Beekeeping Reading

My reading pile just keeps getting bigger! (Charlotte Ekker Wiggins photo)

Beekeeping Reading

If you are starting your beekeeping journey, staying on top of the latest developments is very important including making sure you are reading information from reliable sources. Watching You Tube videos can be entertaining but not necessarily the best practices for your area. And some websites, albeit well intentioned, also don’t provide the best information in context for what you are doing.

So where to go.

As beekeepers we are very lucky to have two magazines that are excellent reliable resources.

Bee Culture Magazine

Kim Flotum and Jerry Hayes make sure this monthly publication as 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.

American Bee Journal

American Bee Journal (ABJ) magazine is the “oldest English language publication on bees” helping beekeepers for more than 100 years. Eugene Makovec is the editor, someone Missouri beekeepers know well from his days as the newsletter editor of our state beekeeping association. This monthly magazine includes .monthly crop and market information, scientific and experimental reports, industry news, 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 and a local bee club.

You can also request a free sample.

Which Magazine to Start?

Depends on several factors. Can you speak in beekeeping terms or are you still learning? Do you understand scientific research and how it is conducted, and reported, or does that seem over your head?

If you live in the Rolla, MO area you can check out copies of Bee Culture Magazine from our local library and get a feel for what is in that magazine. If you are out of county, a $20 annual membership will also get you access to those magazines and the rest of the library including the extensive beekeeping book section. Rolla Bee Club, which I started in 2014, donated several dozen beekeeping books a few years back to update that section.

So back to the original question, which magazine. I personally would recommend starting with Bee Culture Magazine. They have some fun sections on building some of your own equipment.

Once you are fluent in beekeeping and basic beekeeping principles, then American Bee Journal may be of interest. Jamie Ellis out of the University of Florida answers submitted questions.

Honey Bee Suite

If you prefer to read online, start with Rusty Burlew’s blog Honey Bee Suite. Rusty does an excellent job of tackling not only the larger beekeeping issues but the little ones as well.

Happy reading!

Charlotte

February Beekeeping Chores

February Beekeeping Chores

Time to give bee hives some personality with paint. (Charlotte Ekker Wiggins photo)

February Beekeeping Chores

Whether you are a new beekeeper or one with a few years under your bee suit, February continues to be a busy month.

With bees clustered inside hives consuming their hard-earned honey, beekeepers need to be updating their knowledge by attending classes and lectures. And teaching them. If you are in the Rolla, Missouri area we have one opening left for each of our beginning beekeeping class February 26, 2022 and the Second Year Beekeeping class March 26, 2022. Register here.

This is a good time to inventory beekeeping equipment, order what is missing and get those hives painted.

Bees are clustered inside hives staying warm and eating honey or sugar cakes. (Charlotte Ekker Wiggins photo)

I’m going to make more sugar cakes in case my girls eat through what they currently have as supplemental food in case they run out of stored honey.

Besides teaching beekeeping classes, this is a good month to attend lectures. There are a good number offered online.

And should you have honey, this is a good month to play with recipes using honey.

I also have a pile of books and magazines to read.

If you are starting your beekeeping journey, pick up a copy of "A Beekeeper's Diary Self-Guide to Keeping Bees 2nd Edition." It’s an excellent reference and guide regardless of what classes you are taking and will help if you can’t get to one.

What Bees Are Doing

As days get longer, the queen bees will start to lay more eggs getting ready for the busy time, the nectar flow.

Bees are also staying warm clustered together keeping the queen cozy.

Bees will consume about 25 pounds of stored honey this month.

Charlotte

January Beekeeping Chores

Plastic wrap keeps wind out of my USDA Hardiness zone 5 hillside bee hives. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

January Beekeeping Chores

We’ve had 2 inches of rain in the last 24 hours; ice and snow are in the forecast as temperatures in this USDA Hardiness zone 5 garden continue to drop. My bees are warm inside their hives, clustering to keep warm and eating their stored honey. For the bees, the beekeeping year starts with the winter solstice, when daylight starts to get longer and the queen bee starts very slowly to start to lay.

Although the bees are not around the garden, 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. Reliable clubs now offer meetings online so its easier to stay on top of the latest developments.

4. When temperatures are between 30-40 F, it’s a good time to give my broodless colonies oxalic acid vapor treatment. Temperatures this winter have been record warm so there have been few days when the temperatures were at optimum vapor application. Applying oxalic acid vapor is one of the many options to try to manage Varroa mites.

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. I will be ordering queens to make sure I can successfully get new bee colonies established.

11. Wash my bee suits and gloves.

12. Enjoy honey in hot tea!

Charlotte

Christmas Bee Food Check

Some of my honey bees on their winter sugar cakes. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Christmas Bee Food Check

It was 62F and sunny on Christmas Day, December 25, 2021 in mid-Missouri when I checked my hives for their honey levels. The weather has been so mild so far this winter that they are consuming larger quantities of honey than if the temperatures were lower and keeping them clustered inside the hive.

Bees produce honey for winter food. This year, though, they had a good spring but summer and fall without food sources so they consumed much of their spring stored honey.

To make sure my bees don’t run out of food this winter, I make sugar cakes that I add to the top of the hive in a feeding shim. Once they work through their honey, they find the sugar as supplemental food.

These are the pre-made, stored sugar cakes ready to add to the hives. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

I use fruit clam shells to shape, and store, the sugar cakes prior to using.

One of the benefits of adding sugar cakes is that the sugar will absorb moisture should the hives get wet inside.

A spray of water helps to keep the sugar cakes moist and accessible. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

On the other hand, if the conditions remain dry, the sugar cakes can also dry out, leaving the sugar inaccessible to the bees. I carry a spray bottle with water with me and spray the existing sugar cakes, as well as the ones I add, so the bees can better reach the sugar.

One more tip when checking on sugar cakes.

Check the sugar cake underside, bees will eat or remove that sugar first. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

It’s easy to glance into the hive and see the length of a sugar cake and say they have enough food. Take time to turn it over and see if they have left a shell of a sugar cake or still actually have food. Bees will approach the sugar cake underneath, eating their way through the cake and leaving only a shell. You want them to have a good supply of supplemental food, not just the remnants of the last sugar cake.

The forecast is calling for colder temperatures in a week or so. That will cut down on the amount of honey bees are consuming and keep them home instead of flying around the garden. As much as i like to see them, i don’t want them running out of food!

Charlotte

December Beekeeping Chores

Homemade bee-themed ornaments are a fun family project. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

December Beekeeping Chores

Usually by this time of the year my bees are clustered in their hives and I’m tucked in my home staying warm against cold, soon to be wintery days. This year, it’s hard to believe it’s December when daytime temperatures are in the 70s and bees are checking out what plants I’m still getting into the ground.

• With these warmer temperatures, bees are working quickly through their food stores so this is a good time to monitor their honey stores. If they are running low, time to make sugar cakes to add to the top of the hive.

• If you haven’t already, store frames with wax in totes with ParaMoth crystals to protect the wax frames against wax moths.

• If you need to order bees, start canvasing your area for beekeepers who may have nucs for sale next spring. Best to buy your bees locally if you can.

• Remember you can also store empty hive bodies outside to cut down on storage area.

• If you have kids, have fun making cookies and tree ornaments with bees on them.

• And if you were lucky enough to get some honey this year, make sure to enjoy it over the holidays, it’s a delicious perk of keeping bees.

Happy holidays!

Charlotte

Beekeeping Magazines

These are three excellent beekeeping gift ideas, either individually or together. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Beekeeping Magazines

The emails asking for beekeeping gift recommendations have started to come in and this is an easy question to answer. Potential gift-givers have three excellent potential gifts, either individually or together: beekeeping magazines.

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 is published by Dadant and Sons, Illinois. (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. Eugene Makovec is the editor, someone Missouri beekeepers know well from his days as the newsletter editor of our state beekeeping association newsletter. This monthly magazine includes .monthly crop and market information, scientific and experimental reports, industry news, 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 and a local bee club.

You can also request a free sample.

Bee Culture is published by A.I. Root out of Ohio. (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.

Two Million Blossoms is published by Protect our Pollinators LLC. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

2 Million Blossoms

Managing Editor Kirsten Traynor is starting her third 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.

If you’re around beekeepers you will hear them say they look forward to winter so they can catch up with their reading so whichever magazine you select to give will be appreciated!

Charlotte

Getting Bees Winter Ready

Homemade sugar cakes ready to place inside at the hive tops. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Getting Bees Winter Ready

Even though the temperatures are a bit warm for fall in USDA Hardiness zone 5, it’s time to get my honey bees ready for winter.

Bees don’t hibernate; they cluster inside the hive keeping the queen bee, and stored honey, warm. They maintain the 90F temperature by shivering or moving their flight muscles, to generate the heat. The warmth makes it easier for them to work through the wax cappings on the stored honey. Honey itself is their version of canning so they have winter food.

The first step in getting my hives ready for winter is closing down the hive front. The entrance reducer offers two options, a half opening and a two bee width. Winter is a good time to turn the reducer to the smallest size to cut down on incoming cold wind.

Hive entrances are closed down to a two-bee width. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Same thing with the top of the hive. I change the screened inner covers for solid ones. The screened inner cover help bees to ventilate the hive during hot weather.

The inner cover of the hive is changed from a screen one to a solid one. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Underneath the now solid inner cover, I keep a feeding shim or an addition where I can place the homemade sugar cakes over where the bees are clustering. The feeding shim also has holes so bees can use it as an alternate entrance in case the bottom one gets covered in snow and ice.

Since the weather is still warm, I am also feeding the bees a thick sugar syrup they can store in the wax foundation as well as consume for flight fuel.

Thick sugar syrup and sugar cakes keep bees fed through fall. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Finally I wrap the hives with an insulated wrap to help keep wind out.

Insulated black wrap helps to keep wind out of the hive. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

This is the back of a wrapped hive. I make sure the wrap doesn’t cover the front of the hive.

Supplemental sugar cakes are back up winter food. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Bees use the homemade sugar cakes for backup food when they run out of honey.

It’s easy to think a mild winter is better for bees but it’s not. During mild winters, bees need more honey to fuel their flights and moving around. More on keeping honey bees here.

Let’s hope these girls make it through this winter!

Charlotte

November Beekeeping Chores

Feeding bees thick sugar water inside the hive to help them get ready for winter. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

November Beekeeping Chores

The beekeeping season is winding down in mid-Missouri but there are still some important things for beekeepers to do.

Since our fall nectar flow was poor and my bees consumed some of their stored spring nectar, I am feeding a couple of colonies sugar water so they can save their honey for winter. Because it is so late in the season, I am giving them two parts sugar to one part water, a thicker syrup than I would feed in spring.

All entrance reducers have been turned to the smallest entrance, more to keep mice out of the hives as temperatures fall.

They will also get an insulated wrap to help cut any winter winds that may hit our hillside.

Once we have our first hard frost, I will have a small window of about 2 months where I can apply oxalic acid vapor to the colonies to knock down Varroa mite levels. This is a period when the queen is not laying so there’s a bigger chance to kill off Varroa mites that don’t have nursery cells where they can reproduce.

This is also the time of year to add supplemental food at the top of the hive. I make sugar cakes to provide my bees with emergency food in case they run out of their stores. A lot can happen to my bees I have little control over but I can make sure they don’t die of starvation.

And for beekeepers this is the beginning of the reading season, catching up on all off those magazines they didn’t read earlier.

If you are a new or imminent beekeeper, this is a good time to read A Beekeeper’s Diary Self-Guide to Beekeeping. It includes a first and second year calendar so beginning beekeepers have a better idea of what to expect month to month.

Charlotte

Merging Colonies

Merging two colonies, one with a laying queen, into one winter colony. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Merging Colonies

There are many steps beekeepers take this time of year to get their bees ready for winter. One that I am finally trying this year is merging my smaller colonies so they have a better chance to survive winter.

Each colony has a unique queen with a unique pheromone. To successfully merge two colonies, one queen has to be removed and the pheromone of the colonies mixed so the worker bees are loyal to the remaining pheromone.

To combine colonies, I use one sheet of newspaper with slits to help the pheromones mingle between hive boxes and bees. The bees themselves will remove newspaper pieces, speeding up the pheromone mixing.

After a couple of days, the newspaper between the boxes has been removed by the bees, thereby mixing the two bee colonies.

Newspapers with slits are used to combine pheromones of two colonies. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

I escorted a few bees on the newspaper back to the entrance of the bottom hive. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

This year, I am merging two smaller colonies who have queens with larger colonies that are queenless. In this example, I moved the remaining newspaper to the front of the colony so the attached bees could move back into their home.

Feeding the now combined bee colonies so they can store sugar water for winter food. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

This is the new combined colony, now mixing worker bees from both colonies so they can cluster together and stay warm through winter.

Since their honey stores were low, I am also feeding them 2 parts sugar to one part water so they can have food to eat and not consume what stored honey they still have.

Next spring, if all goes well, I will split the colony back into two separate ones and let the queenless colony grow a new queen. This helps keep the Varroa mite levels low, one of several steps to manage that invasive pest. For other options, see A Beekeeper’s Diary Self-Guide to Beekeeping.

Charlotte

New Honey Home

Barbara Wilson checks out Bluebird Gardens honey at her new downtown store. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

New Honey Home

Bluebird Gardens honey now has a new home. With the closing of Three Sisters Resale and Consignment, Barbara Wilson and her daughter Amy have warmly welcomed local honey from my hives to their new store at 711 Pine Street, Pine Street Vintage Goods.

The new downtown Rolla store is open the second and fourth weekends from Thursday to Saturday.

In addition to raw artisan honey in ready to pour new and vintage glass containers, I also have creamed honey all with gift tags ready for gift-giving.

My honey and beekeeping books at Pine Street Vintage Goods. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Buzzing bees, honey dippers and vintage ceramic honey skeps, as well as award-winning A Beekeeper’s Diary, offer an assortment of sweet gift choices.

Part-time hours for Pine Street Vintage Goods in downtown Rolla. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Thanks again to Krista Kelly from Three Sisters Resale and Consignment for suggesting this location. Her building has been sold so she decided to close the consignment store and reconsider her options.

Yet another reason why I choose to live in a small town where people look out for each other.

Charlotte

October Beekeeping Chores

Smoker is ready for my Varroa mite monitoring checks. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

October Beekeeping Chores

As we wrap up the growing season in USDA Hardiness zone 5, it’s time to do one last Varroa mite check to know what the mite load is going into winter.

My small colonies didn’t have any mites, as was expected. My one out of three larger colonies will get a Formic Pro treatment now that temperatures are lower. After checking the other two, they may also get a treatment, depends on what their Varroa mite levels are. These colonies will be split next spring to keep their sizes small and hopefully strong agains the viruses carried by Varroa.

To develop your Varroa mite management plan, visit Honeybee Health Coalition.

Other October beekeeping chores include:

Refreshing small hive beetle lure traps and moving the traps to the center frames for winter.

Combining weak colonies with strong ones so they winter over together.

Checking that hives are level so the winter freezing and thawing doesn’t topple them over.

Although some people think of this as being a gardening chore, planting in fall is about giving bees food so I also plant this month. Considering how light their honey stores are coming out of summer, they can use all of the food they can get!

Charlotte

September Beekeeping Chores

Look for totes that will store medium supers on top of each other. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

September Beekeeping Chores

It’s Labor Day weekend in the US and at this writing we have had 4 inches of rain — that’s a lot of rain here in a little more than 12 hours. The rain means no time with bees in the bee garden but time to get organized for fall storage.

One of the biggest challenges is how to store frames in the least amount of room. After some testing, I found that there are totes that have a couple more inches in height that allow for two rows of medium frames to be stored. I use ParaMoth crystals to discourage wax moths so that I can use these again next year, giving my bees a little head start. Just a reminder we need to air the frames for several days before using or the crystals will kill all insects that get in contact with them, including bees.

Here are some other September beekeeping chores where I live:

Checking each colony for their honey stores. Equalizing the stored honey across all colonies.

Check colonies for Varroa mite levels. Anyone with more than 3 Varroa mites per 300 bees, I will treat them with a natural product to knock the mite levels back.

I will also be refreshing small hive beetle traps and moving them from the corners to the center of the hive.

If you are starting to keep bees, I have a handy monthly calendar of beekeeping chores in A Beekeeper’s Diary, Self-Guide to Beekeeping as well as handy guides for all of the decisions you will need to make to get started.

What else will you be doing with your bees?

Charlotte

Radial Extractors

A radial honey extractor spins honey out of both sides of the frame at the same time. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Radial Extractors

August in North America is when beekeepers start sharing capped honey frames among their bee colonies and extracting the extra frames to bottle for use and/or selling.

One of the tools beekeepers use is a honey extractor, a barrel-shaped gadget with a basket where honey frames sit before spinning to easily remove the stored honey.

Over the years, I’ve observed beekeepers have a hard time distinguishing between the two major types of honey extractors: tangential and radial.

Here’s an easy way to distinguish between the two. Radial, in the photo, is like the spokes of a wheel with the frame edges facing outward. When the frames are spun, honey is quickly removed from both sides.

A tangential extractor has the foundation facing outwards. To extract honey from both sides, the frames have to be turned once so that the honey will be spun out of both frame sides.

These honey extractors come as small as two frame extractors up to huge commercial ones that handle dozens of frames at the same time.

They also offer the hand-cranked versus the motorized options.

What you purchase depends on how many honey frames you expect to extract every year.

Charlotte

Honey Moisture Content

Pronounced “re-frack-TOH-me-ter,” no two operate the same so read directions. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Honey Moisture Content

One of the more challenging tools beekeepers use is a “re-frak-TOH-me-ter” which measures the moisture content of honey. There are many available models, all differently measuring honey moisture.Read directions since they all operate just a little differently.

Honey differs in color, taste and content from hive to hive, even from frame to frame and cell to cell. After bees collect and store flower nectar, they use their wings to dehydrate the nectar to between 14-20%.

Honey that sits for a while will have a different moisture content at the surface than at the bottom. Depending on when the honey is extracted, it can also have a different moisture content. Over a 18.6 reading, honey may ferment. If the moisture content is greater than 20%, honey will ferment due to yeasts in the honey. Since honey is hygroscopic, if it is not in a sealed container, it will attract moisture from the air.

According to Virginia Beekeepers. org, here’s how this little gadget works. Light travels at different speeds through different materials. The refractive index is just a comparison between two numbers: the speed of light through a vacuum and the speed of light through the material you are testing such as honey.

Light also changes direction after it passes through different materials. If you measure the difference between the angle of light coming in)and the angle of refraction, light coming out, you can use this number to determine the refractive index. This is how a refractometer actually works.

If you look at a straw in a glass of water you will see it looks distorted. This is because light moves faster through just the glass than it does through the glass and the water combined. Likewise, light will move faster through honey that has few solids than it will move through honey that has many solids. In other words, the refractive index of honey will change based on the amount of solids such as sugars, pollen and other substances in it.

Refractometers also make corrections based on temperature, because the refractive index will change slightly as the temperature changes.

Now, to make this all the more perplexing, the amount of solids in a liquid is measured on a scale called the Brix scale. 1 degree Brix (written °Bx ) means 1 g of sucrose per 100 g of aqueous solution. When the solution consists solely of sucrose and water, this means that you can calculate the total volume of water present because 1 g of water has a volume of exactly 1 mL by definition. For example, a 100-mL solution measuring 10 °Bx contains 90 mL of water, since the total mass of the solution is 100 g, 10 g of which is by sucrose and 90 g of which therefore must consist of water.

The Brix of honey can be from about 70 to 88.

Now here is where confusion sets in. While most refractometers give a reading in Brix (solids in water), honey refractometers give readings of water in honey. This is the opposite of Brix. This type of reading is used in honey refractometers, so beekeepers don’t have to subtract the Brix reading from 100 to get the moisture level. It’s just a convenience. However, it can get really confusing when a beekeeper uses a refractometer designed for another purpose—such as brewing. Not only are these designed to be most accurate in other ranges, the readings are in Brix—not 100 minus Brix. It is best to use a refractometer for measuring honey moisture content.

Refractometers are usually sold with the recommended oil to calibrate the device. If not, you can buy the recommended oil.

This refractometer case includes a space for the recommended oil. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

If buying a used refractometer, make sure it either has directions or you can easily find directions online.

Since these vary widely, it’s not so easy to buy one at a bargain and then try to guess how to use it.

I purchased oil for this refractometer through Mann Lake, which included a handy scale. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

An extracting demo last year included using a refractometer. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

One more piece of advice learning to use a refractometer. Work with someone who has a refractometer that they know how to use. You will get the idea much faster by seeing you working than trying to read directions.

Charlotte

August Beekeeping Chores

August is a good time to photograph bees collecting nectar and pollen. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

August Beekeeping Chores

Actually I love photographing my bees all year around but my garden seems to be their playground in August. Most established colonies have their highest populations this time of year and my garden is at its peak in blossoms, it’s the best time to find bees on flowers.

For me, August is also the beginning of winter preparations.

1. Assess how much nectar each colony collected during the nectar flow. I plan on leaving two medium honey supers on each colony going into winter so they don’t starve if it’s a mild winter.

2. If I then have extra honey, I make plans to extract.

3. Depending on Varroa mite levels through monitoring, I also identify Varroa mite treatment options. I don’t use chemicals but I do use formic acid and oxalic acid at the right times of the year.

4. If the colonies are new, feed sugar syrup to stimulate wax glands to produce wax comb.

5. Monitor for robbing.

6. If food supplies, such as nectar, in nature are low, the colonies may kick out drones and consume some of their honey stores.

7. If food supplies, such as protein, in nature are low, the queen may also be laying but appear to have stopped. The colony will consume eggs for protein.

8. If you need to make repairs, do them now so cold weather doesn’t catch you unprepared.

9. Inventory what plants you have growing and which ones you want to add in fall. How do you tell? Follow the bees!

Charlotte

Propolis Entrance Reducer

Bees built a propolis wall along the front entrance of this hive. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Propolis Entrance Reducer

When I first started beekeeping in 2010, more experienced beekeepers advised to remove as much of the sticky, glue-like propolis as possible because it got in the way of the beekeeper. I didn’t take that advice. I figured if the bees were collecting and making it, they had a good reason.

Since then, research has confirmed propolis has a protective role in a colony; it helps keep them healthy.

In nature, or bee trees, bees line the tree cavity with propolis. Propolis is a resin-like material collected from the buds of poplar and cone-bearing trees. If you’re a beekeeper, you will know it as a caramel-colored glue-like substance found in between hive bodies, keeping frames secured to boxes and filling up open spaces.

In this example, I found the bees had used propolis to reduce the front of the hive, or as I called it, built themselves an entrance reducer. You bet I left it there, looks like they figured out how to get that part of the hive protecting the arriving and departing bees.

Because current wooden bee hives are built with smooth walls, it is harder for bees to add propolis on the walls to create a protective envelope around the colony. Research at the University of Minnesota Bee Lab is focusing on how to rough up the inside of a hive so bees can line it with propolis.

In the meantime, we as beekeepers just need to learn to work around the bee glue and keep our hive tools off of scraping that stuff off the hives.

Charlotte

July Beekeeping Chores

This new colony just got a new bottom board to replace the rotting one. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

July Beekeeping Chores

Where I keep bees in mid-Missouri, July beekeeping chores depend a lot on the weather.

If we’ve had a hot summer with temperatures over 86F, the plants are shutting down nectar and pollen production. That means to me that I can extract honey once bees are finishing putting the wax caps on dehydrated flower nectar.

This year, though, we’ve had an early nectar flow as well as two weeks of rain so the plants may be producing more nectar and pollen. You would think that’s good news only I may be running out of hive parts to give the bees the extra room they need.

Other July chores include:

Monitoring for Varroa mite levels. I use formic acid products to knock Varroa mite levels down if needed.

I also just split several colonies. Keeping the colony size smaller helps to keep Varroa mite levels low.

Hive maintenance is good to do this time of year as well. It gives me time to make, or buy, what I need and cuts down on what I have to do later. I’m inspecting my colonies anyway this time of year so I plan upgrades as needed.

Good month to also plan on when to extract and to have all supplies on hand.

Charlotte

Bungee Cords

Bungee cords are handy for holding hive lids down. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Bungee Cords

I have to confess, bungee cords were not part of my pre-beekeeping days. I may have had one in my emergency car kit or maybe in a gardening bucket but it wasn’t until I started beekeeping that I found myself buying them, literally by the bucket load.

Bungee cords are an ingenious invention. They are hick stretchable cords with hooks on either end designed to hold things. In beekeeping, bungee cords are helpful to keep lids on nucs and hives as well as buckets. They are easy to attach and remove and, once secured, can withstand some pressure wether from weather or a curious critter.

Easier to attach and remove than ratchet straps, bungee cords are a good beginning beekeeping tool to have around. And now I will add yet another use.

I was working my hives downhill when my loose pants decided to start sliding. The hive was open and I didn’t want to leave them that way to go get a belt.

A quick thread of a nearby green bungee cord through the belt loops and hooked on the belt loops on the opposite ends and I could finish my inspection without startling my neighbors.

Wonder if I should suggest they add this to their long list of possible uses!

Charlotte

June Beekeeping Chores

June is when beekeepers try to keep up with their bees nectar and pollen collecting. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

June Beekeeping Chores

If you’ve tried to see a beekeeping friend this month, or even talk to them, don’t take it personally if they don’t respond. June is a very busy month for beekeepers keeping up with the quick growth of their colonies.

It’s quick growth if the colonies are healthy, have a good queen bee and the bees have access to plants to collect nectar and pollen. Nectar to bees is flight fuel; they collect it this time of year and dehydrate it to have food over winter. Pollen is baby food, it’s what nurse bees mix with royal jelly to feed larvae.

If a colony is not healthy, beekeepers are managing the colony to get it there before the food source stops.

Here are some of the June beekeeping chores for mid-Missouri:

1. Are your colonies queen right? If not, add open brood from another colony so bees can raise their own queen.

2. Do your existing queen bees have room in the brood box to lay? Remove nectar-full and pollen-full frames to give the queen room to lay. Move those frames to an upper box.

3. Monitor how much nectar they are bringing in. The nectar flow ends when temperatures are over 86F.

4. This time of year, check colonies every 7-10 days. Look at the bottom of frames for swarm cells.

5. If you haven’t monitored for Varroa mite levels, do it now as you inspect colonies so you have a benchmark for how colonies are doing.

6. Make sure your bees have access to water near their hives. I have bird baths close to their hives as well as a deck rug they seem to like as well. Keeping water sources close by will reduce their interest in visiting your neighbor’s swimming pool.

7. Note what plants are blooming within 2 miles of your colonies.Plan on planting trees and shrubs that will provide them with more nectar and pollen. It takes 2 million flowers to make one pound of honey.

Charlotte

Rolla Book Store Carries My Book

Nice book placement at the end of the aisle, easily visible as customers come in. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins

Rolla Book Store Carries My Book

Being a self-published author means one has to also market and sell the books, which means making them available to our local book stores.

Most book stores take time to review the product first, then decide whether it will be consigned to their inventory. Luckily “A Beekeeper’s Diary Self-Guide to Beekeeping” made the cut and the book is now for sale at our local book store Rolla Books and Toys.

It was a fun moment to watch the book store manager find a place for the beekeeping book among the other new books. The book case is deep and angled so the books safely stand and the readers can better see book covers.

And yes, my beekeeping books are considered “large print.” Most beginning beekeepers are over 40 years old and the larger print makes it easier to read.

About this same time, I found the answer to another challenge, how to safely ship the books. After a quick survey of padded materials, I settled on a wonderful padded envelope to ship the books.

Padded envelopes get my books safely to their final destination. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

The padding ensures the book is not torn in shipping and the padded envelope color brings attention to the book.

Charlotte