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Post by Mack Apiary Bees on Feb 7, 2023 8:58:03 GMT -5
I finished putting handles on the boxes. Last night I bought 11 more boards and starting tonight after work, cutting the boards on the table saw long ways to make 11 more boxes and 12 lids. Lids are 10 15/16" wide and boxes 9 5/8" wide. My old compound miter saw motor bearing and brake went out. I will have a new one on Thursday. A DEWALT 12-Inch Sliding Compound Miter Saw, Double Bevel. Not cheap that's for sure. Time to upgrade from a cheap saw that I bought 32 years ago. I built my house on that saw, plus all the projects over the years.
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Post by Mack Apiary Bees on Feb 15, 2023 19:50:00 GMT -5
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Post by mossberg500 on Feb 20, 2023 11:16:07 GMT -5
Wild Waynes are you going to set up a booth at the Salem maple Syrup festival this year ? yes I know it's a maple syrup fest. but they also have honey and other stuff there as well . I know that it's this Weekend and sometime in March .
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Post by Mack Apiary Bees on Feb 20, 2023 19:37:03 GMT -5
Not this year. I'm in the process changing out my apiary. Most times you have to sign up 1st. I'll put a note for next year.
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Post by Mack Apiary Bees on Feb 21, 2023 10:59:59 GMT -5
Here is the update on the Allen Block wall. The section along the barn will be the new stand for the bee hives. I will be putting two 16 ft. long 4 x 6 cedar posts on top of the wall times 2 to make 32 ft. long. Then I will put on top of the cedar 1" high density R6 foam board. I will still have stand number two for nucs and swarms. I have 32 more blocks to put down, fill the blocks and put caps on. Then some dirt and flowers over the gravel back fill. Each block weighs 75 lbs. I getting a good workout. So far I have installed about 65 blocks. A good picture of three of the solar panel stands and part of my son's boat that he is selling. Bayliner, 22ft, 305 running engine, and trailer with new tires each new bearing grease packed for $3000 cash.
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Post by Woody Williams on Feb 26, 2023 17:13:01 GMT -5
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Post by Mack Apiary Bees on Feb 27, 2023 9:20:42 GMT -5
I finished the wall or at least built. I still need to back fill etc. The back filling will be all year off and on project. I closed up and moved 10 hives last light to dark to the wall. I have 7 more that I plan to do Wednesday night if they fit. I leave them closed for 3.5 days. The bees forget their old location in about 3 days. The bees re-orient when I open them. Wednesday night I will remove the tape so Thursday morning they can orient. Repeat the process on the other 7 hives. I will take pictures when finished.
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Post by Mack Apiary Bees on Feb 27, 2023 19:21:18 GMT -5
Yesterday a friend dropped off a free heavy-duty container that I'm going to transform into a Horizontal Hive. It is a little wide and deep. I will need to add some inside boards to make it work. It is about a 1/3 longer than a standard horizontal hive. It is 82 inches long. Here is a horizontal hive you can buy. www.horizontalbees.com/www.horizontalbees.com/queen-hiveI purchased one a month ago, a queen castle version that I will pick up at the end of April. It will have a custom painting on it. Rickey is one of my new friends in beekeeping world. I got about $250 off, plus a custom paint job. I can't tell you how many new friends I have met the last couple years. We meet on YouTube streaming every Tuesday and Wednesday.
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Post by Mack Apiary Bees on Mar 1, 2023 7:22:36 GMT -5
Here is the finished build of the wall. I still need to move 18 more hives on the wall that parallels the barn and backfill the other side. On occasions, I get free dirt from my son's landscaper friends, so I don't know how many years it will take. There are around eleven 15 foot high young white oak trees in that field. I'll let the leaves and grass clipping backfill it. I moved 10 hives so far and next week when it gets cold I will move 6 more. Later this spring, there will be 12 new hives. A unique set-up of hives. I will show that later on . It's how a lot of commercial Canadians beekeeper do it. In the very back where the trailer is, there will be a custom painted horizontal hive. That gravel area is the back side of the hives and will be the beekeeper training yard. I will have monthly "how to" training classes. Bees typically, don't fly behind their hive. Only on occasions to check around it. Classes will be free and open to all. This picture is the rest of the wall. I will be ordering a load of crushed lime stone to fill the low areas. The solar panels are getting moved to the other side of the barn. It's a better place and where I wanted to place them, but my wife didn't like that area. Now she understands why I wanted them there in the 1st place.
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Post by Mack Apiary Bees on Mar 2, 2023 7:35:22 GMT -5
I checked the one very heavy hive to see it it was honey bound. That means it's all brood and honey with no room for the queen to lay and expand. When this happens the bees will swarm. It was a two 10-frame box high hive and the top box had 8 full frames of capped honey. The end frame didn't have comb built on them last year and not used. The lower box was full 100% of brood and honey on frames 1 and 10. The outside frames. I removed 4 frames of honey and put in 4 empty combed frames to by a few weeks. By months end I will need to take all the honey and put an empty box on top for the bees to stay busy and build up those frames. This pull will be about 55 pounds of honey. I will give these honey frames to the new hives that I make up in mid April. Each new nucleus hive be one frame of brood, the honey frame, a empty comb frame, two blank frames, and a virgin queen cell. I will combine nuc hives where the virgin queen didn't make her mating fights back to her hive. I run about 70% success rate early spring, about 50% in early summer and back to 70% late summer. There are a lot of predictors out there.
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Post by Mack Apiary Bees on Mar 3, 2023 8:32:16 GMT -5
Last night, I moved the 6 hives to the wall stand, but no pictures yet. Maybe today, if there is a rain break, I'll snap a picture. I have one more hive to move to the other apiary that is about 2.7 miles from the Indiana border and next to the Miami Whitewater river. That one I have to wait for dry ground so I can drive my truck back the grass-dirt lane to the stand.
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Post by Mack Apiary Bees on Mar 3, 2023 15:37:52 GMT -5
Here are 16 hives on the wall stand. I will be adding 12 more hives in about a month to make 28 hives on the wall. I will have two horizontal hives and each one will have 2 full size hives and many small nucleus hives. These two will be my nuc queen castle mating hives. I will have three hives on a little stand for testing on my new method to stop varroa mites. I will have 3 to 5 at the 2nd apiary. This will be maximum setup. On this side of the barn is where I plan to build the lean.
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Post by Mack Apiary Bees on Mar 6, 2023 9:09:43 GMT -5
All 16 hives are open from the move and rocking in this warm weather. I received a 2nd wooden insulated box. So another horizontal hive. Both are deep enough that I can cut in half and make 4 horizontal hives. I think that is what I plan to do. I will be wax dipping the next 12 hives either the 11th or 18th Saturday. The other Saturday I'm heading down my brother's to finish the blind and set two swarm traps. Then on April 1st and 15th I have free bee classes and one day mid April driving down to South Carolina to pickup some hives and equipment. A trailer full for the beekeepers around me. I need to retire to have some time for my busy schedule.
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Post by esshup on Mar 6, 2023 14:40:02 GMT -5
Maple trees here were blooming yesterday, 50°F out on Sunday and the honeybees were really a buzzing....... Almost sounded like a swarm there were so many.
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Post by Mack Apiary Bees on Mar 7, 2023 7:40:57 GMT -5
Maple trees here were blooming yesterday, 50°F out on Sunday and the honeybees were really a buzzing....... Almost sounded like a swarm there were so many. That's great that the bees are doing good. Spring is moving North, but not today.
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Post by Mack Apiary Bees on Mar 13, 2023 7:39:56 GMT -5
I heard from my brother that his golfer friend caught two swarms last week in the Vevay, Indiana area.
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Post by Mack Apiary Bees on Mar 20, 2023 6:19:45 GMT -5
I spent the weekend working on the horizonal hive. I decided not to cut the box and work with the size it is. For queen mating 3 to 4 frames works well . Queen mating success seems to do better. I designed a custom two frame holder. Funny thing, this change and design came in a dream Saturday morning. Here is a YouTube of the frames and how it will work in the horizontal hive. I have 19 frame holders made so far from my scrape wood. www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lEL-70BVTk&t=3s
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Post by Mack Apiary Bees on Mar 21, 2023 8:38:14 GMT -5
I have 17 2-frame holders built and bought another board where I can make around 20 more. I have a few more small left over boards to make around 4 more. The estimate I need is 44 frame holders. This should get me close. I'm hoping to finish the horizontal hive #1 by end of April. I plan to graft mid April.
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Post by Mack Apiary Bees on Mar 24, 2023 19:40:06 GMT -5
Progress update on the horizontal hive. Ended up with 20 4-frame and 1 6-frame mating nucs. Entrance hole drilled and 7 follower boards cut. imgur.com/a/KaKWDBY
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Post by Mack Apiary Bees on Mar 28, 2023 12:49:34 GMT -5
The hive is built, but I decided to wrap the wooden box with 1/2" pressure treated plywood to protect it. There are two many nooks and holes for water to get in and destroy the wood over time. I am cutting coke bottle cap size holes for feeding bottles in each lid. A short video on how the 4 frames work per nuc. imgur.com/7KBza6Z
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