I Lost One

December 22, 2012

I Lost A Colony

I had some chores to do today at the farm, such as re-secure parts of the tin roof above the shop.  But since it was such a beautiful day I also decided to check on the colonies.  I was very surprised and disappointed to find that one of the colonies had totally disappeared.  There wasn't a singe live bee to be found and maybe a dozen dead bees laying around.  Sadly, some of these bees froze to death with their heads in the honey (the main colony was gone so they couldn't collectively stay warm with the cluster).  I don't have pictures at this time, but I will post some the next time a take a trip to the farm.  I couldn't find any obvious signs of disease or distress.  From within the brood box, all of the honey and, with few exceptions, the brood cells were cleaned out. 

I will remove the honey super and harvest it for spring feeding, it has 8 full frames and 2 frames that are 1/2 full of honey.  As I mentioned in a previous post I didn't take any surplus honey from the colonies this year.  Apparently, I am now.

Bee Candy Time

What a sad day.  I was hoping to dive into spring with 3 colonies ready to go and use one to create a new queen to replace the aging queen in Tom.  Harry appears to be a very strong colony.  I hope to keep it that way through winter.  This means, it is time to make some bee candy.  Last year I made some at about this time and placed it on top of the brood frames.  It was interesting to monitor the consumption of the bee candy over time.

Really?! Zombie Bees?!

Something I never heard of before.  Bears watching...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/washington-states-first-zombie-bees-reported-parasite-causes-bees-to-fly-at-night-die/2012/09/24/fbcefa56-0677-11e2-9eea-333857f6a7bd_allComments.html?ctab=all_&


Also a zombie bee map and more info (I don't think I have every heard of a zombie fly before).

www.zombeewatch.org

We Have Honey!

9-16-2012

We actually have some honey!



https://dl.dropbox.com/u/31974115/Honey%21%209-16-2012.wmv

We have very little honey in fact, and all of that from Harry, but it will be nice to have a small harvest!  I checked the other two hives and there isn't much to recover from them.   The bees in Dick have drawn out most of the comb in the honey super, but they don't have any surplus honey.  This is still positive (except for over winter feeding), because we'll have two honey supers full of drawn comb ready for next season (from Dick and Harry).  It takes a lot of bee energy and nectar to draw out comb.

Here is an interesting and recent article about Colony Collapse Disorder and its potential impact on our food supply.  I highly recommend eating food that is organically grown as much as is humanly possible.  Society has only just begun to discover the long term impact of inorganic farming practices on our bodies and the environment.

http://www.kitchendaily.com/read/19-crops-would-disappear-without-bees?icid=maing-grid7|main5|dl12|sec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D207396/?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000058?test=latestnews

A guy's gotta have some fun!

Monday September 3, 2012

I could hear the vehicle approaching from 1/2 mile away.  Fully expecting a large pickup with dual wheels and a huge power stroke diesel engine, I had just walked to the front gate to push it wider when a recent model, souped up Mustang GT with big rims and low profile tires showed up.  From inside the vehicle I heard "'r you Eric"?  I fully expected a young kid behind the wheel of this hot rod.  Instead, his appearance was predictable but his mode of transportation wasn't.  He was a long skinny man, maybe a little older than me, with well worn wranglers and a button up work shirt that had the look of someone who spent a lot of time in the sun doing hot, sweaty work.  After inspecting the 'stang a little more closely I noticed the usual signs of it's being a country car, something that has seen a lot of travel on gravel roads.  "That's not what I expected you to show up in," I declared as he climbed out.  He responded, "a guy's got to have some fun, sometime."  The next day, being Labor Day, he arrived in his usual work attire but with an entirely different toy.  This time it was an eighteen wheeler with a large John Deere dozer on a low-boy trailer.  And I was sitting there thinking, which would be more fun "operating a large earth mover or driving a mustang GT"?  It's too close to call.

He finished the spillway and the pond dig-out in less than two days.  Just in time for the fall and winter precipitation.

Too Hot and Too Dry

Sunday September 2, 2012

Over the course of a few weeks in May and June we probably planted over 300 sunflower seedlings only to see them destroyed by the deer or eaten up by grasshoppers.  In spite of our deer repellent efforts and automatic watering system to hedge against drought.  It will be a lot easier to care for the land once we get moved.

We met with representatives of Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to plan some food plots for pollinators.  The food plots will have the added benefit of supporting the local quail population (I jumped a small covey a couple of times over the last 18 months).  We decided on two plots of about 3 acres each in the larger hay meadow.  NRCS has a No Till Seeder I can rent for the planting and my neighbor to the north is extremely willing to help me get the seed in the ground.  We'll plant the wildflower mix after the first of December.  We hope to achieve a constant bloom from May through September and into October with this effort.  NRCS will prepare the seed according to the plan I select.  The cost of the seed and the drill rental are very reasonable and my farmer friend seems very willing to plant it for free.  I intend to at least cover the cost of his fuel.  I can't wait to see the result of our efforts next summer.  We just need to pray for a more reasonable weather pattern.

Ramona and I also considered planting yellow and white sweet clover in the 3 acre brome hay field.  But I think the investment in the larger hay meadow this winter will be enough for one year.  We can budget something for the 3 acre field in 2013.

 

It has been too hot and too dry for the bees to make any surplus honey.  So, for the second year in a row now we'll have to provide more supplemental winter feeding than is normal.  Like I said we need to pray for more temperate weather next year.

SCKS Honey Producers Meeting

Sunday May 20, 2012

Attended SCKS (South Central Kansas) Honey Producers Meeting near Cheney and learned more about forage for pollinators than we could possible retain in a single meeting.  I need to do some more research.  Here are some of the things we learned at the meeting.

1)  Double bloom (aka double flower) versus single bloom - bees won't forage on double  flowers because the stamens were converted to petals.  Watch out for this if you intend to plant flowers for pollinators.

2)  Pollenless Sunflowers - Sunflowers are very popular in cut flower arrangements and some pollenless varieties of sunflowers have been engineered so that the cut flowers won't stain the surface upon which they sit (from dropped pollen).  If you intend to grow sunflowers for pollinator forage please be careful to avoid pollenless varieties.

3)  Yellow and White Sweet Clovers are biennials - this means the seed germinates in the first year, blooms the second, then the plant dies and sheds its seeds.  New plants will be formed from the seeds it drops given the right conditions.

4)  Consider the quantity of ground that is used for crop production - how much of it is not pollinator friendly and how much of it is harvested prior to pollinator usefulness (such as alfalfa).  Also worthy of noting is the fact that many road departments mow all of the public right-of-way thus destroying other forage opportunities.  I visited with the local road department about our roads, which have a lot of naturally occurring clovers and other forbs.  The county man happily assured me that they would not mow along the roads that front our property.  I guess old habits are hard to break!

Bummer of a Birthmark Pal!

This is what the deer will be thinking at the end of November.  Do you remember Gary Larson's "The Far Side" comic of the buck with the target printed on his side?  They are still a little too interested in the sunflowers.  The commercial deer repellent isn't working very well, so I constructed a little visual barrier using some spare T-Posts and twine.  I was told that a stair stepped wire fence will discourage deer from jumping the fence for fear of getting tangled.  Ramona and I have decided that we will have to construct a proper fence to defeat the deer and other wildlife (such as Peter Rabbit).  There are many T posts on the property that we can scavenge, we would just need to buy some corner posts and fencing material.  This would be a good job for Carlton and me.  I really don't want to put up any fences.  I like looking to the south and seeing nothing but green stuff all the way to the neighbors fence.  Oh well.

Good Neighbors:)

I had just started mowing the lawn when my neighbor to the north dropped by and offered to till my garden spot for me.  I don't intend to plant anything else this year (unless it is ground cover) but I was going to mow the weeds down anyway.  Because I want the green mulch I was very happy for him to till it under.  My neighbors to the south gave me their horse manure for the gardens and also loaned me their disc harrow.  I have already spent several hours at the fence conversing with them.  We also met some folks that live farther north and south of us (1 mile each way).  All appear to be very nice people!  Good neighbors are great to have!  We plan to return the favors.

New comb being constructed in the 9th frame.

Hive checks

Capped brood with pollen (yellow color) and capped honey along the top edge.

I opened all of the hives and removed the remaining sugar water.  It is time for them to get nectar from the field, and they are, in fact, all over the yellow clover I planted last fall.  The new hives, Dick and Harry, are loaded (6 frames worth) with brood and honey.  It doesn't look like last year's colony, Tom, is expanding into the upper brood box yet, but I am not very concerned at this time.  I think a week or two on the clover will help.  I've just about decided that I would like to plant white and yellow sweet clover and alfalfa in the seven acre field.  These plants are perennials and should produce faithfully for a few years at least.  I think we'll put some early blooming stuff on the three acre field.  The great thing about having the clovers and alfalfa on the seven acre field is what they contribute to the soil.  I've read that some farmers are now using clovers to fertilize their fields in lieu of chemicals.  

Here is a short video of my inspection of the second colony (Dick).

The Bees are Happy, so I'm Happy!

May 1, 2012

Dashed out to the farm to check on the bees and create a bird deterent for the sunflowers. The bees needed some more sugar water. The existing hive went throught 2 quarts in 2 days, the new hives not as much. My mixture is a 1:1 ratio (by volume) of sugar and water. I went through 25lbs of sugar in about 2 weeks, which is also roughly 6 gallons of mix. I hope that they will soon find more nectar in the field and lose interest in the sugar water. I don't consider sugar water all that healthy for the bees because it just isn't the same as nectar. Last year, my original hive lost interest in the sugar water on or around the second week of May. I guess the nectar isn't out there in sufficient quantity, yet.  Regardless, tonight the bees seemed happy, so I am happy!

James Wilkes of Faith Mountain Farm near Creston, North Carolina, tied a taught string above his not yet emerged sunflowers to discourage the birds from eating the tops of the newly emerged seedlings.  Based on his experience, I decided to give it a try over my recently planted sunflower seeds. The first batch of sunflowers were germinated in pots.  I really don't feel like dealing with pots and instead I am taking my chances in the existing plot.  Ramona potted the first seeds and took care of moving the pots outside in the morning and inside every evening to avoid the cold nights.

It is my understanding that Wilkes is a professor at Appalachian State University.  In addition to his professorship he and his family have an interesting farm and bee operation you might want to check out at www.faithmtnfarm.com.   He has also posted a lot of youtube videos of various topics including his sunflower operation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vo6AFfv4ts.

Bad, Bad, Deer!

Mid-April  

The new queens are laying, so except for cutting away some unusual comb (some of it with drone brood) I left them alone.  This unusual comb (a second layer attached to the same top of a frame) results from the way the queen's box is hung between frames when the colony is first introduced.  They have about 3-4 days to build comb with the box hanging between the frames.  The frames are normally kept at bee-space width (normally around 3/8"), but the little box the queen is transported in is too large to maintain that optimal space between the frames in which she is hanging.  Bee space can be anything from about 1/4" to 3/8".  Any thing larger and they create extra comb (as is the case with what I cut out).  Anything smaller and they will fill the space with propolis.

Hive Names?

One day my wife suggested we should name the colonies.  "OK, how 'bout 1, 2, and 3".  She gave me a "no, silly" look so I then suggested "Tom, Dick, and Harry".  I can't begin to describe the look she gave me then.

Blackberries

What a great surprise!

A week ago I found a very large blackberry bush hidden along the west side of the little creek that carries the pond overflow.  This bush is about twice as tall as I am and as big as our present kitchen - that's not saying much but it is a large bramble.  It was in full bloom and the bees were all over it.  I was out walking one day trying to envision what we should do with the property to improve the quail habitat (jumped a covey of about 20 birds one day), honey production, and overall beauty.  I think a few northern red oaks will improve the fall colors around here, it isn't hard to improve on brown.  The blackberry bush caught my eye because it was the only thing blooming on that side of the property.  We are looking forward to some blackberry syrup, jam and cobbler.  Next spring will be a good time to plant some quail habitat and more deciduous trees.

Deer Damage

Bad, Bad, Deer!

Yesterday, April 28th, I cultivated the sunflower patch and the strawberry patch, which really needed it.  I was very disappointed to find that deer had been eating the tops off of the sunflowers (about 50% had been chomped down a bit).  Since the deer were thoughtful enough to leave us some leaves on each plant I have hope they will recover.  I installed some deer repellent around the sunflowers and strawberry plants.  I planted at least 75 more sunflower seeds today.  I hope the repellant works.

The Queens Have Been Released!

April 11, 2012  - "Release the Prisoners"

Today I released the queens using the hand release method - which I used last year as well.  I'm OK with this method except I almost drowned the first queen.  You're supposed to give the queen a short burst of sugar water on her back to make her wings heavy, then she won't have a desire to fly.  With the first hive, I used two short blasts and when she flattened out against the side of her little cage I panicked!  I can't imagine what the surface tension of water must feel like to a small creature like a bee.  Anyway, I shook the cage a little and managed somehow to exude enough life out of her to get her out of the drowning pool.  The weather has been very windy so I won't be able to open the hive to see if she is laying eggs until Tuesday evening the 17th.  We'll see.  Here is a short video of the second release.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/31974115/Queen%20Release%204-11-2012%20%282%29.wmv

The second queen crawled out of the cage and onto my hand.  You can see me reach in and remove the empty cage with my right hand.  I don't like it when they crawl onto my hands, I'm afraid they will crawl up my arm and fly away.  Thankfully that didn't happen.  The whole process took about 12 minutes per hive.

OK, you wonder about my sanity.  I mean, I just learned that I have severe reactions to bee stings and I used my bare hands to release the queen.  I'm not sure I could have used gloves, I had my EpiPen and a friend close by to help in case I got into trouble.


April 14, 2012 - Mowing, Planting and a Pleasant Surprise!

Today I was a mowin' fool.  It takes about 4 hours but I got it all done!  For those of you who didn't get to experience the drought we had last year the difference this year is amazing.  South Central Kansas is absolutely beautiful!  As I was reviewing our recent plantings (fruit trees, strawberries and potatoes) I was surprised to see that two of our flowering pears aren't flowering pears at all, they are truly fruit bearing pears.  They are stuck in a cluster with two flowering pears (non fruit bearing), these will have to go to make room for real pears!  Everything else looks very healthy.  I planted my wife's mammoth sunflowers today.  They have been living in pots for about 3 weeks and I am sure they are more happy in the ground.

48 Sunflower plants are in.

Yellow Clover - looking good.

Pears!

I think one objective for this farm is to get enough variety and quantity to provide a prolonged nectar season for the bees.  To accomplish this (in addition to the strawberries and fruit trees we planted last year and this) we planted yellow clover last fall.  We planted more yellow clover and Dutch white clover this spring, but don't expect any blossoms this year.  It is my understanding that they must overwinter at least once before they will flower.  We also planted alfalfa in a one acre plot this spring.  Alfalfa should flower during the same year in which it was planted.  We will probably plant more sunflowers soon.

WOW! I didn't see that one coming!

Saturday, April 7, 2012

I started the smoker at around 11am and put the meat on at 12pm. There is an art to maintaining the correct temperature but with a little practice I should be able to get it down. I spent most of my afternoon monitoring the cooking temperature and tending the firebox. We received an inch of moisture from a slow steady morning rain and that meant that the range was closed due to mud. So I made a plan to move one of the knife targets from the range up into the pecan orchard. I would just need a little help carrying it. Our guests arrived at around 3:30pm and my wife and son showed up soon afterwards. The meat was already smoked, wrapped, and on the smoker for the final cooking. The kids had fun throwing blades while the adults visited.  I wanted to but didn't get a chance to throw knives.

Ready, Set, Go!

The Queen

At around 4:30pm it was time to release the bees. Early this morning I picked up the two packages of bees that I ordered in January and they spent most of the day under the porch at the house. We carried everything we would need for the release to the apiary and got started. Using the standard introduction method (remove and place the queen and then dump the rest) you always end up with a lot of confused bees flying around. This time one of them got stuck beneath my glasses at my temple and she stung me. Not long after that another one got caught in my collar and stung me on my neck. I've been stung before and, other than some local swelling and pain, I was never really bothered by the stings. This time however, I was becoming increasingly uncomfortable as time passed. By the time we got the second set of bees released (largely due to the help of my friend and brother-in-law) I was in no shape to continue without some medical intervention. I got a ride into town to purchase some Benadryl. By the time we got to the grocery store, my hands and feet were swollen and extremely itchy, I had broken out under my arms (which also itched), my ear canals were constricted, and my tongue and face were swollen. I took my first dose of Benadryl as soon as we left the store and in about 30 minutes I could feel improvement. Wow, I never saw that one coming. What a disappointing discovery and a horrible experience! Oh well.

The Big Dump!

One Down, One to Go

The rest of the evening was very pleasant (meal and visit around the bonfire). I am looking forward to going back out there today to release the queens and check on the newcomers (or for lack of a better term "new bees").  This time I will be armed with an EpiPen and I will wear my veil. 

P.S. Thank you, Theresa, for the very nice photos.

A Beautiful End to the Day!

A New Style of Dance?

A few years ago I was observing my wife while she was working in the garden. She introduced me to something I call the "Spider Dance". Although she studied ballet when she was young I don't think there are any dance prerequisites to learning the "Spider Dance". The Spider Dance involves wild disorganized girations and contortions, crazy uncoordinated jumping and arm flapping. Apparently she had walked into a large spider web that was attached to the side of the garden shed in our back yard. Her frantic attempt to make the spider (that might or might  not have been on her body) fall off was a real hoot and the subject of much mirth since then.

Well, yesterday evening I experienced what one might call a "Snake Dance". I was on the farm walking back toward the jeep so that I could go home. I had checked on the bees, strawberries and fruit trees and I had watered the recently planted wildflower plots. As I was passing in front of the machine shed I noticed movement beneath my feet and thought "I'm about to step on a snake". I am sure it looked like I was practicing a modified Irish jig in my attempt to not step on the snake. The snake was extremely angry at me, it hissed, it coiled, and it vigorously shook its skinny little tail as it assumed a very aggressive posture. But there was no buzzing sound, which made me think twice about dispatching it, no questions asked.  Even the little massasauga rattlesnake that my mom and I crossed paths with one day made an audible buzzing sound with its tiny little buttons.  I took some pictures and did a quick Internet search and determined that it was a yellow spotted king snake.  It was a beautiful specimen about 3 to 4 feet long that I left in peace. Too bad no one was around to observe my little dance.

The apiary is ready for the new colonies

The apiary is ready for the new tenants, who should arrive on the 7th of April.  We can't wait!  The last hive on the left is a very strong colony we introduced last spring.  The two hives on the right are ready for the new bee packages.  My wife and I will use the Warre hive - second from the left - to collect a wild colony a little later this spring.

We'll also take advantage of the event to have some friends over to enjoy the bee colony introductions, have a fun time at the range, and pig out on some smoked brisket and other victuals!