbors and like any human neighbor, most beekeepers have a "good neighbor" outlook that encourages us to help out our neighbors in times of need. We are more than glad to provide some sugar if they need it. Often we help our neighbors who have fallen on hard times or are afflicted by circumstances beyond their control such as dearth and drought, storms and disability.
The point is to be ready to help out these buzzing little neighbors without intruding or stepping on their integrity and self sufficiency. They know what they need and want, If they are of good stock, they will withstand most problems on their own with minimal assistance from their neighborly beekeeper.
How do we treat our bees? Do we treat them like property, having no independence beyond our intentions or do we see them as capable living creatures that we can share a cooperative existence with?
Thursday, May 29, 2014
Bee Scientifically
Let's look up the definition of "Science" first, shall we? According to a Google search, the first result is this...
Depending on the type of scientist you describe, Merriam Webster says a scientist is essentially someone learned in science or a scientific investigator.
The ideal scientist is someone who is objective, they keep their mind open and flexible. They understand that science is ongoing and ever changing because the tools, technology and methods are always improving. Technology advances provide new evidence that couldn't be observed or measured before. A scientist is someone who recognizes that science is never settled, it is always subject to change because of technology and new evidence.
My site here and others I have respect for all deal with scientific beekeeping.
Scientific is defined as...
Ultimately, science is boiled down to the practice and pursuit of the scientific method.
A scientist is one who uses the scientific method to further knowledge of the world around them.
Yes, there are many scientists who are trained in a particular field of study and consequently are paid to pursue those studies on behalf of a company or university.
There are a lot of people who love to leave people thinking that a scientist is someone who gets paid to pursue a scientific study and possesses one or more academic degrees to validate that position.
I don't knock anyone who dedicates themselves to a field of scientific study and then is able to do that work for a living. I think it is admirable and it takes a lot of dedication and self discipline to accomplish such a task.
By the same token, I say that that person is not the only person who can truthfully be called a scientist. Money and the collection of academic degrees does not define the scientist.
In fact, many of the world's most noted scientific discoveries came not from educated scholars (though a great many have) but from laymen and those in religious orders who were inventors and observers of the natural world. People who wanted answers to the questions of "Why?" and "How?".
In fact, many of the most well known bee researchers and bee scientists were the latter types. Take Emile Warre was an Abbe ( a member of an Abbe or Monastory.), Lorenzo Langstroth was a Reverend. Huber was a noted theologian and Brother Adam a monk. Many and varied are the farmers, laymen and entrepreneurs who dedicated something of great value to the ongoing pursuit of knowledge of the honeybee.
Science today, in these modern times, can be quite contestable. What is released to the public with great fanfare one day, is refuted sometimes within days or weeks later after peer review of the methods and conditions said scientist used to reach their conclusions.
A great example of this is the recent and notable researcher, Dr. Lu, who had his work first praised in the mainstream media only to have his work turned on it's head by others in the bee research field who found egregious flaws in his methods and experimentation. Randy Oliver, another noted and respected bee researcher took this study to task and received quite a bit of negative attention because the topic is political hot potato involving crusading political activists, lethargic government entities and mutli-national corporations who stand to gain or lose billions of dollars by whether the research ultimately supports their claims or goes against them.
Professional scientists have to be accountable for the work they are paid to do. Their work is often the basis for industrialist corporations, governments and highly regarded universities to profit or gain from. They are under a lot of stress and pressure to come up with something that makes their employers or financiers look good. Professional scientists are only human after all. Despite the tendency of people wanting to elevate those in prestigious positions to a pedestal, professional scientists are fallible to the 7 deadly human sins as any person is.
They are susceptible to greed,sloth, lust, gluttony, wrath, envy and pride. A professional scientist is no better a person than an amateur scientist. They have access to money and better tools and equipment which enables them to do much more than many amateurs, but as a person, those things do nothing to distinguish them apart.
Ultimately, a scientist is a person. A person with all the traits, capabilities and vulnerabilities any person might have.
Science itself is a process of discovery. Observations are made, hypothesis are formed, tested and often are disproved. In this process, short amounts of time may pass or extremely long amounts of time may pass before new observations are made and new evidence is found. Sometimes this new evidence throws out what had bee thought long standing "proven" science and sometimes it upholds and confirms what was once thought to be something fantastic and out of left field.
One thing science never is is "settled". It may lay dormant for a great many years, growing fat on the beliefs of many who believe it to be the last word on a subject. It may never see the light of day longer than is needed to harpoon it immediately and send it to the depths of disproof.
Any scientist, professional or amateur who resists being questioned, their methods or their ideas, has lost sight of what science truly is and instead might be seen as a person who has become more concerned by the title of "scientist" and what it brings to them.
I would like to encourage all beekeepers, especially hobbyists, to be scientific beekeepers.
Educate yourself thoroughly about bee biology and behavior.
Observe and document as much as you can for each hive you keep.
Remember each colony is a little different, your actions with each hive might differ from the one next to it.
Don't be afraid to hypothesize about the health and needs of each hive. There are tests to determine if what you think is happening actually is.
The more you know, the better you bee.
the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment.According to Google, a scientist is this...
a person who is studying or has expert knowledge of one or more of the natural or physical sciences.
Depending on the type of scientist you describe, Merriam Webster says a scientist is essentially someone learned in science or a scientific investigator.
The ideal scientist is someone who is objective, they keep their mind open and flexible. They understand that science is ongoing and ever changing because the tools, technology and methods are always improving. Technology advances provide new evidence that couldn't be observed or measured before. A scientist is someone who recognizes that science is never settled, it is always subject to change because of technology and new evidence.
My site here and others I have respect for all deal with scientific beekeeping.
Scientific is defined as...
based on or characterized by the methods and principles of science.
Ultimately, science is boiled down to the practice and pursuit of the scientific method.
principles and procedures for the systematic pursuit of knowledge involving the recognition and formulation of a problem, the collection of data through observation and experiment, and the formulation and testing of hypotheses
A scientist is one who uses the scientific method to further knowledge of the world around them.
Yes, there are many scientists who are trained in a particular field of study and consequently are paid to pursue those studies on behalf of a company or university.
There are a lot of people who love to leave people thinking that a scientist is someone who gets paid to pursue a scientific study and possesses one or more academic degrees to validate that position.
I don't knock anyone who dedicates themselves to a field of scientific study and then is able to do that work for a living. I think it is admirable and it takes a lot of dedication and self discipline to accomplish such a task.
By the same token, I say that that person is not the only person who can truthfully be called a scientist. Money and the collection of academic degrees does not define the scientist.
In fact, many of the world's most noted scientific discoveries came not from educated scholars (though a great many have) but from laymen and those in religious orders who were inventors and observers of the natural world. People who wanted answers to the questions of "Why?" and "How?".
In fact, many of the most well known bee researchers and bee scientists were the latter types. Take Emile Warre was an Abbe ( a member of an Abbe or Monastory.), Lorenzo Langstroth was a Reverend. Huber was a noted theologian and Brother Adam a monk. Many and varied are the farmers, laymen and entrepreneurs who dedicated something of great value to the ongoing pursuit of knowledge of the honeybee.
Science today, in these modern times, can be quite contestable. What is released to the public with great fanfare one day, is refuted sometimes within days or weeks later after peer review of the methods and conditions said scientist used to reach their conclusions.
A great example of this is the recent and notable researcher, Dr. Lu, who had his work first praised in the mainstream media only to have his work turned on it's head by others in the bee research field who found egregious flaws in his methods and experimentation. Randy Oliver, another noted and respected bee researcher took this study to task and received quite a bit of negative attention because the topic is political hot potato involving crusading political activists, lethargic government entities and mutli-national corporations who stand to gain or lose billions of dollars by whether the research ultimately supports their claims or goes against them.
Professional scientists have to be accountable for the work they are paid to do. Their work is often the basis for industrialist corporations, governments and highly regarded universities to profit or gain from. They are under a lot of stress and pressure to come up with something that makes their employers or financiers look good. Professional scientists are only human after all. Despite the tendency of people wanting to elevate those in prestigious positions to a pedestal, professional scientists are fallible to the 7 deadly human sins as any person is.
They are susceptible to greed,sloth, lust, gluttony, wrath, envy and pride. A professional scientist is no better a person than an amateur scientist. They have access to money and better tools and equipment which enables them to do much more than many amateurs, but as a person, those things do nothing to distinguish them apart.
Ultimately, a scientist is a person. A person with all the traits, capabilities and vulnerabilities any person might have.
Science itself is a process of discovery. Observations are made, hypothesis are formed, tested and often are disproved. In this process, short amounts of time may pass or extremely long amounts of time may pass before new observations are made and new evidence is found. Sometimes this new evidence throws out what had bee thought long standing "proven" science and sometimes it upholds and confirms what was once thought to be something fantastic and out of left field.
One thing science never is is "settled". It may lay dormant for a great many years, growing fat on the beliefs of many who believe it to be the last word on a subject. It may never see the light of day longer than is needed to harpoon it immediately and send it to the depths of disproof.
Any scientist, professional or amateur who resists being questioned, their methods or their ideas, has lost sight of what science truly is and instead might be seen as a person who has become more concerned by the title of "scientist" and what it brings to them.
I would like to encourage all beekeepers, especially hobbyists, to be scientific beekeepers.
Educate yourself thoroughly about bee biology and behavior.
Observe and document as much as you can for each hive you keep.
Remember each colony is a little different, your actions with each hive might differ from the one next to it.
Don't be afraid to hypothesize about the health and needs of each hive. There are tests to determine if what you think is happening actually is.
The more you know, the better you bee.
Thursday, May 22, 2014
Some tips for working with the Owen's Bee Vacuum
I do my fair share of cut outs and swarm captures. For the last 3 years, I have used the Owen's Bee Vac to help get those tasks done.
Overall, I like this vacuum. It's basically a 5 gallon pail with a vacuum placed into the lid and a pail shaped cage that fits inside.
Tip #1: Suction
This is actually a powerful vacuum for the job of getting bees. Take a look at the upper photo of the bee vac. There is a honey gate located at the top of the pail that is screened. This is the suction control. The more you close that gate, the greater the suction power. The more open you leave the gate, the lower the suction power.
I ALWAYS begin vacuuming bees with the suction control all the way open. If the bees are on a surface that allows them to cling more, then very slightly close the suction control. If the suction is too much, you will have bee butter inside the cage. If you want to keep bees alive, use the lowest suction power that gets the bees while not hurting them.
I can't stress enough how important it is to make sure to begin vacuuming with the suction control all the way open and to only close it as little as necessary to get the bees off of the comb or branch, etc.
Tip 2: Cage door
Notice the picture of the cage that fits inside the vacuum pail. There is a piece of wood on a spring hinge that opens to the top of the cage which will snap shut when you pull the hose insert out when it's time to remove the cage.
I found in my own use that the door spring opens upward but is so long that if you don't have the hose end inserted all the way, it will block bees coming into the cage. I have two cages and I switched things so that the door opens toward the bottom. This leaves the upper part of the cage totally unblocked. The tube end of the hose that gets inserted into the cage has a notch cut into it that I make sure points up to the top of the cage. That is the direction incoming bees will encounter the least obstruction, thus less chance of being turned into bee butter.
Tip 3: The Hose
Notice the hose is ribbed and has a crevice attachment on the end. The inside of the hose can get very dirty from debris that gets suctioned up with the bees, especially from a cutout.
Something else to keep in mind is that if for any reason you stop vacuuming to take a break or let them re-group a bit to get better results, you need to use something to stop up the end of the hose. The bees can and will get out of the cage via the open hose when the suction power is off if the hose end is not covered. I use a piece of vinyl window screen wrapped around the hose end with a rubber band.
Make sure to get a firm grip on the tube end of the hose as you pull it out. It doesn't seem to be glued to the hose end and sometimes the hose will pull out leaving the tube end still in the side of the pail and cage. This results in bees from the cage being able to escape en masse.
Tip 4: The Pail
The pail is plastic. Plastic pails sweat with heat. The accumulation of bees into the cage inside the pail gets very warm, very fast. You don't want to keep bees inside the pail any longer than absolutely necessary or it can kill the bees inside.
Tip 5: Removing the cage with bees
When you are ready to remove the cage from the vac, you need to remove the hose tube from the side first. In my experience, it is best to keep the vac running when you remove the hose. Tap the vac on the ground in the opposite direction of the hose side so bees fall away from opening and pull the tube out, snapping the wooden door shut with no bees escaping.
Overall, I like this vacuum. It's basically a 5 gallon pail with a vacuum placed into the lid and a pail shaped cage that fits inside.
Tip #1: Suction
This is actually a powerful vacuum for the job of getting bees. Take a look at the upper photo of the bee vac. There is a honey gate located at the top of the pail that is screened. This is the suction control. The more you close that gate, the greater the suction power. The more open you leave the gate, the lower the suction power.
I ALWAYS begin vacuuming bees with the suction control all the way open. If the bees are on a surface that allows them to cling more, then very slightly close the suction control. If the suction is too much, you will have bee butter inside the cage. If you want to keep bees alive, use the lowest suction power that gets the bees while not hurting them.
I can't stress enough how important it is to make sure to begin vacuuming with the suction control all the way open and to only close it as little as necessary to get the bees off of the comb or branch, etc.
Tip 2: Cage door
Notice the picture of the cage that fits inside the vacuum pail. There is a piece of wood on a spring hinge that opens to the top of the cage which will snap shut when you pull the hose insert out when it's time to remove the cage.
I found in my own use that the door spring opens upward but is so long that if you don't have the hose end inserted all the way, it will block bees coming into the cage. I have two cages and I switched things so that the door opens toward the bottom. This leaves the upper part of the cage totally unblocked. The tube end of the hose that gets inserted into the cage has a notch cut into it that I make sure points up to the top of the cage. That is the direction incoming bees will encounter the least obstruction, thus less chance of being turned into bee butter.
Tip 3: The Hose
Notice the hose is ribbed and has a crevice attachment on the end. The inside of the hose can get very dirty from debris that gets suctioned up with the bees, especially from a cutout.
Something else to keep in mind is that if for any reason you stop vacuuming to take a break or let them re-group a bit to get better results, you need to use something to stop up the end of the hose. The bees can and will get out of the cage via the open hose when the suction power is off if the hose end is not covered. I use a piece of vinyl window screen wrapped around the hose end with a rubber band.
Make sure to get a firm grip on the tube end of the hose as you pull it out. It doesn't seem to be glued to the hose end and sometimes the hose will pull out leaving the tube end still in the side of the pail and cage. This results in bees from the cage being able to escape en masse.
Tip 4: The Pail
The pail is plastic. Plastic pails sweat with heat. The accumulation of bees into the cage inside the pail gets very warm, very fast. You don't want to keep bees inside the pail any longer than absolutely necessary or it can kill the bees inside.
Tip 5: Removing the cage with bees
When you are ready to remove the cage from the vac, you need to remove the hose tube from the side first. In my experience, it is best to keep the vac running when you remove the hose. Tap the vac on the ground in the opposite direction of the hose side so bees fall away from opening and pull the tube out, snapping the wooden door shut with no bees escaping.
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
How you manage your bees should tell you how to get your bees
I try to keep up with new information regarding bees and beekeeping as much as I can. The media is agog with news of pesticides and CCD. The social media activists are focused pretty heavily on pesticides as well.
Two articles recently caught my attention, One of them in Bee Culture magazine and the other in the American Bee Journal. Randy Oliver wrote the piece in ABJ and I'll start with that one. I'll cover the other one in another post.
First off, I want to say that I have a lot of respect for Randy and what he does. More often than not, I agree with him.In the May issue of ABJ, he wrote about something I can't say I found anything to disagree with at all, The article is about how beekeepers go about managing bees as "No Treatment" or "Low Treatment".
Now, admitting I am part of the "No/Low Treatment" crowd, I find it interesting how it has become such a buzz word in beekeeping (Get it? "Buzz word", "Beekeeping". That's funny stuff right there) so as to often polarize discussion among many groups of beekeepers. I notice that modern beekeeping is full of "buzz" words anymore.
Randy made a great point about how beekeepers make a mistake of expecting bees that have been bred to one group of behaviors to another group of behaviors instantly (seemingly).
For the most part, bees that are commercially sold as nucs and packages by commercial operators are bred for two primary behaviors. Those being high populations and high honey production. They are a result of their genetics and breeding. To expect those bees to adopt new priorities in terms of behaviors in one season is not realistic. He is also right though, that many beekeepers try it anyway.
I apply a different label to myself. I call myself a "conservation" beekeeper. To me, this means that I don't purchase bees. I catch swarms, set out bait hives in the Spring, I do trap-outs and cut-outs to keep bees alive that otherwise might be killed by homeowners and exterminators for having chosen the wrong place to call home.
These are almost always bees that have successfully over-Wintered in an un-managed environment. These are bees whose breeding has adapted or is adapting to their local environment via Natural Selection. Weak colonies die removing unsuccessful genetics and behaviors out of the local gene pool. I want these genetics.
Over literally millions upon millions of years, bees have made honey, I am not worried about buying bees bred to maximize honey production. They are going to make honey whether I want them to or not.
Bees raise brood. They always have. Colonies that don't raise enough brood are often, in feral conditions, Naturally Selected to be removed from the gene pool in their local environment. I, as beekeeper, can also make an impact on how successful a given colony is in terms of population by the type of hive I place them in and how I manage that hive.
I agree with Randy in that the so called Natural" beekeeper is setting up commercially bred and sold bees for failure because they are bred to succeed in a highly managed environment. If you don't want to insert yourself into the goings on in the hive then you need to start with bees who are bred to succeed without such heavy management.
Personally, I think that commercially packaged and nuc'ed bees should really only be used by commercial operators. The folks that do commercial pollinating, large scale honey production, etc...
Local hobbyists really should stick to locally raised bees and be more well versed in catching swarms and doing trap-outs and splits. The self described "Natural" beekeeper has no business purchasing commercially packed and sold bees at all.
That's just my two cent on the issue anyway.
Two articles recently caught my attention, One of them in Bee Culture magazine and the other in the American Bee Journal. Randy Oliver wrote the piece in ABJ and I'll start with that one. I'll cover the other one in another post.
First off, I want to say that I have a lot of respect for Randy and what he does. More often than not, I agree with him.In the May issue of ABJ, he wrote about something I can't say I found anything to disagree with at all, The article is about how beekeepers go about managing bees as "No Treatment" or "Low Treatment".
Now, admitting I am part of the "No/Low Treatment" crowd, I find it interesting how it has become such a buzz word in beekeeping (Get it? "Buzz word", "Beekeeping". That's funny stuff right there) so as to often polarize discussion among many groups of beekeepers. I notice that modern beekeeping is full of "buzz" words anymore.
Randy made a great point about how beekeepers make a mistake of expecting bees that have been bred to one group of behaviors to another group of behaviors instantly (seemingly).
For the most part, bees that are commercially sold as nucs and packages by commercial operators are bred for two primary behaviors. Those being high populations and high honey production. They are a result of their genetics and breeding. To expect those bees to adopt new priorities in terms of behaviors in one season is not realistic. He is also right though, that many beekeepers try it anyway.
I apply a different label to myself. I call myself a "conservation" beekeeper. To me, this means that I don't purchase bees. I catch swarms, set out bait hives in the Spring, I do trap-outs and cut-outs to keep bees alive that otherwise might be killed by homeowners and exterminators for having chosen the wrong place to call home.
These are almost always bees that have successfully over-Wintered in an un-managed environment. These are bees whose breeding has adapted or is adapting to their local environment via Natural Selection. Weak colonies die removing unsuccessful genetics and behaviors out of the local gene pool. I want these genetics.
Over literally millions upon millions of years, bees have made honey, I am not worried about buying bees bred to maximize honey production. They are going to make honey whether I want them to or not.
Bees raise brood. They always have. Colonies that don't raise enough brood are often, in feral conditions, Naturally Selected to be removed from the gene pool in their local environment. I, as beekeeper, can also make an impact on how successful a given colony is in terms of population by the type of hive I place them in and how I manage that hive.
I agree with Randy in that the so called Natural" beekeeper is setting up commercially bred and sold bees for failure because they are bred to succeed in a highly managed environment. If you don't want to insert yourself into the goings on in the hive then you need to start with bees who are bred to succeed without such heavy management.
Personally, I think that commercially packaged and nuc'ed bees should really only be used by commercial operators. The folks that do commercial pollinating, large scale honey production, etc...
Local hobbyists really should stick to locally raised bees and be more well versed in catching swarms and doing trap-outs and splits. The self described "Natural" beekeeper has no business purchasing commercially packed and sold bees at all.
That's just my two cent on the issue anyway.
Saturday, May 17, 2014
Setting up an easy trapout
Got going before the bees on this cool May morning to set up a trapout.
This one is nice and low, easy to get to.
Next we close off the entrance with a screen and a funnel and set the hive box in place with the entrance near to the tree hole.
This one is nice and low, easy to get to.
 |
| Here's where our girls have made there home. |
 |
| Kind of blurry but we get a little bit of a view inside the nest. |
 | ||||
| A little bigger picture of the tree. |
Next we close off the entrance with a screen and a funnel and set the hive box in place with the entrance near to the tree hole.
 |
| Used a strap to hold the hive box on the tree. |
 |
| The hive box entrance is right next to the hive tree entrance. |
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Warre and the People's Hive
I get a lot of calls lately from people who want to get help with beekeeping and they want to use the "Warre Hive".
First of all, I tell them, it's the "People's Hive", Abbe Emile Warre is the man who created the hive and the management method for it. As a matter of fact, he wrote a book detailing the making of the hive, how to manage it and the background of how he got to that point.
There are getting to be more vendors online who are building the People's Hive and selling them. They pitch the hive as a minimum maintenance hive that a beekeeper doesn't have to do a lot with except to add boxes to the bottom and harvest honey in late Summer.
I have to say, I have become disgruntled with some of these vendors for being misleading to these new beekeepers and not giving them all the information.
My first advice is if they are going to sell people this hive, then they should include a copy of Warre's book, "Beekeeping For All" as mandatory reading.
Another piece of advice I have is that beekeepers need to keep in mind that Warre made his hive, kept bees and wrote his book at a time and place where many modern beekeeping problems did not exist. He did not have to contend with CCD, Varroa mites, Small Hive Beetle, and many other problems that we face now.
The need to be able to inspect a hive at will is much more important than in his time, even though I agree with his rationale for minimal intrusion into the nest. This isn't to say that one necessarily must inspect the hives very frequently, but that the hive should be able to be inspected easily if the need arises. This means having more of a focus on frames and straight comb rather than the cross-comb top-bars that he prefers.
A beekeeper using the People's Hive MUST gain a knowledge of bee behavior and biology much sooner than the typical new conventional beekeeper will. Also, while I always recommend that people learn to "inspect" a hive by what is going on outside the hive and at the entrance, the People's Hive beekeeper also really, really should become familiar with those skills more immediately if they are going to be successful. I suggest reading Storch's book "At The Hive Entrance" which gives invaluable information to learning exactly those skills.
The ability to gauge what is going on in a hive by external observation will go a long way to minimizing unnecessary, intrusive inspections and preserving the nest environment.
Another thing I suggest to these new "Warre" style beekeepers is to understand the difference between a "hive" and a "nest". A "nest" is the wax comb that the bees live in. They store food in it and the queen lays eggs and they raise their brood in it. A "hive" is the physical container or void space that the bees build their nest in. To make the best use of and have understanding of Emile Warre's methodology, it is helpful to bear this in mind.
Can a new beekeeper use a People's Hive from the start? I would say the answer is yes with a single caveat, that the beekeeper read Warre's book first.
First of all, I tell them, it's the "People's Hive", Abbe Emile Warre is the man who created the hive and the management method for it. As a matter of fact, he wrote a book detailing the making of the hive, how to manage it and the background of how he got to that point.
There are getting to be more vendors online who are building the People's Hive and selling them. They pitch the hive as a minimum maintenance hive that a beekeeper doesn't have to do a lot with except to add boxes to the bottom and harvest honey in late Summer.
I have to say, I have become disgruntled with some of these vendors for being misleading to these new beekeepers and not giving them all the information.
My first advice is if they are going to sell people this hive, then they should include a copy of Warre's book, "Beekeeping For All" as mandatory reading.
Another piece of advice I have is that beekeepers need to keep in mind that Warre made his hive, kept bees and wrote his book at a time and place where many modern beekeeping problems did not exist. He did not have to contend with CCD, Varroa mites, Small Hive Beetle, and many other problems that we face now.
The need to be able to inspect a hive at will is much more important than in his time, even though I agree with his rationale for minimal intrusion into the nest. This isn't to say that one necessarily must inspect the hives very frequently, but that the hive should be able to be inspected easily if the need arises. This means having more of a focus on frames and straight comb rather than the cross-comb top-bars that he prefers.
A beekeeper using the People's Hive MUST gain a knowledge of bee behavior and biology much sooner than the typical new conventional beekeeper will. Also, while I always recommend that people learn to "inspect" a hive by what is going on outside the hive and at the entrance, the People's Hive beekeeper also really, really should become familiar with those skills more immediately if they are going to be successful. I suggest reading Storch's book "At The Hive Entrance" which gives invaluable information to learning exactly those skills.
The ability to gauge what is going on in a hive by external observation will go a long way to minimizing unnecessary, intrusive inspections and preserving the nest environment.
Another thing I suggest to these new "Warre" style beekeepers is to understand the difference between a "hive" and a "nest". A "nest" is the wax comb that the bees live in. They store food in it and the queen lays eggs and they raise their brood in it. A "hive" is the physical container or void space that the bees build their nest in. To make the best use of and have understanding of Emile Warre's methodology, it is helpful to bear this in mind.
Can a new beekeeper use a People's Hive from the start? I would say the answer is yes with a single caveat, that the beekeeper read Warre's book first.
Thursday, May 8, 2014
How do I plan for each hive?
Some beekeepers plan ahead how they will set up and work their hives. I am one of those. Sometimes things don't go according to those plans, but the effort is made.
When I first install bees into a hive, based on the type of hive I place them into, I create an inspection plan for each hive. For example, I will usually plan to inspect one of my Modified Warre hives about once every four weeks. However, I will set horizontal top bar hives to be inspected about every two weeks.
HTBH's require more attention to comb drawing and growth management, especially at the beginning. The MW's are meant to be left to their own devices as much as possible especially since the management plan calls for giving them most of what they need to succeed from the beginning.
Now, I might have anywhere from 1 to 6 hives in a given location. If I inspect the MW's about once every four weeks, I will only inspect maybe one or two each week, moving to the next one the following week. Yes, I do visit each of my bee yards once a week, checking a different hive each time, cycling back to the first one(s) on that 4 week schedule.
Of course, just because I only open the hive about once every four weeks doesn't mean I am not paying attention to them in the meantime. At every bee yard visit, I observe each hive for entrance activity and other environmental indicators such as odor and signs of pests and predators. If something indicates a problem, I may very well open that hive to inspect further.
Now I will say that I don't really consider adding a new box to the stack one of my MW's to count as opening the hive because I nadir the boxes. I add all new boxes to the bottom of the stack. The heat and nest scent are mostly retained in the upper boxes as they are lifted up to make room for the new box(es) being added to the bottom of that stack. No harm, no foul.
During the Spring especially, I might add a new box every week to a given hive because the bees in that hive are drawing comb like champs and need the extra room to expand the nest. Once the heat of Summer really kicks in and the bees stop drawing comb on a rapid scale, then no more boxes are added to the stack for the remainder of the season.
Somewhere between the third week of July and the end of August, I begin to harvest the upper boxes of the MW's as they fill up. By the end of August, the bees should be down to maybe 2 or 3 boxes on the stack. Two boxes is what they will overwinter in as they backfill the top box of the two with winter stores.
Do you plan your bee yard visits and inspections? Do you find it makes a difference in your beekeeping if you do compared to if you don't?
When I first install bees into a hive, based on the type of hive I place them into, I create an inspection plan for each hive. For example, I will usually plan to inspect one of my Modified Warre hives about once every four weeks. However, I will set horizontal top bar hives to be inspected about every two weeks.
HTBH's require more attention to comb drawing and growth management, especially at the beginning. The MW's are meant to be left to their own devices as much as possible especially since the management plan calls for giving them most of what they need to succeed from the beginning.
Now, I might have anywhere from 1 to 6 hives in a given location. If I inspect the MW's about once every four weeks, I will only inspect maybe one or two each week, moving to the next one the following week. Yes, I do visit each of my bee yards once a week, checking a different hive each time, cycling back to the first one(s) on that 4 week schedule.
Of course, just because I only open the hive about once every four weeks doesn't mean I am not paying attention to them in the meantime. At every bee yard visit, I observe each hive for entrance activity and other environmental indicators such as odor and signs of pests and predators. If something indicates a problem, I may very well open that hive to inspect further.
Now I will say that I don't really consider adding a new box to the stack one of my MW's to count as opening the hive because I nadir the boxes. I add all new boxes to the bottom of the stack. The heat and nest scent are mostly retained in the upper boxes as they are lifted up to make room for the new box(es) being added to the bottom of that stack. No harm, no foul.
During the Spring especially, I might add a new box every week to a given hive because the bees in that hive are drawing comb like champs and need the extra room to expand the nest. Once the heat of Summer really kicks in and the bees stop drawing comb on a rapid scale, then no more boxes are added to the stack for the remainder of the season.
Somewhere between the third week of July and the end of August, I begin to harvest the upper boxes of the MW's as they fill up. By the end of August, the bees should be down to maybe 2 or 3 boxes on the stack. Two boxes is what they will overwinter in as they backfill the top box of the two with winter stores.
Do you plan your bee yard visits and inspections? Do you find it makes a difference in your beekeeping if you do compared to if you don't?
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
A tour of the type of hive I use
I use all 5 frame hive boxes. I will let the stack get up to 5 boxes high. I use the Warre method predominately to manage the hives I run.
This is one of my hives in action. You might notice the hanging water pail in the background. This is how all my hives begin the Spring, a two box stack with a quilt box and an simple lid.
You can see ( I hope) the bottom board has 3/8" risers giving them a 3/8"x 7.5" entrance. Very easy to defend, even for a small colony.
Next is a more up-close photo of a box.
We see here that it is a 5 frame nuc box using deep frames. Notice that the end board is sandwiched between the side boards as I mentioned in one of the last articles.
This next picture shows the type of simple top I make for these hives.
Just a board cut to the dimensions of a box with blocks added on each side to keep it from easily coming off in the wind.
Next up is the quilt box.
The quilt box is largely in place for ventilation and absorbing excess humidity from the hive. As the heat and moist air rises in the hive, it passes up into the quilt box which is normally filled with wood shavings keeping the hive itself drier and allows the bees to have some bit of control of the ventilation in the hive as they close the holes with propolis or remove propolis.
Inside the boxes are five deep frames. The center is what I refer to as the "key" comb and has a sheet of foundation in it hopefully giving the bees a guide to draw the other, foundation-less, frames by.
This is a sheet of black plastic foundation as the "Key" comb in frame position 3.
Also in the boxes are 4 foundation-less frames. These are in frame positions 1, 2, 4 and 5.
Notice the comb guides placed in the underside of the top bar. This is the strip of wood that is normally in place there on frames that are referred to as "wedge" top. The guide is most exposed on the side of the top bar where the wedge used to be.
I have made what I consider to be an important observation about the placement of these frames in that the exposed guides should be placed facing the center "Key" comb. The bees seem to draw the new comb straighter than if the "wedge" side of the frame faces the center.
That's pretty much it. It's a simple hive. The inner dimensions are very similar in size to a "typical" void that bees choose in a tree in terms of total size as well as volume. This is an important consideration in the Warre approach to bee hives as he believed, and I agree, that bees need a space that is more easily maintained by them without being too confining or to spacious to properly maintain.
Boxes are added by "nadiring" them instead of "supering" them. That means adding boxes to the bottom of the stack instead of the top. This is to emulate the "natural" process of bees building a nest in a tree void in which they start drawing comb from the top of the void and as they draw and expand the comb downward, the broodnest is moved downward as well into the newer comb while the older comb above is back-filled with honey stores.
Another benefit the Warre method sees in "nadiring" is that by adding additional boxes to the bottom of the stack, the hive top is removed less often thus retaining natural nest heat and nest scent. This in turn seems to not disrupt the bees behavior and upsets them less than removing the top to add boxes and losing the heat and scent so important in honey bee society.
All the boxes need to be added by the end of Spring for the most part so that they can draw the combs out on each frame while the weather and available resources allow for them to draw comb freely. After roughly the end of June, the weather is hotter and forage resources tend to become more sparse causing the bees to tend to abandon drawing new comb in favor of storing that precious nectar for honey stores instead. I find myself with usually about 5 boxes in the stack by the end of comb drawing time.
At harvest time, roughly the end of July or even August, depending on weather and available resources, a five frame stack such as I mentioned will yield 3 boxes of honey from the top of the stack. The two remaining boxes are left to the bees to overwinter in as they backfill the upper box for their winter stores. That's the idea anyway.
Having 3 boxes gives a yield, on average, of about 35 to 45 pounds of honey per box with a total average yield of about 120 pounds per hive in good years.
I hope this gives folks a better idea of how I go about my beekeeping.
Enjoy your bees.
This is one of my hives in action. You might notice the hanging water pail in the background. This is how all my hives begin the Spring, a two box stack with a quilt box and an simple lid.
You can see ( I hope) the bottom board has 3/8" risers giving them a 3/8"x 7.5" entrance. Very easy to defend, even for a small colony.
Next is a more up-close photo of a box.
We see here that it is a 5 frame nuc box using deep frames. Notice that the end board is sandwiched between the side boards as I mentioned in one of the last articles.
This next picture shows the type of simple top I make for these hives.
Just a board cut to the dimensions of a box with blocks added on each side to keep it from easily coming off in the wind.
Next up is the quilt box.
Inside the boxes are five deep frames. The center is what I refer to as the "key" comb and has a sheet of foundation in it hopefully giving the bees a guide to draw the other, foundation-less, frames by.
Also in the boxes are 4 foundation-less frames. These are in frame positions 1, 2, 4 and 5.
I have made what I consider to be an important observation about the placement of these frames in that the exposed guides should be placed facing the center "Key" comb. The bees seem to draw the new comb straighter than if the "wedge" side of the frame faces the center.
That's pretty much it. It's a simple hive. The inner dimensions are very similar in size to a "typical" void that bees choose in a tree in terms of total size as well as volume. This is an important consideration in the Warre approach to bee hives as he believed, and I agree, that bees need a space that is more easily maintained by them without being too confining or to spacious to properly maintain.
Boxes are added by "nadiring" them instead of "supering" them. That means adding boxes to the bottom of the stack instead of the top. This is to emulate the "natural" process of bees building a nest in a tree void in which they start drawing comb from the top of the void and as they draw and expand the comb downward, the broodnest is moved downward as well into the newer comb while the older comb above is back-filled with honey stores.
Another benefit the Warre method sees in "nadiring" is that by adding additional boxes to the bottom of the stack, the hive top is removed less often thus retaining natural nest heat and nest scent. This in turn seems to not disrupt the bees behavior and upsets them less than removing the top to add boxes and losing the heat and scent so important in honey bee society.
All the boxes need to be added by the end of Spring for the most part so that they can draw the combs out on each frame while the weather and available resources allow for them to draw comb freely. After roughly the end of June, the weather is hotter and forage resources tend to become more sparse causing the bees to tend to abandon drawing new comb in favor of storing that precious nectar for honey stores instead. I find myself with usually about 5 boxes in the stack by the end of comb drawing time.
At harvest time, roughly the end of July or even August, depending on weather and available resources, a five frame stack such as I mentioned will yield 3 boxes of honey from the top of the stack. The two remaining boxes are left to the bees to overwinter in as they backfill the upper box for their winter stores. That's the idea anyway.
Having 3 boxes gives a yield, on average, of about 35 to 45 pounds of honey per box with a total average yield of about 120 pounds per hive in good years.
I hope this gives folks a better idea of how I go about my beekeeping.
Enjoy your bees.
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
Reviewing the updated Hive Tracks Website
I want to start out by saying I already liked Hive Tracks for the most part and I kind of want to like it.
There's a lot to like about the site. The presentation is great. The method of data entry is good.
Out of 5 stars, I will give it 3.5 though because where they go wrong, I think they really need to improve.
By default, they allow free users only the option of using conventional 10 frame Langstroth hives and equipment. They allow Pro users, that is paid users, to select from alternative hive equipment such as horizontal top bar hives, nucs, 8 frame equipment, etc.
So, if you use any of that equipment and want to use Hive Tracks, be prepared to fork over 60 bucks a year. My suggestion to them would be to allow free users to choose at signup from one of those types of hives and have only access to the one type they chose for their free membership and have to upgrade to a paid membership to use the others. Otherwise, it seems like they're saying use 10 frame Langs or too bad for you.
Another issue I have with the free version is that queen management could be done better. Currently, it seems that your only option when you replace a queen is to delete the old queen and create a new one and the process to do so isn't very intuitive.
Honestly, I have no problem with the fact that they charge for "full access" or how much they charge. For all the options they claim to provide for the cost, it seems a great value. I just think that they could do better than to leave all free users at 10 frame Langstroth only.
I personally don't use Langstroth 10 frame or 8 frame and I most certainly don't use conventional hive management methods or techniques either. It would be nice to limit me to the single option that best meets my use. I'm sure I'm not alone in this.
There's a lot to like about the site. The presentation is great. The method of data entry is good.
Out of 5 stars, I will give it 3.5 though because where they go wrong, I think they really need to improve.
By default, they allow free users only the option of using conventional 10 frame Langstroth hives and equipment. They allow Pro users, that is paid users, to select from alternative hive equipment such as horizontal top bar hives, nucs, 8 frame equipment, etc.
So, if you use any of that equipment and want to use Hive Tracks, be prepared to fork over 60 bucks a year. My suggestion to them would be to allow free users to choose at signup from one of those types of hives and have only access to the one type they chose for their free membership and have to upgrade to a paid membership to use the others. Otherwise, it seems like they're saying use 10 frame Langs or too bad for you.
Another issue I have with the free version is that queen management could be done better. Currently, it seems that your only option when you replace a queen is to delete the old queen and create a new one and the process to do so isn't very intuitive.
Honestly, I have no problem with the fact that they charge for "full access" or how much they charge. For all the options they claim to provide for the cost, it seems a great value. I just think that they could do better than to leave all free users at 10 frame Langstroth only.
I personally don't use Langstroth 10 frame or 8 frame and I most certainly don't use conventional hive management methods or techniques either. It would be nice to limit me to the single option that best meets my use. I'm sure I'm not alone in this.
Sunday, May 4, 2014
Building 5 frame boxes cheap and strong
Well now, it looks like it's time to build more boxes. Over the past
few years I have built boxes (5 frame boxes) in a variety of ways to
improve on lowering the cost of building, time to build and
strength/condition of box over the long term.
A frame full of honey can weigh anywhere from 5 to 15 pounds. So, a full 5 frame box can weigh anywhere from 25 to 75 pounds ideally. Most commonly, I find that my average "full" 5 frame box weighs somewhere around 45 to 50 pounds.
After glue and nails, that 5 frame box has to be able to hold, lift and carry that weight for multiple years (with proper care).
The weight in the box is carried entirely on the frame rests. Those same frame rests being cut out from the two end boards.
Finger joints are great but they require too much time in the wood shop and ultimately are too expensive in regard to time invested and necessity.
The weight is distributed across a smaller area in a 5 frame box. After having built a variety of boxes over the years, I have determined that a simple straight edge cut box with the end boards contained between the side boards is more than strong enough to carry the heaviest honey load while maintaining the strength, square and integrity of the box over time.
What we don't want to have happen in a box carrying a full load is for it to become unstable while being transported or while standing stationary in a stack under a load. The biggest problem in this is when the box corners become flexible and no longer keep square. When trying to move such a box, it can flex on you and break apart while being carried and consequently cause the frames to be dropped. Not what we want to have happen.
As any carpenter worth their saw knows, the real strength in any box is the glue. Nails do fasten the box together, but it is the glue that maintains the rigidity and strength of the bond. The fingers of the finger joint are primarily useful in maintaining structural stability on impact. In other words, should you drop a box, the fingers distribute the force of the impact through the joint to prevent the box from coming apart. Very useful, especially in larger boxes where the load is much heavier and must be distributed over a larger area.
However, in a smaller, 5 frame box, I find that by sandwiching the end boards between the side boards allows the handles to be attached to both the end board and the side boards simultaneously. The handles on my boxes are important because while the frame rests inside the box carry the weight of the frames, it's the box handles that must carry the weight of the frames and the box itself.
Consequently, I like a strong set of handles on my boxes and they are glued and nailed to both the end boards and the ends of the side boards.
The glue is responsible for maintaining the strength of the joints and keeping them square. I have, not always on purpose mind you, dropped a good many full boxes from about 6 foot height to the ground without breaking the box itself. The compactness of the box itself lends towards it's survivability.
A good outdoor wood glue is absolutely necessary to making this work.I've used Tightbond glue, Elmers Professional outdoor wood glue and Gorilla outdoor wood glue. So far, Gorilla glue has shown the most survivability. As always, make sure any glue that is used is thoroughly dried and cured before putting bees into that box.Yes, you would think that's obvious, but I have met a newbee or two that didn't seem to make that connection.
At this point, I have almost entirely left larger hives behind in terms of frame capacity. All of my greater success has come from using 5 frame box hives. I enjoy a horizontal top bar hive for the fun of them, but for my general bee work, 5 frame hives are it. (I said "almost" because I do have a couple of 8 frame setups laying around "just in case" though they are not my first choice.)
Some people find using screws to be more to their preference over nails. Screws are fine. For me though, I find that unless the holes are pre-drilled for them, screws tend to crack the boards more than nails do. Drilling holes then adding screws costs too much time for me.
Simple, straight cuts for the box sides and ends. No fancy equipment beyond my radial arm saw and table saw to do everything from the boards to the frame rest cuts (and yes, all these cuts can be done with a regular hand saw and a smaller, finer tooth hand saw).
I find it better for overall time effectiveness to make batches of 5 boxes minimum at a time. This way, settings on the saws are only made once each for a number of them instead of changing settings every time.
I believe beekeeping should be fun and relatively easy to do. Now, "fun" is a relative term and maybe what I should really say is "enjoyable". Something that you don't regret doing after having done it or something you dread doing in in looking forward to doing it.
The woodworking part of beekeeping is often not a "fun" part of the endeavor for many people. The woodworking part is undoubtedly the most expensive part of beekeeping. It's expensive in terms of money and time spent.
A frame full of honey can weigh anywhere from 5 to 15 pounds. So, a full 5 frame box can weigh anywhere from 25 to 75 pounds ideally. Most commonly, I find that my average "full" 5 frame box weighs somewhere around 45 to 50 pounds.
After glue and nails, that 5 frame box has to be able to hold, lift and carry that weight for multiple years (with proper care).
The weight in the box is carried entirely on the frame rests. Those same frame rests being cut out from the two end boards.
Finger joints are great but they require too much time in the wood shop and ultimately are too expensive in regard to time invested and necessity.
The weight is distributed across a smaller area in a 5 frame box. After having built a variety of boxes over the years, I have determined that a simple straight edge cut box with the end boards contained between the side boards is more than strong enough to carry the heaviest honey load while maintaining the strength, square and integrity of the box over time.
What we don't want to have happen in a box carrying a full load is for it to become unstable while being transported or while standing stationary in a stack under a load. The biggest problem in this is when the box corners become flexible and no longer keep square. When trying to move such a box, it can flex on you and break apart while being carried and consequently cause the frames to be dropped. Not what we want to have happen.
As any carpenter worth their saw knows, the real strength in any box is the glue. Nails do fasten the box together, but it is the glue that maintains the rigidity and strength of the bond. The fingers of the finger joint are primarily useful in maintaining structural stability on impact. In other words, should you drop a box, the fingers distribute the force of the impact through the joint to prevent the box from coming apart. Very useful, especially in larger boxes where the load is much heavier and must be distributed over a larger area.
However, in a smaller, 5 frame box, I find that by sandwiching the end boards between the side boards allows the handles to be attached to both the end board and the side boards simultaneously. The handles on my boxes are important because while the frame rests inside the box carry the weight of the frames, it's the box handles that must carry the weight of the frames and the box itself.
Consequently, I like a strong set of handles on my boxes and they are glued and nailed to both the end boards and the ends of the side boards.
The glue is responsible for maintaining the strength of the joints and keeping them square. I have, not always on purpose mind you, dropped a good many full boxes from about 6 foot height to the ground without breaking the box itself. The compactness of the box itself lends towards it's survivability.
A good outdoor wood glue is absolutely necessary to making this work.I've used Tightbond glue, Elmers Professional outdoor wood glue and Gorilla outdoor wood glue. So far, Gorilla glue has shown the most survivability. As always, make sure any glue that is used is thoroughly dried and cured before putting bees into that box.Yes, you would think that's obvious, but I have met a newbee or two that didn't seem to make that connection.
At this point, I have almost entirely left larger hives behind in terms of frame capacity. All of my greater success has come from using 5 frame box hives. I enjoy a horizontal top bar hive for the fun of them, but for my general bee work, 5 frame hives are it. (I said "almost" because I do have a couple of 8 frame setups laying around "just in case" though they are not my first choice.)
Some people find using screws to be more to their preference over nails. Screws are fine. For me though, I find that unless the holes are pre-drilled for them, screws tend to crack the boards more than nails do. Drilling holes then adding screws costs too much time for me.
Simple, straight cuts for the box sides and ends. No fancy equipment beyond my radial arm saw and table saw to do everything from the boards to the frame rest cuts (and yes, all these cuts can be done with a regular hand saw and a smaller, finer tooth hand saw).
I find it better for overall time effectiveness to make batches of 5 boxes minimum at a time. This way, settings on the saws are only made once each for a number of them instead of changing settings every time.
I believe beekeeping should be fun and relatively easy to do. Now, "fun" is a relative term and maybe what I should really say is "enjoyable". Something that you don't regret doing after having done it or something you dread doing in in looking forward to doing it.
The woodworking part of beekeeping is often not a "fun" part of the endeavor for many people. The woodworking part is undoubtedly the most expensive part of beekeeping. It's expensive in terms of money and time spent.
Sunday, April 27, 2014
The new beekeeping, a consumerist experience
For hundreds, even thousands of years, beekeeping has been primarily an experience of self sufficiency.
Since people have been keeping bees, they have done so in a manner which contributes to sustaining their lifestyle and figures in to their way of daily life.
Even in more recent beekeeping history, the "hobbyist" beekeeping experience has been associated with people who are self sufficiency minded and looking for ways to make money on the side by selling honey at the local farmers market.
Similarly, the modern "hobby" beekeeper uses their few hives to pollinate their own or someone else's garden. Thus giving them better produce for canning, etc.. as well as honey and wax to make candles and soap and other items with.
However in the past five, perhaps even nearly ten years, there has been a new class of beekeeper or perhaps a new sub variety of hobbyist that could be referred to as the "consumerist" beekeeper.
The "consumerist" beekeeper is typically someone who finds themself motivated to be a beekeeper, often based on dramatized information in the popular media, and doesn't really have the interest or ability to most of the work of beekeeping themself.
They seek to purchase everything to do with beekeeping in regards to equipment and supplies all the way to working the bees. They will seek out other beekeepers to "help" them inspect and otherwise work hives just as easily as they buy pre-assembled equipment so that they can simply set it up and go.
Is this a "bad" or "wrong" way to go about beekeeping? I won't say that it is either. Though personally I would say that they are missing out on the larger, core beekeeping experience.
The "consumerist" beekeeper experience tends to stay in the "newbee" phase for much longer than the typical novice beekeeper because they depend so greatly on other beekeepers to guide them or do it for them more often than not.
They don't really gain the full "appreciation" of learning how to put equipment together or how and when to work the hive to get the most out of it.
As the saying goes, "back in the day" this type of beekeeper would have been referred to as a "bee haver" rather than a beekeeper. They have bees and that provides them enough of the thrill of the experience. The excitement of getting honey and maybe wax from the hive makes it all "real enough" for them.
Someone once described it to me recently as similar to someone who likes birds, wants birds but doesn't really want to do the work of caring for birds themselves so they buy pre-built bird houses and other accessories to put out in their yards and some even go to the point of hiring a service to come out and maintain the birdhouses, add feed, etc...
It used to be that a "bee haver" was someone who had a bee hive in their yard but did nothing with the hive in terms of managing it or perhaps, at the most, collecting honey from it each year and not much more.
The new "consumerist" beekeeper essentially wants to make sure that their hives are managed and cared for. They just don't necessarily want to, or are able to, do it themselves.
This is largely a result of living in a consumerist economy where everything, even an experience, is purchased as opposed to even 25 years ago when most people might have said they were more interested in doing things for themselves and only were interested in having,at most, the experience facilitated for them instead of having others outright do it for them.
The modern marketplace is rushing to find ways to cater to this new type of consumerist beekeeper as the beekeeping stores and catalogs seeing as selling things are more in line with what they do.
There are hives in production as we speak to hang a container outside a window that will house bees inside of it so that people can look into it and watch the activity inside without needing to open the hive at all. Essentially, this is a bee birdhouse and there are more things like it hitting the market all the time.
Since people have been keeping bees, they have done so in a manner which contributes to sustaining their lifestyle and figures in to their way of daily life.
Even in more recent beekeeping history, the "hobbyist" beekeeping experience has been associated with people who are self sufficiency minded and looking for ways to make money on the side by selling honey at the local farmers market.
Similarly, the modern "hobby" beekeeper uses their few hives to pollinate their own or someone else's garden. Thus giving them better produce for canning, etc.. as well as honey and wax to make candles and soap and other items with.
However in the past five, perhaps even nearly ten years, there has been a new class of beekeeper or perhaps a new sub variety of hobbyist that could be referred to as the "consumerist" beekeeper.
The "consumerist" beekeeper is typically someone who finds themself motivated to be a beekeeper, often based on dramatized information in the popular media, and doesn't really have the interest or ability to most of the work of beekeeping themself.
They seek to purchase everything to do with beekeeping in regards to equipment and supplies all the way to working the bees. They will seek out other beekeepers to "help" them inspect and otherwise work hives just as easily as they buy pre-assembled equipment so that they can simply set it up and go.
Is this a "bad" or "wrong" way to go about beekeeping? I won't say that it is either. Though personally I would say that they are missing out on the larger, core beekeeping experience.
The "consumerist" beekeeper experience tends to stay in the "newbee" phase for much longer than the typical novice beekeeper because they depend so greatly on other beekeepers to guide them or do it for them more often than not.
They don't really gain the full "appreciation" of learning how to put equipment together or how and when to work the hive to get the most out of it.
As the saying goes, "back in the day" this type of beekeeper would have been referred to as a "bee haver" rather than a beekeeper. They have bees and that provides them enough of the thrill of the experience. The excitement of getting honey and maybe wax from the hive makes it all "real enough" for them.
Someone once described it to me recently as similar to someone who likes birds, wants birds but doesn't really want to do the work of caring for birds themselves so they buy pre-built bird houses and other accessories to put out in their yards and some even go to the point of hiring a service to come out and maintain the birdhouses, add feed, etc...
It used to be that a "bee haver" was someone who had a bee hive in their yard but did nothing with the hive in terms of managing it or perhaps, at the most, collecting honey from it each year and not much more.
The new "consumerist" beekeeper essentially wants to make sure that their hives are managed and cared for. They just don't necessarily want to, or are able to, do it themselves.
This is largely a result of living in a consumerist economy where everything, even an experience, is purchased as opposed to even 25 years ago when most people might have said they were more interested in doing things for themselves and only were interested in having,at most, the experience facilitated for them instead of having others outright do it for them.
The modern marketplace is rushing to find ways to cater to this new type of consumerist beekeeper as the beekeeping stores and catalogs seeing as selling things are more in line with what they do.
There are hives in production as we speak to hang a container outside a window that will house bees inside of it so that people can look into it and watch the activity inside without needing to open the hive at all. Essentially, this is a bee birdhouse and there are more things like it hitting the market all the time.
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Drawing comb
Honey Bees make wax. Honey Bees draw combs.
Honey bees go out in the Spring to locate nectar which they bring back and make wax from to draw out combs.
There is a grave concern among some beekeepers that the flowers and plants that bees are foraging from more and more frequently contain some type of pesticide that the bees will bring back and become a part of the wax combs that they will lay eggs in and store forage resources in.
Scientific research recently has shown that wax combs do indeed contain a great variety of toxins from pesticides from both outside the hive and introduced directly into the hive by beekeepers as treatments.
Can beeswax truly be "clean" anymore with all the pesticides being used so widely? Can beekeepers do anything to help bees produce clean wax?
There is a thought that by providing sugar syrup from the very beginning of placing new bees in a bee nest the bees will draw the new wax from the sugar syrup and be clean giving the bees a clean start in terms of raising brood in a clean environment.
Having said that, the bees will eventually stop taking the sugar syrup in favor of real nectar and any consequent wax drawn from that nectar will be suspect in regards to containing toxins.
In talking about pesticides, we refer to a lethal dose in terms of application dosage. How much of a toxin has to be present, how much must a creature be exposed to, before it has a detrimental affect on them?
Beeswax absorbs things easily. The absorption rate can increase levels of toxins held within it fairly rapidly. The more often that bees can reduce the presence of accumulating toxins or minimize the rate of absorption, the better off they will be, the healthier the colony will be, the more able their collective immune system as a super organism will be to resist illness and disease.
The practice of removing wax combs on a regular basis by Emile Warre and others so that bees will build fresh, new, clean wax has many merits. However, to beekeepers whose primary concern is high honey production, it is anathema. The more they can re-use drawn wax combs, the less resources bees use on producing wax and instead concentrate on making more honey instead.
To a honey producer beekeeper, fully drawn wax combs are just valuable as the honey itself. The notion of deliberately removing those combs from the hive is repugnant and even considered folly to them.
Manufactured wax foundation has come under suspicion in recent years because of the possibility of spreading toxins commercially thus possibly contributing to the rapid build up of toxins in hives from the start.
It's not a simple problem and there is no simple solution or answer. Lots of people want to assign a label of "Right" or "Wrong", "Good" and "Bad" and it's not that easy to say something like that. The more important thing is to find solutions that help bees to bee healthy.
Personally, I don't think it's possible at this point in the game to eliminate toxins in beeswax over the course of a season. I think the best effort we can make is to minimize the accumulation of toxins from one season to the next.
For me, I plan to keep harvesting the wax along with the honey at the end of each season and cycling through old wax every other season.
Honey bees go out in the Spring to locate nectar which they bring back and make wax from to draw out combs.
There is a grave concern among some beekeepers that the flowers and plants that bees are foraging from more and more frequently contain some type of pesticide that the bees will bring back and become a part of the wax combs that they will lay eggs in and store forage resources in.
Scientific research recently has shown that wax combs do indeed contain a great variety of toxins from pesticides from both outside the hive and introduced directly into the hive by beekeepers as treatments.
Can beeswax truly be "clean" anymore with all the pesticides being used so widely? Can beekeepers do anything to help bees produce clean wax?
There is a thought that by providing sugar syrup from the very beginning of placing new bees in a bee nest the bees will draw the new wax from the sugar syrup and be clean giving the bees a clean start in terms of raising brood in a clean environment.
Having said that, the bees will eventually stop taking the sugar syrup in favor of real nectar and any consequent wax drawn from that nectar will be suspect in regards to containing toxins.
In talking about pesticides, we refer to a lethal dose in terms of application dosage. How much of a toxin has to be present, how much must a creature be exposed to, before it has a detrimental affect on them?
Beeswax absorbs things easily. The absorption rate can increase levels of toxins held within it fairly rapidly. The more often that bees can reduce the presence of accumulating toxins or minimize the rate of absorption, the better off they will be, the healthier the colony will be, the more able their collective immune system as a super organism will be to resist illness and disease.
The practice of removing wax combs on a regular basis by Emile Warre and others so that bees will build fresh, new, clean wax has many merits. However, to beekeepers whose primary concern is high honey production, it is anathema. The more they can re-use drawn wax combs, the less resources bees use on producing wax and instead concentrate on making more honey instead.
To a honey producer beekeeper, fully drawn wax combs are just valuable as the honey itself. The notion of deliberately removing those combs from the hive is repugnant and even considered folly to them.
Manufactured wax foundation has come under suspicion in recent years because of the possibility of spreading toxins commercially thus possibly contributing to the rapid build up of toxins in hives from the start.
It's not a simple problem and there is no simple solution or answer. Lots of people want to assign a label of "Right" or "Wrong", "Good" and "Bad" and it's not that easy to say something like that. The more important thing is to find solutions that help bees to bee healthy.
Personally, I don't think it's possible at this point in the game to eliminate toxins in beeswax over the course of a season. I think the best effort we can make is to minimize the accumulation of toxins from one season to the next.
For me, I plan to keep harvesting the wax along with the honey at the end of each season and cycling through old wax every other season.
Sunday, April 20, 2014
The "Key" comb. My observations
I have opened up a lot of honey bee nests in the process of doing my job as a pest control technician who works to keep bees alive. My specialization, as it were.
I have found honey bee nests in some interesting places and in a lot of common places. Soffits, roofs, ceilings, walls, underneath floors and in the rafters. I have found them in mailboxes, under decks, in trees, in vehicles and lots of other places.
One consistent thing I find in all of these honey bee nests is that they have a "Key" comb. That is, one comb that the bees started drawing before any other comb.
In most nests, adjacent combs are built parallel to this central, "Key" comb, using it as a guide to make those immediately next to it. They then draw combs outward in both directions from there, using te previous drawn combs as guides for the next.
The bees don't necessarily have to have the "Key" comb fully drawn out to full size before starting on the next ones. They often get the key comb about one fourth to one third drawn when they start drawing out the adjacent combs and sometimes even sooner than that.
Key combs are extremely important in any new nest site because not only are they used as a guide for other combs, but it is usually the comb that the queen begins to lay new eggs in first. Also, new forage such as pollen and nectar are stored on that comb and the ones drawn out on either side as soon as they are made.
If the bees cannot draw comb right away, they are in BIG trouble.
In a managed hive, I prefer to start my new colonies with a central "Key" comb as well. By placing a frame of already drawn comb or a sheet of foundation in the #3 frame (I use 5 frame boxes for my vertical hives so #3 spot is the very middle or center location.) Even just using a sheet of foundation can be a tremendous help for the bees as the new comb they draw is to draw out the cells already imprinted instead of starting from nothing. It's not critical, but helpful.
Personally, I use foundation-less frames in frame locations 1-2 and 4-5. I do use guide strips in the upper groove of the frame to hopefully help the bees to draw straight combs. Between the "Key" comb and the guide strips, they usually do pretty well.
I prefer to have the bees draw as much comb for themselves as possible to ensure the cleanest comb to lay eggs in and minimize transference of disease and pests between hives. Though, as I mentioned, I will use a sheet of foundation for the "Key" comb as it helps the bees to a quicker, more efficient start than having nothing.
I have found honey bee nests in some interesting places and in a lot of common places. Soffits, roofs, ceilings, walls, underneath floors and in the rafters. I have found them in mailboxes, under decks, in trees, in vehicles and lots of other places.
One consistent thing I find in all of these honey bee nests is that they have a "Key" comb. That is, one comb that the bees started drawing before any other comb.
In most nests, adjacent combs are built parallel to this central, "Key" comb, using it as a guide to make those immediately next to it. They then draw combs outward in both directions from there, using te previous drawn combs as guides for the next.
The bees don't necessarily have to have the "Key" comb fully drawn out to full size before starting on the next ones. They often get the key comb about one fourth to one third drawn when they start drawing out the adjacent combs and sometimes even sooner than that.
Key combs are extremely important in any new nest site because not only are they used as a guide for other combs, but it is usually the comb that the queen begins to lay new eggs in first. Also, new forage such as pollen and nectar are stored on that comb and the ones drawn out on either side as soon as they are made.
If the bees cannot draw comb right away, they are in BIG trouble.
In a managed hive, I prefer to start my new colonies with a central "Key" comb as well. By placing a frame of already drawn comb or a sheet of foundation in the #3 frame (I use 5 frame boxes for my vertical hives so #3 spot is the very middle or center location.) Even just using a sheet of foundation can be a tremendous help for the bees as the new comb they draw is to draw out the cells already imprinted instead of starting from nothing. It's not critical, but helpful.
Personally, I use foundation-less frames in frame locations 1-2 and 4-5. I do use guide strips in the upper groove of the frame to hopefully help the bees to draw straight combs. Between the "Key" comb and the guide strips, they usually do pretty well.
I prefer to have the bees draw as much comb for themselves as possible to ensure the cleanest comb to lay eggs in and minimize transference of disease and pests between hives. Though, as I mentioned, I will use a sheet of foundation for the "Key" comb as it helps the bees to a quicker, more efficient start than having nothing.
Saturday, April 19, 2014
What's In Your Water?
Have you noticed there are some pretty cool ponds and fountains around? Look at many of the professionally landscaped locations that are installing ponds and fountains lately.
Some of these are very cool, very nice looking. Some have fish but more ofen than not, they don't.
Bees, honey bees among them, need water just like any other creature. Honey bees love to go to the edges of pools and ponds to collect water which they take back to the hive for a variety of purposes. To cool the hive, for drinking, etc...
However, there are chemicals that get applied to many of these decorative ponds and pools that can harm bee colonies and sometimes kill the bees before they can make it back to the hive. Most of these being algae control products. Very often, the labels will state that these products are highly toxic to bees (when applied to crops and other plants) but they have no problem dumping them into ponds, water gardens, ornamental pools, etc...
Granted, no one wants algae in their pond or pool, however, how well are the treatments being applied? Are they just being dumped in whether they are needed or not? Are the amounts adhered to strictly or is just "eyeballing it" good enough?
Algae control products aren't really monitored or accounted for especially in the discussion of beekeeping in urban areas. However, as urban landscapes are developed in urban and suburban areas to be more appealing and more people are keeping bees in areas that were already highly landscaped when they started beekeeping, things like public water sources as water forage for bees have to be taken into consideration.
When you want to start keeping bees in your area, it would behoove you to take a walk around the neighborhood looking for water forage sources your bees might visit and find out what your bees might come across and bring back to the hive.
Some of these are very cool, very nice looking. Some have fish but more ofen than not, they don't.
Bees, honey bees among them, need water just like any other creature. Honey bees love to go to the edges of pools and ponds to collect water which they take back to the hive for a variety of purposes. To cool the hive, for drinking, etc...
However, there are chemicals that get applied to many of these decorative ponds and pools that can harm bee colonies and sometimes kill the bees before they can make it back to the hive. Most of these being algae control products. Very often, the labels will state that these products are highly toxic to bees (when applied to crops and other plants) but they have no problem dumping them into ponds, water gardens, ornamental pools, etc...
Granted, no one wants algae in their pond or pool, however, how well are the treatments being applied? Are they just being dumped in whether they are needed or not? Are the amounts adhered to strictly or is just "eyeballing it" good enough?
Algae control products aren't really monitored or accounted for especially in the discussion of beekeeping in urban areas. However, as urban landscapes are developed in urban and suburban areas to be more appealing and more people are keeping bees in areas that were already highly landscaped when they started beekeeping, things like public water sources as water forage for bees have to be taken into consideration.
When you want to start keeping bees in your area, it would behoove you to take a walk around the neighborhood looking for water forage sources your bees might visit and find out what your bees might come across and bring back to the hive.
Sunday, April 6, 2014
How Do You Choose What You Use?
Why do you use the hive that you use? Is it because someone told you use it?
Did you inherit it or get it for free or nearly so?
A very great number of beekeepers I talk to typically use the hive and methodology they do because of someone else's influence by way of advice, gifting/inheriting the hive or because it was cheap.
That's all fine and well, but how much thought did you really put into the hive you are using?
What are your beekeeping goals and objectives? In other words, why are you a beekeeper?
What you want to get out of beekeeping really should be your primary reason for using the hive that you.use.
If your main reason for beekeeping is honey production, you should be using a hive and method that is conducive to mass production and ease of harvesting honey.
If crop or garden pollination is the primary purpose and honey is secondary or even tertiary, you really should use a hive and method that is most conducive to large and rapid buildup of colony population and travels well.
What if you are a "homesteader" type of beekeeper? You want all you can get out of a bee hive. Pollination, honey, beeswax, propolis, pollen, etc... without needing to move the hive much, if at all.
In that case, you want a hive that allows the bees to produce as much of all of those things without requiring a lot of time and effort on your part. One that allows it to be added to with the least amount of interference except at specified harvest times.
Some people might tell you that one type of hive can do all of those things. I would agree, but I would add that while it may do all of those things, it won't do all of them equally well.
I won't try to tell you you should use this hive or shouldn't use that hive. I will tell you that you should put a great deal of thought into your goals and objectives in beekeeping (your reason for beekeeping) and do your homework and write down a comparison of what various ives do well and what they don't do well. Compare those and then put your goals against them.
Whichever hive best meets the needs of your beekeeping is the hive you should choose and use. Keep in mind there is no such thing as a universally "best" type of hive. There is most popular and most common, but those are not the same thing as "best".
There are many people who would advise you to use the same type of hive they are using so they can mentor or advise you better. Others will say to use a particular type of hive because it is so cheaply produced on a large scale thus making it easy and cheap to get.
While commonality, price and access are all things we should take into consideration, they should not be the primary reason to use a given hive type. Selecting based on those concerns first may cause you a lot of stress and headache later because while it was cheap and common, it doesn't meet all your individual needs.
Compromises always exist and must be accommodated for, but they should take a back seat to the purpose for your endeavors. Why commit to the task if the tools you are going to use are not helping to best get the job done?
Beekeeping is a fascinating endeavor. It will easily become more than "just" a hobby or pastime. For many, it is a second job or career. For others, it is a passion. For everyone who takes it up though, it should be something gone into wide both eyes wide open and a complete awareness of what you you will put into it and what you plan to get out of it.
A beeyard is no place for rose colored glasses.
Did you inherit it or get it for free or nearly so?
A very great number of beekeepers I talk to typically use the hive and methodology they do because of someone else's influence by way of advice, gifting/inheriting the hive or because it was cheap.
That's all fine and well, but how much thought did you really put into the hive you are using?
What are your beekeeping goals and objectives? In other words, why are you a beekeeper?
What you want to get out of beekeeping really should be your primary reason for using the hive that you.use.
If your main reason for beekeeping is honey production, you should be using a hive and method that is conducive to mass production and ease of harvesting honey.
If crop or garden pollination is the primary purpose and honey is secondary or even tertiary, you really should use a hive and method that is most conducive to large and rapid buildup of colony population and travels well.
What if you are a "homesteader" type of beekeeper? You want all you can get out of a bee hive. Pollination, honey, beeswax, propolis, pollen, etc... without needing to move the hive much, if at all.
In that case, you want a hive that allows the bees to produce as much of all of those things without requiring a lot of time and effort on your part. One that allows it to be added to with the least amount of interference except at specified harvest times.
Some people might tell you that one type of hive can do all of those things. I would agree, but I would add that while it may do all of those things, it won't do all of them equally well.
I won't try to tell you you should use this hive or shouldn't use that hive. I will tell you that you should put a great deal of thought into your goals and objectives in beekeeping (your reason for beekeeping) and do your homework and write down a comparison of what various ives do well and what they don't do well. Compare those and then put your goals against them.
Whichever hive best meets the needs of your beekeeping is the hive you should choose and use. Keep in mind there is no such thing as a universally "best" type of hive. There is most popular and most common, but those are not the same thing as "best".
There are many people who would advise you to use the same type of hive they are using so they can mentor or advise you better. Others will say to use a particular type of hive because it is so cheaply produced on a large scale thus making it easy and cheap to get.
While commonality, price and access are all things we should take into consideration, they should not be the primary reason to use a given hive type. Selecting based on those concerns first may cause you a lot of stress and headache later because while it was cheap and common, it doesn't meet all your individual needs.
Compromises always exist and must be accommodated for, but they should take a back seat to the purpose for your endeavors. Why commit to the task if the tools you are going to use are not helping to best get the job done?
Beekeeping is a fascinating endeavor. It will easily become more than "just" a hobby or pastime. For many, it is a second job or career. For others, it is a passion. For everyone who takes it up though, it should be something gone into wide both eyes wide open and a complete awareness of what you you will put into it and what you plan to get out of it.
A beeyard is no place for rose colored glasses.
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
What of the survivors of the Winter of 2013?
I can't speak for anywhere else, but in Eastern Nebraska and Western Iowa, Winter had bad news for honey bees. Losses in general were high, often, too high.
This year, the bee club I belong to ( The Omaha Bee Club) has a bee trapping contest this Spring. Whoever catches the most swarms in their bait hives wins the contest.
Some in the area have bemoaned the fact that not as many colonies, managed and feral, survived into the Spring to catch very many swarms. This is unfortunately true.
Having said that, for those bees that have survived and made it through to see the Spring of 2014, those are some AWESOME genetics. Talk about having some tough survivor stock to build up from.
They managed food stores well. They were able to break and reform the main cluster during the rapidly up and down temperatures. They resisted Varroa mites successfully. They built up a strong population when they were supposed to.
I want those bees!
You know you want them too.
This year, the bee club I belong to ( The Omaha Bee Club) has a bee trapping contest this Spring. Whoever catches the most swarms in their bait hives wins the contest.
Some in the area have bemoaned the fact that not as many colonies, managed and feral, survived into the Spring to catch very many swarms. This is unfortunately true.
Having said that, for those bees that have survived and made it through to see the Spring of 2014, those are some AWESOME genetics. Talk about having some tough survivor stock to build up from.
They managed food stores well. They were able to break and reform the main cluster during the rapidly up and down temperatures. They resisted Varroa mites successfully. They built up a strong population when they were supposed to.
I want those bees!
You know you want them too.
Sunday, March 30, 2014
Cedar Oil Spray testing Continues
In past experiments using the cedar oil pest spray in bee hives to protect from pests like small hive beetle and perhaps even Varroa mites, wax moths, etc I am going to apply the spray differently than in the past.
In the past, the spray was applied to the bottom boards of the hives hoping to prevent shb from coming in to begin with.
The bees didn't seem to bee bothered by it and there seemed to be considerably less shb in hives with bottom boards sprayed than those not treated. However, it didn't seem to be enough for complete prevention. Also, testing wasn't done consistently enough to determine impact on Varroa mite populations.
The bottom boards and the inside of the top boards were sprayed in some hives but that seemed to be too much of the scent for the bees and they tended to swarm more or outright abscond. Too much.
This year, using smaller (3'8") entrances on the hives year round to allow for better guarding of the entrance, quilt boxes will be put on year round with wood shavings sprayed with cedar oil pest spray.
Bees seem to chase most shb to the top of a hive, this will essentially (hopefully) herd the shb right into the bottoms of the quilt boxes and into contact with the sprayed wood shavings above them, theoretically killing them in few moments after staying at the top of the hive and minimizing the number of live shb in the hive overall.
The cedar oil spray responds to moisture by absorbing it, thus, theoretically, the wood shavings with cedar oil spray on them should keep more humidity/condensation out of the hive
The sprayed wood shaving will be refreshed on a monthly basis.
Because of the very high levels of natural Cedrol in this spray as compared to what is typically found in cedar wood building materials, the effect of the sprayed wood shavings should have a much higher and beneficial impact over regular cedar chips or shavings used in the quilt box.
The goal is to compare two hives with sprayed wood shavings with two hives not using sprayed wood shavings over the period of this season (May 1) and through the winter to May. 1 of 2015.
In the past, the spray was applied to the bottom boards of the hives hoping to prevent shb from coming in to begin with.
The bees didn't seem to bee bothered by it and there seemed to be considerably less shb in hives with bottom boards sprayed than those not treated. However, it didn't seem to be enough for complete prevention. Also, testing wasn't done consistently enough to determine impact on Varroa mite populations.
The bottom boards and the inside of the top boards were sprayed in some hives but that seemed to be too much of the scent for the bees and they tended to swarm more or outright abscond. Too much.
This year, using smaller (3'8") entrances on the hives year round to allow for better guarding of the entrance, quilt boxes will be put on year round with wood shavings sprayed with cedar oil pest spray.
Bees seem to chase most shb to the top of a hive, this will essentially (hopefully) herd the shb right into the bottoms of the quilt boxes and into contact with the sprayed wood shavings above them, theoretically killing them in few moments after staying at the top of the hive and minimizing the number of live shb in the hive overall.
The cedar oil spray responds to moisture by absorbing it, thus, theoretically, the wood shavings with cedar oil spray on them should keep more humidity/condensation out of the hive
The sprayed wood shaving will be refreshed on a monthly basis.
Because of the very high levels of natural Cedrol in this spray as compared to what is typically found in cedar wood building materials, the effect of the sprayed wood shavings should have a much higher and beneficial impact over regular cedar chips or shavings used in the quilt box.
The goal is to compare two hives with sprayed wood shavings with two hives not using sprayed wood shavings over the period of this season (May 1) and through the winter to May. 1 of 2015.
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Modern Agriculture and Bee Pollination
It's all over the news, it positively plasters the Internet. The question of "What would happen if there were no more honeybees?" is everywhere.
Yet, the answer to that is harder to nail down. So many people trying to answer this with a simple answer. The most common being, "We'll all die!!!" and other such alarmist comments.
Now, I won't lie and tell you that my opinion is very far off. No, we are in for some dramatic changes and a lot less people in the world (a lot less life in general in the world) due to famine and lack of agricultural resources. Many fruits, vegetables nuts, berries, etc.. (over 90 different crops in all) will be seriously diminished, if not outright eliminated.
Due to fewer numbers available, prices for these will rise astronomically and be available to only the few who can afford them. Many of the family farms and ranchers that have a heavy dependence on bee pollinated crops will be forced to shut down costing us food availability and jobs. Companies that depend directly on these crops like cereal makers, will dramatically diminish in their offerings and also see a great loss in jobs as plants close down and workers become unemployed.
As much as the tech and manufacturing industries like to think they are the dominant movers and shakers, the reality is, agriculture is still boss when it all comes down to do it. Lose your agriculture and you lose nearly everything.
However, most people seem to think this problem has a a single source, that being pesticides. While pesticides certainly play their role, they are by far not the only or even the biggest problem.
What we have done in our so smart modern agricultural world, is to essentially place all of our eggs in one basket, then set the basket down on an ant hill, then poured poison in the basket.
As seemingly smart as we think we are, we so easily allow ourselves to be blinded by greed. Greed for more profits, greed for more food, greed for more land.
Our agricultural practices have put us in a tricky predicament and because of that, our agricultural pollination beekeeping has come into trouble and as a repercussion of their travels far and wide in this country, local beekeepers are seeing ill effects.
The use of Integrated Pest Management practices and products has grown over the years, but not proportionally with agriculture and the the use of pesticides. IPM is still way, waaayyy behind.
Land management practices that stress the land, stress the plants and consequently stress the bees and other creatures are prevalent. A grand lie about how much modern agriculture is needed to feed the world has been bought by the majority of people and they tolerate the practices even while they become aware of ramifications from the lie.
More people are dependent on fewer farmers and agricultural sources because of political decisions to keep other geographic areas, peoples and countries dependent. That's not hyperbole or tin foil hat talk, that's information openly disclosed and documented by the federal government. It's a fact, they use food and access to food as a weapon, no secret there.
The fewer sources and growers there are, the easier it is to control what they grow and how much of it. To this day, amidst the "great need to feed more and more people", the U.S. government still pays farmers to NOT grow certain crops and pays incentives to grow others. This is how they work to control the commodities markets, national retail prices and control agricultural trade by controlling availability. Again, no secret here, all of this has been documented and spoken to in hundreds of places.
As the modern practices continue however, we are seeing scientists report on problems arising causing problems for bees, waterways, migratory birds, mass fish die offs in lakes, rivers and streams, etc... once again, I'm not being paranoid, this is all public and openly shared in dozens of public documents by government agencies such as the EPA, the USDA and more.
The pesticides are only one part of a multi-faceted problem that has it's origins in modern agricultural practices.
Fewer family, independent farmers means that more agricultural land is farmed by corporations which collaborate with government direction without batting an eye. There are fewer independent farmers to decide how they will grow on their own terms.
Larger and larger tracts of agricultural land are being farmed in ways that exacerbate the problems rather than finding other ways to do the same thing, grow food.
So you see, finding real solutions, right now, to our agricultural problems not only saves our pollinating bees, it saves our economy and our lives.
Yet, the answer to that is harder to nail down. So many people trying to answer this with a simple answer. The most common being, "We'll all die!!!" and other such alarmist comments.
Now, I won't lie and tell you that my opinion is very far off. No, we are in for some dramatic changes and a lot less people in the world (a lot less life in general in the world) due to famine and lack of agricultural resources. Many fruits, vegetables nuts, berries, etc.. (over 90 different crops in all) will be seriously diminished, if not outright eliminated.
Due to fewer numbers available, prices for these will rise astronomically and be available to only the few who can afford them. Many of the family farms and ranchers that have a heavy dependence on bee pollinated crops will be forced to shut down costing us food availability and jobs. Companies that depend directly on these crops like cereal makers, will dramatically diminish in their offerings and also see a great loss in jobs as plants close down and workers become unemployed.
As much as the tech and manufacturing industries like to think they are the dominant movers and shakers, the reality is, agriculture is still boss when it all comes down to do it. Lose your agriculture and you lose nearly everything.
However, most people seem to think this problem has a a single source, that being pesticides. While pesticides certainly play their role, they are by far not the only or even the biggest problem.
What we have done in our so smart modern agricultural world, is to essentially place all of our eggs in one basket, then set the basket down on an ant hill, then poured poison in the basket.
As seemingly smart as we think we are, we so easily allow ourselves to be blinded by greed. Greed for more profits, greed for more food, greed for more land.
Our agricultural practices have put us in a tricky predicament and because of that, our agricultural pollination beekeeping has come into trouble and as a repercussion of their travels far and wide in this country, local beekeepers are seeing ill effects.
The use of Integrated Pest Management practices and products has grown over the years, but not proportionally with agriculture and the the use of pesticides. IPM is still way, waaayyy behind.
Land management practices that stress the land, stress the plants and consequently stress the bees and other creatures are prevalent. A grand lie about how much modern agriculture is needed to feed the world has been bought by the majority of people and they tolerate the practices even while they become aware of ramifications from the lie.
More people are dependent on fewer farmers and agricultural sources because of political decisions to keep other geographic areas, peoples and countries dependent. That's not hyperbole or tin foil hat talk, that's information openly disclosed and documented by the federal government. It's a fact, they use food and access to food as a weapon, no secret there.
The fewer sources and growers there are, the easier it is to control what they grow and how much of it. To this day, amidst the "great need to feed more and more people", the U.S. government still pays farmers to NOT grow certain crops and pays incentives to grow others. This is how they work to control the commodities markets, national retail prices and control agricultural trade by controlling availability. Again, no secret here, all of this has been documented and spoken to in hundreds of places.
As the modern practices continue however, we are seeing scientists report on problems arising causing problems for bees, waterways, migratory birds, mass fish die offs in lakes, rivers and streams, etc... once again, I'm not being paranoid, this is all public and openly shared in dozens of public documents by government agencies such as the EPA, the USDA and more.
The pesticides are only one part of a multi-faceted problem that has it's origins in modern agricultural practices.
Fewer family, independent farmers means that more agricultural land is farmed by corporations which collaborate with government direction without batting an eye. There are fewer independent farmers to decide how they will grow on their own terms.
Larger and larger tracts of agricultural land are being farmed in ways that exacerbate the problems rather than finding other ways to do the same thing, grow food.
So you see, finding real solutions, right now, to our agricultural problems not only saves our pollinating bees, it saves our economy and our lives.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)