Blog Archives - UP Michigan Bees

TIPADAY 7 (WEDNESDAY)

4/30/2014

Just had coffee with longtime beekeeper Tom Nebel from the Gladstone area. This guy has forgot more more than I will ever know about bees. Following is what he did this year to hive his bees.

***This is not for the faint hearted or probably new beekeepers.
1. Use a "lip" as mentioned in another tipaday.
2. Shake the bees into the hive/lip.
3. Pull the cork from the queen package& drop the package onto the hive/mass of bees.
4. Cover quickly!!

TIPADAY 6

4/29/2014

Feed your new bees a 1 to 1 sugar water solution. At this time of year, place it near the bees so they don't need to break cluster to get at it.

TIPADAY 5

4/28/2014

Reduce you entrance to its smallest hole. Then put a loose"plug" of grass (dried is ok) into the hole. They will soon remove this. If they don"t within a couple of days--pull it out.

TIPADAY 4

4/27/2014

Place the queen cage just off the inner hive cover hole. this will allow the cluster to form around her but she will not be in danger of a leaky feeder.

TIPADAY 3

4/26/2014

After removing the cork from the Queen cage, push a bit of marshmellow into the hole. Place the hole in the queen cage UP so she is not trapped inside should an attendant die and block her escape. Note the screen side of the cage is parallel with the frames.

TIPADAY 2

4/25/2014

Use a hiving "lip" (1 TO 2") to help contain the bees as you shake them out of the package--great for cold weather hiving. Get it off within 2-3 days to prevent the building of burr comp in the empty space.

ALL THINGS SWEET II

4/24/2014

Sitting here in the outdoor kitchen (March & April it is the sugar shack) warming up from a cold 22 degrees this morning. Temp is to get near 50 today (Wed.) and the sap will flow again. According to last week's weather forecast the sugar season should be done. I had my best runs ever on Saturday and Sunday - ran out of storage so boiled hard!

All things sweet I is back in the March 2012 Archives and many of you have asked for an update. Some day when I get a chance, I will document the whole process. As with bees, my emphasis is to keep things as simple as possible. My sap boilers are steel drums I got for nothing. made openings for doors and chimney, and pan with an old saw blade. The expensive part is the stainless steel evaporating pan. I use the small boiler to warm the sap then transfer to the big one (20 gal).

Our collection is all by hand and pushing the old modified toboggan. This year was really tough until the last 3 days. Even with snow shoes, you would sink to your hips. Friends Amy and Kim from downstate that came up to help got a real insight into big snow - Amy especially was thrilled with carrying 5 gallon buckets, punching through the snow, spilling sap and struggling to get back up. Thanks Amy!!

For collection buckets we use gallon milk jugs (clear) that make it easy to see how full they are. The hooks I made out of 9 gauge wire. The spouts are 5/16 inch instead of the standard 7/16 inch. I use 5 gallon buckets and my honey extractors for storage. Honey filters made for 5 gallon buckets work great for filtering out bits of bark and other assorted forest debris.

Out trees are "woods" trees that don't have large crowns like maples in a yard or the edge of fields which yield much more. Last year we tapped about 120 trees and got 15 gallons of syrup. This year we are at about 6 - don't think we will make last years count.

Adding wood, adding new sap, watching the steam rise, all while reading books by a very warm fire is a really, really, tough job - but someone has to do it. The meals in the dutch oven on the coals from the boiler help to "lighten the load". Friends stopping by -David and Susan Vore, Lon and Lynn Emerick, Jim and Diane Hyer, and kids and grandkids - all help to lighten the load and make each year memorable.

CLICK ON THE PICTURE FOR A LARGER IMAGE

The Sugar Shack with the sides rolled up for good weather

Sap boilers doing their job.

Spout and short piece of tubing.

Hook and clear milk jug.

The hard job.

Another grandson becoming a helper.

Ah... the other kind of honey.

HIVING--- A "TIPADAY"

4/24/2014

I will post a hiving tip each day until our club bees come in--somewhere around the 29th of April. Email or call me with any questions.

DAY 1
Spray your foundation,especially if new foundation, with sugar water. This will tend to keep the bees down on the frames as you shake then out of the package.

Sugar water with drawn and new foundation

HIVING WORKSHOP

4/23/2014

I can't believe I didn't get this out after the meeting. I saved to drafts instead of publishing--sorry!
There were approximately 40 people in attendance at last night's meeting. How to hive your new bees and feeding options to keep them going. Thank-you to the more experienced beekeepers that came - their questions and comments helped fill the gaps. Hopefully, new beekeepers left with information to successfully begin their beekeeping journey.

For most in attendance, the word is large losses this past winter. Extreme cold, starvation, mites or ??, will not really know until inspections are made. Many of the hives are still deep in snow. I would expect a combination of the above to be the culprit in our losses.

Monty Blashill spoke to getting a top bar hive through the winter. To my knowledge, this is the first in the area. He told us what he did to help it along - thick walls, insulation, and plenty of food. More on this later.
Thanks Monty!

Here is picture of my two year "survivor" hive. Not very pretty but it lived.Note that it has only one deep and a medium.Hives with 2 deeps and a medium died--go figure.

REMINDER FOR TONIGHT

4/10/2014

This is a reminder that the informational meeting on hiving your package is this Thursday evening April 10th from 6pm to 9pm at the Superiorland Bridge club space located in the Westwood Mall. Park in the back by JC Penney's and use the mall entrance. The topics to be discussed include what needs to be ready, how to hive your package, what to do in the follow days and weeks, feeding and a Q&A.