Offering Maitake mushroom aka Hen of the Woods

Like I said when I started this blog, it will sometimes veer off course. Today, I am thinking about my mushroom find earlier this week.  I took a lunchtime walk out on my neighbor's land where, a few years ago, I had found Maitake on a huge oak tree that had fallen over and uprooted from the ground.
The Maitake fruited at the base of the tree which is now protected by the soil that used to be under it but now is above it.  So any under the tree roots were almost pure white.  I filled my basket!

I wish I had taken a photo of them first!  But these, I ended up drying what I didn't give to my daughter. A precious few one ounce packages of dried Maitake are now being offered on ebay.

My stash of dried Hen of the Woods (Maitake).

According to Dr. Andrew Weil, "Maitake: This delicious Japanese mushroom is also called "hen of the woods" because it grows in big clusters that resemble the fluffed tail feathers of a nesting hen. You should be able to find these mushrooms dried or fresh in Japanese markets, gourmet foods stores, or upscale supermarkets. Extracts are also widely available. Maitake has anticancer, antiviral, and immune-system enhancing effects and may also help control both high blood pressure and blood sugar levels."



Plus, they're delicious.

Bees are gone

I promised I'd report on my progress or lack thereof, so I will.  But I'm definitely not happy to report that all my bees have died.  There were so few left that other bees came in and started feeding on the honey.  I don't know if the other bees killed the honey bees or not.

When I went out yesterday to put roofing paper around the hive, I didn't hear anything!  So I opened it up to find it empty of all but some dead bees on the bottom board.

So I packed up my hives and put them away.  I took what honey was left and it's now safely in the freezer.  I'll extract it at some point.

Then, I will start off fresh in the spring with a Nuc which will give me a good start.  I will not even think about expanding my hive next year.  My goal will be to keep my one hive going and get it strong.

What lessons have I learned?

1. Don't try expanding the hive unless it's very early in the season
2. Watch for swarms on hives more than a year old. (this year's main issue)
3.  I will not buy bees from the same vendor next year since I had terrible luck with my bees for the two years when I bought from them.  It's probably not at all their fault...but now I'm a bit superstisous.
4.  Attend the bee meetings to keep on learning
5. Continue with the fence system which worked out great this year.

That's all for now.  Next year is another attempt!

Discouraging year

I'm pretty discouraged right now.  I hate to  be negative about this hobby of mine but I'm feeling pretty negative right now.

I did a hive check yesterday and saw that there were bees in there that didn't belong.  Also, behind the mouse guard, where bees come in and out, there was a pile of dead bees.  Then as I looked at the frames, a lot of honey they had built for winter food, were already emptying out.  No way will there be enough for the winter.

There are very few bees now.  I saw no signs of a queen...again.  So I lost two queens this summer.

1) one that went with the swarm
2) the replacement queen for the remaining hive

Started off with high hopes

I don't know how/why things went so poorly.  Especially since I wintered over my hive last year and started off with a very strong hive.  But....that's the one that swarmed. 

• The swarm was the start of the downward spiral.  I lost the queen and it took me a few weeks to realize what had happened and then more time to try to fix it.
• I also tried to split the hive into two but now suspect I did that after the swarm ...so that compounded the downward spiral
• As a last effort, I merged the two hives and bought a new queen for it.  More adjustment time for the bees and they started to act like they had a queen again....but by this time, it was too late in the season.

Now, I don't think I will bother to do anything much.  I will and already have added their insulation with the cedar shavings.  And I will add roofing paper around it.  I may put in a pattie or two just in case, but I expect to lose them all this winter. 

I will start out in the spring with a Nuc which will start me off with a new hive and thriving queen. And see how next year goes.  Next year I won't need to worry about a swarm, but the following year, I will if next year goes well. It's something new to me so I will be looking for it after this year's loss.

Mushroom season is here! 10/5/15

Although it's been dry through September, the Bolete's have been abundant and I've found such perfect specimens that I couldn't help but pick them.  A lot of them.  I have dried enough to sell a few so if, in the winter, you want to make a healthy stew or soup, having dried mushrooms on hand can add a lot of flavor to your recipes.  They keep forever.  Buy dried mushrooms here. These were picked in southern Vermont this season.

A few for sale

Dried Boletus Mushroom mix

Just for show

A few days ago, I took a walk in a hilly location outside Keene, NH, and saw a white clump on a standing tree off the trail a bit.  I walked over for a close look and it turned out to be Hericium Coralloides.  I will ask my mushroom experts to confirm that based on the photos below.  Never eat a mushroom unless it's been properly identified by someone who knows mushrooms....not me. Listen to the experts on identification.

Not all my Hericium  mushrooms were  young enough to cook and eat.  Notice the differences in color.  I didn't cook this brown one.   Only the pure white was cooked.  I actually composted another clump like this brown one below.

This is the brown Coral tooth-fungus that didn't get eaten

Notice the difference in color. I cooked the white only.  I wish I'd gotten to that tree a bit sooner.

chopped and in the pan

Almost cooked but I cooked until brown like you see in that little
 bowl which was a mix of boletes and sweet-tooth mushrooms

Now having had some rain, I expect there will be other great finds during this mushroom season.  Can't wait.

Small steps toward winter preparation - 9/24/15

I went into the hive today to see how things are looking.  I still have bees, which is a good thing, but I don't see much brood and I couldn't find the queen either.  But the hives feel pretty heavy so hoping there is enough food in there for the winter...but am not really that sure so I've made more sugar syrup that I will give them.

I added on the mouse guard.  Last year, I wondered why  it kept ending up on the ground until I saw a video that showed it being screwed in.  So today, I screwed it in to keep it in place.

I also added a super with the cedar pillow for some insulation, even though nights aren't terribly cold yet.  Nights are still in the 40's here in southern Vermont.  But a cold spell could happen any minute so I wanted to be prepared.

A bit later, I will add the roofing paper around the hive for added insulation and will pack a few bales of hay around the hive too.  I generally add a piece of plywood over the top cover too to prevent the front of the hive from getting rain or snow hitting it.  I cleaned out a lot of old wood from my basement this year so hope I've kept a good board for this purpose.

So basically I'm done for the season.  I am certain I'll be purchasing a Nuc for next spring.  I still want to grow to two hives so starting with a Nuc as opposed to a package of bees will give me a better start toward that goal.

I also still have the electric fence in operation.  I will keep that going until I'm sure the bears are in hibernation.

Sept. 6 - Flower gardens helping one healthy hive

The one hive appears to be doing really good during today's checkup.  I wanted to inspect all of it.  Here's what I found:

1.  The syrup in the top box was not empty and it looked to have a sort of mold skimming the top so I dumped it and added fresh syrup.

2. The next box down, the white deep, was pretty heavy with honey, capped and uncapped. And lots of pretty yellow and orange pollen in there too.  This is good news since that's what they'll be eating all winter.

3.  The bottom deep is coming along.  I saw some of the frames perfectly laid out with capped honey on the top  and brood and pollen below.  I saw plenty of larvae on some of the frames.  I hope there's enough time to see these turn into bees before cold weather hits.

It's probably a good time to take a look at the bee's surroundings at the end of this summer here in southern Vermont.  Of course the bees don't all stay close to home to gather nectar and pollen...they'll travel up to 5 miles and somehow find their way back.

Some of the golden colored pollen comes from these sunflowers and saw a bunch of my bees on them yesterday.  Down the hill is loaded with goldenrod...not fun for the sinuses but great for the bees.

I didn't see any pink pollen in the hive but something is helping them bloom as lush as they are.

In front of the hive are a few wood chairs where I like to sit in the evening and watch bee action. Finally the morning glories are blooming.  Not as lush as I'd like to see them but each year, it seems better and better.

To the right of the driveway is my spring garden where there are daffodils, tulips sometimes, if I keep planting them, vinca, violets, and hyacinths. I'm in the process of dressing it up for the fall with potted marigolds, sedum, potted zinias and corn stalks.  When pumpkin are ready a few will go here as well. (Fence hides compost bins and it's made of misc wood lengths and widths. I saw it done on TV and loved the idea of recycling the wood.)

One of three drying racks for the calandula that is growing in the garden. I will dry it, use some, and sell the rest on ebay later on.

This is the area where I let the goldenrod take over behind the fence.  There's a hill there and lots of goldenrod like it, as well as other yellow fall flowers.  On this side of the fence, there is a new crop of dianthus that I started this year.  I have a few other colors that were elsewhere in the yard and I'll add them here. In the spring, there is a beautiful old fashioned rosebush in bloom here.  If I'm lucky, another rosebush will be there in the spring, the Cecil Brunner rose.  It doesn't like our winters here, and I often lose it, even when insulating it with leaves etc.  I have been nursing one in a pot this summer so if I can keep it alive, it will go here at the fence in the spring.  I may try housing it in the unheated greenhouse which should be warmer than the ground outside.

So, for now, there seems to be enough food the the bees, in my yard and outside of it.

from two to one

So today I got out to the hive again and reduced the three deep hives to two.  I looked at each frame and put ones that had brood or eggs in them to the bottom box.  In the top box, I added all the frames that had honey or comb.  That way, with comb on the frames, there will be less work for the bees to do.  They won't need to make comb.

I don't know how it'll all work out.  We shall see.

I did look into Hive #1, that should be empty but there were bees still in there so I left it alone.  I thought I saw eggs in there so now I question if there's still a queen in there...or if there's a queen in Hive #2 for that matter. 

I'm doubting everything at this moment.  I basically want the summer to end and see what the spring brings.  But between now and then, perhaps they'll make enough brood to increase their numbers.

There seemed to be a decent quantity of honey in Hive #2 and if they keep producing, there should be enough for the winter.  IF there's still a queen in there.

For two nights, I watched the hive and didn't see bees bringing in pollen.  I could have missed them or maybe the queens killed each other off.  I really don't know.  Time will tell.

What a challenging hobby

Well, this will end up being another losing year in terms of money spent versus honey production...sad to say.  I guess the big event that caused me trouble is that Hive #1 swarmed in July.  Since then, Hive #1 has been struggling.  And of course, Hive #2, that I started with high hopes ended up needing  a queen after about a month so it's off to a slow start.

Today I combined the two hives into one

August 9 merged hive 1 into hive 2

What I did was take the 10 best frames from hive #1 and added that deep to the top of Hive #2, with only a sheet of newspaper separating the hives.  After a week, I will go into the hive and check that they are all happily combined into one.

Then I will consolidate the three boxes into two, taking the best frames from each to populate the two remaining deeps.  The goal is to get as much brood into the bottom deep (in the case, the dark blue box) and as much honey into the upper deep (the light blue box).

Why did I do this merger?

In looking at the hives from my chair, I saw that Hive 1 was doing nothing at all.  Hive 2 seemed to be doing better than it has for a month.  Then I looked at all the frames in Hive 1 and, I saw a lot wrong.  I saw frames with uncapped honey and pollen and frames with uncapped brood.  I didn't find the queen but it have been there and is just weak.

I'm not sure if a queen made it into the upper box in the new combined hive...it shouldn't be there.  If it's there, one of the queens will die.  There can be only one queen bee per hive.

My goal is to make the hive strong before the winter and given where they are today, I figured I'd better do it now to give a few months for them to make enough honey to store for the winter.

I will get no more honey this year for myself.  I think I am only going to have a couple of gallons...none to sell...barely any to give away.

It's disappointing.

A swarm was the undoing...I think

In retrospect, my mistake was not seeing that last year's Hive, that wintered over so wonderfully, was so strong that it was going to swarm.

I read that many beekeepers just look at the bottom of the bottom hive and if they see honeycomb being built down there, the bees are probably making queen cells, an indication of a swarm.  I should have gone in there in June to remove any cells.  I didn't do that.  I will be watching for that in the future ...if I'm lucky enough for this new hive to make it through the winter.

Notice that small box at the top of the new hive...it's filled with sugar syrup.  I will be feeding the bees beginning now so that they have help creating enough food for the winter.  If they can do that, and I use my wintering technique that worked so well last year, it should set me up for a good start next year.

Thank goodness I haven't retired yet.  I've got to make all my mistakes before the money stops coming in...this is expensive honey!!

July 31st - bee hive check and add the triangle board

Today, I wanted to add the Triangle Board to Hive #1 because I want to extract one super this weekend.  I think that is all the honey I will get this year.  I had hoped that the second super would be filling up but it is not.  In fact, Hive #1 doesn't seem to have that many bees in there....so I'm anxious to get the honey out while it's still there! 

The Triangle Board is a board that you put in under the super that is filled with honey.  Bees will go down into the deep hive at the endof the day, but they won't be able to figure out how to get back up into the super...so that makes it easy for us beekeepers to get the super off the  next day without bees in that box.

While I was there, I looked in on Hive #2.  I was very pleased to see signs of a queen and some brood in the lower deep.  I've noticed more bees in that hive while watching them in the evening so was glad to see firsthand that they are doing ok.

We'll see what the next few months bring.  Right now, I am thinking I may need to combine the hives over the winter based on the population I see today.  But we'll see what happens.

I think that after I extract the honey from Hive 1, I will put it back on that hive.  The second super that's on there doesn't have comb so the bees first need to make comb before they can fill it...I can help them out by putting the super back on that has the comb on it.

Watching the bees July 16th

An evening ritual, weather permitting, in the summer, I like to take a glass of wine out near the beehives, sit in my adirondack chair and watch the beehives.  I try to gauge its health by doing so...plus it's relaxing.

Last night, I saw the bees bringing in an off-white pollen and occasionally a bright orange pollen.  I always wonder what flowers they are in to gather them.  Then I looked around and realized I have a lot of Black Eyed Susans blooming, and all the creeping thyme, creeping everywhere, is in bloom still and they are an off-white right now.

Or they could have flown up to 5 miles away so who knows where they are gathering.  I have an Agway down the street, and Walker Farm less than 5 miles away...great sources of pollen and nectar.

Both hives seemed to be doing well.  They act like they both have queens.  I'd just like to see more bees around Hive#2 but hopefully soon I will.  I don't think there's been enough time for the frames I added to have hatched the bees.  But I was pleased at the amount of activity regardless.

Frustration on July 1

Yesterday I went into the hive to take a few frames of brood from Hive 1 and add them to Hive 2. The reason for this was to have brook born in Hive 2 to strengthen the hive.  They need the worker bees to help the queen thrive.

As you know, Hive 1 made it through the winter and started out very strong.  In fact, I was worried that they might swarm because the hive was so full.  I had been thinking of taking out some brood frames but didn't for a lot of reasons.  Mainly because I hadn't done it before.  So I waited...too long I fear.

When I opened Hive 1, I was surprised how easy it was because I didn't have swarms of bees all around me like the last time.  I lifted off the super loaded with honey (I must extract that next week!), the mostly empty new super, then the top bottom deep, and began checking frames in the bottom deep...that's where most of the brood should be.

I looked at several frames that had very little on them.  At the end, I found a few frames with some brood but not that many bees...some but not loaded....and put them aside for Hive 2.

I continued looking at frames and one frame, in particular, had wax built up in one corner of the frame, like a large bulge...they looked like drone cells though. I'm not sure.  In the middle of it was what looked like a queen cell.  And I left it there, for better or for worse.

To me, it looks like that hive swarmed but part of the colony stayed and maybe they are making themselves a queen.  There also looked to be some larvae in the cells on a few frames.  And there were clusters of bees in certain sections.  So that told me I may still have a queen but I never saw her. Perhaps she's getting old. This would be her second year with me.

I probably shouldn't have taken out those two frames for Hive 2.  It may weaken Hive 1 too much. But it's done and we'll just have to see what happens next.  It's an interesting process, this beekeeping.

My strategy for the rest of the season is to let it go.  If a queen dies, let them make a new one.

I will harvest my honey next week so I at least have that.  If the hives are not thriving at the end of the season..September-ish, I will merge them into one hive to obtain a stronger hive that would help them make it through the winter.  Perhaps I wasn't meant to have two hives.

A constant reminder that I am a newbie beekeeper

As you readers already know, I had to get a new queen for my Hive #2.  The first one disappeared and the hive had stopped thriving.  Two weeks ago, I added the queen to the hive.  After 3 or 4 days, I checked on her, to see if she'd eaten her way out (eating the candy plug) yet.  I also worried that I placed her between frames but didn't expose the screened side to the colony...and worried I might have suffocated my queen.

So when moving the queen cage, trying to fix her to expose the screen to the colony, it fell to the bottom of the hive.  By then, bees were attacking me, trying to get through my beekeeper's suit (thankfully I bought that protection!).  When I saw that the cage landed with the screen up, and the queen was still moving around, I left well enough alone and closed up the hive.

Yesterday, now 10 days later, I decided to see if I still had a queen or if she got out of her cage.

I opened the hive and saw a mound of bees around the cage at the bottom of the hive.  This time, I reached down to get the cage in hand.  And there was my queen, feisty and seemingly in good health! But she didn't seem to want to come out of the cage, even though the candy was gone and she could.  So I removed the screen from the cage, giving her more space to exit, and then shook it over the hive and then I removed the cage from the hive.

I then closed up the hive.

However today I need to help her out and take some brood from Hive #1 and add a few frames of bees and brood from #1 to #2.  If I don't do that, she won't have enough workers in the hive because the ones I bought in April are now dying away.  Hive #1 is packed with bees so they could lose a few to Hive #2 and, so I read, this will strengthen #2 and give them time build their numbers before cold weather comes. They need each other to make it through the winter.

While I'm in Hive #2 today, I will move the full super to the top of the hive so that, when I'm ready to extract, it'll be easier to put on the triangle board.  This hive is very aggressive right now with all that honey in there.  I should extract soon...I may decide to put the triangle board on so that tomorrow I could get that super inside and extract the honey.  It's pretty heavy for me.  I took two frames out a few weeks ago just to lighten it up.

I find lifting these hives can be difficult for a woman...at least for this woman! Over time, I hope to migrate from the deeps to mediums so that each section of the hive is lighter.  Either that or I build more muscle.

All this activity reminds me that I'm no expert here.  I am learning new things every step of the way. This procedure of building one hive using the brood of another makes sense to me.  We'll see how it goes.

June 20 - a week of bee beards, stings and a new queen

It's been an interesting week with the bees.

Hive #2 gets a new queen

Last week, I finally came to the conclusion that I was without a queen in the new hive (#2).  So thanks to Charles Andros in Alstead, NH, I was able to pick up a queen from him, and put it in the hive.  While doing that, I decided to remove the super I had added because we are just  not ready for that yet.  They need to lay some brood and perhaps no super will be needed all summer because they also need to draw out comb on new frames.  Currently there's a mix of old/new frames in that hive.  So they have a lot of work to do before making honey for my use.  They do seem to be making honey for their own use though.

The queen came in its cage with the candy plus but also a piece of tape covering the candy.  I left that on until today, making 4 days with the queen in the hive in the cage.  I did this to give the bees a bit more time to get used to the queen's pheronomes...so they don't kill her when she emerges. The tape prevented the bees from getting to the candy, and hence, the queen.

I just went to the hive to check and,thankfully the queen was still alive in the hive because I had the screened portion of the cage facing an empty frame.  NEVER DO THAT.  I was lucky she didn't die.
When I tried to pick up the cage to turn it, it fell to the bottom board toward the back.  Rather than try to reach my hand down there to move it, I left it there.  I will now wait until at least a few more days to see the outcome and hope she gets out and the hive becomes productive.

If it doesn't, I'm giving up on a second hive....at least for this year.

Hive #1 attacks me

It's probably not a good idea to deal with removing any frames from a super during a work day.  I take shortcuts then.  And shortcuts can get you lost...or stung, in the case of bees.

I hadn't been stung much this year which added to my cockiness in thinking I didn't need to take all the precautions.  In honey season, when I go to the hive, I always wear my full suit and bee gloves for protection. And Hive #1 is in honey season.

I generally wear my winter boots under the suit because, although hot, are really thick and no bee can sting through them.  Then the suit legs fit over the boot and I secure it with a strong elastic.  That is the right way to do it.

Well I didn't do that.  I took that shortcut and didn't get out the winter boots.  Instead I just covered my suit legs with a pair of socks and wore my gardening shoes.

The result was multiple sticks around my ankles and a few on my wrist  but mostly the ankles. I was feeling pretty resentful

Hive #1 had beards all over the front

When bees get too hot in the hive, they hangout outside along the front and maybe sides of the hive.  That's what I was seeing last week.

I knew my first super was full and I thought it was preventing any air flow in the hive so I wanted to remove at least a few frames of honey to give them some circulation in there.  I did that but it did cost me a bunch of stings.

Again, I took a shortcut. I didn't use my smoker and just grabbed my bee brush to brush off any bees and hundreds of bees were flying around me.  Angry.  I can't really blame them.

I plopped the two honey laden frames into the bin, covered it, and headed to the basement.  Then because I have no energy left, and no time, I put them into the freezer until I'm ready to extract more.

I think that I may try to extract in about a week.

Full super

June 7th, 2015

I went into the hives to especially see how the new one (Hive 2) was doing because I was concerned about the activity.  I'm still trying to figure it out.

Remember that I bought a package of bees rather than a Nuc.  I think it was my first package and perhaps that is my confusion.  Growth seems to be very slow.

I have two deeps on the hive, and added a super as well, but the real activity is still in the lowest deep where, when I finally got to it, had a small number of larvae which told me the queen must still be there.  However there was also a lot of uncapped honey and very little pollen.

I know there's a lot of pollen outside because Hive 1 is brimming with pollen and honey and I watch the bees going into the hive loaded with pollen.  Yet in Hive 2, I see a loaded bee come in but not nearly as often.  Is that because I just don't have that many bees yet?  Or something else?

In Hive 2, bees also had to make honeycomb since I didn't have enough frames with comb, so I think that might have held them up a little.  Are they trying to build comb instead of foraging for pollen?

I was happy to see some larvae in the lower deep, but I'm still a little concerned about this hive.  I'll keep watching.

Perhaps my queen is on her way out?

Hive 1 is a totally different story!

When I opened up this hive to see how things were going, I saw that the first super was totally full of honey.  I really could have pulled off the entire super and extracted honey!  So early!  But I wasn't prepared to do it that day so instead, I added on another empty super and let them go to work on that. However, I'll need to set aside a day soon and extract the honey from the first super.

I didn't look into the two deeps because I couldn't lift the super.  I'll need to empty it of most of the honey in order to see anything below.  It's just too heavy and I'm afraid I'd drop it.  That wouldn't be a pretty picture. Ouch.

Keep the grass clipped around fence

Today, I noticed that grass had sprung up around the electric fence.  I have roofing shingles laid on the ground under it but it's surprising, still, how quickly grass and weeds grow between any cracks or to each side of the ground cover.  I'm glad I checked.  Anything touching the fence wires causes a reduction of electrical charge.  That's what happened last year.  While away, grass grew and touched the fence wires which weakened the charge and the bears attacked the hive...and came back for more!  A nightmare that I don't want to have happen again.

So keep the grass clipped to make sure nothing touches your fence wires!

May 27th and bees doing well

I've been watching the bees all month and can report that things look pretty normal.

The left hive is loaded with bees and I think I'll be taking off the entrance reducer soon because, with this hot weather, the entrance is pretty crowded.  I think the hive is strong enough to keep out any enemies.  I may wait one more week though.

The right hive is the new one.  It's interesting to see them side by side because the new hive has much fewer bees.  I study it to make sure the bees are bringing in lots of pollen and it seems they are.  I haven't wanted to go back into the hive again after disrupting them a few times a few weeks ago.  But I will go into both hives next week and give them a good inspection:

• clean out any comb that is where it shouldn't be, or in a pattern that's odd like the one I showed on May 7th in this blog
• scrape off propolis that might be causing frames and boxes to fuse together
• check to make sure I see cells filled with larvae since that'll tell me I still had a queen within a few days
• clean out any debris or dead bees if needed

With my new marine battery, I'm not worrying about changing D cell batteries monthly and hoping they don't run out sooner.  I recharged the battery a week ago and it only took 20 minutes to recharge.  fIt had about 3 weeks of use at the time so if I'm carefully to not let any grass or plants touch the wire, I should be ok for at least a few months before needing to recharge.

However, I will be checking it often anyway, to make sure.

Pollen colors

I find it fun to check on the color of the pollen the bees are bringing in.  Over the past few weeks, it's bright orange, lemon yellow and an off-white color.  When I open the hive and look at frames, I expect those are the colors I'll see on the frames too. 

Bees loving the moss on rocks around pond

Bees on moss

As I was getting ready to drain my pond to clean it and separate the water lilies, I realized that bees were flocking to the moss on a few of the rocks.  I've never noticed that before, but I've seen the bees drinking the water when they can find a leaf or other safe spot to drink without drowning. Perhaps they are drinking from the moisture in the moss.

bees on moss that grows on rocks around pond

 Yesterday, May 6th, I went into the two hives to see how they were doing.

A look at Hive #1

Hive #1 on left

Hive #1 is the one that survived last winter and I hadn't gone into the bottom deep yet this year so that was one task.  Wow.  I had two broken frames in there and the bees had built comb everywhere, including the sides of the hive.  One of the broken frames, was loaded with brood and I didn't know what to do with it so I put it aside and did some research.  I found that someone mentioned placing it as intact as possible onto a new frame that had no comb on it and use elastics to hold it in place.  The bees would patch it up.  So that's what I did to one of them.  The other broken frame didn't have that much brood on it so I just replaced it with an empty frame.

I'm glad I did it now because I don't get into the bottom deep very often.  Once I have two deeps on, later in the summer, the top deep is too heavy for me to be lifting off so doing it in the spring, when there are fewer bees and less honey in the hive, makes it easier.  The top deep gets looked at and cleaned where needed more often.

Checking Hive#2

Hive #2 looks good.  There were many frames with brood and larvae and pollen and some capped honey...looks like a good, healthy queen is laying lots of eggs. And the comb pattern is normal.

However, I found these two frames with this odd comb pattern shown below. I've never seen this before and wasn't sure what to do.  I ended up putting them back into the hive, hoping they all get filled in eventually.  But then this morning I sent the photo below to the local beekeeping group to see if anyone knows anything about this sort of pattern to see what it means, if anything. I wondered if I should replace these but I don't have any frames that are already built with comb.  If I did, I would have just replaced these with others.  But all I have are bare frames in my "extra" pile. We'll see if anyone else has an answer.

April 30th - and all's well

We're getting off to a good start this year with one hive that wintered over and looks strong.  The second hive is a start-up where I purchased a package of bees and added the early in the month.  The bees seem to be happy and thriving in their new home.

This is the new hive with a package of bees added early April

This is hive that wintered over.  Note how dirty it is!  I need to clean it early morning before the bees come out. I just  made the opening larger because bees were backed up at the entrance

I switched from d-cell batteries to power my electric fence to a marine battery.  This will hold the charge longer so that hopefully I won't run low and bears attack, like last year.   My plan is to pretty up the area with potted plants that can sit on the stumps within the hive area.

I've also set up a viewing area in front of the hives where I get a good view with my binoculars. I love to sit there after work with a glass of wine and watch the bees to see what they're bringing in.  Last night the pollen was pretty bright yellow, where a week ago, it was more cream colored.

I am hoping this area is surrounded by plants later in the season!

my 100th post

I wonder who is listening :).

Today is April 3, 2015 and the temperature in southern Vermont was around 60 degrees.  The bees have been flying around these last few days of warmer temperatures.  So I grabbed my binoculars, and took my coffee with me to my chair near the hives so that I could observe.  I love to do this and this was my first time this year.

What I was surprised to see was them bringing in pollen!  They were coming in with something orange, something white and something more like grey.  The way they are working, I think there must still be a queen in there.  I haven't interrupted them yet but I'm anxious to get a look look sometime soon.

I have peaked in when I change out their cedar pillows, which I did a week or so ago. I can't unwrap them yet nor pull out the cedar pillow...there are still cold nights so I'll hold off on doing that until end of  the month or early May.  Perhaps I'll do it when the new bees arrive.

The bees that survived the winter are my older Italian bees.  The Carolins seemed to disappear after the bear strike last July.

Today, I checked the batteries for the electric fence and barely had enough charge to keep a mouse out of there so I changed the batteries.  Last year, the bear came about the second week of April so I'm on red alert.  I will need to check the batteries daily until I hook up the marine battery I purchased last week.  I am waiting for a local beekeeper to come over and show me this first time so that after this, I can do it on my own.  In the meantime, I'll use my D cell batteries that work fine for shorter times.
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Bees, bees, bees - March 25, 2015

I'm happy to report that my one hive I started with this winter appears to be thriving.  Today was warm enough for the bees to be out and about my yard as I began cleaning the greenhouse.

I remember last year, the bear came in mid-April and tore apart my hives, so I decided to electrify my fence today.  I wasn't sure I could given that there's still snow on the ground.  But I raised the bottom string on my fence above the snow line and put the batteries into the charger and then tested it.  It showed that it was charged.

I'm nervous about a bear because last evening, I saw a grey fox traveling through my back yard so feel like animals are coming out of hibernation.  It's still a bit early but I really don't want to lose this hive or traumatize them.

My goal this season is to not traumatize my bees!

February 22 - the warmest day in weeks!

We had over 40 degree weather today so it was a great day to get out there and shovel off the roof...which I did.  At least as much as I could reach until my energy ran out.

I also shoveled out the truck which had been snowed in now for weeks.  But I'd like to get it started and first I needed to be able to get into it.  

In checking on the bees, I was pleasantly surprised to see bees flying around!

In one hive.  I wasn't sure if I had any left with the bitter cold we've had.  But I did insulate them well and left them with food so I do hope they can make it just a few more months until spring.  I will purchase pollen patties and I also have some of the leftover honey from last fall's extractions.  I've frozen it and once I can get into the hive, I'll try slipping it in there. If they survived this long, though, I must have left them enough honey to last them. 

I've been doing some reading and am not sure I want to feed them with sugar syrup any more.  The article I read was promoting natural habitat ...making sure the bees have enough available pollen and making sure I have the right bees that will survive the climate they are in.  That way, they will get stronger and hopefully birth new, strong bees by feeding them their natural food (pollen).  Giving them imitation food, although they eat it and like it, doesn't help them build themselves up and acclimate to the environment.   Or...something along those lines.

The other hive has animals, probably mice, living in it.  Whatever it was knocked out the entrance reducer which I had taped in place.  That's the hive that has no more bees so I'm not worried about it but as soon as possible, I need to clean it out.  I will add bees  in that hive in April or May.

A neverending winter

February 09, 2015....bitter cold winter, and it's now been snowing for 48 hours.  This is on top of snow several times last week.  It's white all over.  I took color photos today of my house and my beehives. They look like black and white images.  Almost.

A much clearer shot from the inside the woodshed

That much snow on the porch roof is a problem.  I think I will need to get out there.  I already have an ice dam causing issues at the back of the house.  Happy days.

But the snow is at least insulating the bees.  They are still getting by. It's been too cold to open up the hive these past few weeks so I need to leave them alone until the cold abates.  And it looks like we have even colder weather on the way.  And more snow.

It's not very attractive, granted, (nor clear but it was snowing hard outside) but the bees have hay on three sides, a plywood roof, Insulated with cedar shavings to catch any condensation, with food inside...and plenty of snow for insulation too.  I think they should make it.  At least the hive on the left.  The one on the right doesn't seem to have any activity and hasn't for a few months.  So I ended up buying another package of bees for the second hive.

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.