An Interview with My Beekeeper

This afternoon Mark went to the bee yard at Barhams'. I wanted to go, but had to work.

Here's his report:

"I have six hives over there. Four of them have serious populations. Three of those have adequate honey stores. One does not. The two weaker hives probably should be combined with stronger hives, if I can find those two queens and kill them. Both of them are loaded with honey because there's not a big enough population of bees. So next time I'm over there, I'm going to break them down, find the queens, and boot 'em out. Then I'll distribute the boxes at Harley's and on the hive that needs honey stores. I changed the oil in all of the traps. I didn't see any small hive beetles."

Then he went to Harley's. He changed the oil there too.

"I don't have honey supers on any of the three hives there. All three of them are jam-packed with bees. One of them has enough honey, the other two do not. So, when I break down those two weak hives at Barhams', I'll take their resources, and put them on the two hives needing honey."

All of the strong hives have capped brood, which is the result of the warm winter weather we've had. Normally there wouldn't be a lot of brood in February, as the potential for cold weather still exists, and there usually isn't a lot in bloom to stimulate the bees.The reason he's able to get into the hives so early in the season is persistently warmer temperatures. According to Harry Fulton, the bees are 3-4 weeks ahead of schedule. This means we'll have to watch for over-crowding and a desire to swarm. I'm working with Harry on a feature story this week, and when it's released I'll post it here on the blog.

Mark says if it's nice tomorrow, he'll get all of this accomplished while the weather is good. I wish I could go!

We've officially sold out of all of our honey. I guess I'll have to start the waiting list for our spring harvest!

Bumblebees featured in Southern Gardening video

In my work with the Mississippi State University Extension Service Office of Agricultural Communications, I'm privileged to meet many experts in a wide variety of fields. The horticulture specialists and Master Gardeners are among the most enthusiastic.

Recently my colleagues on the other side of the lobby compiled video footage collected over several Southern Gardening shoots to create an episode on bumblebees. It's fun to watch them working and grooming themselves (the bumblebees, not my colleagues!).

Here is the link: http://msucares.com/news/SGTV/video/2012/020812.html.

Update on the Hive Painting Project at Heritage Academy

Mark talked to Cary today, to see when he could pick up the hive bodies. We knew they'd been on display last Monday night during an open house event, and we'd planned to attend . . . but we were sitting in a broken down pickup waiting on a tow truck in Alabama.

But I digress.

Apparently, the hives are so popular that the teachers at Heritage  want to keep them around a while longer as decorations in the hallways. There's another open house coming up, and we hope to make it to that one.

Mark's been contacted by two local newspapers about feature stories, so he's excited. We hope to be able to post pictures soon! I can't wait to see what the students have created.

Arizona Bees in the Winter

Robert and Danielle went on a hike and sent us fabulous photos of bees foraging in the desert. I think the first one is magazine cover worthy. Robert gets amazing shots without a fancy camera -- at one point in his life he wanted to be a wildlife photographer. He has the eye for it!

 

How Robert got so lucky to find Danielle, who is not freaked out by bugs, geckos, or snakes, is beyond me. We love her!

You can read more about our honey adventures in Arizona here, here, and see other bee photos Robert took here.

GRIT magazine's honey recipes

One of the tasks I keep avoiding is baking with honey. I know that sounds strange, but I'm not one to randomly substitute ingredients with baked goods as I'm keenly aware of the magical chemistry involved. Baking is very unlike cooking, a process which sees me throwing stuff in a pot without measuring as a matter of course.

So, hurray for GRIT magazine's page on Baking with Honey. If I try any of the recipes, I'll post about it.

Photo Collection of Diverse Bees

An amazing collection of photos of different kinds of bees can be found on Flickr, courtesy of Nico.

I dream of capturing images like these.

Thanks to Global Swarming Honeybees for the link!

A Warm Winter & A Project

I'm no meteorologist, but it's been a warm winter. In mid-January, the porch bees were busy flying in and out of both entrances.

It was good weather for a beekeeper's list of winter projects.

Mark worked outside in short-sleeves to assemble bee boxes.

And, being the OCD kind of guy he is, he had it down to a science. Our bees deserve perfectly square boxes!

I love it when he concentrates so hard he sticks his tongue out. Adorable.

Cary Haycox, the art teacher at Heritage Academy came by to check out our hives and talk about a project. About a week after this photo was taken, Mark delivered 65 deep supers to the art room. The art students in the upper grades at Heritage Academy are going to paint our hive bodies. We're supplying the paint, Mr. Haycox is supervising the process, and we hope to have 65 unique and creative homes for our bees when we make our splits. Mark got the idea from one of the beekeeping magazines.

After the guys rode down to Bee Hill without me, I made Mark take me so I could get some photos. Bees were *everywhere*!

The entrance reducers prevented the bees from flying in and out easily, so it almost seemed like summer time when they beard on the outside of the hives.

Opportunities to fly during the winter are good in that the bees need cleansing flights -- they won't soil their own nests, so to speak. But, the downside is that all of the extra flying = more energy burned = more food consumed. We left them a lot of honey, but Mark needs to go around and check and make sure they all still have enough.

Beekeepers in south Mississippi are talking about splitting hives earlier than normal due to the warm weather. We have a bunch of henbit blooming across the road, and pear trees are starting to bud. And it's not even February yet! Hold on bees! Wait until it's time!