Winter

Winter work in the shop. Cleaning and painting old boxes, building hive stands, and repairing frames.

Dec. 31, 2010, a nice day has brought the bees out to play. They were enjoying the new hive stand with the slanted landing surface.

Bee Candy

A quick peak at this weak colony to verify that indeed the bees are using the candy. We have had 2 weeks of hard winter weather during the last weeks of late fall. Winter comes tomorrow.

Bee Candy

This is box #7. It is the first hive that I will check to see how the bees are accepting the new candy. A peak through the center hole of the inner cover spikes my interest.

I had to lift the lid to take a look at the bee party.

This is box #9. It has the only prepared candy board which is 7/8 inch deep. There were a couple of bees near the candy. I will follow up in a few days to see if the bees have moved onto the food.

Box #1 is a 5 frame colony of VSH bees in a divided brood box.

Box # 8 shows the 3/4 inch shim being used to give space for the candy on the top bars. The bees seem to be enjoying the new food source.

Candy Boards

I am very pleased with this mix for fondant candy. I cut my new 2 inch candy boards in half making a shallow board and a shim. I notched the center of the narrow end ( closest to you) for ventilation. I am going to feed the batch on the wax paper on top of the frames using the newly cut shims. This mix is a marshmallow fondant that a cake lady told me about. She sets her extra mixes outside in her back yard for the local bees to clean up for her. You can see this on YouTube by googling marshmallow fondant.

Candy Boards

I built my boards according to the "Make A Candy Board" article in Nov 2010 issue of Bee Culture. They are 2 inches deep with staples set on the inner side 1/2 inch from the solid side. The black "Tee" make on the inner narrow side is to be the fill 3/4 full make. That would mean the board would hold 1-1/2 inches of heavy sugar candy. (????)

I used the mixture outlined in the "Make A Candy Board" in the Nov 2010 issue of Bee Culture. My efforts with this bombed. I ended with a taffy like mix when I poured it into my board. I had to heat the board in my wife's oven so that I could scrape it out of the board. Gotta have a better plan.

Feeding for winter

I use plumber's tape on the feeder jars to help seal the threads to prevent excess leaking. It also makes the lids come off easier.

Feeding for winter

I am using my turkey cooker to make the 2:1 sugar syrup. I am standing in my shop with the door rolled up.

The box on the right contains the August swarm that was caught. I put a divider in the brood box ( 5 frames )with a cross over screen so that I could continue to use the full size top feeder. The entrance area has been reduced, and I am seeing no fighting with robbers. The larger hives are taking 3 quarts of 2:1 syrup, with the smaller ones taking 1-2 quarts.

Jar & board feeders will be used when the weather gets colder.

I will be starting the winter with 7 colonies...6 are in the pic, the 7th is off the pic to the left.

Observation Hive

My first attempt at building an observation hive. I used my mentor's as a guide, and adding my own touch to both.

Ready for bees and a date at school for an exhibition.

Completed 2 frame hive painted Bee Blue. Both panels have been removed.

August Swarm

After seeing a tornado of bees, it was not hard to spot the swarm on a poke berry plant.

The weight of the bees caused the 3 foot tall poke berry plant to topple over.

I cut the plant and removed the 3 center frames in order to shake the bees off the poke berry plant.

Replacing 3 center frames.

Closing up.

I am standing near the swarm area. The brood box is hidden by tall grass.

The balance of the bees in the grass moved into the box.

By late afternoon, the bees were sitting outside.

Bee Yard

Hot summertime days in the bee yard.

Funnel Setup On Tree Hollow

June 16
I removed bees from this tree hollow in May 2009. The hole was screened closed, but a squirrel reopened the hollow and bees moved back in May 2010.

10 foot high frame set at large front yard oak tree.

Box and funnel set at about 9 feet above ground.

Moving Day For Bees

When I returned from breakfast, all the bees had moved into the top box. I set it onto a bottom board with an entrance restricter, and added a top feeder with sugar syrup to help get the bees settled and back to business.

The vacuum system is set up with bottom board, deep box, screen sleeve, and top. The top brood box holding the wire frames with comb is added to the stack. The screen in the center sleeve is pulled outward to allow the bees that were vacuumed into the lower brood box to move upward on to the frames with the brood and queen.

The small combs are placed into the pre-wired frames. You can see some brood through the 1/4 inch wire. I only needed two wire frames to hold all the comb.

Cool morning keeps the bees close.

The cooler with the paper cover at 6:00 AM the next morning. I tool a sharpen pencil to punch a row of holes in the paper across the top and bottom when it was unloaded the night before.

It is 9:00 PM, and we are looking at an older Styrofoam chest cooler. A new swarm of honey bees have chosen this as their new home. They use a crack between the cooler and the wall at the top right corner as the entrance. The old tobacco basket on the left side was removed to gain access. A sheet of brown craft paper that was cut from a roll was slid up from the bottom between the cooler and the wall. I was taped in place for the trip to the bee yard.

Bee Yard

Bees in the holding pattern waiting to land.

Busy bees from box #7

Funnel Setup On Tree Hollow

Later that afternoon the bees were buzzing about the entrance and landing on the extended shelf board.

The pipe is at a slight downward pitch. I prefer it to be level or slightly upward. I have the pipe setup with an open line to allow the bees to go out and return to the comb in the tree. A restrictor will be placed in the line to prevent re-entry into the tree after the bees have gotten use to the box.

The box in place on top.

The hole has been screened. Excess screen will be trimmed.

Stand in place with out top shelf board.

The hole is 9 feet up this burly maple, and is facing east.

The flat bed is backed into the unloading spot.

Swarm Removal

Getting the bees out of the catch cage into the brood box.

This swarm was looking for a new home along this old chimney. The cracks were not deep enough. The land owner helped me get to the bees with his old farm tractor with a front end loader. I was 4 miles west of Brookneal, VA on US 40.