Animals
Of course, while we were working on the hives, TomTom was busy supervising....from a safe distance!!
- Casualties Of Winter
I don't have to tell any of you...This was the HARDEST winter ever...of my life...ever! Now, we've had winters with more snow.We've had winters just as cold.But we have never had a winter with this much snow and ice and this much cold,that...
- Beekeeping Basics
Yesterday was another sunny day with temperatures in the 60's. The rain held off (I think today may be the day, though). I took advantage of the wonderful weather, donned my bee suit, and headed out to feed the bees. Earlier this week I mixed...
- Great News
I have been anxiously awaiting Spring to see how our honey bees tolerated the long, cold winter. I am happy to say that upon initial inspection, there is good activity at all 5 hives. I have begun to feed them sugar water until nectar starts flowing....a...
- Honey Snacks
It has been a long cold winter here in PA. Jack and I have spent the past several weeks taking an evening beekeeping class at our local community college. We have learned a lot and I feel confident that I am ready to take over as beekeeper. Yesterday...
- Winterizing Bee Hives....bad News
Yesterday we opened our hives for one last check before Winter winds start to howl. Our goal was to check the health of the hives, supply some extra sugary syrup if honey supplies were low, and then wrap each in warm black paper blanket to help insulate...
Animals
Winterizing Bee Hives
It's that time of year...time to put certain parts of the farm to bed for the winter. Each autumn around this time....before the winds turn too cold, we do a final inspection of our hives and get them winterized. Yesterday I had a bit of help....my daughter. Check her out in her bee suit....
I open each hive and inspect its health and strength, remove any supers that are empty, remove the queen excluder and place a top feeder on the top beneath the inner cover. This feeder is filled with sugar syrup (that I made this morning) and will serve to feed the bees...helping to make their honey stores stretch a bit further.
I use black roofing paper as a blanket around the hives. The black helps to absorb the warmth of the winter sun and also acts as a wind break for those cold winter winds.
I also turn my entrance reducers to the smallest opening.
This year has been a learning experience for me....and one of the things I learned is that my bees did not like the supers above the queen excluders. In the two hives that I used queen excluders, there was absolutely no activity above the excluders....no comb being drawn or anything. The hives without excluders did much better....and ended up with larger honey stores.
- Casualties Of Winter
I don't have to tell any of you...This was the HARDEST winter ever...of my life...ever! Now, we've had winters with more snow.We've had winters just as cold.But we have never had a winter with this much snow and ice and this much cold,that...
- Beekeeping Basics
Yesterday was another sunny day with temperatures in the 60's. The rain held off (I think today may be the day, though). I took advantage of the wonderful weather, donned my bee suit, and headed out to feed the bees. Earlier this week I mixed...
- Great News
I have been anxiously awaiting Spring to see how our honey bees tolerated the long, cold winter. I am happy to say that upon initial inspection, there is good activity at all 5 hives. I have begun to feed them sugar water until nectar starts flowing....a...
- Honey Snacks
It has been a long cold winter here in PA. Jack and I have spent the past several weeks taking an evening beekeeping class at our local community college. We have learned a lot and I feel confident that I am ready to take over as beekeeper. Yesterday...
- Winterizing Bee Hives....bad News
Yesterday we opened our hives for one last check before Winter winds start to howl. Our goal was to check the health of the hives, supply some extra sugary syrup if honey supplies were low, and then wrap each in warm black paper blanket to help insulate...