Blooms, Berries and Bees!

When the thermometer reads 26 degrees Fahrenheit and snow blankets your hive tops it's time to look back on the summer season with fondness and appreciate the bounty we enjoyed. If you took time to can or freeze some of summer's bounty then you are still savoring summer! Thank you bees!!! This is a time to think of what you will plant in your garden next year, what plants will be attractive to honey bees and native bees alike? Both give us so much. Return the kindness and  plant a little something for them next year.  There are a plethora of plants to choose from. Here are just a few to inspire you.

Ever bearing Raspberries! This was such a fun day in August. We went raspberry picking in Fennville, MI and the raspberries were in so many stages of growth, from bloom to full, ripe ready to pick fruit. There was an incredible amount of honey bees hovering over the plants, darting here and there.  A definite BUZZ was in the air!  I was elated but most people that started picking stopped because they were afraid of the bees.  Their loss. More berries for me! I inquired to the owner about the honey bees and found out a commercial beekeeper kept over 200 colonies on this orchard property.

Honey bee on raspberry bloom. August 2018 Fennville, MI

Fresh blueberry pie made from berries that my honey bee colonies assisted in pollinating!

It was special for me to pick blueberries at my favorite little patch in Dorr, MI this year because I overwintered colonies on this property last winter and they were alive in the spring to pollinate!  Here are the results!

Blueberries that my honey bee colonies assisted in pollinating :-) this past spring. May 2018

Honey bee gathering pollen and I believe nectar also from my overgrown radish plants in the garden. August, 2018

Honeybee gathering nectar from one of my herbs, this is either oregano or thyme. August 2018

Even a simple gathering of herbs, mints, etc.. can be a blessing to bees in a dearth.

My Sunflower and Zinnias are visited by a wide variety of pollinators, from bees, to butterflies and moths, to hummingbirds and more! August 2018, Dorr, MI

My dad picking cherries, again, pollinated by bees. Caledonia, MI

Cherry pie coming right up! Thanks pollinators for the sweet treats!!

Michigan November Woes

The woe of November is that it is here already! The second woe of November is that is has already snowed more than once!! The third woe is the sad truth that I won't be able to pull frames of bees, wonder at the elegance and beauty of a queen bee or marvel at the numerous actions and interactions happening all at once on a single frame of bees as I glance at it with the warm sun at my back shining down onto the frame......until spring 2019.
This marks the end of my fifth season of beekeeping, still a newbeee, but making new strides each season. This year I focused hard on mite counts and managing mites. I love keeping bees, but I despise keeping mites. There is no joy in doing mite counts, it can be time consuming. There is no joy in applying treatments. BUT, if you don't do either, you will not have the joy of keeping bees!

I switched over to the alcohol wash for mite counts instead of powdered sugar. I find the alcohol is much more accurate. Yes, it kills the bees. But if I'm going to take the time to do it, I want it as accurate as possible. I recently read an article in ABJ about using a white bucket lid for counting the mites in the wash. I am "excited" to try that next season. The article was written by Zac Lamas in the October 2018 American Bee Journal, titled" Bucket Lids & Mites, A Stark Reality in White & Red."

I also started doing mite counts earlier this season, starting in July, rather than the end of August. If counts were high, I treated. If not I let them be and rechecked each month. I start making splits and rearing queens as soon as the weather cooperates which is usually May. I split again in July. Because my bees get that brood break early in the spring, I haven't checked mites counts that early. However, this  coming spring 2019, I'd like to get a count on each colony when I pull the old overwintered queens. Queens coming from colonies with low counts in spring will be used as breeder queens for grafting.

Treatments. Brood breaks, oxalic dribble and oxalic vapor have been my treatments of choice. I did purchase the  Oxavap Provap 110 this year to speed up the process and have been happy with that. Please follow all safety precautions recommended when using the oxavap. It can cause severe injuries if used improperly.

Need electricity for the Oxavap Provap. This little generator from Harbor Freight worked well.

 

 

I drilled a small hole in the back of the bottom board to insert the provap into. I close it up with a golf  tee 

when I'm finished.

I stuff foam in the bottom entrances and tape top entrances before I start.

Golf tee inserted after finished. The bees will most likely propolize it anyways if I don't put the tee in.

USE RECOMMENDED SAFETY EQUIPMENT. I USE SAFETY GLASSES TOO!

The oxalic "condensed or sublimated"( not sure on correct term) on this bee on the foam at entrance when took out foam.

Me with almost all my bees, spread out to 7 yards now. If we get through winter, I'm looking forward to selling local MI nucs again this coming season.