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ROUNDING OUT JULY

7/26/2015

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* Jim Hyer and I spent Saturday morning at the MSU Chatham Research Farm. It was a great field day organized by the farm staff and attended by a number of the consulting staff from the  MSU  campus. The North Farm has been revived after a 30 year period of inactivity. It will be a teaching farm with students living on site--all organic. I think bees are in their near future--will keep you posted.


*** Had and captured several swarms this year (July 3-July 16). It seems they all landed high in trees.  I have three trees that I cut down to get them on the ground.  I hope that is it as I am quickly losing shade by the hives  My hives had plenty of room but the weather in late June and early July kept them in a great deal making them feel more crowded than they actually were. They have been out and very busy the past week - maybe we can make up for some lost time.


**** Spotted knapweed starting to bloom and white sweet clover (where it's not being cut down along the roads) is prolific.  Basswood trees in this area and near Escanaba did not produce well this year.  It looked like they had some kind of bug problem.  I have been trying to keep up with bloom dates in the wild flower gallery but am a bit behind.


***** David Payant has been busy with some queen breeding.  His learning curve has been steep and he should have a few queens ready soon.


****** The Hive House continues to gather its "voice" as the nucs have taken off.  It has been amazing to watch the changes that have taken place since putting the 1st bees in May 26th.  Inside the Hive House now, is a low deep hum and the smell is more hive like and less of fresh wood.  It will continue to change as the season progresses.  If you haven't checked out the video, go to the Hive House page.


******* Saturday afternoon brought a great bunch of 4-H young people and their advisers for a bee yard visit.  Went through couple of hives, all had fingers sticky with honey, and visited the Hive House.  I'll let the pictures do the talking on this one.
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Parts of the hive
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The Smoker
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Help from one of the dads
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Calming them down
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Fingers are for honey
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A top bar hive frame of mostly drones
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In the HIve House
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HAS CONFERENCE 2015

7/13/2015

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Kentucky, Tennessee, Maryland, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan - I met beekeepers from all of these states.  A great exchange of ideas and stories about our shared passion.  Hats off to Rich Wieske and Anne Marie Fauvel as the primary event organizers - they really "nailed" this one. Besides the many interesting classes on a wide variety of subjects, there were a number of other offerings.  They included : hands on in the hive field experience, bee art exhibits, bee child care, native wild garden flowers, nature night walks, many vendors, queen auction, mead tasting, barbecue MBA picnic on Saturday,and a live 10' screen showing live workings of a hive.

The conference took place on the beautiful Albion College Campus -what a nice place to be.  Many of us stayed in the dorms - the cafeteria food has certainly changed since my time.  Next year the conference will be in Bowling Green, Kentucky.  While gone, I had a swarm that my wife, Mary, caught and another the day I came home.  I hope that is the last of them.  Let all of us hope for many warm sunny July/ August days with just enough night rains to keep things going.  Well... we can dream!!
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Where we were.
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Class time.
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From Marquette, Mi.--Ceora and Ron Hull
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Klein & Sons---longtime glassware suppliers.
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Field work in the hives
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Live tv of an active hive--3 ft tall bees!!
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A few of the beekeepers
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JULY NOTES

7/6/2015

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*  Swarms have been coming out for at least the last week--I had one yesterday.
        --Call David & Susan Payant to capture a swarm that you can't or don't want.
                      906-458-5614
                       906-458-0355


** We are in to the July honey flow--add supers as necessary. This is also the season that many acres of "bee pasture " are being mowed down on the sides of our roadways. Such an important source of nectar for our bees--a real shame.


*** I will be gone this week July 7- July 12 to the HAS Conference in Albion ,Michigan. This is the Heartland Apicultural Society- a several state group dedicated to beekeeping. For more info  www.heartlandbees.org  


**** The Superior Beekeeping Club has secured a swarm for the Marquette Children Museum's observation hive.


***** Check out the new Hive House video at /hive-house.html  






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    Joel Lantz

    Keeper of bees.

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