Cut Comb Honey 27 June

I am amazed that my package bees put up a super of honey in spite of this drought.  The honey tastes like clover honey.  It is very light in color and mild in flavor.  I like it better than last year's crop.  I only had two frames completely sealed, but just couldn't wait and pulled them today and packaged them up.  Cut comb is the only kind of honey I produce.  Last year I gave it all away to friends and family, but this year I am going to try to sell some of it.

Milkweed Blooming today, June 8th

Milkweed started blooming up and down the roads this week.  According to ABC and XYZ of Bee Culture:  "When the weather is favorable the nectar is secreted very rapidly, and a large colony may gather 13 o 17 pounds in a day.  The honey is so thick and heavy that it may be necessary to warm the combs before extracting.  The honey is white or tinged with yellow and has a pleasant fruity flavor ....".  Hope the plants can yield some nectar in this drought we are having.  This is the plant that monarch butterflies depend on for raising their caterpillars.  

Scarlet Sumac bloom June 4th

I took this picture in my yard today.  It is the flower head of a scarlet sumac tree.  Not a very pretty flower, but you can see that the bees and the flys love it.  According to ABC and XYZ of Bee Culture it yields nectar heavily if the day is hot and clear.  It also says that on a good day a hive can pack in 20 pounds of honey.  I suspect that with the low levels of ground moisture, it won't perform that well around here but one can always hope.  It is supposed to bloom for three weeks.  Hope my bees pack some of it in.

Swarm Capture 24 May

I planned to look through my hives today, but with the high wind I changed my mind about that.  Got a call about 10 AM for a swarm in Pleasant Hill.  They were easy to capture.  Here are some pictures taken by my wife of the bees.  I cut the limb and placed them in front of a deep hive body.  They seemed happy to just run in.  I sealed them up with screen on top and at entrance and headed home.  I plan to hive them tomorrow morning.  

Close up to show scent fanning bees.  They open the last two abdominal segments to expose scent gland and then fan the chemical signal which says "come here!"

Most are in the hive now.  I was pointing out the bees scent fanning to my wife who was taking the pictures.

Captured this swarm in Pleasant Hill this AM.  They aren't too big and were very gentle.  They were about 9 feet off the ground.

When placed at the entrance to a hive, they immediately started rushing in and scent fanning.

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Tuesday, May 22 - Wishing for some RAIN!

I have been busy fishing and gardening this week.  It is very dry at our place.  The rain Sunday just gave us a trace.  I am hoping that the clover and other honey plants can put out enough nectar to produce a good flow.  Haven't been in the hives since last friday.  This Thursday, I plan on going through the hives  to see how it goes.  I will try to get some good pictures for posting.

May 17 Play Flight

The hive on the left is the package I installed on 6 April.  The newly emerged bees were doing play flight this afternoon.  It was just too cool.  The air was full of bees in a 25 yard sphere around the hive.  I went through the whole hive on Monday and there were no queen cells, so this new field force should be packing in the honey soon.  The small hive on the right is the virgin swarm I hived one week ago.  I put them on a shallow box of empty comb.  Opened them for the first time today and the new queen has just started laying.  There are eggs on two of the frames and no hatched brood. 

May 16 Trefoil Clover

This is a plant that I am not familiar with. I think it is called yellow trefoil clover or yellow hop clover.   It grows abundantly around the river in Kampsville and today it was covered with honeybees.  They were collecting pollen as well as nectar.  Wish I had some of this stuff in my yard.

Getting supers ready on May 14

I heard some of the beekeepers at the meeting discussing foundationless frames.  I am getting my supers ready today and this is how I do mine.  I get the thin, plain foundation and cut each sheet into thirds with a knife.  The bees will use this as a starter and fill the frame all the way up with comb.  I have been doing my supers like that for years with great results.  This cuts the cost way down.  I don't have an extractor and just do packages of cut comb.

May 10, Tom Turkey

Today I went to a friends house and his pet turkey followed me around to show off.  Could not resist posting a picture of him here.  Figured that Diane would like this picture.  The turkey is a royal palm male.  He loves to strut and show off his beautiful feathers.

May 9th

Beautiful day today.   I collected a small swarm from Pittsfield in the morning.  At mid-day  the blackberry patch was loaded with bees and they were also working on dutch clover.  Top picture is from the blackberry patch. In the lower picture I was trying to get the bee sitting on a clover flower and happened to catch this one in flight.

May 9 Swarm

Today I went to the Pike County Farm Bureau and collected a small swarm.  While trying to trim the limb, I accidently shook the swarm onto the ground.  In this picture, I am using smoke to drive the bees into the hive.  They started scent fanning and piled right in.  I have a shallow super with combs and some honey to start them on.  Thanks to Blake Roderick, Farm Bureau Manager, for taking this picture.

Bee on dutch clover, May 7

Dutch clover is blooming  now.  I took this picture of a bloom with a bee working on it today in my yard. 

Monday, May 7

Yellow sweet clover is blooming on the roadsides now.  It is a fantastic honey plant and blooms about two weeks earlier than the white variety.  I took this picture of yellow sweet clover in my yard today.

Frame Holder

I bought the frame holder in this picture from Dadant.  It works great and you don't have to set your pulled frames on the ground.  I used to take along an empty hive body for this but the frame holder is better.  I got all the way through the first hive body when I realized my veil was still in the tool box.  However, the bees were sweet as honey and acted like my intrusion was normal.

I like to work bare handed and smoke my hands heavily before working.  I rarely get any stings on my hands using this method and like to feel what I am doing.  In this picture you can see the bee tool box I made to hold all my equipment.  It holds everything necessary and is convenient to just grab and head for the bee yard.  Thanks to my wife, Shirley for the beautiful painting of the box.

Sealed Brood Emerging

This is a great brood pattern typical of this queen.  Look closely and you will see two workers emerging from their cells.

Wednesday May 2, 2012

Finally got into the beehive today after the rainy spell.  Wow, they are doing great.   I only have one hive which consists of a package installed on combs on April 6.  I gave them the second story about 10 days ago.  The bottom box has about 6 frames of sealed brood.  Queen is laying in the top hive body now and has about 4 frames of larvae in that box.  Lots of emerging new bees.  Should be able to super up soon for the summer honey flow.
I am posting some pictures taken yesterday by my wife, Shirley.

Packaged Honey Bees being hived

April 25, 2012

Blackberries (above) normally bloom around the 10th of May but they started blooming two weeks early in Pike County, Illinois.

White Dutch Clover (below) also starts to bloom around the 10th of May and it also started blooming two weeks early.  White Dutch Clover signals the beginning of the main summer nectar flow from clover.

BETTER GET YOUR SUPERS READY FRIENDS!