2024.06.07: Beekeeping, year #2
2024-06-02 00:15 by Ian
The Swarm
Our bees were productive beyond projections, and we didn't add volume to the hive soon enough. So they swarmed about 2 hours before we were to do Spring maintenance. I hope they found a good home.
Meanwhile, we took the queen cells left behind and split the hive. Twice.
Recently-acquired knowledge
- Older bees will tend to reject a new queen. Younger bees are more accepting. Introduction of a new queen can be made safer by separating the hive boxes with a thin sheet of newspaper wetted with sugar water.
- You can mail bees.
- Bees are ectothermic. Although I already knew this, some of the implications didn't fully settle in until the end of the first year. Specifically: The bees cannot fly, make wax, or heat their hive if it is too cold.
- The bees will have an increased proclivity for honey theft (versus production) in late summer.
- The best way to clean your tools is to leave them near the hive. The bees will scour them for honey and usable wax. Just make sure to arrange things so that they don't drown in the effort.
- Formic acid and oxylic acid can be used to treat Varroa destructor mites in-lieu of amitraz, which is much more dangerous (seriously.... go read the MSDS for that shit prior to using it).
- When testing for mites, dusting a sample population with powdered sugar will knock off any mites that are clinging to the bees, thus preventing the need to sacrifice the bees by using alcohol. The sugar can then be dissolved in water to make the mites plainly visible.
- Pinecones make safe smoker fuel.
Update 2024.08.05: Honey harvest
We took about 5 gallons of honey from two hives. My wife loves this event, and she carefully cleaned and packed all of it. My girls are still too young to help, but my boys love helping with the hives.
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