Bees!

[JohnG]

No worries, we have no plans to sell our honey, though we will likely give some away to friends. Everyone can choose how much or how little they manage their colonies. We will probably be more involved with ours when our kids get older and either have an interest in managing the colonies or when we have spare time again.

We haven't had problems with varroa mites so far. All the treatments have varied reviews and claimed efficacy, so it's probably just best to find one that you have readily available and are comfortable using. 

 

[JohnG]

As the weather turns, I went to check on our bees. Looked for signs of pests or disease and checked their honey stores to make sure they have plenty for winter. 

Our field still has a lot of flowering things in it, and on sunny days the bees have been very active. 

We do have some small hive beetles present. They are a small black beetle. In small numbers, and with a strong colony, they are not particularly harmful. However, they can multiply quickly and become destructive. No sign of varroa mites or other problems.

Their honey stores are good. 
Here you can see some capped and some uncapped honey from one of our supers. 

[tperson]

JohnG - how'd your bees do this year? We were exceptionally dry this summer and we ended ~400# off of our target honey crop. The first extraction was wonderful...~300# of beautiful light honey (slightly less yield than expected), the second was even better...~425# of crystal clear, slightly darker honey, and our third extraction was crap...~125# of weird-smelling, bitter, super-low moisture content, crazy sticky honey; 125# sounds like a lot, but I was expecting something closer to 450#. Between late June and mid-October, it rained once... for, like, 15 minutes which set the stage for a lack of fall blossoms. I treated with OA vapor a couple of weeks ago and got mouse guards put on (I know, I'm late to do both), they should be ready for winter now. 

I was talking to a commercial beekeeper friend last weekend and he recommended putting protein supplements on now instead of waiting until late winter. His reasoning was that by Feb, the bees have already evaluated pollen stores and decided how many brood they can raise in anticipation of spring; by putting supplemental protein on now, you can (kind of) stack the deck in your favor by ensuring they have plenty of protein before they do a pollen inventory. Thoughts? Made sense to me and, since I have several protein patties still in the freezer, I'll put them on hopefully this weekend. 

Just like farming...there's always next year. The highlight of the year was that I only got stung 8-10 times and that, my friend, is a win. 

Tom

 

P.S. I scrolled up and looked at your pictures and noticed that you're wearing leather gloves...have I mentioned my love of 14 mil latex gloves? Yeah, they can sting through them, but you don't get the full shot of venom and it's worth it for the added dexterity. I get them here:

https://www.amazon.com/SAS-Safety-6603-20-Powder-Free-Disposable/dp/B003AQBAOG/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=14+mil+gloves&qid=1667940588&sr=8-3

[Tpt life]

Several neat stories about bees and electric energy recently. This one is about fertilizers. 
 

https://apple.news/AqFL6iaJwRbO_dwrZweXcrQ

[Mark J]

Hey @JohnG, found myself thinking about bees the other day.  Made me think to ask how yours are doing?

[JohnG]

On 9/1/2023 at 7:52 AM, Mark J said:

Hey @JohnG, found myself thinking about bees the other day.  Made me think to ask how yours are doing?

Sorry for the delayed response, things have been busy lately and I hadn’t checked on them in a while. My daughter and I went to check on them today and they are doing well!

We didn’t get around to extracting honey this summer, so they have plenty stored up for the winter. The colony is very strong and while we have some small hive beetles again, the bees have largely stopped them from coming down into the main hive boxes. 

[tperson]

It's that time of year again @JohnG, how'd your bees do this year? We lost all of ours over last winter and had to start over. Between new hives starting behind the eightball, drought, and mis-management due to a busy life, we ended ~150#'s of honey. In our best year, we bottled ~1200...I don't miss the sticky mess and having bottled honey stacked in every corner, but I do miss the funding it provided my other hobbies (like woodworking). 

[JohnG]

I thought I had posted it in this thread, but apparently not. Our colony has been doing really well. We only extracted a portion of the available honey due to time. But we got a few gallons and have given a lot of it away to friends and family. With the kids getting older, we should be able to do more next year, and we’ll likely start 1-2 more colonies. 

[Tpt life]

I have two stands of Goldenrod in my yard, that I leave for native pollinators. This year’s survey this year included the introduced bees for the first time. I don’t know of any nearby, managed, hives. I wonder how many wild hives exist. 

[Von]

We really noticed the bees at our bird baths this year. I understand they use the water to regulate the temperature of their hive when it gets hot and dry.