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How a second-year beekeeper prepares for the spring

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As a second-year beekeeper, I wanted to share a little information about what I’ll be doing with my bees as spring approaches. I installed two packages of bees in the spring of 2010 and, despite a rocky start (bees attempting to abscond,) I consider my first year a huge success. Finding the local bee club and being able to bounce questions off my club friends any time I needed help was invaluable. I have not found a lot of information on the net specifically about the new beekeeper coming into his/her second year of beekeeping, so I thought I’d put together my intentions based on what I’ve learned thus far. Please keep in mind, this is an account of what I will be doing and by no means is this the definitive guide.

A great man... one of my very patient mentors.
A great man… one of my very patient mentors.

First, I obviously need to be sure my bees made it through the winter. I put a candy board on my hives in the fall and I feel it was a good thing to do. I’ve checked my bees recently and they are still alive. Assuming my bees make it through the winter, the next thing I’ll be thinking about is building up a maximum number of foragers by early spring. I’ve chosen May 1 as the day I want the maximum number of worker bees of foraging age getting the best Spring has to offer. So, I’ll work backwards to understand what I need to do and when I need to do it.

If worker bees take roughly 21 days to emerge from their cell and then another 21 days until their first foraging flight, I will want the queen laying at her maximum 40-42 days before May 1. That puts me around late March to get her started. I’ve already encased pollen patties in the sugar near the top of my candy board in the fall, but of course I’ll be checking it as spring approaches to see if the bees are in to it. If they aren’t, that’s the first manipulation I’ll do. We need to stimulate the queen about a week to 10 days earlier than our 42 days of brood-rearing so that she is closer to laying at her maximum for this brood-rearing period. So, roughly March 15th is when I will ensure the hive has pollen and sugar-water to ensure we have the most formidable foraging population by May 1. Between March 1st and Mother’s Day, the weather in Indiana always has to be played by ear. We are challenged with variable temperature fluctuations that can make or break a hive.

By having a strong population of foragers to gather water, nectar and pollen, we help promote a healthy colony, naturally. Bolstering the bees general health starts by acknowledging the basics. I was pleased to see my bees out on Feb. 12 and 13 doing cleansing flights. 

So, having pollen patties and a 1:1 sugar water feeding regimen going by March 15th is my goal. Cindy’s advice below describes another component to our goal–that is, finding the right time to get the syrup in place of the candy. It shouldn’t happen too early, but if we want our max foraging force, it’s essential that we stimulate hive productivity by a simulated nectar flow.

“The advantage of a syrup feeding w/ thin syrup is that it simulates a honey-flow and encourages both brood and wax production. Again, not something you want to do too early. As long as there are moisture/temperature concerns, you will want to keep the candy on, as I really think that sugar does a lot to help absorb the excess moisture.”

I plan to  keep my candy boards on through March and into April… removing them when the threat of moisture (and cold snaps) ease. I envision first placing bags of sugar water (with pin holes poked on top) in the sugar board where the bees have eaten a void in the candy (I’m certain one hive will have such void). When temperatures begin to warm up above 65 degrees F, I will lift out brood frames and inspect for eggs and sealed brood. As long as we see some temperatures that permit taking a look, I’ll watch for swarm cells and confirm the rate of production is going the way that is intended. I hope to find a decent brood pattern and frames of capped and uncapped brood.

Scraping the bottom boards to clean out the winters dead.
Scraping the bottom boards to clean out the winters dead.

It’s important that we do not rotate the hive bodies too early. During the winter the cluster of bees gradually move up towards the top hive eating stored honey (and also into my candy board that I put on top) So, by the time Spring hits, the cluster is found in the upper hive body, leaving the bottom body empty of bees and honey. The colony will naturally expand in the upper hive bodies and begin to use up the space. The congestion could stimulate the colony to swarm at the next opportunity. So, I will reverse the hive bodies at at to-be-determined time to position the nesting area on the bottom, giving the colony room to expand upwards again. I will take Jim’s advice as to when and how I’ll rotate hive bodies.

“We usually wait until it is warm enough to move each frame. Brood goes to the bottom middle, honey on the sides, empty comb over the brood. We also clean the bottom boards while we are doing this. If you bring an empty box and a clean bottom board with you, this will go pretty quick.”

It would be great to get a nice day in February to take a peek inside to see if we can find eggs and check the general health of the queen (by finding some good frames of brood and noting the pattern.) However, we will not want to be lifting frames out of the hive until we have a day with temperatures at or above 65 degrees F.

The candy just above the winters cluster has allowed the bees some easy access food before the next cold snap.
The candy just above the winters cluster has allowed the bees some easy access food before the next cold snap.

In early March, I’ll begin the syrup-feeding regimen mentioned above as long as temperatures allow. Ensuring the hive has a good supply of sugar-water and pollen is essential. They will need the pollen at the right time to begin the brood-rearing cycle we are planning between March and May 1.

Of course, nothing goes like the text books say… so I’ll update with notes and changes if I have any over the next couple of months. Here’s to a successful 2011 season with your bees.

A story of Petite Sirah, from the truck to the carboy

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I hope to make wine from my own grapes one year, but until I do, I have to buy them. I’ve been growing grapes, planting a new row and variety each year, for about 5 years now. I battle with the deer, the black rot… you name it, just about everything has prevented me from bringing in the bounty. This year, however, I brought in my first lot of Concord grapes, but there wasn’t enough worth making wine with, so we made pies and jams and froze the rest.

Speaking of buying grapes, I brought home the last bounty on Saturday. 300 pounds of Petite Sirah and I am very excited about this one. It feels like–ok, it’ time to stop messing around and make some good, red grape wine. So, this Petite Sirah has been somewhat of a project for me delving back into books, picking brains and talking to people.

I really appreciate the access to the winemakers in the CVC. When I was in Art School, we were told to “copy the masters”. Doing so may not make complete sense at the time, in fact it seemed like plagiarism, but looking back, I found that it brought me up to a plateau where I could look back to where I was to see where I did good, or bad. For me, I’m a quick study in most things, mainly because I have no problem admitting that I don’t know it all and then ask someone to tell me everything they know.

Ultimately, I choose to stay on that higher plateau because afterall, it’s the place to be, right? Knowing what I know now… is better then what I never knew. You heard that here first.

Here’s my story from the truck to the carboy. I just pressed the grapes off the skins today and it’s rollin’ in the cellar. I already can’t wait to do it again next year. But next year, I think we’ll shoot for a clean 500 lbs. Anyway, I hope you enjoy these pics of the fine people I get to mingle with when we take off on a cold morning to smash grapes, eat pizza and drink wine! Cheers.

 

Make a winter candy board to overwinter honey bees

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We think a candy board is kind of like a cheap insurance policy. The benefits of a candy board, made correctly adds many benefits to help the beehive over the winter. The candy board is simply a hardened sugar mixture that lives in a 2-3 inch frame body and uses 1/2″ hardware cloth on the bottom to hold the “candy” up. I said 1/2″ hardware cloth, not 1/4″. This is important. We also put a pollen patty in the top so that it’s there in February (around the time for brood-rearing to begin.) It sits on the top hive body just under the inner cover.

Let’s consider some benefits:

  1. If the bees deplete all the honey stores, they hit the candy board and this may help feed them for the remainder of the winter, or at least until you look in the hive again.
  2. Condensation is a big concern in the hive. Cold air outside and warm bees inside make moisture. This moisture can collect on the top of the hive. The candy board will absorb most, if not all the moisture into the sugar and likely keep it from dropping back down on to the cluster. Wet bees will die.
  3. There is also a hole that passes up through the candy board and a 5/8 inch hole is drilled through the front. See the pictures, and the video. This allows warm humid air from inside the hive to exit out this hole to prevent condensation in the hive.

To us, these benefits alone merit putting a candy board on the top of each hive. Watch the video to see how you can make your own candy board. Click here for the ingredients and recipe/directions.

As of this posting, not two weeks after putting the candy board on top of the hive, my bees have eaten a hole up through the top. I had to play patch-work with a new batch of sugar and filled in the hole in the candy board. The idea is that around late Jan or Feb, when the bees may have depleted their stores, they hit the candy board. So, I’m thinking we may want to put the candy board on later… when it’s mostly cold and the bees don’t want to break cluster. This may make the board last into the cold times when you need it most. Keep your logs and see what works best for you.

I also noticed a little mouse nibbling on the front of my entrance reducer. I’ll surround those little openings with sheet metal ASAP.

Here’s a recent video I did when our winter bee meeting was cancelled due to inclement weather.

Here’s a video we did back in 2010 at our bee meeting location. It has good information, and it’s fun to see how far we have come since then.

Harvesting and processing black walnuts

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Processing walnuts reminds me when I was a kid… when my dad made us all help him. I mean all of us, my friends too, whenever they were over. There was a time I felt I was in danger of loosing my friends because of all the “chores” my dad made them help with. It seemed like whenever I had a friend over, it was the perfect opportunity get another chore done, with all the free labor loafing around. Nostalgic moments like this often drives me to do the things I do. I told myself I wasn’t going to step over the walnuts and forget about them this year. So, I grabbed my son (who didn’t have any friends over) and grabbed them all up.

In my family, there was always a bowl of nuts on the table… especially through the winter. Maybe I did it just to have some nuts laying around. Black walnuts have a hard shell that takes a hammer (or a heavy-duty cracker) to bust the shell. I recall using a hammer and my dads anvil to crack black walnuts and tediously pick the nuts out of the shells for hours when I was a kid. But the reward was something else. It is something I crave more now as an adult then I did when I was a kid. Here, in my back yard… the best quality nuts for the taking, and all I need is the desire.

My dad would collect them when they were soft and mushy and would drive over them with the truck to loosen the hulls. I took a more precise approach. Here’s the method I employed. I clamped a drawknife in the vise and rolled the walnut over it to cut the husk in half. Then, using both hands (with latex gloves on,) twisted either side of the hull in opposite directions. The greener ones came right out… the darker, harder ones took rolling them on the ground under my shoe.

Cleaning the gunk off is a multi-day process. Put them in a bucket of water and use a paddle on a drill or something to agitate the goo off. The water will be black. Again, this will stain your clothes and hands. I got some holes in my gloves and had black fingers for weeks. Still on my hands as I type as a matter of fact. Nothing will take the stain out, except time. I took this same bucket of water and tossed all the walnut hulls in it and let it soak for about a week. When it was done… a perfect wood stain. Serious. Try it.

Afterwards, I put them under some screen or wire to let the sun hit them and dry out. You have to keep them under wire or the squirrels will haul them off! After the hulls are clean enough, bring them in side and store them in a cardboard box in the corner… even near the fireplace. The nut will contract in the shell and be easier to get out later when you crack it.

Do this with your kid, but allow them to become bored and don’t force them to appreciate this process like you do. It’s only important to expose them to it, so that one day, they may look back as I have… and maybe take it up on their own. After all, us Morgan’s become a little nuts over time. Take a look at the pictures to see the process.

How to measure acidity in wine using an acid titration kit

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The home winemaker will typically use a basic acid titration kit to measure acidity in wine because other manners can be quite expensive.

While not 100% accurate, it’s close… and it’s a test whose results I do not ignore. You can rely on it especially when you have become consistent enough in the process of conducting the test. This video shows you how.

Just to clarify… once I have achieved the color change that is described in the video, I will subtract the amount of sodium hydroxide that remains in the syringe (3 cc’s) from what I started with (10 cc’s). So the result is 7 cc’s and each cc is approximately .1% acidity (expressed as tartaric acid, TA)

So, we started with 10 cc’s and we consumed 7 cc’s, leaving 3 cc’s. So that gave us an acidity reading (expressed as TA) of .7% for this white, Sauvignon Blanc.

Update: I said Cabernet Sauvignon in the video, but it’s obviously a white wine. I meant to say Sauvignon Blanc 🙂 Happens to the best of us, right?

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Did you know?

The queen bee doesn’t decide what happens in a colony. The workers do. They adjust her feeding to make her do what the majority says. The queen can’t feed herself.