Blue Ribbon for Photo

Went to the Tennessee Beekeepers Convention this year that was held in Cookville,TN. Lots of good speakers Keith Delaplane of Univ. Georgia,John Skinner Univ.Tennessee,Mike Studer Tennessee State Apiarist,Phil Craft Kentucky State Apiarist,Ann Harman Writer for a number of publacations,Kent Williams a certified master beekeeper and Fred Hembree a Journeyman Beekeeper. Was a very good convention. I entered the picture you see at the top of my journal and won a blue ribbon. Lots of good pictures were there and feel lucky to have won.

Homemade Entrance Reducer

Since this is rather a slow time in beekeeping, I get lots of ideas on maybe improving my hives. Sometimes having time on your hands not a good thing. Many times the bees reject ideas that you thought might work. This is a entrance reducer I made that lets you vary the size of the opening while on the hive. Or you can remove it altogether. Its worked well in robbing situations and also in moving hives.

Knox County Fair

Over the week-end my Grandson and I worked the honey booth at the local fair. We had a great time talking with the fairgoers about honey and beekeeping.

Using Smoke on Hive

This is a short video of using a smoker on a hive before going into it to inspect. The smoke seems to help calm the bees.

Feeding Hives for Strength

I got behind on my Blog enteries and now trying to catch up. Started feeding 2:1 sugar water to help build the numbers and for stores for the winter. Added Fomagilin B to syrup while I was at it. Will give each hive two gallons of syrup with the medication. At this time the bees have set a course of taking in about half a gallon a day with the medication added to it.

Medicating For Winter

Just recently took off Api-Guard and replaced with Menthol and added a Grease Patty. Hives seem to be doing well but Hive Alexis seems a little light in weight. May start feeding some 2:1 sugar water.

Homemade Wax Melter and Honey Extractor

I made these two items small because I want to only keep no more then four hives. Someone once told me bees are like weeds when they take hold you get covered up with them. I hope this is not the case. Due to back trouble four hives may be about my limit. The wax melter is simple,an ice cooler,glass cut to fit the top,duct tape on glass edeges to keep from getting cut,plastic bowl with about an inch of water in bottom,and paper towel on top of bowl secured with a rubber band. Most important a sunny day from 85 to 90+ degrees. The honey extractor was made from scrapes around the shop. It only holds one frame at a time but this is how I want to keep things small. I feel a good year I may have no more then forty frames to extract. I built it on the design of a icecream feezer that you crank with a handle. I like the crush and strain method but I need to have drawn comb to start the year off and can't do that when I destroy the comb.

Starting Medications

Started medicating my two hives on August 1st. Put a spacer box on and added a tray of Api-Guard to each hive. Will leave on for fourteen days and replace with another tray for another fourteen days. This is for treatment of mites. I have run tests of both hives and found no sign of mites. I have bees told by a number of beekeepers to treat for mites if you show signs of them or not. Also have been told why treat if you have no problem. Since I have been a new beekeeper this is what I have found on every question on beekeeping,three to four different answers to every question. This is where you have to decide for yourself what path to take. If beekeeping was cut and dried it wouldn"t be as much of a challenge

A Surprise Gift

First, I have to say I new going into my first year as a beekeeper that it was doubtfull of harvesting honey the first year. My first hive was started on April 30 and the second on May20. My goal for the year was just to try and produce a healthy colony to go into winter. I have one hive with three mediumn brood boxes and another with a deep and mediumn brood boxes. Both have good populations and good stores at the present time. The super I added that produced the honey was a surprise. I harvested only two frames and I will give the other back to the bees. Placed the frames on the inner cover so bees will clean out the frames and store the honey that was in them. Next year I will have eight frames that have been drawn out to start the new honey season. I used the crush and strain method. It work very well but not a good idea if you have a number of supers to harvest. My next job will be using the solar wax melter I made and see how that comes out. Thank you bees for the honey.

Bees and Corn!!!

Well, I can't say its because of the bees but,the garden this year has been the most productive in years.The corn is almost fifteen feet high,some of the ears will have to be picked from a step-ladder. Never seen it this tall. The cabbage is also much larger then normal,squash and cucumber running everywhere. Could it be from haveing bees just a few yards away? I don't know.First year to have bees on the property. Here are just a few pictures of the area and also the honey house.

Making Syrup

Got a new camera(Flip Video) and wanted to try it out. So I thought I would show how I make 1:1 sugar water.

Testing For Mites

I wanted to show the way I test for mites. My hives are now five and eight weeks old. I use the stickey board method. I apply a layer of cooking oil to the board that I slide into my screened hive bottom board. The idea is that the mites fall off the bees and stick to the greased board so you can get a count of mites on each square that is drawn on the board. You leave the board on the hive for three days and then you get your count. Mites in a square times the number of squares on the board divided by days which is three. A number of forty would be high on a average hive, three mediumns or two deep. After doing the test I have found no mites up to this point. Both hives seem strong.

Installing Top Entrance

A fellow beekeeper at a local meeting suggested that I read some of George Imirie"s papers he wrote on beekeeping. I have to say by reading some of his ideas on beekeeping,it will really make you think about his ideas. He suggested that by adding a top entrance,your field bees don't have to travel the length of the hive to reach the top with their stores they are bringing in. I likes the idea because it also adds ventilation for the hive in hot weather and ventilation to get rid of moisture in the winter. I took the inner covers of both hives and cut an opening in the raised rim on the cover. The opening is about the size of a postage stamp and 3/8 of an inch high. You just have to be sure the top cover is pushed forward to allow for the bees to enter and leave.

Hive Insp. Just Before First Brood

Wanted to inspect Hive Alexis before the first brood will be hatched,which will be next week some time. The brood box has seven of the ten frames fully drawn out. So I will be adding a mediumn box to the hive. This is what I want when going into winter this year. The hive has a good brood pattern and ample supply of stores. Nick got to use his new bee suit. He is a lot of help. Good at lighting smoker. The Nicholas hive is going strong, will leave it as is. Also still feeding hive Alexis sugar water. Will continue till they stop taking it.

Alexis Hive First Inspection

I hived a package ten days ago into this hive I call Alexis after my granddaughter. I checked that the queen had been released at day three. Upon inspecting today I find that all is going quiet well. I found a lot of eggs with a good pattern and also capped brood. About six of the ten frames have been drawn out with comb. I am feeding with sugar water and the hive in on jar two, so they have used less then a gallon of liquid. Plan on checking again in seven to ten days.

Bees Going Off to Work

I don't think I could have a Blog about beekeeping without showing where the bees go off to each day to work.

Shipping Packaged Bees

This is a picture of the package that the bees for the Alexis Hive was shipped in. When I picked the bees up at the Post Office a lot of customers that was in line behind me took a few steps back. Many said they had no idea that bees wre shipped thru the mail. Going to the car with my bundle people actually got back in their cars till I passed. As you can see this is a very sturdy container. Anywhere on the wood that has a knot in it the shipper has placed a cloth screen over the knot in case the knot worked loose during shipping. This package came from southeast Georgia and arrived at my location in two days. The can you see is filled with sugar water that the bees feed on during shipping. The Queen is kept to herself till the other bees get adjusted to her presence. I feel the Postal Service does a good job when it comes to shipping bees. You can bet they will call you to come and get them as soon as they arrive.

Second Hive Inspection-Observation

Grandson and I did our second inspection of the Nicholas Hive today. Things looked great. The second brood box is now full of new capped brood with honey at the top and sides for store. Bottom box still has honey and the bees are now cleaning those cells for new eggs to be laid in. The top brood box is seven tenths drawn out with new bees and larva. We added a queen excluder and our first honey super. You would think we would have found the queen in the top box where there was new eggs,instead she was running around on a frame in the second box.I would go to show her to grandson and she would run down the frame under the frame to the other side,I would turn the frame over and she would do the same thing.We played this game three times with the same results.I think we set our hives behind when we open them for inspection. One the light has to be tough when they are always working in the dark and second we give them the appearence of their house on fire when we use smoke. I may be thinking this thing to much and she may have just been heading down to first brood box to start laying again.

More Pics of Installation