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Cover Photo: Sarah Jordan
December 2022
Feature Topics Don't Let the "B" Word Intimidate You Indoor Overwintering Peppermint for SHB The Benefits of Having More Than 1 Hive
Edition 30
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
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8 Monthly Tips 10 Don't Let the "B" Word Intimidate You 20 Indoor Overwintering 26 Feeding Stored Honey Back To Your Bees 28 Talk with the Expert: Charlie Agar 29 Quick Tip - Open Feeding Dry Pollen 30 Stan's Soft Sugar Bricks - How and When to Use Them 32 When is it Too Cold to Check My Hives? 34 The Benefits of Having More Than 1 Hive 38 Nectar Robbing 40 How to Make Skin Moisturizer 44 Box Upkeep 46 Hive Check Temperature Guide 48 What's the Buzz - Using Peppermint Candy for Controlling Small Hive Beetles 54 Culling Dark and Old Comb 58 Heating Honey - The Good, Bad & Ugly 64 Two Queens Hive 70 Webinar Q&A 72 Recipe - Chunky Apple Cranberry Sauce 76 Drought Chart
Page Topic
BLAKE, KATHLEEN AND THEIR GIRLS
BRIAN
ARIEL
JENNIFER
SHANNON
DAVID
ALEX
STEVE
JAMES AND CHARI
PAUL
MIKE
KYLE
KIM
RYAN AND KATY
SUSAN
MICHELLE
TAMMY AND LYNDON SHOOK
NAOMI
Cookie
RESERVE YOUR SEAT
Kim Townsend & Shannon LaGrave
HOUSTON AREA
Don't know what to get your beekeeper? Gift a Class!
Learn what you need to know to keep bees and produce honey in this extensive 1-day, 6 hour beginning beekeeping class. Our experienced beekeepers lead you through topics such as the basic functions of the hive, types of bees present in your hive, necessary gear, identification and treatment of bee diseases and pests, managing a beehive, honey production, honey harvest, collection of nectar and pollen, how to get bees for your hive, a year in the life of a beekeeper, and much more. We will cover the necessary information you need to begin producing honey and raising healthy bees in this exciting 6 hour class. Plus - You'll get to work with live bees! Lunch included!!
James & Chari Elam
DALLAS AREA
2023 BEGINNING BEEKEEPING CLASSES
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Continue monitoring food stores. Pollen patty feeding can be discontinued as your hives remain clustered most days. However, during warmer days bees will fly, searching for food sources. You may find bees burrowing into chicken feed, sawdust, etc. They are attempting to find a source of protein and will gather any type of dust thinking it is a protein source. You can open feed dry pollen substitute in December and January. It is not completely necessary, but any feeding is helpful. During quick hive inspections you will most likely see the size of cluster diminish over time. The bees will be clustering more and more tightly as the weather gets colder. But, you will also see a slow loss in population as the fall workers die. This is normal. Hives often lose strength over winter, thus the larger and stronger the hive going into winter the better. With the cold weather you may notice your harvested honey beginning to crystallize. To re-liquefy, warm at 120 degrees for 24 hours. This can be done using a variety of methods, such as an old refrigerator or ice chest with light bulbs and a thermostat. If you plan to purchase Nucs or Queens next year, ordering now will ensure you are able to get the earliest possible pick up dates next year.
By: Blake Shook
DECEMBER TIPS
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Bee Biology is SO Interesting and SO Important!
By: Chari Elam
It may be hard to grasp, but our beloved honey bees are not native to America! I know – shocker, right?! In 1622 colonists brought the “Western honey bee – Apis Mellifera L.” from Europe to Jamestown, Virginia, and then it took another another 231 years before they migrated to the west coast! The original species, Apis Mellifera Ligustica, (Italian honey bee) became the primary breeder stock for many years. Although known for its gentleness, high honey production, brood production, and adaptability skills – it’s ability to survive hard winters was lacking. Enter the subspecies: Carniolan honey bee (Apis Mellifera Carnica)! When cross bred with the Italian honey bee, beekeepers were able to obtain the best attributes of both species! Viola – Introducing the Italian/Carniolan honey bee! This is just one example of cross breeding of the Italian honey bee from its original introduced species – many have followed and are available today. The following attributes of the Italian/Carniolan are a good example of how cross breeding can take the best of two breeds and make one very desirable stock: Extremely Gentle Excellent brood and honey producers Reduced propensity to swarm Less drifting Reduction in robbing tendencies Improved overwintering capabilities Ability to increase and reduce brood production to nectar availability Good utilization of propolis Increased resistance to brood diseases, parasites, and pests Forage earlier in the morning and later in the evening, and on cooler, wetter days Workers live up to 12% longer than other species or sub-species Queen Within the caste system we see that a queen is basically an overfed worker. The big difference – her food source is Royal Jelly as opposed to bee bread. Royal Jelly is what produces the growth of this sexually mature female’s reproductive organs. Conversely, bee bread inhibits them. A queen is fertilized “in flight” and will take multiple flights to become fully mated. Once mated she will never mate again. The queen ensures her “hierarchy” by way of pheromones – QMP (Queen Mandibular Pheromone) primarily ensures the colony she is present and doing her job of laying eggs. When the QMP isn’t detected by the colony, work to generate a replacement queen soon begins. If available, a 1 (ish) day old larva is chosen, and either moved into a queen cup, or a queen cell is quickly built around it. Within the next 16 days a new “replacement” virgin queen will (in theory) emerge, mate, and carry on! For a beekeeper, this would most likely be the moment in which a “purchased” quality breed queen would either precede or proceed this process. Laying eggs A honey bee Queen has the very unique ability to lay a fertilized egg or an unfertilized egg at will. This is specifically determined by the size of the cell she is presented with. If the cell is 4.62 - 5.51 mm she will lay an egg and then immediately release a sperm with it. If the cell is 6.15 - 6.91 mm, she will lay an egg but withhold sperm. This is significant in that the fertilized egg will generate a “sexually immature” female (Worker Bee), and the unfertilized egg will generate a “sexually mature” male (Drone)! So incredibly interesting! In her egg laying lifetime, she will lay upwards of 2000 eggs per day in the spring and summer and do so until she runs out of sperm which could be as soon as 2 years – depending on the quality of her mating. This tells us the Queen is NOT in charge, but instead, the workers building the cells are! Their roadmap to cell sizing is directly associated with the season and food availability. The ability for a worker to prepare nature for perpetuation of the species is nothing shy of miraculous. The Worker Bee This “sexually immature” female bee is the true life force of a colony. Without the full scope of age groups of workers, a colony can cease even with a viable Queen. That’s a lot riding on these tiny shoulders! They are equipped with the following attributes: Nurse bees... Feed brood food to larvae (mandibular gland secretions, hypopharyngeal gland secretions (Royal Jelly), and protein-rich pollen, in a 2:9:3 ratio = bee bread) between day 4 and day 9 of development. These 6 days of being fed are critical for developing viable brood. In the event larvae are improperly fed, inferior bees will result. Meaning: bees with poor foraging ability, shorter life spans, and overall inability to support the colony. Egg 3 days + Larva 6 days + Capped with wax at day 9 = Emerge at day 21. Nurse bees also feed and groom the queen (retinue); clean cells, and warm the brood nest. Wax glands produce wax to build comb - this is typically the 11-18 day old worker bee. It takes a continual feeding of nectar for wax glands to produce. Any interruption of nectar consumption can interrupt this process and cause a lag in drawing comb. **Remember this when feeding your hives during times nectar dearth. Foraging and transporting pollen and nectar Honey bees gather pollen by being led to a plant or flower with nectar. Static electricity generated from flight and a bee’s wings flapping 11,400 times per minute attract dry pollen from these plants to the bee’s hairy body (scopa). It is then combed from the body with the bees front and middle legs, to the back legs that contain a pollen basket (corbiculae). This basket is what enables the bee to transport the pollen back to the hive. The pollen is then deposited into a cell. It is now ready to be converted into bee bread when mixed with nectar. Nectar gathering is done most often at the same time that pollen is gathered. A honey bee uses her tongue (proboscis – basically a straw) allowing her to draw in nectar to store in her honey stomach for transporting back to the hive. Nectar is then handed off to a receiving bee and in this process, inversion occurs converting nectar into honey. Propolis for health and hive protection – Gathering propolis (a sticky resin gathered from plants and trees) is acquired much like gathering pollen. It is transported by way of pollen baskets and returned to the hive to be utilized for sealing cracks and crevices, as well as stored in various places in the hive for future use. It is well documented that hives with heavy propolis storing traits are healthier. This has been proven to me on more than one occasion… Thermoregulating the Hive – Temperature regulation is a very important aspect of colony health. Worker bees have the ability to uncouple their 4 wings allowing them to fan a hive's interior to regulate not only the temperature but the humidity. A brood nest is required to maintain 93 – 95 degrees to grow viable brood. Pulling moisture in or out achieves this. In cold weather, a hive clusters, shivers, and rotates bee positions to maintain a safe livable environment. Doing so ensures that they will survive and keep the Queen protected to overwinter successfully. What a huge responsibility! Absolutely everything that supports a colony's health (other than laying eggs) rides on the backs of these industrious workers. Oh… but they can lay eggs! If the QMP is absent from a colony for 3 weeks (1 brood cycle), in desperation to save the colony, not just one, but many workers, will begin laying eggs. But she isn’t mated! Yes, that’s correct – and because of that, she will only lay “unfertilized” eggs, which we now know are Drones! A colony can not survive on Drones alone – therefore, a colony with a laying worker is doomed to die in most cases. As seen in the chart below – duties are age-specific. Absence of one of these age groups could very well cause havoc in a colony. But wait – can an older bee revert back to doing a younger bee's tasks? It can! In the instance of a void, plasticity of the worker bee allows them to fill in either moving up or down in the age-related duties. Unfortunately, this doesn’t always happen. More than likely, this is "time of year dependent"… winter bees are more likely to revert to spring duties than spring/summer bees in the same season. The inability to complete a task in the hive brings us full circle in knowing the importance of Bee Biology. As beekeepers this is where we can step in and solve a problem nature can’t. Recognizing a lag in honey production in spring suggests a low forage population. No wax being built…points to a lack of 11-18 day old worker bees…You get the point. Solving problems like these is easy when you have more than one colony and have a clear understanding of the life cycle/biology of the bee. Trading brood, honey, or pollen frames from hive to hive can completely reverse the decline that is no doubt imminent otherwise. Drones Often given a “pat on the back” at the ability to be lazy and get by with it – Drones are the only reason the species is able to propagate! Yes, they die after mating, and given the magnitude of that role, it seems a bit unfair! Drones rarely feed themselves, don’t do any gathering of resources or tend to the hive in any way whatsoever! Therefore, in the fall, workers kick them out to rid themselves of the burden of overwintering with the overeating hive occupant. It’s not uncommon to see Drones present in southern states in the winter. In such cases, they are beneficial to warming the winter hive when given the opportunity. The Drone is a much larger bee (remember the larger cell) and has a 24-day egg to emergence time frame. Drones become the breeding ground for Varroa mites due to the “extended stay hotel” they provide. Learning Bee Biology is not a "memorization project", but more an experience-learned knowledge. If you didn’t know it before – now you do! By: Chari Elam
Don't Let the "B" Word Intimidate You
Photo Credit: The Complex Life of the Honey Bee - Purdue Extension
AUSTIN AREA STORE OPENING EARLY 2023!!
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Address and Grand Opening to be announced soon!
1st Thursday of Each Month Next meeting December 1st 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
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Stop by our booth (59-60)! - Meet our Team - Step into our pop-up store FULL of great merchandise! and Check out our Conference Specials!
Join Blake Shook as he walks you through what's going on in your hives and prepares you for the month to follow! James and Chari Elam answer your questions LIVE and present short practical timely topics.
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January 5, 6, & 7, 2023 Sevierville Convention Center
Upcoming Agenda
Live in the Bee Yard Tips Feeding Sugar Bricks Winter Inspections Creamed Honey & Diversifying Bottling & Selling Honey Products Winter Management Live Q & A
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Truckloads of bees indoors ready to unload. Bees can't see red, & thus don't fly if red lights are being used... as much anyway.
Cleaned & ready to receive bees for the winter!
Indoor Overwintering Hives Cold Storage for Bees By: Blake Shook
Storing bees indoors has been around for a long time. Traditionally, in northern states bees were stored in potato cellars which were not in use during winter months. In early November when outdoor temperatures typically stayed in the 30's and 40's, beekeepers would then load up all their hives and stack them indoors. This came with some concerns. One, there was not always good ventilation, and two, controlling CO2 adequately. Plus, if you had a sudden warm day or two, the bees began to fly or crawl out of the hives causing a huge mess. I began storing my bees in sheds right after some critical changes began about 7 years ago. At that time buildings were being built just for bees, equipped with computer systems controlling and monitoring oxygen, CO2, ventilation, and temperature. They are also refrigerated, thus ensuring a perfect 40-degree hibernation temperature. With all this in place, we are able to put our bees indoors even earlier, starting October 1st. The hives remain indoors, lightly clustered, until we pull them out in late January ready to ship to almond pollination in California. So, why go to the trouble? What's better about this method as opposed to letting the bees overwinter outdoors? There are a few key factors. Personally, I've seen our operation go from often struggling to maintain an 8-frame average with outdoor overwintering, to often far exceeding that. More bees per box – Hives tend to maintain more bees per box since they aren't out flying every warm day, thus wearing themselves out and dying. Therefore, we tend to have a greater population per hive coming out of the winter. Less food is being consumed – In warmer climates, it's common for a strong hive to consume 20-40 lbs. of stored honey. In overwintering storage sheds, each hive consumes more like 10-15 lbs. per hive – due to them not flying and burning energy and having a more consistent temperature. Protecting woodenware – Since the bees, and all the woodenware are stored indoors for almost 4 months out of the year, it greatly extends the life of our woodenware! Labor savings – Rather than working bees all winter long, our bees stay parked in one place doing nothing all winter and requiring no labor on our part.
For commercial beekeepers, overwintering indoors has become increasingly popular over the past several years. While a method for small scale beekeepers to do the same hasn't been developed yet, I'm sure it's only a matter of time until someone devises a system!
Unloading & stacking hives Notice the vertical openings in the back wall. This allows cold air to circulate between the rows of stacked hives. There are ongoing experiments being conducted regarding controlling Varroa mites in sheds. Bees can withstand higher CO2 levels than mites can. So, trials are being conducted to see if we can raise the CO2 levels just high enough to kill mites but not high enough to kill bees. If it works, this could be an organic way to kill, in mass, all the Varroa from thousands of hives at a time!
Dead bees on the floor of the shed At 40 degrees bees only form a "light" cluster. They are still able to move around inside the hive and throw any bees out that die. So, every few weeks, the floors are swept and cleaned to remove any bees which hive died and been removed by the workers.
Stacking more hives! The shed in this picture can hold up to 80,000 beehives at a time!
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For freezer stored frames – allow them to come up to room temperature before giving them to your bees (around 70 F). Once thawed, place frames “just outside” the cluster so they can get to it on even the coldest days. Para Moth stored honey frames – Allow to “air” for a few days prior to giving them to the hive.
Winter feeding – especially if your bees are starving can be a challenge. Liquid syrup below 50o F won't likely be consumed even by hungry hives. Remember the many suggestions throughout the year of salvaging older honey frames, uncapped frames not suitable for extraction, mite treatment exposed honey frames, or left-over frames from a lost hive? NOW is the time to pull those out of storage! This is your best option for winter feed – It’s their honey and more likely to save a starving hive than any other feeding method. Plus, honey acts as an insulator for the winter cluster!
Other options: Candy boards (Fondant) – See November issue page 10 Dry sugar – Although not always accepted ... a few pounds of dry sugar can be placed directly above the winter cluster on top of a piece of newspaper. Sugar Bricks – Probably the best approach beyond frames of honey and preferred over dry sugar or candy boards by most and seem to be consumed better than other options. See November issue page 11
Feeding Stored Honey Back to Your Bees
If you haven't heard of Charlie Agar - hold onto your veil! He's a lively - tell it like it is - personality extraordinaire! Charlie is a well established, successful bee remover in the San Antonio/New Braunfels area that also leases and manages bees, teaches beekeeping, and banks enough honey to sell at flea markets! On top of that he's a board member of the Texas Beekeepers Association and has a VERY POPULAR entertainment show called Charlie Bee Company - on PBS and CharlieBee.com Join me as I find out just how successful he is in keeping hived cutouts and swarm captures alive and what's involved to do so. Overwintering small hives, feeding super heavy syrup and much more - Check it out!
Photo Credit: Nanette Davis
Talk with the Expert Introducing Charlie Agar - Charlie Bee Company
Open Feeding Dry Pollen
with Chari Elam
Feeding dry pollen substitute can be beneficial during the winter months. To feed dry pollen powder, you must place the powder outside the hive, ideally at least 20 feet away from your hive. You can purchase dry pollen feeders or make one. Essentially, you need a container that will keep the powder dry if it rains, keeps livestock out, and to which the bees have easy access. A simple and cheap option is a 5 gallon bucket lying on its side with half of the lid cut off. Add about 5 lbs. of powder and put either container in a tree to keep varmints and livestock out. The bees will forage during warm winter days that are sunny, calm, and above about 45 degrees. They will bring the powder back to the hive to use much like natural pollen. Keep in mind, however, bees will only forage on dry pollen powder if there is no natural pollen flow. The advantage of open feeding is it more naturally simulates a natural pollen flow and may encourage some additional brood rearing. The disadvantage is you are feeding all the neighborhood bees in addition to yours.
QUICK TIP
There’s been a LOT of discussion on social media about using sugar bricks, sugar cakes and “soft” sugar bricks to feed bees during the winter. Sugar brick feeding is a main stay for northern beekeepers due to extended winter months and the inability to open hives because of cold and snow. Southern states don’t typically have winters this extreme, therefore this method of feeding hasn’t been on beekeepers’ radars. However, it’s not just about extreme winters! If you look online for recipes to make your own, you’ll see an overwhelming similarity in ingredients for sugar blocks as well as ratios for making them, most resulting in a hard brick carb-only supplement, fed only in winter. What about protein? What about the rest of year? You’ll be hard pressed to find a legitimate recipe for a feed "block” that includes a pollen sub…unless of course you get your hands on some of Stan Gore's (Texas Friendly Beekeepers Facebook page creator), “Stan’s Soft Sugar Bricks™”! One of Stan’s many solid recommendations – honey frames first, then the use of sugar bricks when nutrition is needed. In his words, “These soft sugar bricks will keep a beekeeper’s hives from starving.” What’s different about his recipe? If you ask Stan, his response is – “People have been feeding sugar to bees for years. Other methods dump sugar on the hive, but if fed too early as a winter supplement, bees see it as foreign and haul it out of the hive. Some would like to argue my ingredients, but after years of research working with different ingredients and cooking times – I know it works! – Proof is IN THE PUDDING!” When to feed Stan’s Soft Sugar Bricks™? Quote Stan: “I put on soft sugar bricks after the first frost. I first make sure I leave plenty of honey – then the brick goes directly over the top of the frames and over the center of the brood nest. Any residual moisture is absorbed, and the brick provides an umbrella over the brood…no dripping water on bees' heads!” According to Stan and those that have used them, feeding these soft bricks has had extremely reliable results as a nutritional supplement beyond winter. “You can feed soft sugar bricks year-round. Bees will take syrup faster. Therefore, if you want faster build-up and an artificial nectar flow, feed syrup. If you want contentment and slower build up, feed soft sugar bricks.” Additionally, an interesting (and very logical) use for soft sugar bricks is for feeding removal bees (bees from cutouts). “I don’t save any wet frames…promotes robbing and Small Hive Beetles. I go for a brood break on my removals. Instead of feeding honey (mucho robbing), I will place a small soft sugar brick inside the box for bees to nibble on and also feed light sugar syrup. I have found this to be the best for my purposes,” says Stan. As most beekeepers have come to understand, nutrition is key to healthy and thriving bees. It’s not just about throwing some syrup or pollen on a hive and saying “done”! So often we take feeding supplements at face value and avoid looking at logical antidotal methods such as Stan’s Soft Sugar Bricks™. Worth a try? I would say so!
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How to use it!
When is it Too Cold to Check My Hive?
Many beekeepers are very concerned about the cold when it comes time to check their hives in the winter months. However, following a few simple principles, it won’t hurt your hive at all! I always encourage beekeepers to check their hives at least 1 time per month during the winter. Here are some parameters around when to inspect: Inspections lasting less than 1-minute, breaking boxes apart and feeding or looking at the cluster, but not pulling out frames. Make sure the temperature is above 32 degrees Inspections lasting more than 1 minute, but you are only pulling out 1 or 2 frame in only a few minutes. Make sure it’s sunny and above 40 degrees. Inspections lasting several minutes, and you are pulling out several frames. Make sure it is sunny and above 50 degrees. I also recommend doing winter inspections during the heat of the day, at least a few hours before dark. This will allow the cluster to reform before it gets cold at night. It will also allow any bees that flew out of the hive during the inspection to return home. If you suspect your hive is starving, and the temperatures are under 32 degrees, lift up on the outside of the hive to get a feel for how much honey is inside. If it feels light, open the hive and feed. Not having food will absolutely kill a hive. Quickly opening the hive to feed, even if it is well below 32 degrees won’t significantly hurt them.
Join me as I inspect this December hive
The Benefits of Having More Than One Hive
... is a question we hear from new beekeepers quite often. The answer can be complex because several factors are involved: the personal preference of the beekeeper, budget, and the amount of space the beekeeper has. However, if we assume that none of those things are a hindrance, there are several reasons having multiple hives are a true benefit to the bees and the beekeeper. All hives are different and require different levels of interaction and intervention by the beekeeper. Having more than one hive exposes you to various situations with each hive increasing your experience exponentially – allowing you to employ different management strategies and learning with each as you add more hives to your apiary. Occasionally a colony loss will occur. With a single hive, you are faced with the dilemma of starting over or simply giving up. Whether from a Varroa mite infestation, being Queenless, extreme weather conditions or even vandalism from a varmint (or worse) – having multiple hives offers less risk of total loss, giving you the inspiration to continue on. Perhaps you see one hive that is very weak and probably wouldn’t make it through the winter. If you have multiple hives, you can combine it with another and then do a split in the spring to get back to two (or more) hives instead of just losing the one over the winter months. Sharing resources among hives is probably one of your greatest benefits. Hives will often build at varying paces and benefit from resources another hive can spare. Maybe your queen is failing causing the bee population to dwindle. When you requeen, take some brood out of a strong hive to boost their numbers. Or maybe one hive is gathering an abundance of resources while another is not – you can share frames of honey and pollen with the weaker hive giving it the opportunity to catch up when it otherwise would not. Multiple hives are a benefit to the beekeeper as it gives the opportunity to compare hives and see how bees do things differently hive to hive. It’s common for us to get calls in the spring and summer from new beekeepers who are worried their one hive is not healthy and thriving. With another hive to compare against, you can gauge how the other hive is doing and know if there is something with which to be concerned. As you can see, multiple hives offer the beekeeper many advantages. Some will look at the cost of purchasing a single hive and the supplies needed and worry about the expense of additional hives. However, some of the larger cost supplies – such as suit, smoker, hive tools, etc. are a one-time purchase that you do not have to make with additional hives. While it is a personal decision for each beekeeper, the benefits of having multiple hives far outweigh having just one single hive and could actually save you money in the long run.
"How Many Hives Should I Have?"
By: Paul Fagala Dayton Texas Bee Supply Manager
More Info
Come by and see us - We're happy to answer any questions you may have about bees or beekeeping! Texas Bee Supply - Dayton 351 CR 6243 Dayton, Texas 77535
Photo Credit: Ed Erwin
Nectar Robbing Ever thought about a honey bee’s tongue being too short to forage on certain flowers? She has a solution for that – Simply use your mandibles (jaws) to bite a hole in the base of the flower to get to the nectar! This opening can be used over and over again as the flower regenerates it’s nectar supply, allowing other bees and insects to take advantage of the tap!
Wondering what to do with all that extra wax besides waxing frames? Think making skin moisturizer is too complicated? Let me assure you that it’s NOT!
By: John Gross
Most of you probably have Langstroth hives and supers, so the cappings will be cleaner and not require as much preparation. My Warre wax looks a bit like chicken nuggets after crushing due to leftover larvae cocoons, pollen tracks, etc. There are also quite a few cells full of leftover pollen that fortunately make it into my honey when crushing, but it does mean more cleaning for me when making this moisturizer.
Although I have only a single Warre hive in our suburban backyard in Cypress (NW Houston), my crush and strain method does produce quite a bit of comb. And since I use foundationless top bars only, I have plenty of wax needing a new purpose in life. My wife and daughters convinced me to make some skin moisturizer since so many of their hair and skin products contain beeswax. My first experience making this was quite the disaster… so much so, that I ended up throwing it out. I will say, I’ve now reached near perfection and would like to share my do's and don’ts.
How to Make Skin Moisturizer
Step 2 Add equal parts of wax (hard), coconut oil (semi-hard) and avocado oil (liquid), creating the perfect moisturizer consistency. Too much wax and it’s hard and doesn’t spread. Too much oil and you’ve got hand lotion. I’ve experimented with this quite a bit and found the perfect ratio to optimize wax content and “spread-ability.” The good thing is you can let it harden in the pan, check consistency, and then adjust and remelt as needed. You could probably substitute Shea butter, olive oil or whatever you want. I’ve also learned to add some rosemary oil to mask the musky scent of coconut/honey/wax. It doesn’t smell bad, just weird. The rosemary will help. Use lavender, orange, or whichever essential oil you want. TIP: When I melted the mixture in a smaller but deeper pan, the wax still seemed to settle more on the top. So, I had a hard top and gooey bottom. I remelted in a broader pan so the ingredients wouldn’t separate…. about 1” deep of the mixture. I’m no scientist, but a deeper level of liquid may not keep it all in suspension.
The final product is about like Chap Stick. If you rub your fingers across it, you can quickly melt enough to rub under eyes, or on your hand. My wife scrapes off a bigger chunk with her nail for her knees, elbows, etc. She uses a LOT! Enjoy!
Step 3 Since presentation is everything, you’ll probably want to buy some 2-inch cosmetic tins. I got 24 tins for around $15 on Amazon. Great as gifts … or… to ration usage of limited inventory in my house with 3 women! My mistake the first time was trying to pour the liquid/hot wax into the tins. Better to let it harden a bit and then scoop into the tins. You can then heat the tins on a baking sheet in the oven on low to melt them into place for perfect, professional-looking tins.
Step 1 Let the bees clean the wax as much as possible, then rinse with water. This results in less gunk floating to the top when melting. I also add about a half cup of water to the pan, which helps collect micro pieces of gunk when the wax hardens on top. Otherwise, you’ll have a layer of nice comb with another layer of solid material you do NOT want stuck to the bottom. The water will prevent that and make a clean separation. Using a disposable aluminum pan for easier clean up, add the water to your cappings and heat in the oven at 200 for 2-3 hours. Once it’s completely melted, carefully pour it through a paint strainer ($5 at Lowe’s…. get the 5-gallon nylon one vs. paper…trust me!) into another clean aluminum pan. Pantyhose also works very well as a filter believe it or not. It will quickly harden on top, leaving the brown liquid at the bottom that you pour out. With very dirty wax, you may need to remelt and repeat the filtering.
Box Upkeep
You wouldn’t think doing hive maintenance is ideal when its freezing cold outside…but, in fact, it’s the perfect time! Let’s face it…hive equipment isn’t getting any cheaper. It’s value not only comes with purchasing quality woodenware, but also in how well we maintain it and how long we are able to keep it in service – that’s where the cost savings come from!
Make repairs Box repair – Use products like Durham’s Rock Hard Putty to repair rotting corners and top ledges. It’s easy to work with (just mix with water; spread like putty). It dries hard and holds up great! Repaint boxes – Using water based outdoor paint that dries quickly works best. A yearly fresh coat of paint will extend your box life by years. Don’t worry, your bees are tucked away inside and won’t mind. Hive stand repair – As we progress in our journey, we learn what works best for us and our bees. Take advantage of a lighter box and few bees flying to rebuild/reconfigure your hive stand and bee yard. Ground work – Putting down ground cover or gravel can do wonders for controlling Small Hive Beetle pupation…and cut down weed growth. Avoid mulch as it holds moisture and is counter-intuitive.
Quick and Easy ... Well Worth The Effort!
Bees in cluster. Open the hive only in emergency. Bees can not get far from the warmth of the cluster, so feed must be placed directly above it or beside if feeding back stored honey frames.
Complete hive inspections can be done, but use caution with brood comb to not leave it out too long.
Warm enough to do anything needing to be done - Hive inspection, splits, etc.
Hive Check Temperature Guide
Bees tightly clustered. Open the hive only in emergency, such as to feed or remove treatments. If feeding is necessary, use candy board or soft sugar bricks.
Bees will begin to fly at 55o in search of nectar and pollen. Quick hive checks can be made but use caution to avoid chilling the brood.
Bees are loosely clustered. Hive can be opened but use caution; only remove frames beside brood combs to look and not brood combs to avoid chilling the brood.
By: Lynne Jones
What's the Buzz?
Photo Credit: Melody Marie
Using Peppermint Candy For Controlling Small Hive Beetles?
Back in March, Casey Earl “Hillbilly” Dooley of YouTube’s Hillbilly Bee Keeping channel, issued a challenge to Kamen Reynolds and other beekeepers to take his peppermint candy challenge. Basically, Hillbilly’s method to deter Small Hive Beetles (SHB) is to break up peppermint candies and place the pieces in the corners of each level of the hive while continuing to use SHB traps. He replaces the candy bits regularly. Hillbilly challenged other beekeepers to follow his method exactly and to video the results. He claimed this method will either eliminate SHB completely, or reduce the number found in the hive to one or two. Stan Gore, of the Texas Friendly Beekeepers Facebook group, saw Hillbilly’s video challenge and asked for five volunteers from the group to participate in a Peppermint Experiment1 from April to July to test out Hillbilly’s method. Considering the battle some beekeepers have with SHB, it’s not surprising that the Peppermint Experiment post garnered a lot of interest and in the days, weeks, and months that followed there were at least 40 posts asking how to use, explaining how to use, or reporting on results. Putting peppermint to the test It doesn’t seem to be important whether you use hard or soft candies; whether the candies have red stripes, green stripes, or no stripes; whether you crush the candies or put them in whole; or whether you put the candy bits in a muslin bag or directly onto the frames. But what is very important, is to get candy made with real peppermint oil – not candy made with a “flavor.” It is also important to replenish the candy as often as needed. If the candy is gone for any length of time, the SHB will start returning. When choosing your peppermints, be sure to read the full list of ingredients - keeping in mind the order they are listed. Ingredients are listed in descending order, starting with the ingredient with the largest quantity and ending with the ingredient with the smallest quantity compared to the other ingredients. First verify it contains real peppermint oil – then the location it’s placed on the label. Example: One brand’s ingredients are sugar, peppermint oil, and two kinds of red dye. While another brand’s ingredients are corn syrup, sugar, titanium dioxide, peppermint oil, two red dyes, one blue dye and one yellow dye. Yet another brand uses natural peppermint oil, but it is the last ingredient, coming after the red dye. Comparing labels and given the choice, I’d buy the first one over the others. The results are in! On May 15th, Stan Gore posted: “CRUSHED PEPPERMINT Test results have been favorable. It is not the silver bullet....but for sure the SHB do not like crushed peppermint.” Now that it has been eight months since the experiment started, I recently followed up with Stan to find out what the results of his five volunteers have been thus far: “All participants reported seeing less or no small hive beetles. I think it could have been somewhat attributed to the peppermint introduction. Probably more testing is going to be needed to be conclusive. I did talk to Dr. Jamie Ellis, and he said they probably would be doing some testing in the lab.” I also posted a Poll asking for the opinion of the beekeepers who had used peppermint candies in their hives. Ninety three percent (93%) * believed they saw improvement – either no or fewer SHB when they had peppermint candies in their hives. Here are some of the comments made to me, either on the Poll or privately: Tana Smith Holmes: I only have 2 hives, but one was just infested! I had heard about using peppermint at the bee school in Brenham last year, so I decided to try it. I had some peppermint lifesavers on hand, so I threw those in and pulled out 3 slimmed frames and put them in the freezer. Next check - no changes after the Lifesavers. So, I took a suggestion from Stan Gore and put 5 red and white Brach’s Starlight mints in a banana. The next weekend I went to check and saw a SHB crawling on the lid. I thought, "Oh no, they've spilled over to the outside." I opened everything up and no beetles, not one! From stinky slime to all better in literally one week! It was amazing. Lynn Williams: I used crushed peppermint in small bags. Every inspection this year I only found 3 total SHB. [I have] 7 hives. SHB are a horrible problem here! 3 total all year was amazing.2 Wanda Jean: I used the peppermint this summer. I do think they did help with the hive beetles. Of course, I was using swifter pads and oil traps. This summer the hive beetles were horrible. Bruce Ford: I use peppermint starlite rounds in my honey bee yards. When I place “real” pollen patties on top of the frames, I press two peppermint candy rounds in the patty. I believe the peppermint deters hive beetles from laying eggs on the pollen patty. I also believe crushing and sprinkling the peppermint candy, including peppermint candy canes, deters hive beetles. I have not seen hive beetles this year! Ross Creek Honey Bees. (Ross Creek Honey Bees, Ellinger) Unfortunately for now, the way to deal with SHB continues to be using a combination of as many of the barriers, traps, and deterrents as the beekeeper can muster. Next month, Murder Sauce?! What will they think of next?!
Out of these two examples - notice the placement of "Peppermint Oil." Based on what we have learned - the example above contains more than the example to the left - rendering it a better choice.
1 Texas Friendly Beekeepers is a members only private Facebook page. Click here to Join Group 2 Lynn Williams is a beekeeper in South Carolina and the owner/inventor of the Mighty Mite thermal treatment for Varroa mites. * 93% as of 11/15/22 @ 11:59 pm
What’s your most effective anti-SHB method or results from using peppermint candies? Message me on Facebook or send me an email!
The Gift That Lasts All Year even if you gift it to yourself!
As with many topics in beekeeping, there is much room for debate on this one. There is no hard and fast rule as to when combs should be rotated or pulled all together. The problem is not that comb darkens or gets dark. The darker & heavier the frame becomes with wax and debris is simply an indicator of the age of the combs. Again, age isn’t necessarily a problem. The problem is that wax is very absorbent and tends to soak in chemicals we put in the hive to control varroa mites, as well as chemicals brought in on the bees from the environment outside. How many chemicals are brought in, or put in, and thus absorbed into the wax is hard to determine on a per hive basis. When you purchase new frames, it is a great idea to write the year on the top bars so that you know when they need to be replaced in future years. Frames that are used exclusively for supers tend to last longer, since they are not on the hives year round, and thus get less use. They also don’t typically have any, or as much brood being laid in them. As a result, you may never have to rotate and discard frames used in the honey supers exclusively. When it comes time to replace old brood frames, if they have honey in them, you can set the frames 20-30 feet from your hive and let the bees rob the honey out before discarding. If the frames have brood, move the frame so that it’s the very outside frame of brood. Now being on the outer edge of the box, wait until late winter/early spring, and that frame will often be empty and can be pulled out and discarded. Using this method of always moving older frames towards the outside of the box is a great way to rotate through combs. Final note- when you add in new frames, don’t put them in the very middle of the brood nest, since it’s never a good idea to separate frames of brood. You always want to keep frames of brood together. So, put the new replacement frames on the outside edge of the box, or on the outside edge of the brood frames.
Culling Dark and Old Comb
Watch Blake show you just how simple it is to cull frames. Once you get the hang of it, each year it can become part of your winter regimen.
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By: Kellie Jensen
Heating Honey - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
Honey is not only delicious but is packed full of wonderful nutrients, antioxidants, vitamins, probiotics, amino acids, minerals, and enzymes, all of which are beneficial to our health and well-being. It’s reported to contain over 200 beneficial substances in its composition and can vary depending on the flora the bees feed on. Honey is especially known for its antibacterial properties which make it an excellent medicinal product. Although research and studies vary on the benefits, its long history of use for healing dates to the ancient times of Egypt and has not lost momentum in our day. Honey is primarily made up of sugars: fructose and glucose. As a result, in time, honey will naturally granulate, because glucose is unstable and will crystallize. Therefore, the more glucose the honey has, the faster it will crystallize. Clover, lavender, and dandelion honey all contain high levels of glucose and therefore, crystallize quickly. Honey from tupelo, acacia and sage have a higher fructose content and will crystallize at a slower rate. Granulated honey isn't spoiled – quite the opposite. It’s a way of preserving itself and all its benefits. Honey that is sealed and granulated is by far the most shelf-stable food you can own, and preferred by some. It can be easily spooned out of a jar, spread on toast, or even whipped into a smooth creamy spread. However, we shop and eat with our eyes and granulated honey is less visually attractive. Reversing this process requires the honey to be heated. Therein lies a question: does heating honey to reverse or prevent crystalizing, affect its ingredients or its benefits? Yes and no. Let’s break down the good, the bad, and the ugly of heating honey.
The Good Let’s take a lesson from the hive. Bees strive to keep their colonies approximately 95° F. This temperature keeps their honey in a liquefied state for the most part. Therefore, it’s safe to say, honey that has crystallized can be maintained at or slowly warmed to this temperature. Honey should never be heated rapidly or over direct heat. The Bad It doesn’t take much of a rise in temperature for things to turn bad. Once honey begins to reach temperatures of 104°F the degrading process begins. At this temperature an important enzyme called invertase is destroyed. Honeybees produce their own invertase and add this to the nectar. This enzyme helps change sucrose into equal parts glucose and fructose. It’s what starts the process of turning nectar into honey. For us this enzyme is essential and helps our bodies digest complex sugars, including the very honey we are eating. There are other important ingredients that begin to degrade at this temperature and the higher the temperature rises the faster the degrading. The Ugly The ugly begins at around 122°F. At this temperature nutritional degrading speeds up. If held at this temperature for more than 48 hours the honey turns into caramel. Basically, the higher the temperature, the more rapid the degradation, and you're left with honey sugars that are now comparable to cane sugars. Pasterurized honey is raised to a temperature of 145°F. Pasteurization is a process intended to destroy organisms and enzymes that can cause spoilage or risk of disease. When honey is pasteurized, the result is a sweet sugar syrup with little nutritional value. If you’re cooking with honey, due to the prolonged exposure to high heat, whether stove top, oven or microwave, the honey will no longer have its nutritional value. Not only that, but it also loses its original flora flavor.
Bucket Heaters
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Safely warm honey to re-liquefy If it’s a small jar you’re trying to bring back to a liquid state, simply heat a pot of water to 95° F - 100° F, remove from the heat and set the jar inside the pot – giving it time and an occasional stir, the honey will liquefy. Some beekeepers store their honey in heated honey tanks while waiting to be bottled. This works very well, but over time can darken the honey just as a frame of honey darkens inside the hive. Smaller scale beekeepers storing honey in 5-gallon buckets, can use Bucket Heaters. These are handy warmers that wrap around the bucket to liquefy crystallized honey without risk of overheating. To prevent crystallization, keeping honey in the warmest location in your house or garage helps. As the weather cools the honey will most likely start crystallizing. To prevent this, some beekeepers use an old non-working freezer in which they’ve placed a 40-watt light bulb inside using an extension cord to maintain a low warmth. This has had a lot of success for buckets as well as bottles. Honey in bottles do tend to darken as mentioned above. For beekeepers maintaining honey at 95°F to prevent crystallization may optimize your market appeal, while not sacrificing the valuable nutrition and long-standing reputation of honey containing medicinal properties. Still others may find ways to market crystallized honey. Either way, there are serious advantages to avoiding pasteurizing or overheating your honey. Educating consumers may take time and effort but will result in benefits for them and the beekeeping community. Remember honey is delicious and nutritious, if we avoid the bad and the ugly of overheating our valuable resource. By Kellie Jensen
Local Urban Farm Pearland, TX
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Is that possible? It sure can be! If you’re Tom and Susan Caldwell, you are more than convinced! Having two queens isn’t as rare as you think. Odds are, most of us never know we have 2 queens because when looking for a queen – once found, we stop looking! For Tom and Susan, spotting the two within inches from each other made it undeniable! Colonies will raise a Supercedure cell in the instance an older queen’s pheromones (QMP) start to diminish, her egg laying becomes inadequate, or she becomes damaged in some way. We expect once the new “daughter Queen” emerges the two will either fight to the death or the colony will eliminate the older of the two. Sometimes that doesn’t happen right away. It is possible for it to take days, weeks, even months to happen. In the meantime, can two Queens lay at the same time in the same hive? They can! If both are capable to do so, more than likely the hive would “separate” them and take advantage of the double egg laying for a short time until the old Queen finally is killed. In the Caldwell’s scenario, it’s obvious by the picture these two Queens are very much working side by side but notice the size difference. Did the daughter queen fail to mate? Possibly! In their observations, it doesn’t appear that both Queens are laying so that may be the answer. Maybe… just maybe, they aren’t in any hurry to get rid of either if the competition isn’t actually “competition”. In conclusion, by spring we would expect the hive will have taken care of the double Queen situation. If not, it just proves – Bees don’t read the same books we do!!
Two Queens Hive
Photo Credit: Tom and Susan Caldwell
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CHUNKY APPLE CRANBERRY SAUCE
YIELD:Makes 4 cups INGREDIENTS 2 cups - fresh cranberries 2 - tart apples, peeled, if desired, cut in 1/4-inch slices 1 cup - chopped onion 1/3 cup - olive oil 1/3 cup - honey 4 tsp. - red wine vinegar 1/4 tsp. - ground ginger 1/4 tsp. - ground cinnamon Freshly ground black pepper DIRECTIONS In a medium saucepan stir all ingredients. Heat to a boil. Lower heat, cover and simmer 15 minutes; stirring occasionally. Cool and refrigerate
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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
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
Williamson Co Beekeepers Association 4th Tuesday of each month at the Georgetown library in Georgetown. Zoom attendance also available. Click Here for more info
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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
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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
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Houston Beekeepers Association 3rd Tuesday each month in person at Bayland Community Center, 6400 Bissonnet St Houston, TX 77074 HoustonBeekeepers.org
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