Beekeepers Friend

Happy New Year! I haven’t written anything since last year. Maybe this year, you and I will get a better grip on this bee thing——maybe. hehe.

Did you know that Bee Spring has sprung? Sure has, in South Florida.The bees are gearing up for the Orange Blossoms in February down in the Miami area. The queens are laying eggs as fast as they can to have the largest group of workers ready to get honey. The over-wintered workers are busy pulling in pollen from where ever  they can for the new larvae to munch on.

The Ocala/Orlando area is just about ready to spring out of Winter getting organized to do the same thing except maybe not as much Orange Blossoms as their southern neighbors.

North Florida is still about 3 to 7 weeks from springing out of Winter. But that doesn’t mean the beekeepers can go back into hibernation. We need to be checking the bees to see if they have enough honey or sugar syrup to last until the Spring honey flow that will start the last part of February and first part of March. Also check to be sure that the bees are pulling in pollen. If not, then you need to feed a pollen substitute.

For all you readers that have been following my mother-in-law, she is here in Pensacola with my wife and me. She is looking better than she has in some months. She is eating and exercising more and getting around a whole lot better. I think that now I can concentrate on working bees, writing for Beekeepersfriend, and attending more bee meetings.

I hope all yawl had a good Christmas and are looking forward to a new year in the bee yard, attending bee meetings, fairs, farmer’s markets, and spreading the word about bees in schools, civic meetings, and where ever there is someone willing to listen. Until the next time, clean out your smoker and make the necessary repairs to it, sharpen your hive tool, and check for holes in your veil.

Just for your information, I have not been able to post this month because of family illnesses. I am somewhat better but, my mother-in-law was in the hospital for about a week and my wife, Bettie, flew out to West Texas to be with her. Now they are on their way driving here to Pensacola by way of Texarkana and Memphis, Tn.

I have been by myself since Dec 1. Right now, I am suffering dizzy spells brought on by some of my new medications. I did drive over to the East side of Pensacola to help another new beekeeper check her bees and show how to make some sugar syrup. This is when I found out that when adding  water, instead of hot water, make sure it is a rolling boil. Otherwise the sugar will not melt and mix with the water.

We had hot water when we added it to a container of about 10 pounds of sugar and all it did was mix and stayed granulated. That was a disappointment to both of us. Made a mess in the feeder bucket.  That is what experimentation is all about. To find out what works and what doesn’t.

The formula that we were using was for 2:1, To make a sustaining syrup to keep the bees fed for the times they are out of food, you would fill the container up with sugar and then pour boiling water into the container with the sugar, stirring all the while to help the water to penetrate the sugar and to start the mixing process. Keep adding water and stirring until the water is half way up to the original mark. This will make a syrup of about the same weight as honey. This kind of syrup will give them the energy they need to generate heat and will sustain life until the next honey flow.

1:1 syrup. This is where you add sugar to the mark on the container,  then add boiling water, stirring and mixing as you go, until the water line is up to the same line as the sugar until the contents of the container is the consistency of thin syrup or similar to nectar. This is used for kick-starting the bees into making more brood for the spring honey flow.

At this time of the year, you need to be checking the weight of your hive bodies. If light, then it is time to feed your bees some sugar or High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS). You should also check the pollen in your hive. Because the bees will need it when they start making babies in the early spring. That is what they feed the larvae 5 days after they are hatched. If there is no pollen, then the queen will not lay eggs and your colony will die.

My bees are still working the Spanish Needle in my front and back yard. However, there is not enough of the flowers to make a lot of nectar. They are putting the pollen up for the early spring baby boom.

I have done all I can to help my bees. It is up to them to carry on. So I wish all yawl a

***********************VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS******************

*********************************and a****************************

******************HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR!*************

My bees are all tucked in with instructions to come and go as they see fit, but no overnighters. I want all my bees home by dark and no late partying. I myself have been getting into bed as early as 5:30 pm and as late as 11:00 pm these last 3 weeks. I think that I am getting old.

I have checked the beetle traps and food stores. Everything looks good for the winter.  If I am lucky and have done all the right things, then the bees have a fair chance of coming out of winter looking good. If not, then I’ll just have to start over again.

All yawl good people have a very happy Thanksgiving and enjoy your day off.

To the bees, it is now Winter. It is time for them to shut down on brood rearing. Time to kick out the drones. Time to vegetate for a while. Time to eat some of the honey stores they have put up for hard and cold times.

Do they have any honey? Oh my! Did you take too much honey away from them? Be sure to check. You may have to make some sugar water to feed or buy some HFCS to feed them. oh!, and by the way, remove your queen excluder, especially here in the northern part of Florida.

If you have to feed them and want to make some sugar syrup, then you need to feed 2:1. That means to mix 2 parts of sugar to 1 part of water. This is what they will eat for energy to keep warm and to keep what little brood they have to raise warm. If you are feeding syrup, then when it is a warm day, 65 degrees or higher, open up and check the brood area to see if there is any pollen. If there is just a little to none, then order some pollen substitute to start feeding in the latter part of January. The bees need to feed the larvae pollen in order for them to grow. January is the time to raise lots of bees to get ready for the spring honey flow.

Make sure that they have a bountiful supply of water, as they mix pollen, honey, and water to make bee bread (which is, in my opinion, baby food). I am sure there are others out there that will disagree with me, but remember I told you at the beginning that I was telling you how I work my bees and this is what I am doing.

If you have any questions, then by all means, ASK. There are no stupid questions! If you knew the answers, then you wouldn’t be asking. Ok? Get ready to read during the next couple of months and plan what you are going to do in the spring. Planning is a vital part of beekeeping.

Talk to you later.

My wife and I were late getting to the mini-workshop as it was our turn to pick up aluminum cans for the Neighborhood Watch. Everyone else that could pick up for us was out of town.

When we got to the meeting place, the speakers were winding down with Mites, Wax Moths, and Small hive beetles. There was a discussion on the different kinds of beetle traps and how to load them with oil, lime, and other kinds of anti beetle killers. Also how long to leave the traps before having to clean them out. Enough information that I could write another post. I’ll start making  some notes.

There were 20- 25 people there and at least 4 of them were newbies. I just wish we could have gotten there sooner. When we started eating the mullet and potluck food that was brought by NEBA members, there were several different conversations carried on by the groups  ( tables) about the subjects of the workshop speakers. It was a great meeting and time of fellowship with other beekeepers.

Maybe next year, I will get the word out a little sooner and we can have a larger crowd.

I have just been reminded that I didn’t say anything about a mini-workshop in conjunction with our annual NEBA fish fry.

There will be a mini workshop sponsored by the North Escambia Bee Association (NEBA), Saturday November 5th. It will be held starting at 10:00 am on Smithfield Ln., Pensacola / Cantonment, FL.
Lawrence Cutts, past president of the Florida State Beekeepers association and retired head of the Florida State Bee Inspectors Division of Plant Industry, will be guest speaker along with David Westervelt, head of Northwest Bee Inspectors of FL.

Food will be supplied by the NEBA group. Cost for non NEBA membership will be $7.00. However, if you want to join, the cost will be $10.00 and all functions will be free for you and your immediate family.

Directions from US 29 and Kingsfield Rd.(CR186) West on Kingsfield Rd to CR97. South on CR97 to Smithfield Ln. West through gate and look for cars on right.

Hope to see some of you there.

Well, I was pleasantly surprised when my wife informed me that we could attend the college and FSBA Convention this October. I had already accepted that I could not attend this time. I was elated!

I had already stopped studying and stopped gathering up my school work. Now I had to get in high gear and get it all together and hope I didn’t forget anything. I still forgot my vest with my patches and advancement rockers and all the pins that I received each year.

We left Wednesday the 26th and arrived in Orlando that evening. We stayed with my son and his wife and enjoyed the grandkids while there.

Thursday Morning, I registered for the bee college and turned in all my paperwork.  The class I was to take was the Master’s class, but since there were only two of us to take the Master Beekeeper test, we sat with the Advanced class and had a review. I was kind of apprehensive about my upcoming exam and was really sweating bullets as we were getting closer to the test time.

Ok, here we go. Again, since there were only two of us to test our level, we were sent to the Advance testing room and had 3 hours to complete the examination. I had finished all that I could and went through the papers 3 more times hoping that I could remember some more of the answers. Alas! I could not add to my answer sheets. I still had 25 minutes to go, but I finally decided that if I could not remember or change any answers after going over it 3 times, then so be it. I tried!

To make a long stressful story short and sweet, I did pass. We didn’t get grades, so we really don’t know where we were weak. Pass or fail. PASSED was good enough for me. I am now classified as a Master Beekeeper. Now I have two years in which to complete my next assignments. I really don’t know how the exams will be given for my Master Craftsman Beekeeper level (the highest level in Florida). I do know that I will have to stand before the Board members and be orally tested. That one will be a doozy, I think.

The  convention was Friday and Saturday. I don’t know what all the classes were about as I didn’t get to attend all of them, but I did pick up some good information for my student classmates who didn’t get to attend this year. We have a study group going and they will be ready next March.

Anyway, I thank you for bearing with me during this time. I should be able to get back to normal and start writing something that will be interesting to you now.

Until next time, your bees are going into Winter and need you to check on the weight of honey (winter feed), and keep monitoring the pollen.  Remember, keep your veil handy, your smoker lit, and your hive tool sharp.

Well, it looks like I am going to kick off the State Fair this year. It will start at 4:00 pm tomorrow, Oct 20th, which is Thursday. For all of you that haven’t participated in some kind of a fair honey booth, then you have missed a great opportunity to talk about bees, pollination, safety around stinging insects, and maybe get names for possible new beekeepers.

We usually have at least two people per watch (shift) with one experienced watch beekeeper. That way, the new watch beekeeper will learn what is expected during the fair in the honey booth. This is where we tell the general public about the merits of honey bees and the food chain of the world. (And we hear, “Oooh, I didn’t know that!”)

We also sale honey for the local association. We tell the difference of the honeys in tastes and colors. Did you know there are 140 different varieties of commercially harvested honey in the US? They range from very light yellow that you can read a newspaper through to a very black honey that you cannot see light through. Sweetness from very light to a heavy syrupy sweet. Taste from very mild to very strong with a Kick to it. That is something that most people don’t know.

We will have an observation hive there to show the public. Most people have never seen a bee up close except when they got stung. They marvel at the way the bees have made the comb and cannot believe that the bees manufactured the wax themselves. I guess they thought the bees went to the store and purchased the wax. hehe. That is one of the reasons for having a -show and tell-  at the fair.

“Where is the queen?” “I saw a queen last year and it had a red spot. Why is this one white?” “What?! You painted the dot on the bee? I thought they came like that.” These are some of the questions and statements we hear all the time. People marvel at the knowledge that they don’t know or thought they knew.

Go to the fair, volunteer to work at the club’s honey booth, and meet people. You are a special person because you keep bees. You know a whole lot more about bees than Johnny Q. Public. You will be raised up in their eyes as an extraordinary person and one to listen to. I have little children that I have talked to in school when I gave bee talks, come up dragging their parents and hugging my leg or waist because I have become a friend by showing and talking about my bees in class. Great Feeling!

What ever you do, just remember to check your honey and pollen stores in your hives, because they are going into their winter right now. You will be going into your winter next month. If there is not enough honey or pollen, then you must feed sugar water or HFCS and pollen substitute.

What ever you do, keep you veil handy, your smoker lit, and your hive tool sharp.

Mentoring is teaching. Teaching is an art. Not everyone can be an artist. It takes a special person to teach. I am not a teacher, but I know some things that maybe you don’t. So I will let my fingers do the walking across this keyboard and see what comes up.

Mentoring is like communication. Transferring ideas and knowledge from one person to another. There are ways in which you can do this so the people are receptive, and there are ways in which the people are turned off and will close their minds and not tune into new ideas no matter what you do.

I have been known to use visual aids to get my point across and sometimes, I use only audio aids. The main thing is to be interesting and keep their minds focused on the presentation.

Number one in the countdown of information transference is the volume of the speakers voice. I have fallen asleep more times because I couldn’t hear what was being said.  Talking in a conversation setting is alright if you are one or two or even three to one. But if you are in an auditorium or large room with 10 to 50 or 100 people without a PA (Public Address system) then you have to raise the volume of your speech so it will project to the back of the room.

Have you tried to talk or listen to a speaker and someone is talking in the back of the room? It not only takes away from the speaker, but it shows disrespect to the audience also. But if the speaker raises his or her voice, then the noise in the background kind of goes away.

Remember, some in the audience may be hard of hearing. I myself have a hard time understanding the women and children with high voices. That is a range that I seem to have lost. Even hearing aids will not help me. But if the volume is high enough, I can understand what is being said and can follow along.

I think I have started chasing rabbits. Mentoring is what beekeepers do for newbies. The mentor is showing the ropes to the new beekeepers and answering questions to explain what is going on in the hive and how the colony acts to certain situations.

The mentor treats the new wannabees with respect and dignity, just like he would like to be treated. I know that some of the mentors don’t do this, but they should. When I ask a question, it is because I don’t know the answer. I don’t like to be belittled because I don’t know the information I am seeking.

The mentor should remember that he/she was once in the same spot that the student is now. Always try to answer the questions to the best of your ability, but do not make up an answer. If you don’t know, then say so and say that you will try to find the answer in a certain time frame. If you can’t, then ask another experienced beekeeper.

I may joke with the new beekeeper, but I will not give false information about the bees under any circumstance. I try to keep my integrity intact so that my character is not compromised.

You, the mentor, should listen to your young protege and help him to understand what he is concerned about. The mark of a good mentor is to be able to use words that the listener can understand. Have patience. The young one really is more scared of you than you are of him. You should be able to set him at ease so he won’t be afraid that he will show his ignorance and stop listening to you. It tickles me to have a new beekeeper call me at home with questions. It shows that I have bonded  with him or her and he feels comfortable with me.

As a mentor, you need to show and tell until the newbie is comfortable with the bees then have him or her start handling the frames and tell you what they see. They will gradually grow proficient with handling bees and equipment then you can let them go so they can continue on by themselves until they hit a snag.

That’s all there is to it boys and girls. It is easy once you know how. Don’t forget to check your own bees. They may need your help too! Have a great day.

Have you ever wondered about beekeepers in general? They are a breed apart from the world’s idea of farmers. There are chicken farmers that produce eggs. There are farmers that incubate eggs to hatch chicks. Farmers that raise pullets (frying chicken) from baby chicks. Then there are farmers that raise broilers (older chickens [chicken and dumplings]). Then there are those farmers that starts the cycle over by raising hens to lay more eggs. That is just one type of farmer.

Then you have hog farmers with the same variations, horse farmers, cattle farmers, sheep and goats, dog farmers for various type of dogs, (sled dogs, cattle dogs, sheep dogs, rescue dogs, service  dogs). Then you have your city working dogs, and this breaks down into a large number of types of dogs including police dogs for catching bad guys and dogs sniffing for dope, dogs for finding natural gas leaks, seeing eye dogs, hearing dogs, helping dogs for wheel chair bound people. And all this is before they leave the farm/training to go to work.

I could go on and on with other kinds of farmers, such as, fish farmers and bird farmers – and this one can be broken down to game birds of all kinds and domestic birds like ducks and geese for food restaurants, etc. You get the point.

One of the things all beekeepers should know is the differences in honeybees, bumble bees, carpenter bees, hornets, yellow jackets, and wasps.(Because the general public thinks if it flies and stings, it is a honey bee.) I daresay that most people knows that a yellow jacket makes its nest in the corner of the patio ceiling until they find out you are a beekeeper, then all those same yellow jackets and all their friends  turn into flying stinging honey bees. That’s all there is to it. Mind goes into neutral and just slips into limbo. Don’t ask me why, I really don’t know either.

It take a special kind of person, man or woman – boy or girl, to be a beekeeper. We used to have three levels of beekeepers. Small, medium, and large. Ok, I’ll ‘splain. Hobbyist, sideliner, commercial. However, the banks and government will not give loans or grants to help you with your hobby. That is a recreational activity. They will give loans and grants to a small business, so we have dropped the hobbyist beekeeper from our vocabulary. Now we have small business beekeepers and commercial beekeepers.

Should be ’nuff said, but, my Darling Princess Bride has coined another word. Of the small business beekeepers, it was broken down to two kinds. Bee keeper and Bee haver. My wife has accused me of beeing a third kind of bee man. She says, “You are no longer even a bee haver. You are a Bee Talker!” I wonder if it is because I am scheduled to talk about bees at fairs, flea markets, festivals, school classes, and orginizations (both children and adults) approximately 150 to 200 times a year.

I guess “procrastination” is a word that should be in my everyday vocabulary list as I have even forgot to start saving money for the Bee College and now it is doubtful that I can make it this year to Orlando to the 91st Florida State Convention. Bee College is in conjunction with that event.

I will, however, continue to write these posts and keep you appraised of the proceedings of the Bee College and the State convention.

Well I need to stop this and get busy with the project(s) at hand. I am sure that Momma would like to see something accomplished today. hehe

Have a good week and profitable week. Be sure to check the weight of you hives. Your colonies may be weaker than you think at this time of the year, depending on where you are at and what the producing floral sources are doing.