Beekeeping

[bonnie]

I'm impressed. And jealous that you have nectar flow. And I think you have a really good point about targeting the honey made with specific pollens. I have terrible spring allergies, will definitely harvest 'by date/pollen count' and see how that goes for me.

Maybe no nectar, but plenty of stuff to harvest. Yay for bees. Tomatillos are out-of-control (hope everyone likes salsa verde for Christmas). Tomatoes over the top. The blackberries here this year are insane, no doubt because of my bees. One of my creeks borders my property and the far bank is dripping with fruit. I picked enough yesterday to can several pints of jam, but it's just beginning.

I was just out walking the property deciding on new home for my 5 hives. I'm planning on building a barn in the next year or so & the hives are currently located very close to where I'd want to place it. (Not to mention the contractor might not like all those bees close by.) Good access for a vehicle, a little distance between the hives and the two neighbors with out-of-control buckeye (meaning plenty of pollen between the hives and buckeye pollen), enough shade during hot summer months, and not close to anything used frequently. A couple of scraggly trees will need to come out & figured I get the road built & some additional plantings before moving the hives - that way I should be able to move them to a permanent spot, out of any foot traffic flow. I have robber/moving screens to put on all the hives for the winter, so it should be a fairly simple operation.

The local beekeepers' club puts out a really helpful monthly newsletter, with both what should be going on in your hives this time of year and reports on nectar flow.

 

[FlasherZ]

Not only are they grabbing nectar from the flowers, but I've noticed the honeybees slurping up the peaches and plums that have fallen on the ground. This year, peaches here have been horrible because of the lack of sun - we have ripe peaches but they're not very sweet at all (lack of those 90+ degree days in June and July). The ones I have aren't really selling worth a crap, so a lot of them are ending up on the ground. And they're providing sweetness for the bees.

 

[Chipper]

I am really excited that my lovely wife just bought me the complete FlowHive system as a birthday present. It ships in February 2016 in time for next year's honey season. I have never kept bees before so this will be an all new experience for me. I am attending a local apiary club meeting tomorrow night to learn what I need to know to make this endeavor a success.

 

[bonnie]

Happy birthday, Chipper! What a great gift.

 

[NigelM]

Tiny trackers could help solve global bee death mystery

Interesting BBC article.

 

[FlasherZ]

Honey harvest weekend is here.

950 lbs from 17 hives or so...

A snapshot:

 

[bonnie]

Beyond impressive!

 

[ohmman]

950 lbs from 17 hives or so...

Sweet!

 

[ModelX]

Very nice!

 

[rjcbox]

Wow!

 

[bonnie]

Cool new Kickstarter for an expandable observation hive system: BEEcosystem: Reconnect with Honeybees by Mike Zaengle Kickstarter (Thanks PaulCarter for the tip).

 

[brianman]

Recommendation for bonnie & doug:
Can we have a honey tasting activity at next Connect? Only private collections from TMC members (and family/friends) allowed.

 

[slipdrive]

Incredible. That's awesome. 950 lbs!! About five gallons per hive a normal year ?

Just got started with four relocated local swarms this Spring, and they are doing great.
Feeding and building to get ready for Winter, where March around Colorado is the killer month I hear... If all good, will split and hope for some honey next summer!

 

[FlasherZ]

Incredible. That's awesome. 950 lbs!! About five gallons per hive a normal year ?

This was a very good year, especially considering we had a very low overwintering percentage this year. We had an exceptional spring, leading to a crazy swarm season (I grew from 4 hives at home to 14); we kept available pollen and nectar throughout summer due to a wet June and wet July (usually they shut down egg-laying in mid-to-late July otherwise). We usually expect about 40-50 lbs. per hive, but this year was pretty amazing.

The honey is a bit lighter than it usually is, due to the longer white clover season and an adjustment to our harvest schedule; previously, we'd harvest a few weeks into September, when the goldenrod is blooming. This adds a strong taste, sometimes bitter, to the honey.

 

[slipdrive]

For late season nectar here at 6,000ft we have loads native prairie rabbit brush (chrysothamnus nauseosus; Aster family). Grows like crazy. I was cutting it, but will now let it go for the bees. They pile on it and load up to max flight weight on the orange reward. Looking forward to taste this next summer!

 

[FlasherZ]

Despite a crazy 95 degree day, I dressed up in the hot suit of hell and did some maintenance on the hives this afternoon. Pulled a few supers they cleaned up after our honey harvest, and put my two Flow supers on some hives. Right now the bees are still enjoying the lavender, catmint, and purple salvia/sage, but with Goldenrod and Ragweed blooming, the girls are all over the place, bringing in boatloads of pollen and nectar. I'm hoping we'll be able to pull some honey from the flow supers just to see how well they work.

Mysteriously, a nuc I was building up went queenless, and apparently there weren't any eggs available, so I lost another colony there. Not a big deal, since we're still overloaded from swarms this year.

 

[Denarius]

Found an interesting project on indiegogo. I'm not involved in any way with the project but I've backed it.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/broodminder-beehive-health-telemetry/

 

[ecarfan]

Very interesting. I may contribute to that indiegogo project as I am planning to set up my first hive next spring, on my roof (I have a small yard with no suitable location for a hive, but a large flat roof that I can easily access).

 

[bonnie]

I just contributed, thanks for the heads up. I'm not so concerned regarding winter temps here -- but summer temps get really out of hand. I've been slowly relocating my hives to a new spot (surrounded by newly planted lavender and clover). I want to monitor temps so I can make sure to add shade as needed...

 

[bonnie]

I finished up a new beeyard in the last week. (Current site is where I eventually would like to build a small barn, so they needed a new location.) Definitely moving more than 2' and way less than 2 miles ... more like 50 yards.

Moving hives can be a pain, as everyone here knows - but this has turned into a fairly painless job this time. Just not very quick.

Each hive is taking about 3 days to move (weather dependent). I installed these great Brushy Mtn. robber/moving screens that work like a charm.

Basically, one hive at a time, IF it's at least 65deg outside, I'm moving the hive onto my trusty yellow cart, letting it sit all day in the old spot, coming back at night and closing up the last entrance, and then wheeling the cart to the new hive location. I let it sit for at least a day on the cart, tons of branches in front of the entrance, and then finally open it up so the bees can reorient. After two days, when everything looks settled, I take the hive off the cart, put it on the permanent stand, and start with the next hive.

I'm sure there are faster ways to do this, but it's been so low-drama without bees flying madly around or crawling around on the ground in confusion, that it's totally worth it.

Here's the new beeyard, with a rock wall from rocks on the property & lavender on the wall. I plan on planting clover in the area around this fall.