Kalamazoo Bee Club

Thinking About Winter, Yes Really

By

2015-09-02 19.51.51 garden hives in much snow

As I write this our thermometer records 92, and my glass of tea is sweating even more than I am.  Each evening we stroll through the apiary to see which hive is sporting the most magnificent beard.

I’m fine with the summer swelter.  Too soon (like maybe the end of this week?) a prelude to winter will be here, followed the oft-bitter season itself.  Too soon I’ll have to say good-night to my bees for a long winter’s sleep.  That’s always hard on me.  Not only do I miss working with them, but too often, I don’t greet as many as expected come spring.  Overwintering in SW Michigan has been hard the last few years.

This Tuesday evening the Kalamazoo Bee Club will feature a speaker who knows a great deal about bees and successful overwintering.  Hopefully you can join us, but if not, I’ll try to blog about his insights.

The bees need us to figure out how to help them survive the winter … and we need them.  Hope to see you there.

Let’s All Try to Bee There

By

I have a girlfriend who fosters cats.  It’s lots of work, but she loves it and has learned a lot.

The biggest thing she’s learned over the years?  Her limits.  She says six felines are all she can handle and love without going crazy.

I asked her how many she had at that time.

“Eleven,” she replied sheepishly.

Thinking about her answer still makes me laugh.Continue Reading

Creating a New Apiary

By

I know this is strange blog posting. But I am working with a local school to set up an apiary. They want to have some basic information for planning. So I worked up the ideas below. I did not get real specific, but would like to know from readers if I have left anything out. Please comment.

Considerations for apiary location

  • Avoid damp or low spots.
  • Provide a windbreak.
  • Position hive to receive the morning sun and some shade in the afternoon.
  • Avoid spraying insecticides in the area.
  • Provide a security fence of at least 6′ so bees fly over peoples’ heads.
  • Provide physical security with a locking gate.
  • Put up a sign to warn people with allergies to avoid the apiary.
  • Build a sturdy weather-proof table to set hive bodies on when working the hives.
  • Provide a locker or storage for equipment, such as bee suits. hive tools, smokers.
  • Arrange hives so they can be worked from the back.

Considerations for apiary managementContinue Reading

Before Bees Have Their Coffee …

By

Dronings from a Queen Bee:  Before Bees Have Their Coffee …

 

I’ve been keeping bees since 2008, and the overwhelming majority of the time, the bees I’ve been keeping are content and many times, practically welcoming.

The few times they haven’t been, there’s usually been a good reason—inclement weather, I’m robbing their honey, there is no queen bee (the most important bee in the colony), or they have a queen bee under incubation.  Bees’ bee-havior—when conditions are appropriate—is usually so nonchalant that I even tell my bee-ginner beekeeping classes that they probably won’t need a smoker until later in the season.

I planted tulips for them, but they're still cranky.

I planted tulips for them, but they’re still cranky.

I’m wrong.  So very, very, wrong.

Continue Reading

Death, then Life

By

I have had 50% success rate for over-wintering my bees.  I like to take a glass-half-full perspective with this.  It could be a lot worse for sure.  The 50% that do not make it, I try to look at as a learning experience.  I try my best to figure out what went wrong.

Let’s back up to a couple of months ago…Continue Reading

I Want to Kiss Them!

By

I have (so far) a 50% overwintering loss (as compared to last year’s 70% loss.)  I’m delighted, and want to kiss them all.  However, they’ve already reminded me that they are stinging insects.  And turns out that I still swell up when stung, doggone it.

Because last year’s loss of 70% still stings, I’m delighted with 50%, especially because the colonies seem to be strong.  And starving.

The ladies are starving!

The ladies are starving!

If you have surviving bees, congrats.  Please consider providing feed for them, because there’s not much out there for them yet.  I have a handful of crocuses up in the yard.  They’ll be really well-pollinated crocuses as the bees are lined up at them.  They’re also lined up at my neighbor’s bird, er, bee feeder.  Must be something in that feed that’s very appealing, and thanks neighbor!

Here’s what I’m doing about feeding our bees this time of year …Continue Reading

Choosing your Ladies

By

It’s March already and spring-like forecasts are just about here!  For seasoned beekeepers, that means we should be out checking for signs of life in our hives and planning any necessary replacement orders.  For new beekeepers, the time to order is probably yesterday – but there are still plenty of places to order from if needed.

Here’s What I Know About Buying Bees

First, you can buy them locally if you connect with people and ask around.  Sometimes we order too many and need to sell a package.  Sometimes we produce nucs to sell and they have actually survived the winter and makes them stronger survivor stock.  So, checking out the club’s website offerings is a great starting point and a great way to connect locally.

If you do plan to purchase from a business, the bees are typically sold in 2 or 3 pound packages with a queen.  The queen can be marked or unmarked.  The marking on the queen is located on her thorax (the body part next to her head).  The colors of marked queens are done by the year and it is an awesome system for keeping track of the age of your queen.Continue Reading

Still Learning

By

Last Saturday I taught two sessions at the Kalamazoo Club’s annual bee school.  This Saturday I’m teaching two at Albion’s bee school.  I’m glad I’m an instructor because I learn so much.

 

I know that’s likely not what you want to hear from an instructor—that she’s still in the steep part of the learning curve—but continued education is one of the blessings of honeybees!Continue Reading

Benefits of Honey

By

Excerpts of a letter from Patricia Grupp …

After reading Eating Well magazine’s article on bees and a second article on the health importance of avoiding sugar in our diet, Patricia Grupp, a Kalamazoo Bee Club member (and beekeeper) wrote them the following letter.  We are delighted to be able to offer her insights here as well.  Thanks Patricia!

 

… I loved the article on bees. But there is far more to bees than just their valuable pollinating exercise. I tie that in with your article on advising people to reduce sugar intake.  Honey, in that article, was included as a sugar to avoid.

I became a beekeeper three years ago because of my fascination with the insect. But I am finding much more to bees that often goes unsaid. Honey that is chemically free, unprocessed and unheated, and strained not filtered, is an extremely healthy product and should not be listed with sugars to avoid.

Personal Example: I am clinically hypoglycemic. I have battled with it all my life and have found myself in bad circumstances including completely passing out. Staying away from sugar and exercising is the answer.

Since becoming a beekeeper I learned about the health claims of honey—including sleeping better, having more energy, enhanced wound healing, eliminating coughs, etc.

But I can’t have sugar. Is honey different?

I started taking a teaspoon of organic, unprocessed honey three times a day. Taking a teaspoon of beet or cane sugar would be damaging and make me feel extremely poor, if not very sick! Instead to my surprise I am more energized, sleep better and concentrate better. Regular sugar would never do this for me!!

Honey as described above (not adulterated honey that which has been illegally brought in from China), is healthy and a valuable sweetener.

Currently my husband has honey and a bandage on an injured finger. I am using honey to heal his wound as the Romans did centuries ago. And it works! Honey is anti-microbial.

My grandchildren and aging mother uses honey at night for colds and coughs.  My 92-year-old mother was very sick and up all night coughing. The next night she remembered to take honey before bedtime. She did and slept, cough free.

Wax in the Winter

By

The girls are all tucked in warm keeping their queen cozy now that snow is flying.  I don’t see them much these days, though there is a path through the thickest of drifts out to the apiary.  It leads right up to my colorful boxes so that I can knock at their door and listen through the quiet of the snow for a responding hum, telling me all is well.

I don’t blame them for staying in where they can keep each other warm by generating their own energy.  I too like to keep cozy when the coldest of cold hits our area.

Thankfully, there are plenty of “bee” things to do – even in the coldest of winter.Continue Reading