My Bees.

[MoCarp]

I used to help my father in law with his bees, kept them on top of the hill cold settles and can kill out a hive in a bad winter, had more issue with bee moths, 

been years, I miss the honey 🍯 we harvested

[jdmidwest]

I have been doing this since 2013.  I had went from a single hive to a peak of 19 in a few years.  Then the small hive beetle attack of 2016 wiped me out to 3 hives in a few months.  The following spring, I had planned to start building numbers again.  I had to put that off a year because of the second round of cancer and radiation that followed.  The last year has been the best I have so far, wintering 9 out of 10 hives, only losing one.  Beekeeping has become a game of how many can you keep going with all of the pest they have that bother them.  Varroa mites, small hive beetles, wax moths, and pesticide losses are all new things that plague honey bees.   I have been experimenting with new methods and think I have the pests under control so far. 

[jdmidwest]

Hot humid day here.  Lots of bees hanging outside.

These hot, humid days move them out of the hive so they can regulate the temp better inside.  Stormy out too, so the forage bees are back at hive too.

I have been building new hives and boxes, putting together frames, and getting ready to harvest honey.  I hope the weather holds up and the humidity goes down with this front.  It will make that job easier.

 

[Flysmallie]

16 hours ago, jdmidwest said:

getting ready to harvest honey.  

I would love to be there with some fresh biscuits.

Good stuff JD. Love hearing about your bees.

[fishinwrench]

Cool stuff!

I recently purchased 2 additional acres adjacent to my property that was overgrown and rough. After clearing it down to bare earth I see all kinds of holes that I assume are yellow jacket or some kind of bee nests in the ground, but nobody is home at any of them.  Where do they all go, and why so many holes in such a confined area?

[MoCarp]

10 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

 I see all kinds of holes that I assume are yellow jacket or some kind of bee nests in the ground, but nobody is home at any of them.  Where do they all go, and why so many holes in such a confined area?

 

[jdmidwest]

10 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

Cool stuff!

I recently purchased 2 additional acres adjacent to my property that was overgrown and rough. After clearing it down to bare earth I see all kinds of holes that I assume are yellow jacket or some kind of bee nests in the ground, but nobody is home at any of them.  Where do they all go, and why so many holes in such a confined area?

Mouse Holes or Moles.  Maybe yellow jackets.

My favorite thought when someone sees a hole in the ground, snake hole.  Snakes will use holes made by others but not many dig.  Rodents have diggers.

[jdmidwest]

Busy day today.  Worked the bees at the farm in the 90 degree heat. 

Spent last Sunday doing Chores and wasted most of the day on the farm doing other stuff.  Started working on the 3 hives and was trying to straighten one up that was leaning and it came back on me.  I was able to catch it with my knee and forearm.  Fully loaded with bees and 2 full honey supers, it out weighs me about 60 lbs.  I was able to work it back on the rack and proceeded to work the hives.  Jolting a hive like that unleashes a cloud of angry bees and I was fighting thru the mess.  I looked at my arm and noticed my suit was turning red on my arm.  The hive had tore a nice jagged 3 corner tear on my forearm.  I was done, bailed out and patched myself up.  The radiation and extreme weight loss resulted in my skin ageing prematurely.  It is thin as paper and gets tore easy.  And it oozes blood profusely.

Today worked out fine.  Bushogged off in front of hives.  Made another rack for more hives.  Pulled about 7 gallons of honey supers.  Split 2 hives to make new ones bringing my hive count to 16.  Sweated thru 2 layers of clothing and almost suffered a heat stroke.  Sprayed roundup around the hives to keep grass down.   Then jumped in the creek and cooled off.  Good day, no stings thru the suit.

Tomorrow is planned for the other hives.  I should make 4 splits easy off the ones I split in May and round out the year with 20.  And have more honey off the 6 producer hives here.

I will have the rainy days predicted from the hurricane coming ashore to spin out the frames and extract.  Busy week this week.

 

[jdmidwest]

White is the color of the year this year.  Picked up a gallon of latex barn paint in white for a change, thinking it would cover better.  Turns out to be a 3 coat paint, don't know how it will hold up. My hives  are turning out to be a mix and match of colors from the mis tint stuff I pick up on clearance.  Cedar and the clear coat stain seems to hold up the best.  I wish I still could get the cedar, it was a bargain.  I have 8 boards left and will probably use them to make some more.  Pine does not hold up as well.

Made some new hive covers this week.  5 new nuc hives to start new one.  I have to make some bottom board and new deep hives when I get a chance in the coming weeks.  I have another round of equipment on order. 

 

[JestersHK]

On 7/13/2019 at 8:32 PM, jdmidwest said:

White is the color of the year this year.  Picked up a gallon of latex barn paint in white for a change, thinking it would cover better.  Turns out to be a 3 coat paint, don't know how it will hold up. My hives  are turning out to be a mix and match of colors from the mis tint stuff I pick up on clearance.  Cedar and the clear coat stain seems to hold up the best.  I wish I still could get the cedar, it was a bargain.  I have 8 boards left and will probably use them to make some more.  Pine does not hold up as well.

Made some new hive covers this week.  5 new nuc hives to start new one.  I have to make some bottom board and new deep hives when I get a chance in the coming weeks.  I have another round of equipment on order. 

 

A question if you dont mind me asking as a total dummy to bee keeping like myself how much honey do you think you'll collect this year?  Very impressive operation you got going on there!  Enjoy the bee keeping threads allot so thanks for sharing.