Winter for the beekeeper: It’s time to think about spring, summer by Blount County Beekeepers Association

Tags

beekeeping, management, seasons

From Blount County Beekeepers Association:

With winter approaching (in some places it’s already here), the beekeeper has two jobs:

• Make sure the bees in your hives have plenty of food.
• Think about about what’s going to happen in your apiary in the spring and summer.

Neither of these jobs involves a lot of work at this point, but they shouldn’t be neglected. The main characteristic of good beekeepers is that they think ahead — one or two seasons ahead.

Now is the time think about your bees, the equipment you have and the general environment that will confront the bees when they start flying in the spring.

Will you need to order packages of bees or nucs to rebuild your apiary in the spring? That, of course, depends on how many of your hives make it through the winter. We don’t know what will happen in that regard at the moment, unless you have already experienced losses.

What we do know is that in Tennessee the winter losses for beekeepers have been about 30 percent during the past few winters. The smart thing then is to plan for that kind of loss and hope it doesn’t happen. Now is the time to get in touch with the folks who supply you with bees and see what their availability will be. Most of those people are starting a list now, and your name should be on it.

We’ll have more to say later about equipment and environment.

Right now, you should plan for some losses and think about how you will replenish your apiary.

Source: Winter for the beekeeper: It’s time to think about spring, summer

Advertisement

Does the Truth Matter? by Bad Beekeeping Blog

Tags

beekeeping, food, honey, safety

I’m back in Canada after a week in Europe. It’s cooler here (21C today) than Hungary’s 39C. It’s been much too dry on the western Canadian prairies – that’s probably going to hurt the honey crop and maybe even the millions of acres of wheat, lentils, and canola in our area. It’s already August, so […]

Read complete article at:  Does the Truth Matter? — Bad Beekeeping Blog

The Five Value Added Products I Make When I Clean Up Our Bee Hive Frames

Tags

beekeeping, beeswax

Source: HiBar Ranch, Farm & Forest

FIVE DIFFERENT PRODUCTS I MAKE FROM BEE HIVE CLEAN UP

As you can see above, there are five different products I make when I clean up my hive frames.

First, the ice cube tray is the collection of the dirty wax that are now formed up for firestarters we sell wrapped in cute ways for people who have wood stoves and want an easy storable firestarter.  Remember, wax burns!!  Second, is rendered wax we use and sell.  This pile to the left will be melted down into blocks.  Third, are the paper towels that were used in the oven to render the wax.  This now becomes another form of firestarter that we also sell for survivalists who go into the back woods to camp.  It stores very small in a pouch.  Fourth, is honey that was extracted when I separated the wax.  I did not show that step but inside my wax clean up jug was this honey and the wax around it was what I rendered out.  Amazing right?  Honey does not spoil if stored in a dry place.  And, this honey has been incased in the wax from this falls harvest and thus is as pure as it can get.  And, of course, the fifth product here is the calendula salve made from our own organic calendula, organic olive oil and our own organic bees wax.

How is that for a productive value added SET of products.

This is the wonder of nature and being resourceful.

Source: The Five Value Added Products I Make When I Clean Up Our Bee Hive Frames