Progress 5.5 to 35gallons

This is just a note to myself:

Looking back in my blogs, I found that in 2012 (the first year we ever harvested) we collected 5 1/2 gallons. This year in 2018 we harvested 35 gallons.


"There are no secretes to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure." - Colin Powell

Making Memories

I can't remember the last note worthy day I had at work. Each day blurs into the next. My job pays the bills but lacks any sort of fulfillment. This is not a complaint - work is work.

My personal life seems to also be passing me by. Shower, work, dinner, TV, sleep... lather rinse repeat. I turned 45 last week and I can't help but wonder were the last 20 years went.

However, last night time lost all meaning. After work, my wife and I filled mason jars for about an hour. Someday, I am confident, I will have a large honey extracting and bottling facility. For now, it was just the two of us, seated on buckets. I ladled the honey from a bucket into jars, she cleaned and closed them. It was marital bliss - one of those wonderful moments that became nostalgia even as it was happening.

My wife doesn't read my blog, so she'll never know I wrote this but I am so blessed to have been given such a partner in life and my life is infinitely better because she is in it.

Moth Prevention & Winter Preparations

My last preparations before winter: #8 hardware cloth lined with dryer-sheets and covered with cedar chips. The whole feeder cost roughly $6 to build and fill. However, I believe it will prove brilliant on all fronts. The dryer sheets should catch the beetles - the cedar should deter moths - and both should insulate the hive, while wicking away moister.

I also placed a Fat Bee Man corrugated sign trap in each hive, as well as a swiffer sheet and beetle buster trap on the top bars. That's every trick in my bag.

After having the temperature dip into the 20's I thought I might have waited too late to winterize my hives. Luckily, I was blessed by God with a nice warm 67 degree day. Noah was working so I asked my 13-year-old nephew, Zane to help me out. He was a huge help and I wouldn't have gotten done without him.

We staged all of the feeders and traps on top of each hive to minimize the amount of time each hive would be left open.

We then cleaned up the apiary and removed all the unused equipment - a full truckload (which might be part of my pest problem).

Lastly, we began placing the feeders. The first hive I opened was dead and filled with wax moths. I felt sick. The second hive looked good but then the third hive was dead. I could have thrown up!

With no other choice, I carried on. In the end, I lost three hives.

"Expect the best. Prepare for the worst. Capitalize on what comes." Zig Ziglar

Last month, when I extracted honey, I placed the empty supers back onto the hives in hopes that the bees would clean them and refill them. However, the flowers were all but gone and I think this gave the moths a window of opportunity. I think this was the cause of my losses.

I started the year with 7 hives. I made all successful splits and increased to 23 hives and 1 NUC - however, I lost a total of 6 hives in the past few months. Leaving me with 17 hives and 1 NUC. If God is willing and I don't loss any hives over the winter, I should be able to divide 17 into 68 or possibly as many as 136 (that would be 4 successful exponential splits).

My actual goal is 100 hives by the end of next season. So for the rest of the winter, I will be in the wood shop building hives. I'll post on that as I progress.

However, for now my bees are in God's hands - I have done all I can do.

Hive Count: 17 Hives and 1 NUC

Hive Top Feeders - How To Build

I've used a lot of feeders but my favorite one is Don "The Fat Bee Man" Kuchenmeister's Hive Top Feeder. They are really easy to build and make checking on your bees super convenient. However, I have made some slight modifications.

In the first picture you can see the finished product. It is simply a 1x4 box with a #8 hardware cloth bottom. Before it goes in the hive, it will be lined with dryer sheets and then filled with cedar chips - hopefully this will keep out pest.



Now before we get started, I cannot emphasis how helpful Jig's are in the workshop. Because I already had a Jig built for cutting Supers out, I was able to cut up (15) 1x4's in just 15 minutes.

Later, as I began assembling my outer frames, I was struggling and losing time - until I tacked a board to two sides of one of the assembled boxes and used it as an assembly jig. In the same amount of time it took me to build two boxes without the Jig, I was able to assemble the other (13).

Take the time to build your Jig's - the time you spend building the Jig will pay dividends for years to come.

 
The required items are:

(2) 1x4's cut 19 7/8" long
(3) 1x4's cut 14 3/4" long
(2) scrap 1x4's cut 5 1/2" long
#8 Hardware Cloth 16" x 23"

"If you would be wealthy, think of savings as well as getting" - Benjamin Franklin

Now I needed to build (15) feeders. I found that if I cut (3) 8'-1x4's I can get (8) 14 3/4" cuts and (8) 19 7/8" cuts with little to no waste. (See Picture)

From (1) 8' - 1x4, I can get (6) 14 3/4" cuts.

So (2) 19 7/8" cuts plus (2) 14 3/4" cuts make the outer box.

Then the (2) 5 1/2" scrap cuts are placed at one end with a gap in the middle.

Then take the third and last 14 3/4" cut and rip (2) 3/8" pieces off long way. (1) strips will be used as a cross bar support for the screen. The other (1) will be cut into (4) even pieces at 22.5 degrees to create the enclosed ladder.

Finally staple in place the #8 Hardware cloth across the bottom and trim off the excess. Then trim that remaining piece to 3" wide.

Now assemble the (4) ladder pieces two on each side and wrap with the hardware cloth leaving a 1/2" exposed on the bottom side for an entrance. Place the ladder in the gap - making sure that there are no gaps that might allow the bees to enter the feeder outside of the ladder.

Now turn the feeder over and cut the hardware cloth out of the 3" x 3/4" hallow space so the bees can access the feeder.

"Winter is Coming" and this coming Saturday will likely be my last chance to slip my feeders on before the temperatures drop into the 50's. Tic-toc, tic-toc.

I hope you find this blog helpful. Please leave a comment if you have any questions.