Helping a Friend is Fun

Hive Report 3/10/13

Our web page creator is a beekeeper.  He is a naturalist and very smart.  He also civil war re-enactment actor.  He gives himself to God, his family, his church, his work and the York bee club. So last year MamaBeehive bartered with him for some web design service for beehive service.  So I gladly stepped up to help him.  He needed help with splitting a hive.

March 9....We are mentoring another new beekeeper so she was asked to attend.  So it is planned for split to begin.  Welp, I decided to film and take pics, so i did not wear gloves.  Got about 4 or 5 stings.  That is ok, i just wanted to stay free so i could capture the action.

It ended up we made a split in to a 5 frame nuc.  we moved on to a hive that was queenless that turned out the queen was still in there.  We caged her made another split and put her in the hive.  The bees should be letting her out right about now(sunday).  It took longer than expected but it was a lot of fun.  I kept those two running with a lot of directions.  They learned what to do to make a split. yeah!

So then we were off to Lake Wylie Apiary.  I was glad to see capped brood and lots of evidence of queens in all the hives.  Mindy spotted the queens too.  We gave them sugar syrup with honeybee healthy.

March 10....I checked the hives at the tree farm, it was dead.  I think that possibly the queen died when it could not get thru the queen excluder.  I had not checked this hive since October.  Forgot that the excluder was there.  But there was some dead bees on the bottom that had not been dead long.  no honey in the box. Talked to Tom and he said he may take the class and get more bees from Jesse the bee man.

I check the hive at Uncle Ron's.  it probably has 2# of bees (maybe less).  some honey.  added sugar syrup with honeybeehealthy.

I checked Tim's hive.  The first hive was low on bees.  Saw eggs, no queen visible.  The other hive was busy and full.

tim's

I checked Biggers.  Lost two hives...sorry.  Samples collected and will be sent immediately.  Talked to landowner about the other property up the road.  Scoped out another site for bees.

Biggers

alternate bee yard with biggers

alternate site at biggers

alternate bee yard

I checked Blacks.  Lost one hive...sorry.  It was very light a few weeks ago and was working with it to help build up.  Something suspect going on.  Thousands of bees on the bottom board  Talked to Arthur and said there was nothing sprayed.  He is going to move the hive stand over to new apiary site (behind his house).  We had a very good long talk.

blacks

dead out at blacks thousands of bees

dead bees on ground around the hive

dead out at blacks on bottom board

I counted the colonies that we have to date....At the end of fall 2012 we had 40 hives (you are not going to like it) we have 14.  we have re-distributed 5 to Jay and lost 21 hives.

 
Overall we would do not have any that i would split at this time.  The winter build up is going but just good enough with remaining hives.  I am a bit overwhelmed not sure what to think and trying not to think about it to be honest.

Need to Catch a Break and Make Good Decisions

Hive Report for Wednesday Feb.13th

Last Friday I woke up late, should have been up at 7am.  My plan was to be ready by 8am to go to Black's and feed the bees.  It would take about 45 min including travel time.  I get up at 8am, throw my clothes on, brush my teeth, prepare the sugar syrup and stuck the cell phone in my back pocket of my jeans.  I also run for a courier company and I was supposed to be first out that day.  So i was going to be quick so i didn't get caught in the opposite direction of Charlotte.  I get to Black's and get the syrup on and hear the phone 'ding'.  huh oh!  It was my dispatch trying to contact me.  He had been trying for the past 30 min-Yikes!  Not good.  I was listening but the phone did not ring or i didn't hear it.  There is no excuses in courier world-just be there get it done.  My husband also had been trying to reach me, he had gotten panicked "Where were you...blah blah"  My dispatch had a lot more to say but i had to take the lickin'.  My phone had actually rang but i did not hear it while it was in my back pocket.  

Actual hive report:  The bees at Black's were looking good.  It was cold so i couldn't really inspect,  but saw them.
In a couple of weeks we will be moving these hives across the street.  I am hoping this move will enable these bees to produce lots of honey.

Extra report on tree cutting.

When I got home (cause i didn't get the run) my nephew Craig came to cut down trees.  We wanted to have more sunlight in the back yard for the garden.  it was quite spectacular to see how they cut the trees down.  He is an arborist and knows what he is doing.  Here is a video and a picture of a bloom.  

The honeybees were all over it.

In hind sight I should have changed my plan to feed bees on Saturday   I let a friend who is my boss down.  Will definitely do better next time.  

Cynthia Robinson, The Beekeeper On Duty
www.MamaBeehive.com 
Follow us on Facebook and Twitter @BeekeeperOnDuty

On A Sunday After Lunch

Hive Report Sunday 2-3-13
My days are always planned.  I usually have an idea what I am going to be doing with my hives, with the courier work, with my cleaning clients, my media jobs/projects.  Here is the disclaimer: if I don't feel good or schedules conflict or weather is bad you know those things that interfere.  I find that if I miss a day I just keep plugging away till it all gets done.

On Sunday I always have this grand plan to do something to get me closer to my goals especially beekeeping.  But here is the thing, Sunday church then lunch, makes me sleepy.   plus while I was writing this I had to extract a splinter from a certain 2yo.
So here is what I got done before I nap and after I took the splinter out.  Went to visit lake wylie apiary.  All looked good there.  Forgot to pick them up for weight but when I knocked on them they buzzed and some were flying. 

By the time I got to Black's it was a little cooler so only two hives flying.  However I checked all the bee hives and they  were occupied.  The one on the left was really light and had 3 cockroaches on top cover...yuk.  I will need to feed immediately.  The ones beside it were a little heavier.

Some of the Money from springs needs to be used for sugar for the year.

Sharing Your Space Your Resources

http://www.urbanbees.co.uk/maps/

This website is for people that have bee hives and don't have land to put them on OR people who have land and don't have bee hives.  It is mostly used in Europe but anyone can share any where in  the world.  Check it out.

What We Do Outside The Apiary

Hive Report for Jan 21
This past Saturday was awesome! Sadly and  I attended a Rock Hill Farmer's Event where Chef's from all over came to meet growers and farmers. 

In the beginning the event was open to the public.  We  met so many fun people that wanted our honey for purchase.  Here is the deal...Sally is a pro at these events. She does farmer markets in Rock Hill all the time in the spring and summer.  She is creative but also very regimented.  She knows her product very well (honeybees, beeswax candles and products and honey) I know honey mostly bees and honey.  So I am always trying bring to the table that element of surprise.  I suggested that we give out samples of biscuits and honey.  She loved the idea so we plan for it.

Was biscuits and honey a good idea?  We were so busy cooking biscuits and serving them with honey that it was all I could do to keep up.  I brought my honeybee costume and never had a chance to put it on till the chef's came in.  We basically ran out of honey.  Terrific right?!

I Had a blast with my honey bee costume on talking to chef's and food service people about honey.  Got some greats tips on cooking with honey.   Salad dressings, BBQ sauces, breads, on fruit ...all so good to try.  One chef gave me a great tag line "honey with all it's yuumm"

We are not done ...we had an engagement at Earthfare in Rock Hill.  It was so awesome too!  We got set up and hit the ground running.  We were making candles with young children and adults.  It was supposed to be for children and grown people came up and begged us to let them make a candle.  It was so much fun.

Overall we made a lot friends that we will never forget and i hope they never forget MamaBeehive.  Try these recipes!

We work hard at the things we can do so that we bring the best product for you and your family.

Feeding, Loosing, Finding, and Moving

Hive Report for the week of January
I love visiting my honeybees.  It sometimes takes a few days cuz I have other jobs that I work.  Monday I was scheduled to visit a few bee yards.  My dispatcher had other plans.  My dispatcher is married to the owner of mamabeehive-Sally.  I love it when they fight over me-not really fight.  In my new years resolution the bees were going to come first but Monday they came after I finished my deliveries.

So much has happened i have to start at the beginning if possible:

I visited Foy's yard on Saturday, 5th.  Nice day.  I had some honey frames from some hives that were dead outs.  And also we had made fondant frames from a couple of weeks ago that we wanted to go in some of the weaker hives.  I happy but small hives at Foy's and got a surprise.  Found three empty hives and our survivor hive was empty.  The 3 had built up nicely and were from mated queens and honeybees and brood frames i put together in September.  Anyway one of the hives had three mice in it alive and running around.  I closed it up and put it on the back of the truck.(see next hive for what I did with them)  the next had evidence of mice but just a few dead bees and evidence of robbing.  The third hive was just empty and no bees and some honey in it.  The fourth hive the survivor hive, was no bees and honey left in it.  So out of five one was left.  Would like to know where our bees got off to.

a mice nest-yukky

Foy's -- from 5 hives down to 1  that remaining hive got all the left over honey frames.  Update Tuesday, 8th I moved it to Biggers 

On Saturday I also went to Biggers(turkey farm): All those hives were good except for one.  I already knew two were dead.  So we lost one of the hives that we call survivor stock.  It was the second one from the left.  That hive had always been strong.  It had a small amount of dead bees not much honey and bees dead in cells.  The other two hives came from my house which had been at Springs.  All Strong hives.  

Biggers-from the left #2, #6, #7 are gone.

Biggers --from 8 to 5  earlier in november lost two from there.  the remaining hives were fed honey frames and fondant frames.  Tuesday put foy's hive in there

On Saturday i went to Tim's yard.  It got fed honey frames and fondant frames.  Looked good with good numbers.
Tim's yard -- two hives good condition good stores, no brood

Black's - from the left #2 gone

On Saturday I went to Black's yard.  Lost one there and had evidence of a mice living in one.  I cleaned that one up and moved it over just a bit.  They got fed too.  Talked to Arthur and he wants us to move them by March.  Will confirm the move before hand and he will put down a tarp.
Black's -- 5 hives down to 4, good stores

On Saturday I visited Uncle Ron's yard.  Looks good
Ron's -- one hive good stores and decent amount of bees.

On Monday I visited Lake Wylie Apiary.  Travis filmed it will be posted soon.  I fed these hives and they looked good.  
LWA -- 8 hives all good

On Tuesday, 8th.  I picked up empty supers from Foy's, and moved that one hive to Biggers.  Went to Springs and fed them all honey frames and fondant frames.  They all looked good and lots of bees.
Springs -- 4 hives, good stores

How To Become A Better Beekeeper

 You ask any beekeeper that has been keeping honeybees for a while and they will tell you "You never learn it all"  So if you can't learn everything, you observe, you make adjustments and keep trying.  So i said in an earlier blog I would outline what i need to do to become a better beekeeper.  So here it is:

keep the grass under control to keep out unwanted pest (spiders too)

1) Let the bees tell you what they need.  Lady Spirit Moon of the Honeybee Research Center in Asheville, NC applies this theory.  You listen to their buzz, go slow and they will carry on with their work while you do yours.

2) Listen to what other beekeepers are saying.  I share hives with Sally so I have to listen to what she says cuz making a mistake will let her down.  Making a mistake means less honey.  

3) Plan your work and work your plan.  We have over 40 hives in 7 bee yards so you have to be organized. 

4)When it is time to do critical events such as feeding, splitting, cleaning, testing for disease, pest control ...Just get it done.  Miss steps can cause you to loose a hive.

5) Stay informed with current research and be involved with local bee club.  They can help guide you to what may be happening in your neck of the woods.  Blooming dates, major pest infestations, etc.


6) Keep your bee yards clean.  Keep your hives clean, clean propolis from frames, clean hive bottoms, replace dark wax, don't use ratty looking wax (your bees deserve better) Recycle wax, propolis and pollen frames.  At MamaBeehive we will buy clean rendered wax, call for pricing 704-214-6900.

take pictures of your bees and examine them for disease

These are just the highlights.  I will keep you informed of some until then remember Beekeeping is Fun!

January Newsletter

Lake Wylie Apiary

Killing Bees: Are Government and Industry Responsible?

The Following article and excellent video is a video that help explain the status of honeybees.  It explains what are the dangers in the environment and what the USDA knows.  I recommend this video, it is important to know what is going on.

Killing Bees: Are Government and Industry Responsible?

(Earth Focus: Episode 44) Honey bees, the essential pollinators of many major US crops, have been dying off in massive numbers since 2006. This threatens the American agricultural system and the one in twelve American jobs that depends on it. There is growing evidence that a new class of pesticides -- nerve toxins called neonicotinoids, which are used on most US crops including almost all corn -- may be toxic to bees. The Environmental Protection Agency allowed neonicotinoids on the market without adequate tests to determine their toxicity to bees. Environmentalists want neonicotinoids banned until needed safety tests are done. While the US government is slow to act and neonicotinoid sales reap billions for the chemical industry, bees continue to die. Earth Focus reports.
Killing Bees: Are Government and Industry Responsible?

New Year's Beekeeper Resolution

I talk with Sally all the time "i want to be a better beekeeper", "i want stronger colonies that produce lot's of honey", "i want my beekeeping processes  to be better" I actually go on and on. We strategize and organize. We discuss different methods. We always get side tracked with other projects, like web page building, marketing, building things, helping others, and just developing the business-Mamabehive Honey Farm. 
Then there is our personal lives and our health that come in to play.  'Family first' they always say.  At the same time there is a life of a hive that hangs in the balance. 
For beekeeping you are only the manager of the colony but a lost rides on the future of your colony.  You have time and money invested you don't want it to fail.  So about every10 days I have a time clock that foy's off in my brain and it does not stop alarming until I get to all my hives....It can get a little noisy in my head.  I can be talking to you but I am really going over what I would either be doing or the lost of things that need to be done.
So my new year's resolution goes like this:
Take care of my husband and my relationship with God.
Take care of my family's needs as reasonable as possible. 
Outside of my household-Take care of my bees before I agree to do anything else. That is a hard one-I have two other part time jobs that keep me busy.
Tomorrow I will outline what I mean by taking care of my bees.
Learn more advanced techniques about bees.
Share with young people about bees.
Teach anyone about beekeeping.
Build the Mamabehive brand.
These are not in order but will shake out in the right order.  I invite you to come along with me and Sally on this journey.  This year with these resolutions it's going to be a wild flight-in honor of the honeybees.
Beekeeping ss fun

Bees in my shirt

Hive Report for Thursday...Dec. 27
As a beekeeper sometimes, every once in a while honey bees while working them will get inside your shirt.  I had been in a hive and felt one crawling on my belly inside my shirt. I reached inside and got her out.  Found out there was more.  I went to the grocery store afterwards, I was standing in line and a honeybee flew off of my jacket and info the store.

Lake Wylie hives were stable and strong in numbers.  One was really down in the amount of stores or honey available inside the hive.  So I placed one honey frame and a fondant frame.  There was only one that did not need anything.  I was pleasantly surprised to find them coming out shaking their fist at me stinging me on the leg.  I had black pants on.  Also visited uncle ron's..it looked good too.

Below is a picture of the strongest and lots of honey stores.  The other is a picture of all the hives. 

Christmas Day Hive report

Hive report for the past 10 days.  Went to springs farm to insert fondant frames and forgot my hive tool.  No beekeeping without hive tool.  Just observing front porch activity they were flying out and kind up and all around kinda like dancing. Cleansing flight and stretching their wings.  I hope that some were triangulating.  This is the hive that Had a high mite count.  The other hives at the vegetable patch was doing well too ...flying out and dancing around.  One hive was low on stores.

Haven't visited to any other hives lately but hope to change that on Tuesday.  I must get these fondant frames put in hives with more stores. Can't wait to see all the hives.

Since I was unable to place fondant frames in hives just yet, they are sitting on my back porch.  My back for neighbor has bees and they found the frames.  They are very happy to for the Christmas treat. 

Things to do:
Taking two empty hives at Bigger's
Checking black's hives & placing fondant frames
Checking in on Foy's, LWA, placing fondant frames
Checking on Tim's and placing fondant frames
For beginner beekeepers fondant is a cooked candy that can help sustain a hive for many days.  I am placing them in a deep brood box or brood chamber replacing an empty frame with the fondant frame. In these chillyer temps you have to be quick opening the hive or you can gl the  winter brood.  That will result in death of the pupae and they will be discarded.

Remember always shop www.mamabehive.com for all your honey, beeswax products and candle needs.

A Sting for Everyone

Hive Report for Monday 17th

I was storing some honey frames where a fat honey bee on the frame was barely moving.  I don't like a honey bee they give us so much value to our lives.  So I called out to my husband that his elbow was going to be stung for pain relief for a tennis elbow.  He said "NO" and I said "YES"  I explained that it would not hurt for more than 2 minutes.  So I applied ice cubes on the area and then placed the honeybee directly on his elbow.  The honeybee stung him and he yelped.  He said it hurt bad and winced in pain and even leaped off his chair.  I gave him sympathy and sure enough after 2 minutes he calmed down.  He felt it was helping just hours afterwards.  I actually found a second honey bee and allowed him to sting my lower back.  I have been diagnosed with arthritis.  So an occasional sting helps to feel better.  

I will keep you posted ...I know it will work.

A Moment in the Life of a HoneyBee

Hive Report for Thursday 13th

I only had a few minutes to visit one apiary site.  I was excited and hoped that all the colonies were strong and ready for what i had for them...fondant frames and honey frames.  I got there and began working and the first hive was aggravated and i didnt have gloves on and no smoker.  So i got few stings but was able to put in a fondant frame and a honey frame.  I found two hives that were empty.  no stores, no brood, no bees-just nothing.  The last time i saw bees in there was three weeks ago.  It had two honey supers on it.  I will have to  do take it apart soon to see what possibly happened to it.  Originally was used for pollination this spring at Springs Farm.  Time ran short and was unable to do any more work.

During these colder temps bees are clustering and not interested in sugar syrup so fondant could save a colony or honey is what they prefer.  This is a critical time as well as January and February.  While bees are in the cluster they are over top of a section of honey frame and they use an incredible amount of energy so they are consuming lots of honey.  There could be 10-20 thousand bees and that is a lot of honey needed to keep bees alive.  Only one bee is not eating the honey and that is the Queen she is only fed Royal Jelly her entire life.  So if they are consuming lots of honey they could easily go thru a frame of honey with in days and run out before they could produce more.  If they don't have food they can starve....Yikes!

Sally and I worked all day on making fondant frames to add to hives that need food supplement.  One of our good beekeeper friends lost her hives and had some leftover honey frames.  She wanted us to have them so instead of it going to waste.

During my trip i got 10 stings.  I was bending over and took one in the but cheek.  i really hate that.

Wednesday Hive Report

Today's plans started yesterday and changed overnight with the news of  40deg and rainy.  I planned to visit bee yards wed and thur. Then I realized that Sally and I forgot to make fondant frames on Tuesday.
New game plan...go to the studio in the morning and make fondant and maybe I get to visit bees.  Making Fondant is like walking thru the woods in the pitch black woods with moon. It is a pretty hard thing to do with out messing up. We had to boil the syrup three times before we got it cooked up.
After making the fondant frames we decided it was too cold and rainy to open hives and expose them to damp weather.  So tomorrow is going to be the day and some on Friday.
We were productive Sally Kae lip butter and packaged them while I worked online.  All the while we made fondant.  For those of you that want to buy fondant at the cake suppliers- don't it is made with corn syrup.  No good for the bees!

Hive Report in the office

Today was a work day inside the Studio.  We worked on the complex subjects for website, wholesale, and retail sales.  

We also discussed the possibility of having a Summer beekeeping Camp for kids ages 13 and up.  We would have a 7 hour day with a break for lunch and snack.  Have to research cost and how to vet potential students.  Kind of excited about teaching students how to beekeep so that they will forever be beekeepers.

Could Amazon.com be our next great adventure for exposure?  It's not free but it is the largest online retail in the world.  there is nothing like what MamaBeehive is doing.  I believe it where we should go but it cost.

Worked on Pinterest.  It is cool and can see how we can reach out to others with our products.  And learn what others are doing with honey and beeswax.  The possibilities are endless.
i worked on the web while Sally worked on filling orders like pouring honey, pouring wax and shipping.  It was good productive day in the office.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, we will make fondant for the bees.  We have some hives that were low in stores, so they need to be monitored.  Will be out in the field on Wednesday and Thursday.

1st Hive Report

This blog will help Sally, who works from the candle studio and honey house, know what is going on inside the hive when I report from the field.  Sally has many many hours of study on honeybees.  As this business grows and our hives grow in numbers it is important for both of us to be on the same page.  The way to do this is when i am in the field, I blog this and Sally will be able to give direction if I missed anything.  I can put up pictures and videos that will allow her to see what I see.

Our history working together goes back to 2005.  We met at church.  Prior to that I had been praying for a beekeeping mentor for 20 years.  When Sally said she was a beekeeper I told her "you are going to be my new best friend"  We became friends and began beekeeping together.  She started her business MamaBeehive Honey Farm in 2005 where is bottled honey, makes beeswax candles and other hive products.  I became serious about in 2010, where I felt God calling me to become a full-time beekeeper.  We realized that there was things Sally needed help with and there things I needed only Sally could help me with, so we merged our efforts together.

You the viewer is invited to on this journey with us.....