Last year was almost a non year for syrup. It was a confusing year for the trees as well as our bees. This year started late but has been very good and still running. When all is done, we will end up with 12-15 gallons of syrup from about 115 trees. Most of our trees (woods maples) are small crowned unlike open area maples. They don't produce nearly as much sap. In the fall of 2011, we built the outdoor kitchen which we call a "sugar shack" during sap season During the summer and fall of the year , canning and preserving takes place there. As all of the sides roll up, it is wonderful to sit around the hot fires and watch the snow fall.During the sugaring time, a lot of family and friends gather round to help tap trees, collect sap,swap tales,eat from the dutch oven meals, and drink coffee,tea and other assorted beverages. Sure is nice to have everyone's help and company. Photos are by David Vore. As always, feel free to make comments or ask questions.
A number of people have been asking about our sugar bush operation Some words and pictures may help answer the questions. Last year was almost a non year for syrup. It was a confusing year for the trees as well as our bees. This year started late but has been very good and still running. When all is done, we will end up with 12-15 gallons of syrup from about 115 trees. Most of our trees (woods maples) are small crowned unlike open area maples. They don't produce nearly as much sap. In the fall of 2011, we built the outdoor kitchen which we call a "sugar shack" during sap season During the summer and fall of the year , canning and preserving takes place there. As all of the sides roll up, it is wonderful to sit around the hot fires and watch the snow fall.During the sugaring time, a lot of family and friends gather round to help tap trees, collect sap,swap tales,eat from the dutch oven meals, and drink coffee,tea and other assorted beverages. Sure is nice to have everyone's help and company. Photos are by David Vore. As always, feel free to make comments or ask questions.
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This hiving took place on April 15th. After many cold and cloudy days, it finally managed to hit 50 in the afternoon --time to hive. My friend David Vore did the photography and his and my grandson did the supervising. What a great afternoon! All four of thes hives are alive and well after 1 1/2 weeks. We had two nights of 15 & 18 degrees and I couldn't get them into the bee yard because of the snow---COLD & BEARS were on my mind. Rather than a narrative here, I will caption the pictures. Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments. TB#1 - 3 full honey bars in the back - no bees in cells all on bottom - no nosema - not enough dead bees- suggests late fall losses TB#2 - 2 full bars of honey (smaller amounts on other frames) - no bees in cells - no nosema - normal amount dead on bottom - 3 queen cells (empty) - dead bees were toward the back TB#3 - no full honey frames - small amounts on several - a bit of nosema - normal amount dead bees near entrance on the bottom - This was a small T-Bar packed with comb. This was from a large captured swarm. SUMMARY It appears that all of these hives died early - Dec., Jan., early Feb.??? There are no obvious indicators of any one problem. Issues that might be expected like starvation, moisture or not being able to move in the cold are not indicated because of the dead bees on the bottom instead of in the cells. Remember that all 3 of these were brand new last summer - hard to imagine picking up a mite( tracheal or varroa) load that alone would take them down. Most likely we are seeing a combination of early harsh cold weather, low snow amounts for protection, and mites issues. Again as with the post on regular hives, if anyone has ideas of what happened, I'm all ears. Let me know what happened in your hives - maybe we will come up with a pattern. The past two mornings- Sat.& Sun. have been 15 & 17 degrees respectively. This is really tough on our new bees.I will be checking this afternoon on queen release and overall conditions. There have been a few losses reported due to the cold.
Some overwintered hives made it through until recently and a re dying from lack of honey,pollen,and moisture issues. If you haven't checked, this afternoon is supposed to be in the mid 40's. Both of these hives were dead when originally checked on March 24th. The top medium had a full set of frames nearly full of honey. The next medium super down had three frames on the outside. The deep had some on the outside of 4 frames. Very small amounts of Nosema evidence. No bees in cells most on the bottom and some scattered on the frames. Some of the bees looked small. One without wing not enough evidence of deformed wing virus.
SO WHAT HAPPENED?? Feb. 1st - 5th -2, -18, -4, -19 degrees F in the mornings with highs about 10 degrees. We had very little snow at this time so not the normal protection. Our heavy snow didn't come until late Feb. and March. The best I can come up with is they were not able to move to a new food source because of the extreme cold - they died before the weather warmed. Note that the 2nd supper was empty in the middle - this is most likely where they died. HOWEVER There are problems with this theory. I would have expected more dead bees left in the cells between the frames of the 2nd super. Two of my UP old time beekeeper colleagues think it may have been a mite problem (tracheal) or a combination of the cold, mites, and possibly a virus. If anyone has suggestions, I am all ears. The bees came in on Sat/Sun and lots of people have them hived. I did mine this afternoon-what a great afternoon to do it. I will be posting in the next few days some pics and comment on a hive death,hiving and something on maple sugaring which has been going great guns while I have been dealing with the bees. What a great problem to have!
A good session on hiving ad feeding our package bees.Seventy bee people there-Wow! What great questions asked-that sure did help Jess and I. Everyone should be scrambling to prep for the "coming of the bees" this weekend. I am still hoping they might get delayed a bit.
I will be doing a post-mortem on two hives that I dug out and took to my shop. I am hoping that I can figure out why they died which is not always possible without a lab. Send me a note with any questions.Don't sit and wonder about what to do--especially with hiving your bees. P.S. If you haven't taken the bee survey it is not to late-please encourage other beekeepers also. The more we have the better the results. Reminder of tonight's meeting at the Library. 6:00 downstairs. Learning to hive and feed your package bees.
RESULTS OF THIS SURVEY MAY HELP ALL OF US TO BECOME MORE INFORMED OF AREA ISSUES. IF THIS SURVEY PROVES DOABLE,WE COULD DO ADDITIONAL ONES TO HELP TARGET BEE ISSUES OF INTEREST. THIS COULD LEAD TO MORE SPECIFIC LEARNING SESSIONS DOWN THE ROAD.
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Joel LantzKeeper of bees. Archives
February 2022
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