Hive still has bees

We are nearing the end of January with 10 days to go.  I haven't seen any January thaw however for which I was waiting before looking in on the girls.

But if you remember the cedar pillows I put in an empty super to catch any condensation before it drips onto the bees and kills then...I was concerned it needed to be changed.  We had a day that was over 40 degrees over the weekend so quickly changed the pillow, which was wet but not too wet yet.

While there, I put my ear down and hear them buzzing below.  That was good enough for me.  Back on the cover went and I secured the board over the top and tucked in some extra insulation I had added to one side of the hive to block wind during the really cold spell.

Getting the wax ready for candles

For the past year or two, I've been saving any beeswax that comes off the hive.  I just put it into a freezer bag and freeze it until I'm ready to clean it and get it ready for use.  A few weeks ago, I spent some time cleaning the wax and melting it down.

1) First I wash it in cool water (too hot and it'll melt).  Here I'm just trying to remove the honey stuck to the wax.

2) After cleaning, I dried it off as best I could using paper towels or letting it just sit on the towels

3) Melt the wax.  At this point, it will have lots of stuff mixed in include parts of bees, whole bees (only a few), pollen and even wood scrapings.

4) Once melted, strain it through paper towels to catch everything but the wax itself.

5) I read that empty milk cartons are good to use because after the wax dries, you can cut away the container.  So I used an empty milk carton to try it.  It worked great.  Only I didn't need to cut it away. The wax, once dried, came out easily into a square that was 1-2 inches think.  That's a good size for when you are ready to melt them later on.  A half and half container would work too, giving you a narrower chuck of wax to work with for other projects.

6) Put the wax away until candle-making day.

Coming soon!

January 7, 2015 -- a cold, cold day ahead

It is COLD outside. Today, if you believe the weather experts, will be about the coldest here. But it's still above, not below, freezing. I guess that's some consolation. I was describing to a friend last night that my entire life in the winter revolves around wood.

• Get up and build a fire at 6AM using wood split and brought onto the porch ready for morning
• Build fire
• Order wood for next year
• Stack new wood out of the way of this year's wood supply during any free time in the day
• Split the wood for tonight
• Load tonight's wood into wheelbarrel and bring it onto the porch
• Midday, build tonight's fire
• With now empty wheel barrel get the morning's firewood
• Back to the woodshed
• Split another load
• Gather whatever kindling and birch bark is available
• Put it on the porch for the morning fire
• Start evening fire
• Try to make room for new wood in woodhouse so I don't have to stack and move it more than once

On to the bees...
Meanwhile, I worry about my bees.  I have a chaise lounge cushion that was down cellar so I brought that to the hive yesterday to form a better wind block and additional insulation for the bees. No signs of bees yesterday. I'm sure they were in a cluster in the center of the hive, keeping warm.



The hive on the left was my strongest hive and as of last week when I got stung, they were pretty feisty so I'm hoping they survive this cold spell.  The second hive, I think, took a beating in the bear attack last July. I watched the hive during the late summer into fall and it seemed to have less and less activity.  I suspected they lost their queen.

I looked into the hive on a warm day a few weeks ago and saw no activity.  Perhaps there were bees down below but I couldn't hear anything either.  I suspect that hive is empty now.

So what's my plan?

I'm going to try not to buy bees this year.  Last year was expensive with new bees, new fence and even some new equipment.  This year, IF my one hive survives, I'll feed them as early as I can, even this winter, and try to make it a strong hive quickly. (Of course that's only my goal!)

Then I will divide that hive into a second hive and probably buying a queen for the second hive. If I were going to buy bees, now is the time to get them ordered.  If I end up losing both my hives this winter, I'll have to scramble in the spring hoping to find bees at that late date.