Loss 13% - Time for Harvest

"It takes 15,000 casualties to train a major general." - Ferdinand Foch.

I lost 3 of my 23 hives to beetles. Actually, I lost 3 hives to neglect. While the beetles were the final cause, I think that the hives may have swarmed and left the remaining colonies too weak to defend themselves. I could make a 1000 excuses like work, weather, and want... but at the end of the day, I allowed my hives to go two months unchecked.

Last year I fussed too much with my hives, this year too little. The lesson here is to find the sweet spot - I believe that is about once or twice a month.

To add insult to injury, the tire on my 4x8 trailer came off the rim and, not having any other option, I had to drive home on the rim. Much to my surprise, the rim seems unharmed. I will try to put the tire back on the rim tonight but I may need to buy new tires.

Just the same it was a very productive year. I increased from 7 to 20 hives. I have 20 deep supers of honey to collect and if they are all the same as the one I extracted last night, that will equal 80 gallons or 50lbs per Deep Super.

Which brings me to my new extractor: Honey Keeper Pro Electric 4 Frame Stainless Steel Honey Extractor which cost about $325 on Amazon.

It worked great. It took about 10 minutes to setup. The barrel was bent a little oval'ish when I opened the box but I'm a big guy and I was able to bend it back round. The extractor held 4 deep frames that had to be flipped midway through. One Deep Super took about 30 minutes - of course that was my first try so I am sure I will get much more efficient.

One of the ten frames I extracted was a wood frame with no wires in it. Much to my delight, it did not come apart and extracted without incident.

The drum only held about 4 gallons so that the final extraction caused the honey and wax bits to get stirred and whipped - that is why it looked a little foamy in the bucket picture - it later settled out clear.

Two other smart purchases I made were:
Honey Strainer Double Sieve for $25 and Honey Uncapping Roller for $13.00

I have spent at least a $100 on cheese cloth over the years. The double sieve is not only cheaper but it was so much easier and cleaner.

As for the uncapping roller - Why does anyone use a hot knife? I have tried a scraping tool which was awful. It made a huge mess and I usually ended up scraping off most of the wax from the frame. I've also used a hot knife and that too was messy. The uncapping roller was extremely clean and effective.

Well I only extracted a single super last night. Tonight I will try to bring home 10 more - assuming I can get the trailer tire fixed. If not, I have a rack on the back of my SUV and it will hold 3 supers.

Hive Count: 20 Hives

Swarm Prevention - I should have added a super

"Fear causes hesitation, and hesitation will cause your worse fears to come true." - Bohdi, Point Break (1991)

My five frame nuc (VE) needed room to grow but I hesitated because I was afraid if I put another super on too soon, that it would cause the beetles to take over the hive.

However, by not putting on a super in time, the hive swarmed. The remaining hive was too weak and the beetles overtook it anyway.

Damned if I did and damned when I didn't - and now I have lost all of my five frame nucs. However, that is not the whole story. Instead of adding empty frames I had planned to add the honey supers I had stored in the freezer (from a previous beetle infestation). I suspect that this would have invited beetles.

The answer is to add empty frames. The empty frames provide room for the bees to grow without giving the beetles stores to infest. I could have added a frame or two of honey but not a full super of honey.

Subsequently:

The splits I made at Dr. D's need another super on them as well. I had planned to add them this past weekend but I was sick with a stomach virus and haven't had the chance. So I will do it this Sunday instead. God willing it won't be too late.

The Lord Giveth and Swarm Taketh Away

Truthfully, it wasn't a surprise that the swarm was gone. In fact, I was almost expecting it. So when I opened the new hive and found only (3) little bees flying around in it, I wasn't surprised - but I was greatly disappointed.

The feeling was sort of a numb feeling. One of the worst parts was having to tell my wife - not that she would be anything but supportive. The night I caught the swarm, I sent her the video clip and she sent me the text you see here. She deserves better.

Maybe it was because I left the Lemongrass Cotton Ball inside the super. Maybe I should have captured the queen in a cage. Maybe I should have put a queen excluder over the exit. Was there something wrong with the pallet wood I made the super out of? Maybe it was just bad luck. I don't really know but I will try the queen excluder next time.

You ever notice how when good things happen it's a blessing but when bad things happen it's just bad luck - and there in lies my real disappointment. Yesterday, I thought God had sent me a good omen. Today, I wonder if he is paying attention at all.

I don't mean to sound so petulant. I'm trying to have faith. Actually my prayer this year, isn't that nothing goes wrong, but that when things go wrong, God will teach (or at least lead me to the answers) and make me a better beekeeper. Maybe that was what this was about.



Me and Zack painting hives back in 2006

Today actually marks the 11th anniversary since I bought my first bees. I'm not actually sure of the exact date (being that Easter moves around the calendar) but it was on Good Friday 2006 (I had to actually make a timeline to figure the year out).

I can't believe how much has happened over those years. Losses and Gains (notice the order of those two - obviously I'm a negative person). Finding my wife - losing Dale. Fortunes gained and fortunes lost. My heart attack, my mom's stroke, my daughter's sudo-tumor. I published my first book. I traveled to the Canada, the Artic Circle, Ireland, Mexico, Bahamas, Malta, and back home. All of that actually happened in just the past 10 years - It's been quite the decade and Jen was there for all of it.

By the way: the hive count is back to (9).

A Swarm Is Like Manna From Heaven

I caught my first swarm last night and it was like God just handed it to me.

But first... I’ve decided not to post so much about my personal life on here. I imagine if you are reading this, it’s because you are interested in bees and not in me. That being said, I have to tell this part before I tell you about my swarm:

On January 25, 2017 a collection agency accidently froze my bank account for a bill I had paid in full two years ago. They’ve admitted their mistake but my account is still frozen while they take their sweet time sorting it out. IT'S CRIMINAL. Yet when I called Morgan and Morgan (for the people law firm) to file a lawsuit yesterday, they said my case was "too complicated" for them and then wished me luck.

I can’t believe someone could do something like this without some sort of legal ramifications. Nonetheless, I was surprisingly not that upset - I think it might be because I feel conflicted about suing anyone.  However, I still think these people should be held accountable, whether I benefit or not. So I prayed about it and then emailed a local lawyer. That is the end of that story for now.

Now back to my swarm story:

“So there I was,” (You ever notice how often redneck stories seem to start with that line and end with, “hey - watch this”). Well anyway, there I was sitting at home feeling sorry for myself when my sister-in-law texted me that she had a friend with a swarm of bees.

I have never caught a swarm before so I didn’t know what to expect. I mean sure, YouTube makes it look super easy but I've also see YouTuber’s working their bees without a veil and I call horse shit on that too.

Just the same, I grabbed my gear and headed after it. It turned out the swarm was only a block from my house and, to my surprise, was only about twelve feet in the air.

Well I got my veil and gloves on and climbed up a ladder. Then, using my bee brush, I just swept the bees off the limb and into my box. It couldn’t have been easier! Of course half the bees went back up to the limb, so I repeated the process, this time using my gloved hand. Then, Bibbidi-Bobboidi-Boo, I had a new bee hive.

The two greatest parts of this story are:

First... at the very moment I felt like God wasn’t listening to me, he sent me this swarm of bees like a low hanging fruit. It felt like God was giving me a little nudge on the chin.

The second great thing about this story is that I caught the hive in one of my new beehives that I made from a repurposed pallet. That means I actually have a hive that cost me ZERO dollars.

So just like that, I now have 10 Hives. Hey - watch this... video. :)

p.s. sorry for the vertical video. :(