Ready for Winter

It was hard to believe we were readying bees for winter with the high temperatures and sweat running down our backs on Sunday afternoon. We had to drive the Honda out to Bee Hill because the 4-wheeler was being repaired and the truck was hooked to Mark's big trailer. *That* would make a good Honda testimonial!

Our goal was to check all six hives and for the most part we did. This was the first time I used the inspection sheets, and it helped to make things go quickly and keep us organized. I also found, when I began thinking about this blog post, I could be more general in my observations because it didn't need to be a clear record of our activities for future reference. (You're thinking, "Whew!")

Here is what we found:

• All of the hives seem to have good stores of honey for the winter. There's a clear difference in the photos from earlier in the season and now: the honey is dark brown.
• We could see bees bringing pollen back to the hive in their "baskets." They have little indentations on the sides of their bodies and use their legs to move the pollen around. For a more detailed explanation and great photos, visit Linda's Bees post on the subject.
• The four hives that already had entrance reducers (photo 2) on them were noticeably calm -- we didn't have to use any smoke except to keep them away from Mark's hand when he was adding the extra nail to the reducer.

• All of the oil traps showed 2-5 dead hive beetles and a couple of larvae. For the most part, we feel our "greener" approach is working.

• Hive 1 has a thriving population, and the queen they grew themselves is performing well. These bees are physically larger than any of our other bees, and dark in color. They were also more aggressive than the other hives, but that is likely due in part to the installation of the entrance reducer which requires a bit of hammering. After all of the drama and worry, they are doing very well!
• Hive 2, with its new queen is doing much better. I spotted her -- what a thrill to find a queen at all, and doubly so to spot her before Mark! She (nicknamed Suzanne Sugarmaker by my sister) is a beauty, with a long golden abdomen and reddish thorax. We pulled one frame and found a nice solid brood pattern (photo 3), so we left them alone.
• Hive 3 continues to avoid the south side of their hive, with 5 frames completely devoid of wax in the top super, and 3 in the bottom. Strange. They've got the next-to-lowest population of any of the hives, and we noticed some supersedure cells along the bottom of one of the frames. Mark said, "we'll let them do what they want to do." They are the only hive we didn't requeen.
• Hive 4 (the BBQ bees): this hive has the lowest population. There was so little wax in the top medium super we removed it so they wouldn't have to keep it warm. They have lots of honey, so hopefully they'll make it through the winter.
• Hive 5 (the Macon bees) are going like gang-busters, with a big population, big honey stores, no queen cells, and a calm temperament.
• Hive 6: always last to be checked, this hive was full of mad bees. They have plenty of honey and plenty of energy, so we closed them up quickly and left them to figure out the entrance reducer we'd added.

The fourth and last photo was taken as we drove away, and shows the hives with the extra supers removed.

All's Well that Ends Well . . . We Hope

It's been an eventful few weeks since I last posted. Between illness, company, travel, work, and the death of my 96 year old grandmother, Edna, I've not been able to spend as much time on bee-related work. Oh, and we got a puppy, Duke.

The good news is that in my absence, the bees have carried on just fine. Mark has put entrance reducers on 4/6 hives. On 9/25, Sarah took notes for him:

• Took feeder off Hive 4, put on a moving screen. There isn't much wax in the medium super on top. Bees seem content. All focused on the north side.
• Had put a queen in Hive 1 but now moving it to Hive 2 because they don't seem to be laying eggs.
• I love the smell of smoke in the morning.

So, when Mark checked to see if that Georgia queen was accepted and he could take out the cork, he found freshly laid eggs and happy bees in Hive 1, meaning their attempt at requeening themselves was successful. So he moved the Georgia queen to Hive 2. Today we'll check and see if she's doing well.

Our goal is to make a plan for each hive, do an inspection of each, and get in our heads where we are for the winter. We had a cold snap but it's hot again, so we'll look at honey stores, and we may remove a super or two so they won't have unused space to keep warm. More later!

Background Work

Tonight, before Mark reset the Internet connection, I had time to browse through some library books. Wildflowers of Mississippi by S. Lee Timme offered me great photos and identified flowers by region and type of soil, so finding prairie blossoms wasn't tough! I'm gathering information for potential logo and Web site design purposes, so I made a list of flowers I liked, and fortunately, some of them were highlighted as specific to the Black Prairie, which is where we are. These included Coreopsis, Compass Plant, Blue-Eyed Grass (photo, from Outside Pride), Rosin Weed, Black-Eyed Susan, and Blazing Star. I also liked Wild Petunia, Golden Aster, and Flax -- lots of purple and yellow, though we're not USM fans!

One entertaining aspect of this research was the names of different flowers: Devil's Walking Stick, Nodding Ladies' Tresses (Did someone mistake the currant wine for the raspberry cordial? Name that movie!), Hercules' Club, Sneeze Weed (aren't they all??), Nosebleed (inspirational!), Dutchman's Breeches, and perhaps my favorite: Rabbit Tobacco. I mean, can't you just imagine Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail, and Peter lighting up? That'll show old Mr. McGregor!

If you'd like to look up wildflowers by color, check out http://www.wildflowerinformation.org/ though they didn't have most of what was on my list!


The other book I've begun is The Complete Book of Essential Oils and Aromatherapy by Valerie Ann Worwood. Now, before you start questioning my sanity (Kellie), this is more related to producing non-toxic air fresheners, lotions, and candles than trying to cure cancer with lavender oil (though apparently it's as good for burns as aloe vera, but I digress). My favorite factoid so far is that oregano is 26 times more powerful as an antiseptic than phenol, which is the active ingredient in most household cleaners. For all the New Age connotations, the term "aromatherapy" was coined in 1920 by a French perfumer, who burned his arm, plunged it into the nearest container (lavender oil) and was surprised that his wound didn't blister. Thus began his scientific investigation into essential oils and their therapeutic uses.

The Drama Continues

While the weather hasn't truly begun to cool, the bees are preparing for the long winter, when they must eat what they've stored. Part of keeping bees is determining how much honey you can keep for yourself (or to sell) and how much they need to survive the lack of nectar until spring. I wanted to share a photo of what their pollen stores look like. Whereas earlier in the summer frames would be solid with honey or a combination of honey and brood, they now have frames with bright yellow deposits of pollen. It's the bees' protein source and is essential for rearing brood. For the record, bee pollen is considered by some a health food that cures all ills, but that's a story for another time.

While I was returning from a work trip to Tupelo and Booneville, Mark installed a new queen in Hive 1. He ordered her from Georgia, because the idea of losing that hive due to queen problems was driving him crazy. The lady in Georgia told him to leave both ends of the queen cage corked for three days, then go see how the bees are behaving and see if he can find a queen existing in that hive. If he finds one, and eggs as proof of laying, he can requeen another hive, for instance, 2 or 3 -- he thinks one of the two is not active enough but can't remember which one. If the bees in Hive 1 aren't aggressive and he can't find a queen or eggs, he can take one cork out to begin the candy-eating-release process.

In other bee news, we received $180 as part of the grant from MBA, as well as a receipt for our conference fees. I've already determined that if a vendor at the conference(October 28-29) has a queen marking pen and cage, we're getting it to make our lives easier looking for queens. Here is a photo of a marked queen from Ebert Honey in Iowa. You can imagine how much easier it would be to see her among the rest! You can pay extra to have the vendor mark the queen, but so far we've forgotten to request it.

And I use the term "we" liberally here. ;-)

Last but not least, our entrance reducers arrived. Did you know that mice love to build nests in bee hives during the winter? Bees tend to congregate together in the center of the brood box and "flex their bee muscles" to keep the temperature up; therefore, mice, if not prevented by some sort of entrance reducer, can sneak in and build a nest in a corner with little fear.

Painting Hive Bodies

Last night while I was home alone, I finally painted two hive bodies Mark allowed me to have. I couldn't find any real brushes for the first one (Bloom), so it's not as well done as I'd like. I was using one of those sponges on a stick. Out of frustration, I went through what felt like every drawer in the house until I found some actual paint brushes. I'm more pleased with the second one (Shine). Most importantly, I had fun and relaxed. It reminded me of being in high school, getting home on Thursdays and telling Mom, "I'm not going to art class tonight. I'm too tired." She'd say, "You are going to class because you're cranky!" I'd always feel better when I went. These hives in no way indicate that I had skill 20 years ago. Maybe Mark will let me have more so I can practice!


In bee-related news, Mark filled the feeders on Hives 4 & 5 on Sunday afternoon while I canned jam. On Monday, he looked for a frame of eggs to put in Hive 1 so they could grow their own queen, but had no luck finding eggs. Apparently they're reducing their laying in anticipation of the coming cool weather. So, the problem of Hive 1 remains unsolved. It's bugging Mark that we might lose that hive -- it's loaded up with bees, by far the largest population. He was told that some hives simply won't take a queen other than one they raise themselves, but the queen they had was one we introduced because the original queen was in the tree. So we'll look again this weekend for eggs and hope we can find something they can turn into a queen they'll accept, or, in lieu of that, we hope we'll see eggs in Hive 1, meaning there is a queen and she's laying.

Interested in starting a hive in MS?

The Mississippi Beekeepers Association (MBA) has a grant program for people in MS who are interested in starting hives. No one in your immediate family can currently keep bees, you must take a beekeeping course within 12 months of starting up, and you have to show proof of purchase of certain hive components and/or equipment. The information is available in PDF format, and is a cost-share for either 2 or 4 hives. Although the form says 2009 is the deadline, we were assured there is still money available. So, local readers, give it some thought. We're happy to talk about our experiences and help you get started. There's a steep learning curve, but it's fascinating, and getting some help financially is a great incentive!

We sent in our paperwork yesterday, after going through our receipts and tallying up how much we've spent (gulp!). It's hard to believe we have enough hive components at this point for at least ten more hives. We're going to be busy next spring!

The picture shows Bee Hill last weekend with all six hives. We've come a long way in a short time!

Homemade Solutions

One of the things I like about beekeeping thus far is that people look for solutions to problems and share their experiences with others. It's a mentality of "we're all in this together," and that is rare in our day and age.

If you want to see the inventor of one of the "green" methods of pest control demonstrate the effectiveness of powdered sugar and an oil trap in dealing with the Small Hive Beetle, check out his video on YouTube!

My favorite line is, "I powdered those rascals down!" As Mark said, "Pa-paw is gettin' it DONE!"

Mr. Freeman says in the video that used cooking oil is an attractant for the beetles, so maybe now I can convince Mark to get used oil rather than buying vegetable oil. Free oil works for me!