|
Post by bullseye69 on Jul 26, 2021 8:55:46 GMT -5
Maybe she's ugly.
|
|
|
Post by Mack Apiary Bees on Jul 26, 2021 9:27:04 GMT -5
I asked what's up, but all I got was some buzzing.
|
|
|
Post by whitetaildave24 on Jul 26, 2021 13:22:06 GMT -5
I’m guessing she’s Democrat. Why work?
|
|
|
Post by Mack Apiary Bees on Jul 29, 2021 7:07:49 GMT -5
Yesterday I went into 5 of my hives and took brood (eggs and larvae) frames and food frames (honey and pollen) and created 25 new nucleus hives (nuc). Each nuc got one brood, one food, one comb frame and two blank frames. I was able to complete all 25 with a brood frames, comb frame and blank frames, but on the 20th hive as I was looking for a food frame I got overheated, dizzy, and very weak. I wasn't able to close up the fifth hive that I was looking for 5 food frames. Luckily, I stumbled back to the house and got rehydrated. Wearing a long sleeve jacket, rubber cloves, jeans, making 25 nuc hives, 90 plus temperature, and being 60 does not mix well. I will never do that again. I still need to learn not to push myself so hard. This afternoon I'm picking up 25 virgin queens. Later today each nuc hive will get one. I will then wait two weeks and see how many virgin queens were successful flying out a few times, mating, and finding her way back. My guess the success rate will be around 70%. The ones without a mated queen will then be combined to the weaker successful ones.
|
|
|
Post by Mack Apiary Bees on Aug 14, 2021 16:04:29 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by Mack Apiary Bees on Aug 28, 2021 20:36:08 GMT -5
Got a call today to get bees out of a tree laying on a driveway. Tree was hit by lightning yesterday. Up in butler county in Ohio. Plan to go there tomorrow after service. Not sure if they will survive winter being this late in the year.
|
|
|
Post by Mack Apiary Bees on Sept 7, 2021 13:14:46 GMT -5
Today after work I'm driving to the eastside of Cincinnati to pickup 6 or 7 free virgin queens aka honeybees. Very late to get mated and survive the winter. Up to two weeks to get mated and maybe a month at most to grow enough for winter. That commercial beekeeper thought I might be able to. Time will tell.
|
|
|
Post by Mack Apiary Bees on Sept 8, 2021 6:31:14 GMT -5
I picked up 7 free virgin queens and here is the new setup. I was lucky that I didn't have to bother one of my queen right hives. Down the road I was doing a trap out in a tree close to power lines. I used that queenless hive of 8 bee frames. The queen has not left the tree yet. I did replace the hive with another box with empty combed frames for the remaining bees and queen. I also had a nuc that ended up queenless. So that gave me 13 frames of bees. The picture shows two 3-way boxes and a nuc. There are two dividers in the 3-ways that make the hive with three 3-frame hives in one box. It's a 10 frame box and the two dividers take up a frame space. The 5 frame nuc has an empty two frame feeder to make it 3 frames. Each of the 7 3-frame hive sections has 1.5 to 2 frames of bees (2000-300 bees), empty frame, and a virgin queen. My guess I'll get 3 or 4 mated queens from the mating flights the next two weeks. On the 21st I will check and combine the queenless hives to the successful mated hives. A virgin queen makes a few flights during the day about 150 feet in the air. Drone (male) bees mate her as she flies through the congregation of drone bees. I good mated queen will be mated by 20-25 drones during the few flights. She might fly up to 10 miles to go to a drone congregation area and fly to multiple drone congregation areas. The success rate is 75% and late in summer it's lower. Plus the number of drones this time of year is lower. Three good mated queens will be a success.
|
|
|
Post by Mack Apiary Bees on Sept 8, 2021 14:10:02 GMT -5
Just got a call from one of my retailers and they need more honey to sell. Since early July they sold 50 bottles so far. They need another 24 bottles. At work I sold 35 bottles and another retailer sold around 20. Honey sales are looking good.
|
|
|
Post by Mack Apiary Bees on Sept 10, 2021 6:52:16 GMT -5
Apitherapy It's more than Bee Stings 45 minute video about the benefits of Honeybees. Stings-honey-pollen-propolis and your health. youtu.be/lBADd-XIIFQ
|
|
|
Post by Mack Apiary Bees on Sept 16, 2021 12:41:49 GMT -5
The new seven queens will be checked this weekend. So far I have confirmed 3 made successful mating flights. Two are a bust and two others don't act like it per the bees flying in and out.
Yesterday rain was a bust for my area. Only .1 at best. The golden rod nectar is a bust so far. I'm internal feeding all the hive that don't have supers on them. I need to make a decision soon on 6 hives with supers to take off and feed. Long range forecast is dry.
|
|
|
Post by Mack Apiary Bees on Sept 16, 2021 12:46:46 GMT -5
The new seven queens will be checked this weekend. So far I have confirmed 3 made successful mating flights. Two are a bust and two others don't act like it per the bees flying in and out. Yesterday rain was a bust for my area. Only .1 at best. The golden rod nectar is a bust so far. I'm internal feeding all the hive that don't have supers on them. I need to make a decision soon on 6 hives with supers to take off and feed. Long range forecast is dry. I just checked the weather forecast and it changed. Now calling from rain on Monday - Wednesday. I just I'll hold off on the supers for a week and see if it does rain.
|
|
|
Post by esshup on Sept 16, 2021 15:09:10 GMT -5
They are saying the same here for rain, but only 30%-40%. That means that there is a 60%-70% chance that I won't get any. I'm not holding my breath.
|
|
|
Post by Mack Apiary Bees on Sept 21, 2021 11:17:37 GMT -5
I just placed a large order of bee equipment. Just bought 16 deep boxes and 160 frames. $800 investment. I still need 20 double screen boards and 20 drone frames. I might make some of the double screen boards. See how busy I am this winter.
|
|
|
Post by Mack Apiary Bees on Sept 22, 2021 19:52:47 GMT -5
This rain might have saved a lot of honeybees. To date the fall flow has been very bad. Flowers dry and not producing nectar. The forecast for the next dozen days is sunny and mostly in the 70's. Next couple weeks the bees will be busy. Just hope the 1st frost is 3rd week of October verses the 2nd week. Hope to pull some fall honey for fall allergies.
|
|
|
Post by Mack Apiary Bees on Oct 6, 2021 10:06:23 GMT -5
I updated my stands this past week. I using left over free roof tiles. This helps in a few ways: No weeds, water or mud when working on stand. Small Hive Beetles and Wax moths both need to leave the hive and live in the ground to become an adult. This stops that process and minimizes the damage to the comb frames in the hive. Buffer when cutting the grass. Here in a short video of my hives www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ehoQX_N4d4Plus it looks good!
|
|
|
Post by tine-n-spur on Oct 6, 2021 11:43:27 GMT -5
Wayne’s Honeybees…I know you posted about brewing beer.Was wondering if you’ve ever made mead from your honey?
|
|
|
Post by Mack Apiary Bees on Oct 6, 2021 11:50:57 GMT -5
Wayne’s Honeybees…I know you posted about brewing beer.Was wondering if you’ve ever made mead from your honey? No. I prefer beer over mead. I would rather sell the honey.
|
|
|
Post by Mack Apiary Bees on Oct 14, 2021 12:22:43 GMT -5
I checked the weight on my hives the other day by tilting up the back. If you do it enough you get a good idea how heavy each hive is. Out of the nineteen hives I have two a little low and two to be concerned. All four are being feed 2-1 sugar water. All four hives are the ones I used to make nucs during the year. I took a lot of their resources.
|
|
|
Post by Mack Apiary Bees on Oct 19, 2021 6:21:34 GMT -5
I spent last night organizing and cleaning up all the beekeeping stuff I have gathered since I started this journey back in 2018. Soon I will be receiving 16 new hive deep bodies and 160 frames. I will be busy all winter assembling the boxes and frames. This will give me enough boxes for 30 hives and 20 nucs to sell each year. The plan is 8-10 honey producing hives and 20 nuc producing hives. Every spring in late April I will take the queen and 5 good frames from each hive and sell. Then in May to June take a few more nucs from the group as needed per sales. This picture are the medium honey supers. I keep them in a separate room to protect them from small hive beetles and wax moths.
|
|