www.TexasBeeSupply.com
TEXAS BEE SUPPLY
Monthly
Cover Photo: Cavin Marsh
March 2022
Feature Topics Setting up Bee Yards Preparing for Spring Splits Swarm Prevention
Edition 21
Table Of Contents
Did you miss last month's issue? Click the cover below and step inside. We welcome your feedback and submissions! Beekeeping Questions: help@texasbeesupply.com Article suggestions, questions or content submissions? editor@texasbeesupply.com
6 Monthly Tips 8 Spring is March(ing) In! 14 Setting up Bee Yards 18 Ask the Experts: How many hives can you have in 1 location? 19 Pop Quiz 22 Ask the Experts: Shade or Sun? 24 Out Yards - Learning Opportunities, Mistakes, and other Miscues!! 28 Preparing for Spring Splits 30 Interview Series - Rich Beggs 33 Viewer Tips 34 Topics Beekeepers Can't Agree On: Spring Splits - When do you Start? 36 Swarm Prevention 42 Smoker Maintenance 46 Recipe: Dodie's Hard Honey Candy 50 Club Announcements 52 February Zoom Q & A 54 Drought Chart 55 Users Guide
Page Topic
MORE INFO
Blake Shook
HOUSTON AREA
With this 1-day class, we'll give you the knowledge and confidence to keep your bees healthy and thriving! LIVE BEE YARD EXPERIENCE
Topic Highlights Hive Equipment & Protective Gear Basic Functions of the Hive Overview of Workers, Queens and Drones What's What In a Hive Identification & Treating Bee Diseases & Pest Yearly Hive Management Nutrition Honey Production & Harvesting
James & Chari Elam
DALLAS AREA
2022 BEGINNING BEEKEEPING CLASSES
1. Continue monitoring food stores and practicing the February feeding tips. Work to maintain a 20 lb surplus, and feed pollen substitute during cold weeks. 2. You should see the population of your hive beginning to explode. Your queen should be laying a tremendous amount of eggs, and a new generation of bees should be hatching. If you do not see any signs of eggs, larva, or brood, your hive is queenless, and you should order a replacement queen or merge the hive with another hive. If your hive has less than 2 frames of bees, merging is your best option. If you have 3 frames of bees, you can add a frame of brood from a stronger hive, and give the hive a new queen. 3. If you can find queens to purchase, splitting can be done in late March, or anytime in April. If you make a split in late March, 4 frames of solid brood, a mated queen, and proper care should guarantee a hive that is ready to make honey in early May. 4. Prevent swarming by adding boxes when the existing top box becomes 80% full of bees, or split your hive. If your hive has swarm cells (which are queen cells containing larva or pupae) on the bottom or edges of a a frame, then the only way to prevent swarming is by splitting the hive. Simply removing the cells is rarely sufficient, as we typically miss a cell or two. 5. Make sure any stored supers are free of wax moths, and are stored with wax moth crystals. 6. Remove entrance reducers to ensure hives do not overheat on warm days.
By: Blake Shook
Sign Me Up
Photo Credit: Randall L Brown
March tips
Beekeeping doesn't have to be hard! Stick with us and we'll walk you through the steps! Join us for our monthly Webinar 1st Thursday's 6:30 - 8:00
S
By: Chari Elam
I think we’re going to make it! Daylight Savings Time starts on March 13th and spring officially starts March 20th! Longer days = more forage time! Not to mention, beekeepers have a bit of a snap in their step now that the calendar officially states the obvious. Beginning this month, you’ll see our articles “turn the tide” on bee talk now that the season has changed. Now we shift our thinking to population growth, preparing for new bees, requeening, splits … and all things spring. Although the topics are the same year after year, scenarios change – beekeepers change – our outlook and goals change! What was important last year or a few years ago, may not be priority this year. Therefore, the need to keep reading to stay current will NEVER change! What’s going on in your hive? A population EXPLOSION! The queen is launching into full spring mode. Laying 2000 eggs a day as the “old ladies” of the hive (last year's survivors) are holding on to dear life to support this ever-growing group of young. Point to make: Bees starve in March. I know it’s hard to believe, but due to the aforementioned, the caregivers and forgers are ill equipped to manage the population growth. What does that mean to us? It means we need to FEED! 1:1 sugar syrup is the order of the day. And… be prepared to feed a lot of it to some colonies. On average a growing colony can easily consume a gallon of syrup a week or more if available. Preferred syrup delivery methods Honestly, anything other than entrance feeders work well this time of year. I’m not a proponent of using Boardman feeders in the spring– although, look inside our storage building and you’ll think we own stock in them. There’s a time and a place for them – but, in my opinion, now is neither. Robbing at this time of year can cause havoc if allowed to happen. Why tempt it?! My preference, hive top feeders. They hold up to 4 gallons of syrup and you don’t have to open the hive to fill them. Second to hive top feeders –division board feeders, aka. Frame feeders. For those folks really wanting to keep a tight budget, these feeders work and work well. I can hear someone out there saying, “Bees drown in those feeders.” Yes, they can, but typically there is only minimal loss compared to the convenient usability of this product + they are inexpensive compared to other options for larger scale beekeepers. Pollen? This is one product you don’t need to supplement in March. Most spring pollen sources are readily available for our bees, and we need not spend the money and time providing it. Colony quality This is a sticky subject. James and I have struggled with the “million dollar” question year after year – “Do we requeen or let her go a bit longer”?! I’m certain we aren’t the only ones that have hives that are going like gangbusters, yet the hive is as mean as a rattlesnake. We’ve even won honey competitions with honey from our meanest bees! That’s a story we’ll share over a cup of coffee another day … Our take on it generally, is that if the colony has become “not fun anymore,” it’s time to requeen. Problem is that these hives are the hardest to requeen. Those mean little boogers hide that mean Momma, keeping you from finding her – to top off the fact that they are really hard to work! Our solution? Split the split and then make splits. Do what? What I mean is, take that mean hive and break it down to as many 4 or 5 frame Nucs as you’ve got frames in it, ignoring where the queen is. But, making sure you have larvae in each split. Within 48 hours, all of the splits will have calmed down dramatically - Instant attitude adjustment! And you can easily identify which one has the queen – more traffic and fresh eggs! After a few days, you should have queen cells being made in the Queenless splits. My suggestion, let those splits make their own queen (if they will), and when your ordered queens come in, requeen! It will be much easier to find the newly hatched queen and replace her in the smaller split and you now have a much nicer colony than it was in that big mean colony. Note: Homegrown queens can do just fine – but keeping good genetics in your bee yard will go a long way in preventing that mean colony from ever starting. Queen availability It is difficult to find queens in March. Why? Drones aren’t ready yet! Quick biology lesson for those that don’t know – 24 days from egg to emergence for a drone... then a few days before he becomes sexually mature. Therefore, backup 24 days (approx. 3 ½ weeks) and that puts us back to mid-February. Typically, we don’t see drone cells until around the end of February (area dependent.) Consequently, as March progresses and April starts to peek around the corner – queens will become readily available – driving home the point to get your queens ordered! Most of you have your Nucs, packages or queens ordered by now and are anxiously awaiting their arrival. Patience is hard to come by these days, especially for new Beekeepers. You’re anticipating your new arrival and cannot wait to say, “I’m a Beekeeper!” The more experienced Beekeepers are anxious as well because hey, let’s face it…We LOVE Bees! Some other things to consider: Use good equipment. If you are doing a split into an old box with worn out frames your split is less likely to do well. Drawn comb is great, but equipment in disrepair is not. Do your splits on a nice day. Your bees will be calmer, and you will “both” be in a better mood! Consider lightly spraying sugar water on the undrawn frames placed in the new split to encourage the bees to draw comb. And, use drawn comb if at all possible in your splits. Your success rate will be exponentially greater! Spring is such a fun time of year for Beekeepers - Giving you the opportunity to double, even triple your apiary! #1 thing to remember for ALL Beekeepers – Keep learning by attending our monthly webinar, classes/seminars, and bee club meetings. Staying involved in the industry can and will make for much healthier bees and … it’s FUN! Want to know more about splits? Keep reading - This month's issue has some great information for you!
pring is March(ing) In!
QUEENS
Interested in learning how to make splits?
What's the buzz about our Ultra Gentle Golden Cordovan bees?
Photo Credit: Jacob Osborne - Kentuck Honey Farms
Setting Up Bee Yards
I
t’s the time of year new beekeepers need to be thinking about setting up their bee yards. In some instances, some relatively intense work can be involved in preparing the space. Notice I didn’t say “hard” work… Human nature tends to cause us to overthink a project, but truthfully, this is one that just some plain ol’ common sense can be your best tool. Here are some tips to help you in the process. How close together can I place my hives? Simply put, as close as you'd like. I recommend placing hives at a comfortable working distance apart. That is usually about 3-5 feet. This allows you to easily get between hives to work them. From the bees’ standpoint, they can be a few inches apart, and operate perfectly fine. Commercially, beekeepers put 4 beehives on a pallet where each hive is only a few inches apart and it does not cause any major issues. Mowing and maintaining your bee yard Mowing and edging around beehives is not always easy! Bees hate the noise and vibration of either and will quickly become agitated. I recommend mowing and edging in the late evening, right before dark when the bees are much less likely to fly. Put your bee suit on just in case you bump the hive, or they become more agitated than expected, smoke the hives, then mow & edge as quickly as possible. It also helps to put some form of weed barrier under & around each hive so you don’t have to edge right up against each hive. If you use some form of weed killer (ideally natural weed killer) around the hives, ensure it does not get into the hives. Apply it at night, so it can dry all night and the bees won’t come in contact with it the next day. How should I arrange hives in my bee yard? There are endless configurations when it comes to laying out hives in each location. In general, the more random the pattern, the more easily bees will find their individual hives. A perfectly spaced, straight line of uniform white boxes looks great, but is more difficult for the bees to find. That being said, if you only have 5 or less hives, you can still do that without causing issues. Bees are pretty good at finding home, but if all homes are identical, it can be a bit more challenging for them. If you have many hives, try a horseshoe pattern, or paint each hive, or each lid a different color; or place some objects in the bee yard so they can orient themselves more easily. It also works to paint a different shape or symbol on the lower brood box. If you are like me, you aren’t much of an artist, you can place hives along a tree line. Positioned correctly this can provide afternoon shade in the heat of the summer and allow bees to easily find their hive due to the variations in the tree line. Bees and Neighbors Whether you are in a suburban neighborhood or in a rural area, bees can cause an issue when it comes to neighbors. Here are some key factors and tips when it comes to bees & neighbors: A common phrase in beekeeping is “out of sight, out of mind.” We work hard to hide our hives. Typically, if your hives are readily visible, it can cause issues. Put them behind a privacy fence, behind some trees, etc. If you have neighbors nearby, work to ensure your bees remain gentle. Use plenty of smoke, don’t work them in poor weather, mow right before dark, and only use gentle breeds. If your bees do become defensive as you work them, stop, smoke them heavily, and try a different day. If they are continually aggressive, move them or requeen. If your neighbors are complaining about your bees, be sure to ask what the issue is. Often it is that they say they are allergic to bees, and don’t like them on their flowering plants and bushes. Let them know that there are dozens of wild hives that forage on the same plants and you moving your bees won’t help. They can cut down their flowering plants if they don’t want bees around their home. Educate your neighbors. A jar of honey goes a very long way. Teach them about bees, offer to suit them up and show them how gentle your bees are, and give them some honey. That will solve many issues! Let the neighbor talk to another experienced beekeeper you trust. Sometimes a “neutral” third expert can help calm things down. Ultimately, if neighbors continually complain, I usually end up moving my bees to a different location on my property, or in the case of a small backyard, move them somewhere out in a rural area. Providing a water source In summer months, bees need water to help keep the hive cool. If you are in a rural area, just ensure there is a stream, pond or lake ¼-½ a mile away. If so, your bees should be just fine. If there is not, or if you are in a residential area, it is ideal to provide them with a water source. This is to ensure they have water and discourage them from bothering neighbors. A water faucet dripping into a bucket of gravel works great! Chicken waterers work well, as does any container with plenty of flotation options to keep the bees from drowning. The water doesn’t have to be clean and fresh...bees actually prefer old and dirty water! Make sure it doesn’t run out, even for a day, as that will cause the bees to switch to an alternate source, which may be your neighbor's swimming pool. Also make sure the water is in the shade, as bees don’t like hot water in full sun. To attract bees to a new water source, you can try baiting them with some sugar syrup mixed with essential oils right next to the water source. Bees in my neighbor's pool It is very difficult to prevent or stop bees from drinking from a swimming pool. They actually like the chlorine, and once they have begun sourcing water from one location, they typically stick with it until it dries up. If you are in an urban area, or have neighbors with pools, it is important to proactively give your bees a water source beginning in the late spring. If that isn’t working, and your bees are still in your neighbor's pool, you have a few options. One, they could just as easily be wild bees as your bees. There is no guarantee that if you were to move your bees, your neighbors won’t continue having problems. Bees don’t like agitated water, so if there is a practical way to agitate the water in the pool for a few days, while providing an alternate waters source for your bees, it may help. Some also say peppermint oil applied around the edge of a pool helps deter bees as well. All that being said, there does not seem to be a foolproof way to stop them, unfortunately. Livestock and Bees Luckily, bees and livestock tend to coexist quite well. Most livestock leave hives alone. The key with any livestock is to make sure they can get away from the bees if the bees become agitated. Having livestock trapped in a small area with the bees is not ideal. Other than that, a small fence around your hives is a good idea to keep them from accidentally tipping over a hive or getting stung, but it's not critical. Commercially, the majority of our bee yards also have some form of livestock in them, and we’ve never had an issue. Pets and Bees If you are keeping bees in your yard, it is important to ensure any pets can get away from bees if the bees become angry. Pets typically learn to respect hives quickly and stay away from them. Make sure never to cage pets near bees. It is rare for dogs and cats to be highly allergic to bees, and most pets have already been stung whether or not you have bees if they spend much time outdoors. How many hives can I put in 1 location? This largely depends on if you are in a rural area or highly populated area, and what the forage is like in the few miles around your hives. If you are in a rural area, then there are few restrictions on how many hives you can have in one location other than the forage available. In suburban areas, 10-15 is often the most you can have, depending on if HOA's get involved or not, and assuming you use gentle breeds like Italian or Cordovans. From the bee’s perspective, it’s all about the forage in the area. Some locations with ample forage can have hundreds of hives in one bee yard. Most regions in the USA max at 15-30 hives per location due to a lack of available forage for yielding a surplus honey crop. If you are simply growing bees, or overwintering hives, and are not trying to make a honey crop, most areas can support 50-200 per location. The best way to determine the number for your local area is to start with 10-15 and increase it each year until it begins to affect your honey crop. The faster, and probably more efficient way is to ask long time local beekeepers. They will be able to tell you how many hives you can have per bee yard before it will impact your honey crop. For some regions that’s 10. For others, it’s 200. But the areas where it is 10 is far more common than areas where it is 200.
Photo Credit: Jacob Osbourne
Meet Blake Shook
POP QUIZ
James & Chari Elam Texas Bee Supply Instructors Owners Blue Ribbon Honey Company
The question was raised in Blake's article: How many hives can I put in 1 location? Let's ask the experts what they think!
Cameron Crane Liberty County Beekeepers Association Owner Crane Meadows
Michael Kelling President Central Texas Beekeepers Association Master Beekeeper
Let's watch this video and see if we can figure out the answer to Tara Chapman's question she proposed on her Two Hives Honey Instagram page! Answer on page 52
1st Thursday of Each Month Next meeting March 3rd - 6:30 pm!
One of the largest virtual meetings offered! Can't attend live? Register and get the recording sent to your inbox!
FEBRUARY WEBINAR
Always FREE!
Live Virtual BEE Meeting
South Texas - Houston Area
Live in the Bee Yard is Back! - March tips - Splits & split care - Feeding spring hives - Requeening - Getting rid of old winter honey - Swarms
SIGN UP
1-800-356-4229
Agenda
351 County Rd 6243 Dayton, TX 77535
We've Got You Covered! Most Orders Shipped Same Day
Austin Area Coming Soon!
North Texas - Dallas Area
14665 County Rd 633 Blue Ridge, TX 75424
Shade or Sun In setting up your bee yard, which is better for your bees? Let's ask the Experts!
Lauren Ward Entomologist A Bar Beekeeping
Blake Shook Owner Desert Creek Honey and Co- Owner Texas Bee Supply
By: Rich Beggs
Out Yards Learning Opportunity, Mistakes, and Other Miscues!
Honey Sampler
By year three in our beekeeping journey, my wife Sally and I realized we had a problem; we were running out of room for bees at our home bee yard! Solution: Find property and setup a new bee yard… aka: Out yard! I quickly found out that options for new out yards wasn’t difficult at all. In fact, more options were available than I had bees to place! The purpose of this article is to share a bit of our “out yard” journey – and more importantly, provide some help (and laughter) so you will know how to plan and hopefully avoid some very interesting mistakes and miscues we’ve seen and experienced along the way. Opening an Out Yard Offers Some Incredible Benefits Options – Having multiple bee yards provides many significant options. This past year we had a “testy” hive that was manageable but too defensive to stay at our home (bothered pets and neighbors which we simply couldn’t tolerate). Having other location options allowed us to move the hive quickly and easily to an out yard where their behavior wouldn’t be an issue and we could still monitor them regularly in order to decide whether to re-queen, split, or leave as-is. Growth – We had maxed out our home bee yard and simply couldn’t continue to increase without creating nuisance issues for our neighbors. Having new out yards allowed us to reduce pressure at home yet continue growing at a pace that worked for us. Diversity of Honey – To the delight of our family, friends and customers, our honey harvests yielded a fun variety of tastes and colors each season even though our bee yards were quite close in proximity! Sally now sells a “Hill Country Sampler” and bottles our honey with different colored caps based on its production location. This has been a huge success and unexpected way for us to sell a lot of honey!! Risk Reduction – During the past four (4) years there have been flash floods, freezing weather, and predator issues that impacted our hives. When temperatures fell to single digits for almost a week last year, some yards fared better than others. Instead of having a massive loss, we had losses in only one of our yards and learned valuable lessons for the future. New Friends! - We have the great privilege of sharing our bees with property owners and found that most people love bees and love the idea of helping them. One ranch owner frequently drives his elderly mother by the bees so she can sit in the car and watch them. Another rancher sells flowers on the roadside each spring and summer and really loves having honey produced from her ranch to sell along with her flowers. Our out yards have brought us new friends who are excited and proud to have a role in helping honey bees. Income Potential – Agricultural Exemptions have really opened new income opportunities for beekeepers. Several of our beekeeping friends have shifted their original goal of producing honey to providing bee management services where property owners compensate them in exchange for help receiving significant property tax savings. We see this as an intriguing option for beekeepers who might want to consider having out yards. So, you decided to setup a new out yard. Now what? Have no fear! We have a checklist that guides us when establishing our new out yards! Foraging Potential – All sites are NOT equal! We carefully assess and evaluate possible out yard properties first and foremost by considering the foraging potential for our bees. Although bees can travel for miles, it allows us to get a feel for the site, including the nearby surrounding areas. For our out yards on ranches, we look for specific native plants (e.g., wildflowers such as Indian Blankets, Horsemint, Datura, Thistle and Milkweed). We also look for native bushes and trees (e.g., Agarita, Texas Persimmon, Texas Kidneywood, Flaming Sumac, and Honey Mesquite). Having strong foraging options is crucial for our long-term success. Distance – Checking our four (4) bee yards can be a lot of work depending on the time of year. I strongly prefer to minimize driving time! This may not bother some, but I have worked hard to have all of our bee yards within a ten (10) mile radius. When we have a lot to do with our bees this maximizes our ability to get things done. Bee Safety and Security – Our honey bee yards are very hard to find. We seek locations on properties that are out of sight from roadways and far away from people. We do this for peace of mind. By locating our honeybees out of the paths of anyone coming and going on the property, it protects people and our bees from theft and vandalism. Fencing – One of the realities of rural property is livestock and wildlife. We have a standard fencing approach. We use affordable t-posts and welded cattle panels that keep curious cows and other animals away from toppling our precious honey bees! Weather Protection – Our out yards are primarily tucked away along tree lines (two are even better) in order to offer natural wind breaks. We also put wind break cloth on our fences. We have found this cloth blocks 90% of the wind and helps our bees and further camouflages them from sight. Here’s a fun list of what we have learned and… “What could possibly go wrong?!” We hope these help you! Access – Yes, this photo actually happened! In our 2nd year of beekeeping, I built a bee yard across a creek. While it was beautiful, it wasn’t very fun when I had to figure out how to carry honey boxes back across the 90’ long dam! And it wasn’t very fun to have to take a canoe to get to them when we encountered strong flooding a few years ago! Readiness – Because you never know what you’ll see – I now carry a little of everything with me in my truck when visiting out yards. We may have a simple plan to just check food stores, but instead find 5 (five) other things that require attention (e.g., add box/frames for space, reload beetle traps, etc.) Secure hive stands – A friend near Waco asked me to help him rescue an abandoned bee yard. Upon arrival I noticed the bees had been placed on unstable stands that had rotted, resulting in 10 colonies laying on their side. While it sounds obvious, we should think carefully about making sure our stands are durable and stable. It’s no fun to deal with what we saw in Waco, and unlike your home bee yard, it could be a while before you even know there is an issue. Swarms will come! – One of the most incredible by-products of having bee yards is seeing how swarms are attracted to them. Each year we have 2-4 swarms land near our bee yards. I have personally enjoyed watching 2 fly in from a neighboring ranch – it was truly magical! Our advice? Setup swarm traps in all of your out yards. Our experience has shown us that we’ll welcome several new colonies each year by having the welcoming mat and red carpet waiting for them!
Moving Bees to another Out Yard
Beekeeping is extraordinary! We enjoy it so much and are hopeful that you will find strong, sustained, and fun success on your journey! If you have any questions, please feel free to email me @richardobeggs@hotmail.com or find us @www.sallybees.com. Go out there and have some FUN!!
Curious Cows!
Abandoned Hives we Rescued
Can you actually prepare ahead of time for spring splits? You bet you can!
Things to do NOW: Have your equipment on hand– Consider that each split will require either a Nuc box or an 8 or 10 frame hive box plus, a bottom board and lid. Additionally, you will need feeders for these splits. Some beekeepers prefer to top feed with mason jars, especially when you have multiple hungry splits. A small hole drilled in the top of a box will accommodate this method along with your jar. Boardman feeders are great for feeding new Nucs as well. They are easy to fill and inexpensive. Division board feeders (frame feeders) are also a good method. Although they take up space inside the box, it’s common practice and like boardman feeders, inexpensive. Order your Queens – Queens (from any breeder) are on a “first come, first serve” basis. Ordering well in advance will guarantee you have them in hand for splits day. Hive Inspections – This is the time of year that hive inspections are crucial. As our colonies grow (and they are), space is at a premium. For every full frame of capped brood, once emerged, 7000 bees become part of the population. It takes 3 frames to house that many bees. As you inspect your hives, make good notes on how many splits you can actually make. Consider it only takes 3-4 frames of brood and resources to make a viable split in the spring. You may have more splits possible than you think! Frame manipulation – Some colonies do better than others… this is a given. Part of bee management is to move frames around to colonies that need it and take from those that need to “slow down” in anticipation of a queen not arriving for a few weeks. A frame of capped brood will provide a huge boost to weaker colonies. In turn, for the donor colony, removing some of these pending bees can make the difference in swarming and not swarming. Know how to make a successful split! – If you’ve never made a “successful” split, consider taking our ½ day Splits class. You’ll learn everything required to make splits as well as how to care for them afterwards. And, yes, we do actual splits in the bee yard in class (weather permitting). By: Chari Elam
Preparing for Spring Splits
Meet Rich Beggs - Rich and his wife Sally, own and operate Sally Bee's Honey Company in and around Dripping Springs Texas. Having several years behind them and the hives to prove success - Rich has earned his way in to being chosen our expert for this issue. Let's listen to what he's doing for his bees right now!
with Chari Elam
Interview Series March Edition Rich Beggs
Registration
Twelfth Annual Beekeeping School March 26th 8:00 am - 5:00 pm Brenham High School - Brenham, TX Beekeeping School participants have the opportunity to "suit up", fire up the smoker and experience what it is like to open a hive and look inside. If you desire to learn more about the art of Beekeeping, this school is for YOU!
Check out all of the Questions asked and Answered from the February Zoom Webinar HERE!
Hand Sanitizer not only gets propolis off your hands easily, but also works great to sterilize hive tools! Thanks Keith Miller
Huddle up Girls! Here's the plan... Our new TBS Queen is about to be here - I want each of you to be ready to work and make her shine!
ORDER NOW!
I use a propane torch to burn off all the soot from the top and edges of the smoker as well as the bottom plate while it's outside of the smoker! Thanks Steve Belies
TIPS from our February Zoom Meeting participants
Topics Beekeepers Can't Agree On! By: Lynne Jones
I started beekeeping in September of 2016 – five full years, and this will be the first year I am planning to do splits for the purpose of increasing my colonies. I’ve done splits for other reasons, but not because I wanted more colonies. On February 1st I asked beekeepers in two Facebook groups, when they start Spring Splits: based on a calendar date or certain conditions? Like everything in beekeeping, it seems there’s no simple answer. If you have a mated queen and a colony with enough bees to split, you can do so at any time. Suppliers of queens in my area (Texas Hardiness Zone 8b) typically have mated queens available around the third week of March or beginning of April. (To get queens this early, plan to purchase them at least six months prior.) I would love to make my spring splits with mated queens, but that is rather costly, and so I read with great interest the comments with information about colony produced queens. Almost half of the beekeepers who commented, specifically mentioned the need for mature drones. Depending on your location, mature drones can be available as early as February or as late as April. Unfavorable conditions, like a late or extended freeze, can delay or reduce the production of drones. How can a beekeeper determine when drones will be mature in their area? Some beekeeping websites state that drones are mature 10-12 days after emergence; while other websites state it takes 16 days. Likewise, when a queen emerges, it will be a week before she matures and can take mating flights. Regardless of your location, by knowing the cycle from egg to capped cell to emergence for both drones and queens, you can calculate the day when both drones and queens will be ready to make mating flights. When plenty of drone eggs are seen, splits can be started in 19 days. If there is plenty of drone larvae, splits can be done in 16 days. With a lot of capped drone brood, make splits in 8 days. These start dates are all contingent on favorable conditions throughout the entire cycle. The safest time to start a split is when numerous drones are seen; even if they are newly emerged, they will be mature by the time queen is ready to mate. Though the queen does not mate with drones from her hive, if there is a healthy number of drones in our hives, it is likely the same in many other hives as well. Having determined the various dates for making Spring Splits based on the drone cycle, I have decided to follow the advice of respected beekeeper E.T. Ash who said, “For queen cells you do have to have a good population of sexually mature drones. For College Station [zone 8b] the latter part of March is a good pencil in date.” (E.t. added via text, “…as a guess there may be a 10-day lag between Gulf Coast and College Station and perhaps a 2-week lag between College Station and Dallas.”) For those of you not in zone 8b and planning to make Spring Splits, but not sure when to do them, use the chart above to determine your earliest date, wait until you see plenty of drones, or take the easy way out and follow the advice of a respected beekeeper near you. Facebook Links: Central Texas Beekeepers Texas Friendly Beekeepers Reference: Anderson, C. (2021, November). A Drone Bee – {Life of the Male Honey Bee}. Retrieved February 12, 2022, from Carolina Honeybees website
Spring Splits - When Do You Start?
Lynne Jones - Owner of Brazos River Honey Secretary-Treasurer of the Fort Bend Beekeepers Association and Advanced level in the Texas Master Beekeeper program
Brood Box 80% Full
Look between the frames - 8 out of 10 full of bees? You're at 80%
Adding an additional box with empty, undrawn foundation can be misconstrued by the bees. Depending on the time of year, it can easily turn into a honey super. During early spring it’s more likely to just sit or be slow to get rolling if some very easy steps aren’t taken. Utilizing the active frames in the original (bottom) brood box to “prime” (pyramid) the new top box, can and will speed up the growth of your colony. Check out this diagram that shows you how! And don’t forget to feed! Remember, it takes nectar (or our version – sugar syrup) to draw out comb. Any lag in incoming nectar will slow this process down dramatically – so don’t stop feeding until nature’s nectar flow begins!
Swarm Prevention
Swarm season is right around the corner! Your bees are expanding in population as we speak - gearing up for the spring nectar flow. Giving them more space is crucial during this process. When your colony reaches 80% capacity – that’s when you know it’s time to add more room! Do you know what 80% looks like?
I heard it's yummy!
You Get it...
Photo Credit: Nanette Davis
Text
No... You get it!
2022 Queens Your choice: Golden Cordovan Italian/Carniolan
S P R I N G S P L I T S C L A S S
Join our Expert Team of Beekeepers to learn how to effectively and safely split your spring hives! This class covers all the basics in making splits, both inside the classroom and in an apiary. Topics covered for this popular class include: Ordering queens for your split How to prepare your hive to split Hive strength requirements for splitting Making the split Feeding & installing a queen To move, or not to move Post split care Queen acceptance and more. Class will begin at 9:00 am and concludes at 12:00 pm Blue Ridge - March 12th Dayton/Huffman - March 19th
S P R I N G C L E A N I N G
Stay In Touch!
Photo Credit: Dodie & Kevin Stillman
More Flavors My mom has a huge lemon tree, so the first option was to replace the water with lemon juice… This made the best honey lemon drops ever!! These I dusted with powdered sugar. You may have a different experience depending on which type of lemon juice you use. For my second experiment, I love Mexican Vanilla, so I replaced the water with vanilla… Delicious!! The vanilla is very delicate, and I dusted these with powdered sugar as well. Next, I learned exactly how much a dram is… Hitting the cake decorating aisle, I picked up some flavoring oils. A dram is actually 0.125 oz. but you really only need about 8 drops for this recipe!! Tip: Drop the drops into a tablespoon first, so you don’t go overboard!! Using the basic recipe, wait until after you have reached 300*F and removed from the heat before adding the flavor oil. Then mix it in as you stir out some of the last bubbles.
By: Dodie Stillman
I’m always looking for something new to do with my honey. My newest find – Making Hard Honey Candy! I’ve been doing some testing and experimenting just for you so you can get right to the good stuff!
Dodie's Hard Honey Candy
The basic recipe: 1 cup sugar 1/3 cup honey 2 Tablespoon’s water Powdered sugar and/or cinnamon for dusting Mix sugar, honey, and water together in a small pot. Stir constantly until the sugar is melted. Stop stirring but continue heating till you reach 300oF. Remove from heat; let sit for a minute as the large bubbles pop; gently stir out more bubbles. Pour into mold. Let candy cool and harden. Remove from molds dust with powdered sugar or cinnamon and EAT! Delicious!
A popular flavor from all my taste testers was eight drops of cinnamon flavor oil, dusted with cinnamon. Cinnamon honey is a great flavor combination. And the winning combination from all my testing was: Four drops of cinnamon and four drops of orange! Cinnamon/Orange dusted with powdered sugar make a great combination! Of course, these taste great just straight up, and could be a soothing addition to any sore throat treatment, just remember the amount of sugar! Dropping them in a cup of coffee or tea is also a wonderful option! Experiment, have fun, and let us know what flavor combination you come up with!
Helpful Tips First and foremost – a silicon mold is the way to go with this candy!! I found this honeycomb silicon mold that worked out great. This mold seemed to work best filling it just past the bottom edge, about ¼ full. Tip: Walmart had a super cute butterfly and honey bee ice cube mold, but the hard angles don’t feel good in your mouth Second – You will need a candy thermometer. Make sure you get the candy up to the 300oF mark. If you don’t cook the candy long enough, it will be sticky the entire time and you will find it sticking to your teeth the whole time it is melting in your mouth. While you are cooking the candy, you really do need to stir the sugar honey water mixture so it doesn’t scorch. Your experience may differ cooking with gas, but with my on and off electric, I spent most of the cook time lifting my pot off the burner, it didn’t seem to matter that it might take longer, just don’t let it burn, or boil over! Third – Get all cooking utensils into water quickly for easy clean up!
Walker County Beekeepers Association 1402 19th Street Huntsville, TX 77340 Last Thursday of each month Q & A on the front porch at 6:30, meeting at 7:00 PM
Need a presenter for your club?
Denton County Beekeepers Association Meets the 2nd Tuesday of each month both in-person and on zoom! Details on www.dentonbees.com and on Facebook
Don't see your club listed? Send your info to Editor@TexasBeeSupply.com
BOOK IT
Elm Fork Beekeepers 3rd Thursday each month in person or Zoom at the VFW Hall in Gainsville, TX. Go to: elmforkbeekeepers.org for Zoom link
Tri-County Beekeepers Association 4th Tuesday @ 5:30 pm of each month Sam's Restaurant - Fairfield, TX
Lamar County Beekeepers Association Meets 1st Thursday each month at 6:30 Red River Valley Fairground - Building B Paris, Texas
Montgomery County Beekeepers Association 3rd Monday of each month 9020 Airport Rd. Conroe, TX 77303 Non-members welcome! www.mocobees.com
Kaufman Area Beekeepers Association Second Tuesday each month at 6:30 pm United Methodist Church, 208 S. Houston St. Kaufman, TX New Beekeepers Q & A 5:45-6:15
Comal County BeeKeepers Association First Thursday each month at 6:30 - 7:00 dinner - 7:00 - 8:30 meeting Beefy's on the Green - Spring Branch, TX
Pineywoods Beekeepers Association 2nd Thursday each month Lufkin Angelina County Chamber of Commerce 1615 S. Chestnut Lufkin, TX
Hill County Beekeepers Association In - Person meetings every 3rd Tuesday of the month 6:30 at Hill County Annex Office, Hillsboro, TX
Wood County Beekeepers Association 1st Tuesday of the month at 7:00 pm! The current meeting location is the Winnsboro Civic Center
Travis County Beekeepers Association 1st Monday 7-9 pm Zilker Botanical Garden ~ Gift Shop 2220 Barton Springs Rd. Autin, TX 78746 www.TravisCountyBeekeepers.org
Harris County Beekeepers 4th Tuesday each month - 6:30 Meet & Greet - 7:00 meetings start - 5001 W. Oak, Pasadena TX 77504 Harris County Beekeepers Association
Austin Area Beekeepers Association Third Thursday each month at 7:00 pm Frickett Scout Center For meeting details CLICK HERE!
Fort Bend Beekeepers 2nd Tuesday of each month (except Dec) in person or online. Bud O'Shieles Community Center 1330 band Road, Rosenberg, TX
Hays County Beekeepers Association In - Person meetings every 3rd Wednesday of the month 6:30 -9pm at Suds Monkey Brewing Company - 12024 US-290, Austin, TX
Central Texas Beekeepers Association Washington County Fairgrounds VIP room 4th Thursday of each month, 7:00 pm CentralTexasBeekeepers.org
Club Announcements
Always FREE! Zoom (Anywhere) or In- Person (Area restrictions apply) Enjoy a 1 hour LIVE Presentation from one of our presenters! You choose the topic!
Houston Beekeepers Association 3rd Tuesday each month in person at Bayland Community Center, 6400 Bissonnet St Houston, TX 77074 HoustonBeekeepers.org
Liberty County Beekeepers Association First Tuesday each month at 6:30 Texas Bee Supply in Dayton/Huffman For more information go to LibertyCountyBeekeepers.org
Webinar Q&A
Answer to the Pop Quiz is: Orientation Flight! Learn more about it here!
LOCATIONS TO PICK UP BEES!
DALLAS, HOUSTON AND AUSTIN AREA! PICK YOUR DAY PICK YOUR LOCATION!
ORDER NOW
Some GREAT questions from the February Zoom Webinar meeting! Click on the button below to read them all!
3
- CONTENTS - SEARCH - FULL SCREEN - SHARE - DOWNLOAD - PUBLICATIONS PANEL
Texas Drought Status
Digital Publications Users Guide
Digital publications are a window into a world of technology! Learning how to navigate them is easy! Simply use the "menu bar" along side of the opened publication, and choose the option you would like to explore. Here are the icon definitions:
For real time info, click here
Photo Credit: Caven Marsh