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.

My get through the winter list of things to do

I like to write in this blog even though I've been a slacker lately.  It's a good outlet to just put  my thoughts down on things that interest me. And since other than family and friends, nature is what interests me, and I don't really like cold, I need to figure out what to do to keep me interested and happy in the winter months.

Here are some things I hope to do this winter.

• Make candles from the beeswax I've saved
• paint some outdoor chairs that are rusting
• pick up a needlepoint of a starfish and complete it so I can use as a pillow or wall decoration in Maine
• Ride 5 miles on my exercise bike at least 4 times a week
• Go ice skating
• Curl up and read good books with a hot drink beside me
• Spend hours with seed catalogs getting ready for spring!
• Clean the greenhouse and wash the seed trays
• Use scrap wood to make structures and/or planters for the garden

Secondly, I was pleasantly surprised to find a few Blog comments the other day...they were sent a year or so ago...but they somehow landed in my google account.  It was so gratifying to hear that this blog had inspired a woman to not mow as much lawn but instead keep or plant low-growing plants instead.  YES!  That's what it's  all about. 

A sharing of knowledge or lack thereof!  Keep the comments coming in. They're great!

Thanksgiving storm

We'll see if it happens, but an 8-12-inch snow storm is expected starting tomorrow.

I'm thankful, of course, for my family and friends but my bee-related thanks are for these things.

• I came home from summering in Maine 6 weeks ago to enable me to get some stuff done before snow came...which ended up coming very early so glad I did it in time.
• Then before the cold snap about 10 days ago, just before, I wrapped my hives in roofing paper and added bales of hay around 3 sides...again, whew..I just made it.
• I also added the cedar filled pillows that, hopefully, with fingers crossed, will take care of the moisture in the hive.  I added the pillows to a super with a screen stapled to the bottom so bees can't get to it.  I made two pillows per hive so that as one pillow gets wet from condensation dripping down, I will swap out the wet for the dry pillow. I swapped out the pillows just before the storm but they weren't too wet yet...again, I think that's a good thing.
•  I'm thankful I closed up the entrance, leaving just about a 1 inch opening. Last year, I forgot. This is to keep cold out out of the hive as much as possible, while leaving a small opening for bees to get out as they need to (one note on that...I should have a one-inch hole somewhere near the top of of the top deep hive so that, if snow accumulates, they have another opening...also just for ventilation.)  I haven't done that yet until I have an empty deep hive.  I can't very well do it with bees inside.   I've yet to see an explanation on how others do that. I'm thankful I remembered this detail this year.
• I have a bee food source in patty form that I made a year or so ago.  So far, the bees haven't touched it in either hive.  I hope it's because they have plenty of honey so don't have to resort to that.

Now it's December 1 and see several months ahead of cold weather. I do hope I've improved my bee knowledge enough to get through the winter. 

Getting ready to winterize the hives

I've gone two months without posting anything!  It's been an interesting summer trying to be a beekeeper when I wasn't living where the bees are. It made me nervous and then there were two bear incidents and a new fence and new electric solution which I'll try next year.  This year, I used the same battery pack controller as in the past few.  Next year, I'll use a car battery to operate the fence since it'll last longer without losing its charge.

However, even with the trouble, in late August, I extracted about 5 gallons of honey.  I was surprised I got that much after the bear visits.  But getting Jeff over to install a new fence quickly and getting it electrified with a strong current really helped save the hive.  It's expensive honey though when you add up all the costs.

Mouse guard on hive that is wrapped for the winter.

A few weeks ago, I noticed that the  mouse guard for one of the hives was laying on the ground about 3 feet away from the hive.  I opened the hive, and looked at some frames and didn't see any mouse signs.  I thought for sure that was what knocked the guard off the hive entrance.  I hope it's in place when I go back next week.

Mouse guards typically go on the hive in the fall when mice are looking for a warm place to live. Later on, say November in the Northeast, it will be replaced by the entrance reducer using its smallest opening.  This helps block out cold air.

It's getting near the time to winterize the hive.  This year, I will use cedar shavings in pillowcases that I've made.  These will catch any moisture that drips from condensation.  I will have 4 so that I always have two dry to replace the two in the hives.

I'm trying to decide whether or not to wrap in roofing paper.  I was told by a Maine beekeeper that the paper needs to lay out in the sun for some number of hours prior to using it.  That gets rid of toxins in the paper.  It also might be what killed my bees last winter.  I've read that many beekeepers don't wrap their hives and the bees survive.  I think I might be able to do that if I pile bales of hay around them as insulation.  Of course, that attracts mice too so some people don't use hay for that reason.  But I have not noticed mice around but I've seen a few snakes around the hay.

I believe I can keep this fence in place all year without needing to remove it.  The old sheep fence had to be brought in.  I was always nervous about when to  bring it in...I needed to be sure the bears were in hibernation first.  But this year, I will check, but think it stays in place. I may not have to electrify it in the winter though so I'll move that unit in or cover it.

So I'm feeling it's time to go to Vt. and spend the winter as I have a lot to do there.  Speaking of the Vermont house, if you remember, I built a $40 patio a year or two ago and I wanted to report on it, after some time has gone by.

Here are some thoughts:

1.   Weeds just love wood chips. They will creep in quickly.  Notice the mint growing to the right in image above. I'm I'm struggling to keep it in check.  I'm pulling out the most vigorous roots I've ever seen for mint and I know they have strong roots already. These roots are huge and far-reaching!

Bugleweed

Also, I love bugle weed but not on my patio.  Bugleweed is great for places that are eroding because it grows fast, and spreads fast.  It also flowers a beautiful deep blue in the spring. But I'm needing to pull it out of my patio by the handful.  I am reusing some of it in a hilly area where I've had trouble growing anything else and hope it fills it in.

2.  You'll need to keep replacing the chips as they decompose.  My patio needs another layer of wood chips that I hope to get to before the snow flies. Fortunately, I have a pile left that needs to be used.

3.  I've used wood chips on my pathway to the side of the house as well as the patio.  What I found on the pathway is that it's sloped, and the wood chips are light so they wash down to the bottom of the slope in heavy rain.  And we've had a lot of heavy rain.  So I'm needing to rake it back in place quite a lot.  And because some washes right onto the lawn, I seem to lose more of the chips so they'll need replacing too.

4. Use wood chips on flat areas.  I think the pathway would be better with pea stone or maybe even slightly larger stone so it doesn't wash away.