Dead Bees on Frame

Beekeepers learn from live, as well as dead, bees. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Dead Bees On Frame

It’s the time of year many beekeepers both dread, and hope, will turn out well. It’s almost spring. Beekeepers at this stage start discovering whether their bees made it through winter.

The national statistics are that on average, 40% of honey bee colonies don’t make it through winter. Usually the average is lower for hobby beekeepers compared to commercial operations. Regardless, the death of one colony is upsetting to me, even if it’s something I can’t prevent.

In the case of this frame, the bees made a choice. Between getting food and keeping the baby bees or brood warm, they decided to keep the babies warm. And as the end of winter rolls around, there were less and less and less bees available to keep the colony warm. With less bees, the cluster of bees couldn’t reach both the brood of baby bees and reaching nearby honey. Honey needs to be warmed up first for the bees to access it.

Even though it is disturbing to find a dead colony, it’s a good time for beekeepers to learn more about their colonies and what it takes for them to survive winter.

Charlotte

Bee Hive Registration

Some of the hive locations on BeeWatch’s website. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Bee Hive Registration

One of the challenges as a beekeeper is how to keep bees safe from pesticides. In Missouri, there are 8,000 commercial pesticide applicators and 18,000 private pesticide applicators juggling when to apply products that can kill honey bees.

There is a current tool available that tries to bridge beekeepers and pesticide applicators. BeeCheck, formerly called Field Watch, provides an online application where beekeepers can register their hive locations. The idea is that then pesticide applicators can check the map to determine where hives are located and contact, and otherwise work, around impacting bees.

Beekeepers have the option to restrict who sees their hive locations. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Some Missouri beekeepers have had second thoughts about registering their hives. With the value of bees on the increase as well as hive thefts, some have been reluctant to share their hive locations.

To accommodate that concern, BeeCheck now has two mapping options; one for the public and the second one that is only for pesticide applicators. Restricting the information to just pesticide applicators may increase the map use.

Charlotte

February Beekeeping Chores

Time to get my beekeeping equipment inventoried and order what I will need for this year. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

February Beekeeping Chores

One of my recent orders was for one of our buzzing bee toys, an item so anticipated that the Dad called me today to ask when would it ship. He said “my son can hardly wait to get it!”

I know the feeling. Even as a beekeeper for 11 years, I also anxiously await for the arrival of my new beekeeping equipment. First, though, I have to figure out what I need. This is actually a chore I try to get done in January but since I’m behind, I’m keeping it on my February list.

1. Check my colonies for where the clusters are located. Add sugar cakes for supplemental food.

2. Inventory all existing beekeeping equipment. Separate items that need repairs. Make a list of items I expect I will need.

3. Place my beekeeping equipment order.

4. Repair those items that need repairs.

5. Organize my equipment so I have all similar items together.

6. Replace used foundation with new foundation.

7. Order queens bees. I want to add Varroa Sensitive Saskatraz queen bees to my apiary gene pool so I have those on order. They should be shipping in April, when, weather permitting, I plan to make splits.

8. Paint my woodenware. I didn’t get around to painting my nucs last year so this should be their lucky year.

9. Scope out garden locations for temporary housing of nucs and hives from swarms. Last year I ran out of space and was scrambling.

10. Catch up on reading; I’m behind there, too.

    Charlotte

January Beekeeping Chores

January is as exciting as a new pair of beekeeping gloves. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

January Beekeeping Chores

Snow is falling. The garden is covered in a blanket of white. My bees are tucked into their hives, clustering to keep warm and eating their stored honey. Good time to review last year and make new plans for this one.

Although the bees are not around, I have a lot to do this month to get ready for a new beekeeping season.

1. Review my notes from last year. What worked, what didn’t, what do I need to learn more about this winter.

2. Research, take online classes, read - this is the time to learn more about what didn’t go well last year,

3. Catch up on current beekeeping research.

4. When temperatures are between 30-40 F, good time to give my brood less colonies oxalic acid vapor treatment. Temperatures this winter have been record warm so there have been few days when the temperatures were at t optimum vapor application.

5. Check food stores in the hives. I placed supplemental sugar cakes on top of all of my colonies a week ago prior to the latest snow storm. I will check them in another week by peeking under the lid, I want to make sure they are not running out of food.

6. This is also the month I should do an inventory of my existing beekeeping equipment and order what I am missing. Once the growing season has started, there usually is very little time to place an order and get what I need before I need it. I prefer to be prepared.

7. Once I have the equipment inventory done, it will be time to get it all organized so I can easily find it.

8. I have some hives I need to paint sitting in my garage from last year. Those need to get finished this winter.

9. While I have the paint out, I also need to paint my nucs, I didn’t get to those last year, either. Bees didn’t care but I do.

10. I plan to split some colonies this spring and will be trying to add Saskatraz queens to my apiary for genetic diversity. I’m a step ahead there, already have my pre-order in!

Charlotte

Sharing Honey Bounty

This Little Red Riding Hood-look alike basket has honey for my neighbors. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Sharing Honey Bounty

When I first started beekeeping in 2010, I had no interest in the honey, I wanted the bees to pollinate my one acre hillside full of dwarf fruit trees.

Since then, I have developed an appreciation not only for the honey but for how much others appreciate it. I now consider a honey devoid year a bad one because then I don’t have honey to give as gifts. Some of the favorite gifts I have given over the years have included honey.

Honey is an amazing product in many ways. Besides a sweetener twice as sweet as cane sugar, honey can be used to treat scrapes and cuts. A friend who has horses said her vet told her to find a local honey source to treat a laceration on one of her horse’s legs. You bet I replaced the gift honey she used, there’s nothing quite comforting in the middle of a cold gray winter day that a hot cup of tea with honey.

Besides family, I share my apiary bounty with my neighbors. They all live uphill from my apiary and periodically they will report seeing my bees on their flowers. One even rescued a bedraggled delivery driver who had the poor sense of driving down my one lane driveway when I was working on a nearby colony. He wasn’t stung but he was rattled enough that he asked me to drive his truck back out of the driveway.

Some people don’t know much about honey so I have business cards with my contact information one one side and honey facts on the other one. Several years ago I made up a business card with a honey recipe. It’s helpful to give people who don’t know what to do with honey some ideas.

These honey jars are packaged and labelled as I do my honey jars for sale. I also add how many flowers it took to make that particular jar of honey. It takes 2 million blossoms to make one pound of honey. I don’t know about you but that gives me pause every time I think about that number.

The ice and snow have melted enough so I can now safely deliver these honey jars to my neighbors. Enjoy!

Charlotte

Bee Magazines

Three excellent beekeeping magazines for beekeepers on your gift list. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Bee Magazines

The longer I keep bees the more I know what I don’t know; beekeeping is a continuous, life-learning experience. To help beekeepers with the changes and recent beekeeping developments, we are lucky to have three excellent magazines focused on these tiny, fascinating creatures.

i know the editors of all three magazines, all excellent beekeepers themselves with a passion for what they do and the information they share. The following is a short description of each and what the reader can expect to get.

All four are available in both print and digital formats.

American Bee Journal offers a range of interesting, and current, beekeeping information. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

American Bee Journal

American Bee Journal (ABJ) magazine is the “oldest English language publication on bees” helping beekeepers for more than 100 years. The magazine includes .monthly crop and market information, scientific and experimental reports, industry news, and display and classified ads.

Annual subscription: $29. You can get a discount for multiple year subscriptions and a 15% discount by being a paid member of Missouri State Beekeepers Association.

You can also request a free sample.

Bee Culture Magazine also offers informational, how to articles. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Bee Culture

Kim Flotum and Jerry Hayes make sure this monthly publication also has a nice range of articles from beekeeping book reviews to a kid’s page, honey plants and urban beekeeping information. They include a segment that highlights the amateur engineers that beekeepers are, this segment features tips and tricks beekeepers themselves have developed.

Annual subscription: $25 with discounts for multiple year subscriptions.

Free annual calendar with every subscription.

BEEKeeping

Bee Culture also has a quarterly magazine devoted exclusively to beginning beekeepers and their first three years of beekeeping. Since there is such a learning curve getting started, this magazine would be an excellent gift for those who are thinking of getting into beekeeping.

I haven’t personally seen this publication but knowing it comes from Bee Culture I know it will be a quality product.

Annual subscription: $20

One of the fascinating articles in 2 Million Blossoms magazine. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

2 Million Blossoms

Managing Editor Kirsten Traynor is heading into her second year with this elegant quarterly publication about pollinators and what we can all do to protect them. As the former editor of a couple other magazines, Kirsten is developing a network of reporters and photographers around the world who help her highlight the amazing world of creatures that provide us with one out of every three bites of healthy food we eat.

A note for my Canadian friends, there is a separate Canadian edition.

This would be an excellent gift for not only beekeepers but also gardeners on your gift list.

Annual subscription: $35

How to Make This Into a Gift Set

Giving a magazine is not easy unless you can find a previous edition to attach to a subscription card. So how do you make this more immediately special?

Flower seeds are currently still available at home and garden centers so pick up a few to add to the subscription card. Regardless of what magazine you subscribe to, flowers feed bees. You may also be able to find local honey to buy, which is basically the essence of flowers. It takes 2 million blossoms to make one pound of honey.

If you want something more immediate, look for a good pair of beekeeping gloves. Or a smoker. Many home and garden centers are now carrying basic beekeeping equipment. You may also be able to get these ordered online and delivered in time.

I get all three magazines and look forward to catching up on my reading over winter months when my bees, and garden, don’t keep me so busy.

Charlotte

Beekeeping Alphabet Book

Charming book about honey bees for any interested in these fascinating pollinators. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Beekeeping Alphabet Book

Actually the title of this charming new book is “H is for Honey Bee: A Beekeeping Alphabet.” Written under the umbrella of Sleeping Bear Press, which specializes in other alphabet-themed books, this would be a delightful addition to anyone interested in the fascinating world of honey bees.

Robbyn Smith van Frankenhuyzen takes readers through each alphabet letter and explains basic honey bee-related activities. The book is written for US School Grade levels 2-5 at a Grade 3 reading level. Eileen Ryan Ewen’s illustrations are beautiful and accurate to what I know about beekeeping after 11 years with my own honey bees.

Brood, or baby bees, are nicely illustrated from when queen bee lays an egg. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Frankly learning to keep honey bees is a huge learning curve. Even though this is a book for grade school level children, it would also be an excellent introductory book for older children, and adults, on the life of honeybees and beekeepers.

Robbyn has been keeping bees since 2012 and lives in Bath, Michigan.

Eileen has illustrated several children’s books. Some of her work includes Miss Colfax’s Light and Mr. Mcginty’s Monarchs. She lives in Cleveland, Ohio.

Swarms are misunderstood and probably when bees are at their gentlest. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Having just read more than 40 beekeeping books for the research on my own Beekeeper’s Diary, I would have loved to have found this book in a basic beekeeping reference library. It’s a fun read with simple explanations of some difficult terms.

The book is excellent for STEM lessons on environmental issues, conservation, bees, beekeeping - and I know a few nature lovers who would love this book, too.

Sleeping Bear Press has other alphabet-themed books. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

“H is for Honey Bee: A Beekeeping Alphabet” is a 9.5 inches by 11.5 inches by .5 inch hardback book. The information for each alphabet letter is in short rhyming verses accompanied by side bars with more in-depth information.

You will find the book on Amazon and at Cherry Lake Publishing Group.

To give this as a gift, I would be tempted to add a buzzing bee toy!

Charlotte

Honey Foam

Bottling honey can generate air bubbles that form into white top foam. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Honey Foam

I’ve been bottling honey for Christmas gifts and noticed that some of my honey is getting a little white foam beard on top.

When I started beekeeping over a decade ago, I remember an experienced beekeeper telling me this is one of several ways to identify real honey. The white foam is actually air bubbles caused by stirring honey in the bottling process. Although most bottling advice notes to let gravity naturally decant honey into bottles so the white foam stays in the bottling bucket, there is nothing wrong with honey with a white top.

As I was bottling honey, I found myself spooning whatever white foam was on my honey into a container. Looking closer, I realized how much it looks like whipped topping.

White honey foam has a similar consistency to whipped topping. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

I decided to use the honey foam in a cup of hot green tea. It was so good, adding just a hint of sweetness.

One teaspoon of honey foam in a cup of green tea, so delicious! (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

I am currently testing how long the honey foam lasts as a foam. So far, some of the honey foam has remained in its frothy form for several days.

Saving honey foam for later use. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Looks like the head on beer, doesn’t it.

You can’t buy honey foam but if you live with a beekeeper, put in your dibs for the jar of honey foam. It’s a nice little treat!

Charlotte

New Uncapping Fork

The latest wax uncapping fork taken out for a test drive. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

New Uncapping Fork

If you haven’t been around beekeepers, one of the things they tend to like to do is try out new things. If they are not trying something new with their bees in the garden, they are usually making something in their woodworking shop. Every once in awhile a new gadget makes it to the market and catches their attention and this is one of them.

To extract honey, beekeepers have to first remove the wax cap the bees build over the honey ready for storage.

Traditionally the wax caps are removed by hand with this pick-like tool.

Not a hair comb, this is the old fashioned uncapping fork. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

To use it, the scraper has to be carefully pulled across the top of the frame to remove the wax caps without gouging the frame of honey.

The new uncapping fork is designed to help guide the scraper so that it doesn’t dig too deeply into the frame of wax.

During a honey extracting demonstration in August, several of my beekeeping students took turns trying out both the traditional scraper and the new one.

One of our beekeeping students using the new uncapping fork. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

The consensus was it takes a little practice to be able to glide the new uncapping fork across the wax frame.

With practice, most of the beekeeping students preferred the new uncapping fork even to a heated knife.

More students testing both the new and the old uncapping scraper. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

So if you are looking for a beekeeping gift idea, this would be a good one to add to your list. It runs around $20 and would make a nice stocking stuffer!

Charlotte

Honey for Sale

Bluebird Gardens Honey is just the way bees made it; this is an 8 oz jar with 12 oz. of honey. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Bluebird Gardens Honey for Sale

In answer to a number of requests, I now have Bluebird Gardens honey for sale. This is honey the way the bees made it; not heated or otherwise changed. All I do is filter it from the frames and bottle it. Well, and first convince the honey bees to let me have their extra honey. Each colony has at least two boxes full of honey left to consume through winter.

When you look at honey - and it still amazes me when I do - think about all of the flowers they had to visit to accumulate the flower nectar they dehydrate to 18% to make honey. It takes 2 million blossoms to make one pound of honey.

Not all honey tastes the same. The honey profile changes depending on what flowers they visit. Bluebird Gardens honey is wildflower honey, a collection of nectar from a wide variety of blossoms giving the honey a different profile from year to year.

This Year’s Jar Shortage

It’s been an interesting year to try to find jars and other glass containers as well as lids. The increased interest in gardening and canning has generated a bit of a shortage where I live. With the help of several friends, and by paying a little extra, I now have a good supply.

If you want to bring your own jars, I can work with that as well, the price in general is $1 per ounce of honey. Honey is much heavier than water so I weight the empty jar first, then fill with honey and re-weigh to get the actual honey weight.

Bluebird Gardens Raw Filtered Honey Prices (net weight)                          

8 oz jar (12 ounces)                         $ 15                    

16 oz (1 lb jar)                                     $ 20                    

22 oz 1.5 lbs (1 pint jar)                    $ 25                    

24 oz (2 lbs jar)                                  $ 25                    

40 oz 2.5 lbs (1 quart jar)                $ 40                    

5 gallons                                             $350                  

 I will have the honey available at my home so contact me to make arrangements for pick up. When you stop by, you can easily see Bluebird Gardens northern apiary from the driveway.

Bluebird Gardens north apiary visible from the driveway. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Please turn around at Bluebird Lane’s dead end and park along the road. My driveway does not handle turnaround traffic. Thanks!

Charlotte

It's a Sign!

My new Bluebird Gardens apiary signs. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

It’s a Sign!

Delivery trucks are regular visitors to my house. Most know that my driveway is not a U turn; it’s not designed to carry heavy vans and it’s located uphill from one of my apiaries.

This particular delivery van driver was new but not so new that he had been told not to drive down my gravel driveway. He also did so when I was working the closest hive so bees were actively flying around the area.

I found the driver at a neighbor’s house claiming he had been stung several times. When I asked to see where he had been stung he pointed to one area on his ear lobe. There was no sting there but I treated it anyway and reminded him he should not be driving his heavy van down my small gravel driveway.

So after I maneuvered his van out of my driveway, I decided it was time to put up more signs. I live on a dead end street and all of my neighbors know me as the “bee lady.” Nevertheless, I thought it was time I put up signs that honor the work bees are doing without being scary, a gentle reminder of sorts that I am a bee lover and there are honey bees on the property.

Most of the available signs are directive and include “no trespassing.” Since I was going to be the one looking at these signs most of the time, I chose a more friendly route. Here is one of the first signs I put up in my apiary many years ago.

This is a more typical sign noting bees in the area. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

After a brief search, I found the “Honey Bees at Work” signs that now mark my two apiaries. The signs are bright and easy to see and honor the work bees do. And I like seeing them!

My new apiary signs honor the bees without being threatening. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins0

To make sure the clear path was obvious, I added a garden flag that reminded visitors there are bees on the property and that this was a safe path to use.

Garden flags can also be an easy way to sign bees in the area. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

So far the new signs and garden flag seem to be working.

And yes, I have been repeatedly told I should not have driven the van out of my driveway but I was only too glad to get it out of the way.

Oh. And he did drop off the packages he was initially delivering but he left them at the top of the driveway.

Charlotte

Queen Begonia Coloring Page

Fun to see Queen Begonia in full color by a 10-year old! (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Queen Begonia Coloring Page

How cute is this colored-in page?

The daughter of one of our local bee club members wasn’t feeling well so I sent her the two coloring pages included in the back of my book “Bee Club Basics or How to Start a Bee Club.” The book includes 28 pages in the back that can be copied and used to establish a bee club including the coloring pages for young club visitors.

The beekeeping book illustrations are by a very talented local artist Jake Tupper, here is his final version of the same book cover.

Here’s the original Bee Club Basics book cover. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

I’ve been asked how realistic is this illustration. Actually, very. Honey bees love coffee, will chew paper inside their hives to easily remove it - they are fastidious house keepers and the clover flowers are good for honeybees.

The flowers on Bee Club Basics book cover is Red Crimson Clover Trifolium incarnatum, the one red clover honeybees can access because of the shape of the flowers. Not to be confused with “Red Clover,” which is pink and has a round flower head bumblebees can access but not honey bees.

So here’s the same coloring page for your beekeeping fans feeling cooped up.

Enjoy coloring this page and don’t forget to share the final work of art! (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Once completed, please share, would love to see your works of art!

Charlotte

What Success Looks Like

One of my desks commemorating my goals. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

What Success Looks Like

2020 started out on a roller coaster ride. I was finishing my beekeeping reference books, developing beginning beekeeping class curriculum and then teaching classes. It did cross my mind that I can’t keep this up once spring arrives and the outdoors is calling.

In the meantime, I was very happy to be one of the first Missouri beginning beekeeping classes certified through Great Plains Master Beekeeping. The program through University of Nebraska at Lincoln is providing scientifically-based, best management practices beekeeping to a five state area including Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Wisconsin and Missouri. They review my class materials to make sure what I am teaching is not only best management practices but also current. And they review instructors backgrounds to temporarily allow them to teach these classes until we have certified master beekeepers.

I have been teaching beginning beekeeping classes since 2012, first through University of Missouri Extension and now through our educational non-profit bee club. All of our class materials are being reviewed and certified as offering scientifically-vetted best management practices, a process that takes a lot more time and effort than just throwing a presentation together. The narrative has to be included in depth and materials double-checked. Sometimes triple-checked when recommended practices conflict.

My second beginning beekeeping class February 15, 2020. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

One of the challenges with some beekeepers and beekeeping students is to make it clear that bees, flowers and their environment are all connected. Some beekeepers want to just focus on bees when plants provide food and nutrition. Others only focus on planting without considering what bugs depend on the plants they are growing. My goal in the beginning beekeeping classes is to make the connection clear; bees need flowers and vice versa.

So how does one gauge success.

Successfully keeping honey bees is one way and the usual mark I use for success.

There are also several ways to gauge how well the class is doing; registration numbers is one way. Class surveys are even better.

If class surveys are well-written to ask the right questions, one can determine if facilities are ok; if classes meet expectations and what other classes students may be interested in.

Class surveys are important success gauges. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

As I was compiling the beginning beekeeping class surveys to assess what we need to do differently, if anything, I turned the surveys over to mark the ones I had reviewed.

There, on the back, was a class doodle and my newest favorite mark of success.

It’s not a drawing of just a flower.

Or just a bee.

The two are drawn together.

I loved it so much I framed it.

my favorite mark of success, a class doodle behind a survey. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

When I think of all of the measures of success, with the exception of healthy bees - this one is my personal favorite. She gets the connection between bees and flowers. I think I made my point!

Charlotte

Winter Feeding Check

Wait, what? Why are the bees now on the other side of the hive! (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Winter Feeding Check

Normally it takes a colony about 50-70 lbs of honey to make it through a typical mid-Missouri winter.

Our weather, however, is anything but typical any more. For the past three years, we’ve had longer falls and springs and barely cold winters. A nice change for those who don’t like cold but bad news for bees. When temperatures are 50F plus they are out looking for flowers amid a desolate winter landscape.

This past year, my colonies had extra honey on all hives so I left it for them. I thought if we have another mild winter, they are going to need the extra food supplies since there will be nothing in nature.

Sure enough, when Christmas was 70F and I was checking - not inspecting - my colonies, they had worked through most of their honey supplies. Time to give them supplemental sugar cakes to help them make it through winter.

Now sugar cakes cannot feed bees full time, it just supplements them until they can find new flowers and food sources in nature. When temperatures are record warm, it also gives colonies a chance to move stored honey to areas in the hive where they can better reach it. The challenge is that temperatures can get cold very fast, leaving them separated from honey sources. That’s where the supplemental sugar cakes comes in handy, it gives them food until they can find their own.

As I opened this particular colony, I was struck by the location of the bees, on the right, and the placement of the supplemental sugar cake, on the left. When I added the sugar cakes, it was right over where the bees were clustered.

Seeing the bees had moved to the right told me they must have baby bees now. If worker bees have to decide between keeping brood warm or eating, they will die of starvation to keep the baby bees warm.

Another winter storm was heading our way so I moved the white sugar cake over the cluster. I also added a second supplemental sugar cake with pollen so the bees will have a source of protein.

Bee cluster now has food over it while it keeps brood warm. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

It will be interesting to see if there is any honey leftover come spring. If I had to guess, I will say there won’t be any.

Charlotte

Getting a Drink

Some of the honey bees in my garden getting a drink out of a bird bath. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Getting a Drink

We had a couple of days early February 2020 with temperatures in the 70s. Record warm temperatures for mid-Missouri that time of year, and only a couple of days before another winter storm was forecasted.

As I walked through my limestone hillside garden, I enjoyed watching my honey bees doing what they normally do during a warm week, which included taking a drink. All of the bird baths I have scattered close to their hives were busy. Most still had water, and the ones that didn’t were quickly refreshed. As I filled up the bird baths, it reminded me of the set of the Days of the Week kitchen towels featuring bees. I couldn’t remember if one of the days featuring water carrying.

Honey bees need water close by. They use water to mix with pollen to make bee bread among other things. Seeing the water carriers lapping up the moisture confirmed that they may be making bee bread for to feed baby bees, or brood.

And yes, the water is not “clean.” Dr. Dale Hill confirmed at a conference a couple of years ago that honey bees prefer aged water. That’s where they pick up minerals that they need to stay healthy.

This particular bird bath has leaves and small sticks for safe landing spots. I also place rocks in the center of the bird bath to give them a safe landing spot.

Bird baths are usually available at most home and garden centers. The concrete ones tend to stay in place on my Missouri hillside a little better than the plastic ones although both can be susceptible to the ground heaving and thawing. One of my early spring jobs is to make sure they are all level and, if not, get them back to that condition.

But I confess, I wait for the bees to get their drinks first.

Charlotte

Beekeeping Classes 2020

Launching one of Missouri’s, if not the first Great Plains Master Beekeeping certified beginning beekeeping class, for a local bee club. Great way to spend a winter Saturday, talking bees! (Photo by Lorri Thurman)

Beekeeping Classes 2020

Let’s see, I have been teaching beginning beekeeping classes since 2012. Launched first at the request of our local extension office, this year’s classes mark a new milestone in Missouri beekeeping history. The Rolla Bee Club beginning beekeeping classes this year have been certified through Great Plains Master Beekeeping Program, which means students are getting the most current best management practices.

Students from the historic first Great Plains Master Beekeeping Apprentice level classes at Rolla Bee Club for 2020. Several attendees told me this was their last attempt to be successful at keeping bees after trying for several years. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

It’s a big deal for several reasons.

Some beekeepers enjoy making their own hives as well as new associated contraptions. We say learn the basics, then branch out into whatever catches your interest. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

First, most beekeeping questions tend to be answered with “it depends.” In other words, there can be many answers to a beginning beekeeper’s questions, making it challenging to make critical, expensive decisions as one buys and scouts hive locations. By focusing on best management practices, the answers are narrowed down to the ones that lead to success.

Secondly, beekeepers like to tinker. They’re either making something for their hives or trying something new with their bees. Not an issue if you understand bee biology but it you’re starting, this can be confusing. Our beginning beekeeping classes focus on what a beginning beekeeper needs to know to pull their honey bees through their first winter. It can take a couple to three years so this is also a lesson in patience.

The symbol that a course is approved by Great Plains Master Beekeeping out of University of Nevada at Lincoln.

As a member of the Great Plains Master Beekeeping program, these beginning beekeeping classes qualify for the entire first Apprentice Level. Although several students suggested in their class survey that the class should be divided into two sessions, we spend a good 8 hours on the basics including providing a diary with check lists that can be referred to later on.

Jessie Scrivner-Gunn, left, and David Draker demonstrating January 25, 2020 how to carefully inspect a hive. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

The thing is, even if we could go over everything, we’re only coaches, the honey bees are the real teachers. And they don’t read beekeeping books, as we like to tell everyone so as much as we try to provide most likely scenarios, no two years of beekeeping are the same.

Did I mention beekeeping can be a lifelong adventure?

The bottom line is Rolla Bee Club’s beginning beekeeping classes in 2020 mark a new era. Considering the bee club was launched February 2014, this is a good way to mark our sixth year introducing people to beekeeping. And supporting them as well through our monthly meetings and associated events.

Rolla Bee Club January 26, 2020 club meeting included a discussion of the pros and cons of various hive designs besides a Langstroth, the current industry standard. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Two more beginning beekeeping classes are scheduled for this year. We hold the classes in winter when the bees are supposed to be clustered inside hives consuming honey. When temperatures sneak above 50F, though, I find my bees sneaking into my garage looking for something to eat.

My Bee Buddy and Club co-founder David Draker welcoming students to our January 25, 2020 beginning beekeeping class. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

The next beginning beekeeping class will be Saturday, February 15, 2020 at Doolittle Community Hall, 380 Eisenhower, Doolittle, Missouri. Deadline to register is February 1, 2020. Cost is $75 and includes a beginning beekeeping book, calendar, refreshments and catered lunch. Register online.

Doolittle Community Hall is located off Interstate 44, exit 179.

For those who help their bees make it through winter, we have a Second Year Beekeeping Class Saturday, March 14, 2020 also at Doolittle Community Hall. This class will focus more on basic techniques including how to merge colonies and how to make a split. Deadline to register is Friday, February 28, 2020. Register here.
So let’s talk bees, shall we?

Charlotte

Bee Club Basics Book

The first in a series of books to help beekeepers. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Bee Club Basics Book

Ten years ago, Missouri had a total of 6 bee clubs, volunteers in major metropolitan areas helping primarily sideliner and commercial beekeepers. It was also about the time most bee hives in the US died, the result of what we now know was a combination of pesticides, pests and pathogens, poor nutrition and poor management.

Fast forward to 2015, when our state beekeeping association was holding discussions about the needs of Missouri beekeepers. The number of new bee clubs had just started to expand, including the one I started in Rolla but there weren’t resources to help those clubs.

Now there are.

I wrote “Bee Club Basics” for those who are starting, and want to start, an educational non-profit bee club. There are more than 50 now in Missouri, some struggling more than others for help with monthly discussion topics, speakers and the basics, such as how to make their meetings welcoming.

I have started over a dozen educational non-profits since 1979 and have a master’s degree in management. There are a lot of management books on the market; this is not a typical one. I facilitated the club planning process by having forms and check lists to guide the club managing group. Include suggestions for beginning beekeeping as well as experienced beekeeping discussion topics and even included coloring pages for the kids who may make club meetings.

The paperback book is available through Amazon to cut down on duplication and shipping costs. It will also make it easier for me to update the book.

In addition to helpful check lists, the book and the 2-hour lecture “Tips on Running a Bee Club” qualify for Journeyman Level credit in the Great Plains Master Beekeeping program through the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. That means the information shared is state of the art best management practices and qualifies for 2.25 how to be a mentor and 2.26 how to be an effective communicator.

On a personal note, this is my first book in print, a goal I have had for a number of years. There are two more books in the works for this set, all designed to address current beekeeping issues.

I hope this books helps us all continue to share information, experiences and fun in a club meeting setting.

One of our secrets to being welcoming, a cup of coffee! (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

At the October 1`9, 2019 Missouri State Beekeepers Association fall conference where I had the first “Tips on Running a Bee Club” session, one of the questions was how to “get people to come back.”

First, provide good, relevant content. Discuss what beekeepers should be doing now and what may be coming up in the next couple of months.

Secondly, have people who welcome attendees to the meeting. We have greeters who are responsible for signing people up for the email list and for showing them the coffee pot.

Ah, yes, the coffee pot, the symbol of hospitality. We have a “social hour” from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. prior to the meeting, where people can stop by and discuss their particular issues one on one if they don’t want to discuss them in open session. Several people have noted that time period at our local bee club meetings sound like “a party.”

And that may be the biggest secret, making it an enjoyable time for everyone involved!

Charlotte

From My Garden to Yours, Merry Christmas!

Jake Tupper’s charming Christmas post card for 2019. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

From My Garden to Yours, Merry Christmas!

Hard to believe a couple of days before Christmas the temperature was 62F and sunny.

My bees were out in force flying with not much to do. There are no flowers in bloom so they chose to visit me in my garage, checking out what I was doing.

Christmas Eve will be devoted to finishing another flower bed to plant this spring, where I can offer them even more flowers in bloom.

In the meantime, here’s hoping you have a wonderful Christmas!

Charlotte

Beekeeping Magazine Gifts

Two of the current beekeeping magazines available, both excellent sources of updated information. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Beekeeping Magazine Gifts

The beekeeping community is lucky to have two long-standing magazines that keep beekeepers up to date on new developments.

Bee Culture Magazine, out of Ohio, will be under new editorial leadership in 2020. Editor Jerry Hayes is following in Kim Flotum’s footsteps, offering beekeepers a round robin of upcoming event information across the country as well as a variety of feature stories. The A.I. Root company publication also has BEEKeeping, Your First Three Years focused on beginning beekeepers. I haven’t seen BEEKeeping but based on their other publication it would be safe to say it will be a very helpful resource for beginning beekeepers.

The other beekeeping magazine is American Bee Journal, published by Dadant in Illinois. Editor Eugene Makovac focuses on both native and honey bees as well as some pollinator planting information. I wrote several bee plant articles for the publication earlier this year, something I was glad to do to increasing beekeeper’s awareness of how to feed their bees naturally. I suspect Eugene had his eye more on the recipe for making Chicory roots into coffee, something we had discussed previously.

If I had to choose one, which one would it be?

When I was starting to keep bees, I found Bee Culture to have articles that I could more easily follow and understand. When I passed the 5th year, I graduated to better understanding articles in American Bee Journal. I get both publications and tend to catch up on reading over winter so pardon me if I don’t quite correctly identify the source of a particular bit of information. Knowing the new information is what is important.

If you are a member of Missouri State Beekeeping Association $10 a year, you can get a discounted American Bee Journal subscription. Nice way to bundle both into a gift!

The bottom line is as beekeepers we have to stay on top the current research and recommendations. The day of doing what grandpa did are long gone.

Here are links to their subscription pages:

Bee Culture $25/yr

American Bee Journal $28/yr

American Bee Journal discounted subscription with MSBA membership: $23.80 plus $10 membership.

And starting next year, beekeepers will have an excellent third resource, Two Million Blossoms from Dr. Kirsten Traynor. You can get a sneak preview of the kinds of beekeeping-related articles she plans to have with this one in the inaugural edition from University of Minnesota’s Dr. Marla Spivak on the role of propolis in the hive.

This grand new quarterly magazine will launch January 2020. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Two Million Blossoms offers a hard copy subscription for $35/yr and a digital subscription for $20. I am among the contributing writers to this edition with an article on how to use cardboard instead of chemicals to start a new flower garden.

The nice thing about giving magazines is that it’s a gift that keeps on giving.

Charlotte

Storing Bee Equipment

The space beneath a deck that has now become my beekeeping storage space. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Storing Bee Equipment

If you are new to beekeeping the one thing that can easily sneak up on you is storage. Or to be more precise, storage space.

It’s not apparent spring through summer when bees are using most, if not all, of your equipment. By fall, though, it becomes apparent that your garage can either hold your cars or your beekeeping equipment but not both.

I was facing this dilemma when earlier this year an unexpected option opened up under a deck area. With a little creativity, we closed in the area, gave it a dry ceiling and arranged it for extra space.. The area already had my water totes so with a little of reorganizing it now holds my extra beekeeping equipment including suits and hive bodies.

Another storage area winters over extra beekeeping equipment. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

The storage area - not a he shed, or she shed but a bee shed - is close to one of my apiaries. I now have “easy to move doors” and can use a shoulder to nudge the opening wider.

Beekeeping equipment is now readily accessible to my apiary. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

I added a grapevine wreath with some dried flowers last week, a traditional welcome to my outside garden rooms. You can’t see it well but I have a little yellow bee skep on the right side. Skeps, or woven baskets, are a popular symbol to represent beekeeping, it even appears on garden quilts.

Fun to add another grapevine wreath to my bee shed door. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

It’s wonderful to have most of my beekeeping equipment now all in one place. I can now do a better job of ordering whatever I need for next year; make repairs and, if all goes well, even extract honey in this space.

As I was leaving the area, I noticed one of the sure challenges beekeepers have, keeping track of their hive tools. See where I left this one?

Not the best place to store a hive tool. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

The hive tool is now safely back in the bee shed, waiting for the next time I need to use it.

Charlotte