I’m working on redoing the entire website using the wordpress engine. I’ve simply outgrown the old software and wordpress has evolved significantly over the past several years. I don’t really care for the current look and will hopefully be changing it over the coming weeks. Any feedback (good or bad) is welcome.
Posts in category Journal
Long Break
It’s been entirely too long since I’ve had a change to post any updates here. Beekeeping and life in general was just too much to do and have time to update the website. My wife complains that I can never say no… and I suppose it’s true to a point. I’m now also secretary of the Ohio State Beekeepers Association. Not that I really needed more to do.
The past 3 days have been unseasonably warm with temperatures around 50 degrees. The bees have been flying heavily and only one inactive hive was seen at the house. It’s still much to early to tell how well the bees faired over the winter, we still should have a good 2 months of cold weather. Time will tell.
Cold April
This has had to be the most consistently cold April that I can recall in the past many years. The next 4 days aren’t looking much better either though it’s actually on the warm side compared to the past few days with highs that only were in the mid 40s.
Typically we would have nearly half our mating nucs out in the field and would be on our 3rd grafting cycle. But we are only on our first cycle and if it stays too cold or wet this weekend it may be a complete bust. Interestingly this was the first time I’ve every had customers call and ask if we could delay package bees because of the cold weather.
I just hope this cycle breaks soon…
New Products for a New Year
Belated Happy New Year!
It's been a cold winter so far this year and it looks like the cold weather will be around for awhile. The 10 day forecast doesn't show anything above freezing. There isn't much one can do with the bees besides repairing old equipment and preparing new for the upcoming year. And of course worry how the bees are doing in this weather. In some respects this is the hardest part of the year with little you can do but worry and prepare for the best. It won't be long though until things warm up a bit and we can get out to do weight checks and do some emergency feeding though..
One of my goals for this year is to be a bit more organized and keep this website more up to date. Bees, the day job, business, the untimely passing of my father and life in general were more than overwhelming last year and things like updating the website and adding the new products we now carry were pushed to the back.
So, on that note we're happy to introduce new products to our online store by request, 8 frame equipment and assembled beehive kits among other new products. We also welcome Mike and Marc as new part time employees to help us keep up with our orders in the wood shop.
Also as a side note, UPS shipping calculations appear to be fixed now and shouldn't be grossly over estimating the shipping cost, especially on larger orders. While we always corrected the shipping after an order was placed, it was sometimes shockingly high. UPS rates have gone up again this year by more than 4.9%, but if you get a shipping estimate that does seem too high I'd be happy to check into it.
Looking for Package Bees?
We just received our 3rd shipment of package bees from Gardner's Apiaries. Like the past 3 shipments they have been on time and look to be in great shape. We hived one ourselves from the first shipment and it is building up strong. I've heard a lot of people still looking for packages or that have had their packages delayed and delayed again so I've been very pleased our have been on time.
The good new for those still looking is that as of this time Tony has 300 or so packages available for the May 6th pickup date and they can be picked up in Cincinnati, Columbus, Tipp City or here at my location near Lima. But act fast, he needs to receive the order by April 29th. Details and the order form are on his website at olddrone.com
Time to Graft…The Season has Begun
With the unseasonably warm weather in the 70's the bees are building up quickly and flowers are well ahead of schedule. Based on pictures from last year (Specifically the picture from the blog post Buzzing Trees with it's picture of a pear tree taken last year) the blooms are about 2 weeks 3 days ahead of last year. This all means it's time to begin grafting, just in time to be perfectly on schedule for this years queens (the first graft was actually this past Sunday).
I've talked to a number of beekeepers over the past weeks and the results of the winter are quite mixed. Some did quite well and have mostly strong hives and few losses. Others did poorly with 50-75% losses. Unlike past bad years where almost everyone did poorly, there doesn't seem to be a pattern by area, size of the beekeeper or experience. Fortunately most of our bee yards fall into the mostly strong with few losses category. I chalk it up to good stock and the extra effort in winter preparations we made last year. Still, if our winter had been a few weeks longer some hives may have run out of stores and would likely have starved out without assistance as some of the strong hives were getting light.
A good start to the season so far but we aren't out of the woods yet. The last time I recall such a great start to April ended with snow the last week of April. So keep your fingers crossed.
Bees on a Plane
Snakes on a Plane? Nope, just bees. Most beekeepers just picked up their bees by car or truck, but this Michigan beekeeper saved some time by air.
Package Bees
The package bees arrived this past Friday and most beekeepers who had ordered a packaged picked them up on Saturday with the remainder picked up on Sunday. I must say I was impressed with the quality of the packages so far. The bees were in very good shape with fewer dead bees than I’ve ever seen in packages, plus the packages weighed a full 2.5-2.6 pounds of bees in the couple I checked. Very good for 2lb packages. I only got a few for myself as I really have enough bees. It’s too soon to see if the queens are as good, but it’s a very promising start.
Buzzing Trees
There is nothing quite so wonderful and calming as walking by a tree in full bloom and listening to the tree literally humming with activity. This was the picture today (Thursday) as the pear trees were blooming today under a perfectly clear sky. Some trees were just starting to bloom, and others like the one pictured were in full bloom with dozens of bees working the flowers. I would have loved to just take a nap under the tree watching the bees instead of heading back inside to my day job….. perhaps one day…
Spring May Have Arrived.
Finally…. The dandelions and pear trees have started blooming. A good sign that spring may finally be here to stay. You can see the large load of pollen this bee has already collected on her back legs.
April has generally been cold and wet seriously limiting the number of days that it’s been possible to do spring inspections, reverse hive bodies and make splits for mating nucs. While it’s only 55F right now, this weekend is suppose to be very warm so hopefully a lot of bee work can be caught up.
The picture below shows a few of the mating nucs that were setup last Friday. I ended up having to introduce virgins into the nucs because the cold weather earlier in the week didn’t allow for setting up nucs before the queens were to emerge from the cells. They were released from their cages yesterday and most were accepted. With some luck they may even make mating flights this weekend when it’s suppose to be up to 80F, if it doesn’t get too windy.
