Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Freezing Comb
I have been told that I need to freeze the honeycomb on the frames after my bees have been combined with a stronger hive. Why is that?
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Winter and Bees
I could start my saga as a Beekeeper when I got them in spring, but that is old news by now! A couple of things I have learned in the past 6 month is, there are as many opinions on how to raise bees as there are bees, and the more I learn the more confused I get!
Already I have to worry about SHB!! You will find Beekeeping like other occupations, lots of initials!!! SHB simply means I have bugs that shouldn't be there in my hive! In this case, small hive beetles. And they are small. But boy do that do some damage!! Right now my infestation is small, but I need to get rid of them fast! I live in northern VA and we shouldn't be getting them all that much up here, but this hive is QL. QL=queenless. I am going to try a home remedy of boric acid, soy flour and peanut oil and see how that works. I came by this recipe on line after searching several sites on how to get rid of SHB! I will keep you posted on how or if it works. I welcome other suggestions!!!
Today I added mouse guards to my hives. It seems the little tiny mice love to winter in hives where it is warm. You can just imagine how their nests can mess up a hive!! I made my mouse guard out of 1/2" wire mesh bent and shoved into the hive. It is a little more complicated than that, but the bees seem to have adjusted. Again, I found the instructions on line after reading several blogs about how some work and some don't. I guess I will be able to add my success story (at least I hope its a success!) in the Spring. I thought bees just took care of themselves! I guess they used to, but MAN has added stressors and the bees have responded by dying off! I am trying my best to use a "hands off" attitude and let the bees do what they do best with just a little help from me.
Already I have to worry about SHB!! You will find Beekeeping like other occupations, lots of initials!!! SHB simply means I have bugs that shouldn't be there in my hive! In this case, small hive beetles. And they are small. But boy do that do some damage!! Right now my infestation is small, but I need to get rid of them fast! I live in northern VA and we shouldn't be getting them all that much up here, but this hive is QL. QL=queenless. I am going to try a home remedy of boric acid, soy flour and peanut oil and see how that works. I came by this recipe on line after searching several sites on how to get rid of SHB! I will keep you posted on how or if it works. I welcome other suggestions!!!
Today I added mouse guards to my hives. It seems the little tiny mice love to winter in hives where it is warm. You can just imagine how their nests can mess up a hive!! I made my mouse guard out of 1/2" wire mesh bent and shoved into the hive. It is a little more complicated than that, but the bees seem to have adjusted. Again, I found the instructions on line after reading several blogs about how some work and some don't. I guess I will be able to add my success story (at least I hope its a success!) in the Spring. I thought bees just took care of themselves! I guess they used to, but MAN has added stressors and the bees have responded by dying off! I am trying my best to use a "hands off" attitude and let the bees do what they do best with just a little help from me.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
I am a Beekeeper???
As I was setting up this blogsite, which is a challenge in itself, I noticed that the background that I picked from my bee pictures includes the queen!! I didn't even realize that until now! And so my journey as a Beekeeper starts.........
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