So we have finally gotten some cold weather, actually we even got some snow! I went east this weekend to my parents house in New Kent and noticed the maples seem to be about a week ahead of my house in Buckingham… Not unusual, they seem to be a week ahead of me anyway with the blooms…
Looking forward I noticed the temps are pretty stable around 30’s at night and 50’s in the day over the next 2 weeks. That’s not bad, especially when you look at the average temperature being 42 deg over that 2 week period and the fact that bees are at their most efficient between about 40-45 deg F. So that means (or should mean) that my bees should stay pretty efficient during the majority of the 24 hours , but have the ability when temps reach near or above 50 for those few hours in the day to move around and shift food around as needed…
Of course this all assumes the bees don’t have too much brood and freeze themselves to death trying to keep the brood warm…
So in the end, things seem on track this year, maple bloom around mid February, mild near seasonal temps, and hives so far still living…
Could things change? Yes, of course its mother nature and VA Feb/March anything is possible. But IMO if we get through the end of Feb with mild/good temps and I keep an eye on the feed in the hives everything should be just fine.
I have already placed pollen patties on the hives to help feed brood and most still have (or did have) fondant on them. Honestly they could use another 5 lb round of fondant, but instead of ordering that I believe I am going to open feed with buckets using a new method a friend of mine in Mass. shared with me. OPEN FEEDING VIDEO
Many folks are against open feeding, for good reasons. For example, fighting can occur, drowning, transfer of disease (another argument sometime), and could start robbing.
I have open fed before but not to my satisfaction due to high levels (maybe not that high) of dead bees. But this is all putting a “float” in an open bucket… I also was over crowding the feeding space. Allen Dick in Alberta once told me 10 hives per 55 gallon drum, what your looking for is the feeding area. So I figured it up to be 2.5 hives per 5 gallon bucket… I like the idea and it would mimic the foraging for nectar just fine. But I would need 24 buckets to feed my 60 hives… Maybe it would be easier to feed individually? Maybe not? I haven’t decided yet…
So anyway, keep checking those hives and feeding them if needed, in my case I am feeding to stimulate growth, health, as well as keep them alive just in case they run out. Remember Late Feb and March is when most beehives starve!!!
Monday, February 13, 2012
Monday, January 30, 2012
Early Spring or Winter NEVER-land?
Early Spring or Winter NEVER-land?
So as many folks on the east coast can attest to we have had a VERY mild winter thus far… Based on my count the maples have bloomed now 3 times since November alone and I now see the elms budding slightly.
The hives seem to be very healthy. I have been keeping fondant on them since they are using a lot of stores during this warm but nectar-less time. However, they have slowed greatly, but I anticipate brood rearing will really get going now since this week will be in the 60’s all week and pollen is coming in.
I will continue to feed fondant as needed since as they hatch more and more brood they will consume more and more honey… after all most starvation cases occur during the months of February and March…
I have heard a number of folks report “healthy” looking hives with great populations. I am glad folks are actually looking and not assuming, many of those same folks are also watchful of light hives and have mentioned they will feed fondant if needed.
On Saturday I watched a number of hives flying strong collecting water and maple pollen, although it seemed more were carrying water than pollen…
I have yet to break apart frames, I normally don’t do this until mid feb on warm days, but it’s been so warm I could have.
So what are you seeing?
Email me at “DougLadd at gmail dot com”
So as many folks on the east coast can attest to we have had a VERY mild winter thus far… Based on my count the maples have bloomed now 3 times since November alone and I now see the elms budding slightly.
The hives seem to be very healthy. I have been keeping fondant on them since they are using a lot of stores during this warm but nectar-less time. However, they have slowed greatly, but I anticipate brood rearing will really get going now since this week will be in the 60’s all week and pollen is coming in.
I will continue to feed fondant as needed since as they hatch more and more brood they will consume more and more honey… after all most starvation cases occur during the months of February and March…
I have heard a number of folks report “healthy” looking hives with great populations. I am glad folks are actually looking and not assuming, many of those same folks are also watchful of light hives and have mentioned they will feed fondant if needed.
On Saturday I watched a number of hives flying strong collecting water and maple pollen, although it seemed more were carrying water than pollen…
I have yet to break apart frames, I normally don’t do this until mid feb on warm days, but it’s been so warm I could have.
So what are you seeing?
Email me at “DougLadd at gmail dot com”
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Some Life Thoughts
I know this isn’t bee related, but… this is something I have believed and experienced since I was young and something I believe is important in life.
We are here for such a short time on this earth, to be with loved ones, family, and experience life. Life is a gift, so we should enjoy it as such.
I often tell folks that you better enjoy what you do no matter what it is, because you can’t buy back time with money, life is only experienced in the present and nothing else.
Many folks I see work jobs they hate, doing it for the money they say. But what is money really? When you’re at work you’re selling your life to the company, that’s all it is. Although I enjoy my work, the folks I work with, etc. It is NOT my life, I am not an Engineer I am and a Doug first and foremost, what I do is Engineering. I only work because I want to provide for my family, but the truth is I spend more time (we all do) at work or going to work that I spend awake with my family… think about that…
I also see people change who they are to fit in, to make someone else happy, to get a job etc. This will never end good, it will always end in defeat. Yes we can change putting the toilet seat down, helping more around the house, stop cursing, drinking, etc. But we have to be true to ourselves.
Through my short time on this earth, I have talked to people that have moved away from home to do something “better”, sure it turns out ok sometimes, but more times than not people stay unhappy for 30 years working for some company, then they move back.
Look at the average life span after retirement? My company sends out a magazine that has obituaries in the back of it that also show when that person retired… many times people have only been retired for about 10 years! 10 years folks. So we spend 30 years (our best 30 years) of life working all the time for money. For things we think we need. Then we get 10 years of most likely aches and pains, we cant ski, we cant hunt like we used, we cant go hiking, etc.
We have to work, we have to provide for our families, but we also MUST make sure we enjoy life while we are able and never regret not doing anything. Work a little, save a little, but make sure your have a TON of fun.
In my case I will be 30 years old this year, have 5 years with the company, fully vested in the pension plan at 55 yrs old (if that even exist when I get there), will be 55 yrs old with 30 yrs service, and just last year they bumped the retirement age for medical to 58 from 55… this means in the next 25 years most likely medical will be at 65… so my plans are to make sure I am debt free by 53 or before and work on my terms. I see so many folks my age and younger who are not preparing for the future, not putting into their 401k (if that’s there in 25 years anyway…) but making no provisions to be debt free, they continue to buy fancy homes rolling over the equity into a bigger home for another 30 years with no thoughts of how are they going to pay that payment at 70 years old…
Anyway folks, that’s enough rambling. But PLEASE make sure your enjoying life and being true to yourself and others…
All spawned by Dan Tyminski:
We are here for such a short time on this earth, to be with loved ones, family, and experience life. Life is a gift, so we should enjoy it as such.
I often tell folks that you better enjoy what you do no matter what it is, because you can’t buy back time with money, life is only experienced in the present and nothing else.
Many folks I see work jobs they hate, doing it for the money they say. But what is money really? When you’re at work you’re selling your life to the company, that’s all it is. Although I enjoy my work, the folks I work with, etc. It is NOT my life, I am not an Engineer I am and a Doug first and foremost, what I do is Engineering. I only work because I want to provide for my family, but the truth is I spend more time (we all do) at work or going to work that I spend awake with my family… think about that…
I also see people change who they are to fit in, to make someone else happy, to get a job etc. This will never end good, it will always end in defeat. Yes we can change putting the toilet seat down, helping more around the house, stop cursing, drinking, etc. But we have to be true to ourselves.
Through my short time on this earth, I have talked to people that have moved away from home to do something “better”, sure it turns out ok sometimes, but more times than not people stay unhappy for 30 years working for some company, then they move back.
Look at the average life span after retirement? My company sends out a magazine that has obituaries in the back of it that also show when that person retired… many times people have only been retired for about 10 years! 10 years folks. So we spend 30 years (our best 30 years) of life working all the time for money. For things we think we need. Then we get 10 years of most likely aches and pains, we cant ski, we cant hunt like we used, we cant go hiking, etc.
We have to work, we have to provide for our families, but we also MUST make sure we enjoy life while we are able and never regret not doing anything. Work a little, save a little, but make sure your have a TON of fun.
In my case I will be 30 years old this year, have 5 years with the company, fully vested in the pension plan at 55 yrs old (if that even exist when I get there), will be 55 yrs old with 30 yrs service, and just last year they bumped the retirement age for medical to 58 from 55… this means in the next 25 years most likely medical will be at 65… so my plans are to make sure I am debt free by 53 or before and work on my terms. I see so many folks my age and younger who are not preparing for the future, not putting into their 401k (if that’s there in 25 years anyway…) but making no provisions to be debt free, they continue to buy fancy homes rolling over the equity into a bigger home for another 30 years with no thoughts of how are they going to pay that payment at 70 years old…
Anyway folks, that’s enough rambling. But PLEASE make sure your enjoying life and being true to yourself and others…
All spawned by Dan Tyminski:
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Buckingham Beekeeping Club Presents 2012 Beginners Beekeeping Course!!!
2012 Beekeeping Workshop Series
Door Prize to be awarded at the April class:
One Starter Bee Hive!
Must attend at least 3 of the 4 classes to qualify for drawing. Hive does not include bees.
Starter Hive donated by: Oxner Apiaries- Honey, Bee Supplies, Swarm Retrieval, and Nucs.
January 18th:
Beginning Bee Keeping
7:00 p.m.
February 15th:
How to Build a Hive – hands on instruction
7:00 p.m.
March 21st:
Environmental & Seasonal Changes for Bee Hives
7:00 p.m.
April (TBD):
Hands on working a Hive
Date, Time & Location to be determined (must attend 2 of the first three classes to be authorized for this class.
Please RSVP by January 10, 2012 to Buckingham Extension (434) 969-4261
Cost $10.00, includes all instructional and take home materials
LOCATION:
The Buckingham Extension office
Door Prize to be awarded at the April class:
One Starter Bee Hive!
Must attend at least 3 of the 4 classes to qualify for drawing. Hive does not include bees.
Starter Hive donated by: Oxner Apiaries- Honey, Bee Supplies, Swarm Retrieval, and Nucs.
January 18th:
Beginning Bee Keeping
7:00 p.m.
February 15th:
How to Build a Hive – hands on instruction
7:00 p.m.
March 21st:
Environmental & Seasonal Changes for Bee Hives
7:00 p.m.
April (TBD):
Hands on working a Hive
Date, Time & Location to be determined (must attend 2 of the first three classes to be authorized for this class.
Please RSVP by January 10, 2012 to Buckingham Extension (434) 969-4261
Cost $10.00, includes all instructional and take home materials
LOCATION:
The Buckingham Extension office
Monday, November 28, 2011
Light Weight Hives
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I know I did, the weather was wonderful (for me) and I got a ton of work done on the little things I have been putting off for so long.
Well the weather has been nice this fall, too nice in my opinion for the bees. We have had many days well above average. With these warm temps come active hives consuming honey they normally wouldn’t be consuming. After all they are flying but what are they getting? Maybe some water, but that’s it. Not only this all this flying early in the winter reduces their lifetime through winter…
No one really knows what this all means, but in my mind a warm fall can be death to already light or weakened hives. I know I have been checking on my 60 hives a few times, lifting the back and comparing “weight”, I need to buy me a scale… maybe next year… anyway most of my hives are ok, not great but ok with honey weight. While others have eaten all their stored honey and would starve before December if not fed. Some hives have a ton of honey, but it aint many of them…
The weather has been so crazy, I have even seen with my own eyes maples blooming and bees working the blooms!!! Come on Mother Nature really? Maples blooming in November?
The purpose for this email is just to make sure everyone is at least “tipping” their hives to make sure they are heavy, remember in normal winter we 50-60lbs of honey, but so far this has not been a normal winter and in my opinion that 50-60 lbs might be like 20-30 lbs left in the hive if not all gone…
It doesn’t take 3 seconds, so get out there and lift those hives… (make sure you take that heavy rock off the top first!)
I have been using fondant (300lbs so far) on my top bars with a spacer to feed my bees, I expect to have fed about 10 lbs per hive by April, so that’s not a lot per hive ($10 worth). To me an ounce of prevention is worth a ton. To me this also doesn’t have anything to do with survivability, yeah some will do better than others, but none had a huge surplus of honey, if they did I had pulled it and extracted it anyway… so to me this has to do with an abnormal fall and human intervention created a recipe for disaster.
Remember a few lbs of fondant or even dry sugar on newspaper is far cheaper than the loss honey next spring or the price and ramp up of a package to fill the deadout… to me its all about agriculture and taking care of your animals. You feed your cat after all and they can catch mice and birds right?
We are going to be getting seasonal weather soon this week, so that’s awesome. It’s about time!
Again I hope this finds you and your bees well and don’t forget to order your new hive equipment for next year now while most manufactures have free shipping and you have some spare time on those cold winter days to assemble equipment….
Well the weather has been nice this fall, too nice in my opinion for the bees. We have had many days well above average. With these warm temps come active hives consuming honey they normally wouldn’t be consuming. After all they are flying but what are they getting? Maybe some water, but that’s it. Not only this all this flying early in the winter reduces their lifetime through winter…
No one really knows what this all means, but in my mind a warm fall can be death to already light or weakened hives. I know I have been checking on my 60 hives a few times, lifting the back and comparing “weight”, I need to buy me a scale… maybe next year… anyway most of my hives are ok, not great but ok with honey weight. While others have eaten all their stored honey and would starve before December if not fed. Some hives have a ton of honey, but it aint many of them…
The weather has been so crazy, I have even seen with my own eyes maples blooming and bees working the blooms!!! Come on Mother Nature really? Maples blooming in November?
The purpose for this email is just to make sure everyone is at least “tipping” their hives to make sure they are heavy, remember in normal winter we 50-60lbs of honey, but so far this has not been a normal winter and in my opinion that 50-60 lbs might be like 20-30 lbs left in the hive if not all gone…
It doesn’t take 3 seconds, so get out there and lift those hives… (make sure you take that heavy rock off the top first!)
I have been using fondant (300lbs so far) on my top bars with a spacer to feed my bees, I expect to have fed about 10 lbs per hive by April, so that’s not a lot per hive ($10 worth). To me an ounce of prevention is worth a ton. To me this also doesn’t have anything to do with survivability, yeah some will do better than others, but none had a huge surplus of honey, if they did I had pulled it and extracted it anyway… so to me this has to do with an abnormal fall and human intervention created a recipe for disaster.
Remember a few lbs of fondant or even dry sugar on newspaper is far cheaper than the loss honey next spring or the price and ramp up of a package to fill the deadout… to me its all about agriculture and taking care of your animals. You feed your cat after all and they can catch mice and birds right?
We are going to be getting seasonal weather soon this week, so that’s awesome. It’s about time!
Again I hope this finds you and your bees well and don’t forget to order your new hive equipment for next year now while most manufactures have free shipping and you have some spare time on those cold winter days to assemble equipment….
Thursday, October 13, 2011
CCD?
So i will be honest, i need to do an updated post regarding my hive inspections last weekend, but i need to find the time to do so in detail...
Anyway, i was reading an article on the Black Plague and came upon this quote which i felt spoke to the current issues our bees face today, or what some people call CCD...
"You had an immune-compromised population living in London under stressful conditions who were then hit with a new pathogen," Hendrik Poinar, a co-author of the paper and an evolutionary geneticist at McMaster University, told USA Today"
I have always believed and still do that CCD is nothing more than stress, bad health, poor feed, and new pest.
As many of you know, if you have talked to me in person, i believe the die offs etc are nothing more than stress caused by a poor food supply, so many of todays locations are limited and maintained by us humans, such as mono-culture farms, lawns cut every week, hedge rows sprayed, and fields cut 3-4times a year. Weeds (diverse flora) no longer exist. I was told a few years back by my mentor (while saying she should cut her field), that "this overgrown field provides more forage than a planted field of clover". She is right and i have seen it, i now cherish the 2-3 year old uncut fields around my house.
Anyway, just figured i would post something related to both bees and humans... i have long said humans will perish the same as the bees when not fed correctly, not maintained correctly when needed, and a new pest comes along... heck look at most of the American population these days...
Anyway, i was reading an article on the Black Plague and came upon this quote which i felt spoke to the current issues our bees face today, or what some people call CCD...
"You had an immune-compromised population living in London under stressful conditions who were then hit with a new pathogen," Hendrik Poinar, a co-author of the paper and an evolutionary geneticist at McMaster University, told USA Today"
I have always believed and still do that CCD is nothing more than stress, bad health, poor feed, and new pest.
As many of you know, if you have talked to me in person, i believe the die offs etc are nothing more than stress caused by a poor food supply, so many of todays locations are limited and maintained by us humans, such as mono-culture farms, lawns cut every week, hedge rows sprayed, and fields cut 3-4times a year. Weeds (diverse flora) no longer exist. I was told a few years back by my mentor (while saying she should cut her field), that "this overgrown field provides more forage than a planted field of clover". She is right and i have seen it, i now cherish the 2-3 year old uncut fields around my house.
Anyway, just figured i would post something related to both bees and humans... i have long said humans will perish the same as the bees when not fed correctly, not maintained correctly when needed, and a new pest comes along... heck look at most of the American population these days...
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Wild Weed ID Guide
Found this awesome Weed ID guide on the internet.
If you have a slow connection dont try it, its a large file...
http://www.aragriculture.org/weeds/slides/pasture_weed_ID_color.pdf
Not all are shown, but many are HUGE Honey Bee friends...
If you have a slow connection dont try it, its a large file...
http://www.aragriculture.org/weeds/slides/pasture_weed_ID_color.pdf
Not all are shown, but many are HUGE Honey Bee friends...
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