Hello from David & Sheri Burns at Long Lane Honey Bee Farms. 

Today, we’ll continue our look into the biology of the honey bee as we examine the bee’s antenna and we’ll talk about how another harsh winter has taught us more about successfully overwintering hives. Remember, if  you have trouble viewing photos or videos in this message sent to your Email, you can always go to our actual posting of these lessons and view them there: www.basicbeekeeping.blogspot.com
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Before we begin, let me tell you what we’ve been up to. This is the time of year when everything is running at full speed. In the winter April seems so far away. Then, suddenly we wonder where the time went, because we are only three weeks away from package bee pickups! And only 4 weeks away from when our first shipment of packages ship out.
For my 50th birthday, all my children went together and bought me an HD video camera and I’ve had a blast video taping bees! And it takes beautiful close ups too.
Here’s a bee working hard to bring in pollen. She’s flying in hovering for a good spot to land. If you click on the photo for a larger view you can see the pollen in her back legs. Here in central Illinois the bees started bringing in pollen around the middle of March. Maple trees and other trees are starting to produce for the bees.
I placed a video on YOUTUBE of bees collecting nectar and pollen from my maple trees. Which brings me to a point I’d like to make. I need your help. We are always seeking ways to promote beekeeping and one of the ways we are doing this is through YOUTUBE videos. Here’s how you can help. Sign up for our YOUTUBE Beekeeping channel. Just go to www.youtube.com/longlanehoney and sign up for our video subscriptions. It’s free. But more importantly, if you can view our videos then give them a high rating, it will push our videos higher up on the search engines on YouTube. That would be  a big help and you’ll benefit from learning through our videos. Thanks!
Here’s an example of our Beekeeping Video channel. Our most recent video demonstrates how to check your hive for sealed brood, eggs and larva.

And I also want to include a picture below to help you identify eggs in the cell. Click on the image to see the larger image. When you inspect a hive, you do not have to see the queen as long as you see 1 day old eggs. Here’s what they look like. You may need reading glasses or a magnifying glass to see them, but most people can see them with the naked eye. Notice the eggs, pollen, larva and sealed brood. I took this photo to help you become familiar with what to look for in the hive.
Before we get into our lesson today, I want to show you a beautiful hive that we are now carrying. Customers have always made special request and a frequent special order is for 8 frame hives, instead of 10. Everything is the same, but the hive is a bit more narrow, and of course each box contains two less frames. Recent studies show that 8 frame hives do slightly better than 10 frames. Probably not enough to switch over, but a slight advantage because bees prefer to build up and down over sideways.  So now we are making 8-Frame equipment regularly. Here’s a beautiful 8 frame set up we are selling with a pure copper top. It’s called a Copper Top Garden Hive. We have two of these available, so you must call in to purchase. 217-427-2678.
LESSON 72: The Antenna of the Honey Bee and Overwintering Success

Winter-Bee-Kind For Winter Feed For Bees

In The summer of 2011 we introduced our Winter-Bee-Kind after several years of studying overwintering hives. We could barely keep up with production they were in such demand. We still make them right here at Long Lane Honey Bee Farms but we've expanded our production methods to keep up with demand. So many beekeepers told us that these were the only thing that got their hives through the winter. This year, it's time for the 2014 production year. We even mix the sugar and pollen and right here and pour the candy into the Winter-Bee-Kinds. WHAT IS A WINTER-BEE-KIND? It is a one piece candy board that provides food, ventilation, upper insulation and an upper exit/entrance to help bees remain healthier during the winter. Someone said it insulates, ventilates and feed-i-lates. With the built in upper vent, you don't have to worry about snow covering up your hive's lower entrance. The bees can still go in and out through the top vent spacing. We avoid shipping Winter-Bee-Kinds in hot weather and start shipping each September-March. You can place our Winter-Bee-Kinds on your hive anytime, even in the winter. Because it goes on top of the hive in place of the inner cover, and you are NOT removing any frames, it can be placed on the hive in cold weather. Just do it fast. Open the top, remove the inner cover and place the candy side down and the vent slot toward the front of the hive and you're done. Click here to order your Winter-Bee-Kinds Some form of a candy board has been around for a long time. Beekeepers of long ago placed candy in their hives to provide enough food for their bees to survive the long months of winter. There are various mixtures and receipts for candy boards. Some are made with soft candy and some with hard candy. The end result is still the same. The bees will consume the sugar as they need it. We've always been concerned about the amount of condensation that can develop in the hive during the winter. The bees produce heat within their hive and as the temperature is very cold outside the hive, condensation will develop on the warm side, just above the bees on the inner cover or top cover. This condensation can accumulate and drop down onto the winter cluster of bees below. Bees can stay warm in the winter but they must remain dry. If this cold water drips down onto the bees, it can reduce their ability to keep their cluster warm. The insulation on our Winter-Bee-Kind helps reduce the excessive moisture and even puts some of that moisture to work, as it accumulates on the candy and makes it easy for the bees to consume the sugar. Thus, a Winter-Bee-Kind can help lessen two winter stresses, the lack of food and excessive moisture. We make our Winter-Bee-Kinds with sugar and a healthy amount of pollen powder. Many beekeepers make the mistake of only feeding their bees sugar in the winter, but the bees also need protein which they obtain from pollen. Our Winter-Bee-Kinds come with pollen mixed in with the sugar.. Click here to order your Winter-Bee-Kind today. We recommend that you place candy boards on your hive any time between Oct-March.


Commonly Asked Questions
Q: Which way does the candy face in the hive?
A: The candy faces down just above the winter cluster. Normally, this means that the Winter-Bee-Kind would be placed on the brood box that contains the cluster. For example, if you overwinter your bees in a single deep hive body, the Winter-Bee-Kind would be placed on this deep hive body with the candy facing down toward the cluster. If you are using two deep hive bodies to overwinter, then the Winter-Bee-Kind would be placed on the top deep hive body. It is best to disregard the use of an inner cover, and simply place your top cover over the Winter-Bee-Kind.

Q: What about winter moisture?
A: Moisture can develop in the winter from condensation, a contrast of the heat the bees produce in the hive and the extreme cold temperature outside the hive. Condensation accumulates on the warm side, which means moistures collects on the inner cover or top cover above the hive. This can drip down on the bees and chill them during the winter. A Winter-Bee-Kind takes the place of an inner cover and any moisture that develops from condensation aids the bees in consuming the candy.

Q: How long will a Winter-Bee-Kind last on a hive?
A: On average about 3 weeks. However, a colony that has ample stored honey may not consume the candy board as fast or not at all until they need it. A colony close to starvation may consume a Winter-Bee-Kind within a week or two.

Q: Since Winter-Bee-Kinds are placed or replaced on the hive in the winter, can I open the hive up on a cold day?
A: It is best to place the candy boards on a hive when the temperature is above freezing and try to place the candy board on and have the hive sealed back up within 1-2 minutes. It should not take over 1 minute. Do not remove any frames in cold temperatures, only place your Winter-Bee-Kind on and off quickly. If you can choose the warmest day during the winter, that would be best. Try to avoid very cold, windy or rainy days.

Q: How do I refill a candy board?
A: It is best to send back your candy board and we will refill it for $7 plus shipping. If you are a good candy maker, you can do it yourself.

Q: How do I get one with a pollen?
A: Our Winter-Bee-Kinds contain pollen as well.

Q: Can I make my own?
A: You can, but you must experiment, because you do not want the candy to be too hard or too runny. The exact mix depends on your altitude, heat source and other conditions so it will be different from one location to another.

Q: Why was some liquid sugar dripping out of my Winter-Bee-Kind when I received it?
A: It is the nature of candy boards to be a bit on the dripping side even though the top may be hard. Do not be concerned if you see liquid sugar dripping out of your boards when you receive it. It usually means it was left on end during shipment for a prolong period of time. The bees will clean everything up and enjoy this soft liquid.

Q: How much sugar is in one Winter-Bee-Kind?
A: Approximately 5 pounds

Q: When do I put a Winter-Bee-Kind on my hive?
A: Any time! Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb are good months to place on the boards.

Q How often should I check my Winter-Bee-Kind?
A: Every three weeks, take a peek.

Q: Do you make Winter-Bee-Kind for 5 frame nucs or 8 frame hives?
A: Yes, check out our website to order, but carefully read the description to make sure you are ordering the correct size and type.

Q: Can the candy break loose from the board on the hive?
A: It rarely happens, but during extreme winter weather, the candy and separate from the board while on the hive. This is not a problem. The bees will continue to consume the sugar.

Q: When I place it on the hive, do I use my inner cover. Just how does it go on?
A: Winter-Bee-Kind takes the place of your inner cover. Simply place the Winter-Bee-Kind on the top of your upper hive body or super with the candy facing down, then place your top cover on top of the Winter-Bee-Kind. Be sure to use a rock or brick to make sure the wind does not blow your top cover off. There is overwhelming enthusiasm about our Winter-Bee-Kinds. Click here to order now.

First, let’s address overwintering of bees. Let’s face it…it ain’t easy getting bees through the winter. Get this into your head. Bees laugh at cold! Healthy bees have no trouble at all in the coldest of climates. They can and do survive the cold. But, if they have other stressors, like thracheal or varroa mites or a disease or lack of nutrition, they will struggle or perish in the winter.
Our approach, here in Central Illinois, is simple. 1) Adequate ventilation (open screen bottom boards) 2) Good food storage going into winter 3) Our proven queens that are winter hardy, 4) Reduce front entrance to keep mice out and 5) Some sort of wind block that is a couple feet away from the hive. To make my point, here’s one of our customers/students giving a play by play report of how he followed our advice and got his hives through a Kansas winter. Before I share his testimony, I want to make an observation about his photo. Notice how the grass is green around the black paper under his hive? Grass greens up faster the warmer it is.  I suspect the black paper under and around the hive assisted the overall “heat” of the hive and probably was a good thing. I’ll let Brian tell you the rest because his approach proves that it works!
Brian says… “Last fall I knew that I did not know what I should do to help my bee’s make it through the winter.  This is my first hive and was the first winter that I was going to try to take my bees through as a beekeeper.  Dave and Sheri both were very helpful with any questions that I had, plus I read and re-read all the lessons that they most graciously provide us for free.  I also went to my local book store and bought three bee books to increase my knowledge of my new found bee hobby. 
What I did to prepare my bee hive to support my bees as best as I could, was to put up a small wind break with a cheap tarp a couple of feet away on the north side of the hive to block the north wind.  I left the screened bottom board installed on the hive, as recommended by Dave and Sheri.  Then I took two wooden pencils and broke them in half.  I put one piece of the pencils in each corner on top of the inner cover, as I learned from one of the books that about one quarter to three eights of an inch between the inner and outer covers would help prevent condensation by improved ventilation.  I then placed the outer cover back in-place on top of the inner cover.  I installed the metal entrance reducer to keep mice out of the hive.  Walla, my winter preparation was complete.  What I learned through reading Dave and Sheri’s lessons, and confirmed through the books that I bought, was make sure that the bees had proper ventilation to prevent condensation within the hive, because condensation is a bee killer when it builds up and drips onto the colony, and is one of the major reasons a healthy hive will die out during the winter. 
I left one honey super installed, that was probably 70 to 80 percent full of honey for the bees just incase.  I also did not take any honey from them last summer since it was their first year, and I was afraid that they would need the food during the winter to remain strong.  I did not try to arrange frames in any order within the hive, since I do not understand that process.  When the bees were no longer foraging for food because there was nothing for them to forage, I put the feeder out for them with 2 parts sugar to1 part water on the warm days.  Basically any day that the weather forecast said a high of about 50 degrees.  What I found out from trial was that my bees did not eat the sugar water unless the temp hit 45 to 50 degrees with calm winds, and they were more active when it was sunny.  We, as most, had a pretty wet and snowy winter.  I have lived in Kansas for the last 25 years and this was the most snow that I can remember having.  Each time it snowed, I would go out to the hive and brush the snow away from the bottom of the hive on all sides.  I also removed the snow from around the pallet that my hive sits on to help increase the airflow through the bottom board.  I also made sure the entrance reducer was cleared of snow so the bees could come and go through the bottom of the hive.  At the end of January I opened my hive for the first time since early November, to see how the bees were doing.  To my surprise, I found they were doing fine and had moved up into the top brood box, I could not see any moisture in the hive, and I was happily surprised at the amount of bees I could see, however initially I was concerned at the amount of dead bees I cleaned out from the bottom board with a stick.  I have since opened my hive briefly two other times, once to put a pollen patty on and once to see if they had eaten the pollen patty.  So far they have not touched the pollen patty and I don’t if that’s because they don’t need it or it they just don’t like processed foods. 
In conclusion, with a little help from me and some great lessons from Dave and Sheri I have to give 90 percent of the credit to my lovely queen and her worker bee lineage, provided to me by Lone Lane Honey Bee Farms, because lets face it, I stayed inside where it was warm.
Thank you Dave and Sheri, I think I’m hooked.
Way to go Brian! Brian’s insight I know will help so many others in the fall as we prepare for winter. But remember what I say…Winter preparation starts in the spring by keeping your bees healthy all year!
THE BEE’S ANTENNA
When I was young, back in the 60s, my parents bought me a set of Radio Shack walkie-talkies for Christmas. My brother and I had a blast with those. We pretended we were astronauts, spies, and soldiers. Back then, they barely carried across the street even with an antenna that I remember being about 4 feet long. I remember I was terribly heartbroken when I went to retract my antenna in a hurry and it bent and broke. We tried to tape it and solder it, but it was done. That was my first experience with an antenna.
We still use antennas for communication. Even the satellite dish for our t.v. is technically receiving a signal from outer space.
Bees also use their antennae to communicate and gather data about their environment around them.
Where do honey bees spend a large amount of their time? In the hive, in a dark hive. Therefore they use their antennae for taste, smell and touch. They have one antenna on each side of their head. It is connected to the brain through a large nerve, a double nerve that transfers all data received. The antenna moves freely as it is set in a socket. This allows the bees to manipulate their antennae freely. Each antenna is full of tiny hairs, nodules and other sensory organs. While it is true that bees do not have ears like we do to hear, they use their antennae to hear. Actually tiny hairs on the antennae can detect tiny movements in the air caused by vibration. As you can see in the photo above (click for a larger image) the antenna is made up of segments, 12 in worker bees and 13 on drones.
It is not uncommon to see bees rubbing their antennae together to communicate, feed and share information. Honey bees are known to trap and encase other invaders in the hive, such as the small hive beetle. They will build a propolis jail house around a small hive beetle. However, the beetle uses its antennae to trick the bee into feeding it.Here’s a bee on my finger cleaning her legs and antenna.

Okay, for all of you who are waiting for a chance to receive something free…who doesn’t like free!  Call in on Monday morning starting at 9am sharp Central Time. for two free Beetle Blasters. These are neat little traps for small hive beetles. First 3 callers are winners.
Every beekeeper should have one or two of these in their hive just in case that beetle shows up. You fill it have full with vegetable oil and place it in the deep hive body between two frames. The beetle likes dark places and will run down into the oil and die. First three callers get two each. Call 217-427-2678. 9am sharp Central Time. Good luck.
Thanks for joining us today for another informative and entertaining talk about honey bees. Be sure to check out our Studio Bee Live Podcasts too: www.honeybeesonline.com/studiobeelive.html
And remember to please view and rate our Beekeeping videos.
We are looking for someone who is somewhat musically talented to work up a little song that we can play when you log on to our website, something to do with bees of course. If you’ve got a band or group, give it a shot!
Here’s our contact information:
David & Sheri Burns
Long Lane Honey Bee Farms
14556 North 1020 East Rd.
Fairmount, IL 61841
217-427-2678
WEBSITE: www.honeybeesonline.com
YOUTUBE: www.youtube.com/longlanehoney
TWITTER: www.twitter.com/longlanehoney
This is David & Sheri Burns reminding you to BEE-have yourself!
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Hello from David & Sheri Burns from Long Lane Honey Bee Farms. We saw that some may have had trouble seeing this lesson if it was posted via your Email, so we are attempting a duplicate resending, hopefully working this time. Thanks for your patience.
We’ve had some hints that spring is getting closer. Bees are out flying a bit more, and warmer weather! Finally, as it has been another long winter.
In today’s lesson I want to once again teach on the biology of the honey bees as we take a look at the fascinating leg of a bee. Before our lesson, let me ramble on a bit.
Let me tell you that I have some neat videos I’ve taken of our hives this winter. So, be sure and read through all my ramblings so you can see what one of our queens can do taking her gang through a terrible Illinois winter. And if you have trouble viewing the videos because you received this via your Email, go directly to where these lessons are posted:
http://basicbeekeeping.blogspot.com
Many (and I do mean many) people desire to visit our honey bee operation. In fact, already people are showing up to tour our place. Some have asked to go out and work the bees with us. Please understand that we certainly welcome tours, but it is seasonal. Hives cannot be opened and regularly inspected until it is around 60 degrees on a regular basis.
During the spring our operation is buzzing! Grass is green, trees are leafed out, and we are in full operation. Until May 1st, however, our place is not tour friendly. The grass is brown, trees are bare, everything is wet and muddy, bees are tightly clustered, sticks are in the yard…winter has left its mark.
So Sheri and I sat down and discussed how we could better prepare for those who wish to walk around (take a tour) and ask a bunch of bee questions. After all, that’s our goal, to help more people get into beekeeping. Please understand that we offer an array of various beekeeping courses and classes. This is how we educate those who want hands on experience learning to work bees. But if you MUST take a tour read on...
TOURS
We have 3 levels of tours we offer from May 1 through Sept. 1
Friendly Farmer Tour
This tour is available Monday – Saturday any time between 1pm – 4pm. The Friendly Farmer means you can talk to us while we work, and you’ll get to see what we do. It might be grafting queens, painting or building hives, packaging hives from shipment, working hives or mowing grass. In other words, feel free to come, but we must keep working and we’ll talk while we work. We cannot stop what we are doing to show you something else. For that, see our other tours below. Wear your work clothes and bring a hat and veil. If you come unannouced, we might be speaking in a different state and you'll not be able to tour our place, so call first. COST: FREE
David and Sheri’s Vacation Money Tour
This tour is available by appointment only on Saturday. Cost $100 whether it is one person or 100. In other words, a group of 30 people still only pay a total of of $100. The reason for the name is because money paid for this tour goes to our vacation fund. On this tour David or Sheri will take you around the operation and show you how everything works. It is a one hour tour and questions are answered during the tour. If you’d like to see a particular aspect of our operation, we just ask that you let us know when you schedule your tour. COST: $100
Call 217-427-2678 to arrange your appointment.
David’s Brain Picking Tour
This tour is available by appointment only on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. COST $200  This is a 2 hour tour where David will show you all aspects of beekeeping, raising queens, harvesting honey and more. For 2 hours you can pick David’s brain and he will rattle off whatever comes into his mind at the moment. The cost covers 1-5 people.
Again, all tours do not start until May 1. If you wish to purchase beekeeping equipment, packages, nucs or supplies while you are here, be sure to let us know in advance so we can have everything ready when you arrive. Call 217-427-2678 to arrange your appointment
LESSON 71: Amazing Leg of the Bee & What to Expect from Your Overwintered Hive
The honey bee has 6 legs, three on each side. Bees use their legs like we do, to walk and run. However, there is more to the bee’s leg than just movement. On the very end of the leg is what we might call a foot. The foot is made up of three claws. This enables the bee to cling and grip on to things.
It gets more interesting. On the front leg, called forelegs there are antennae cleaners. All three caste of honey bees (workers, queens and drones) have this special cleaner device. Since the antennae serves an important role in communication it must be kept clean. You can look at bees up-close and usually see them cleaning their antenna.
The front legs also have stiff hairs which the bee uses to clean their head, eyes and mouth and to gather and transfer pollen to the back legs which have the pollen baskets.
The middle legs have hairs or brushes which are used to clean the middle of the bee, her thorax. The bee’s middle legs are also used to continue transferring the pollen to the back legs. The middle leg also has a spur for to pick the wax that is produced on the abdomen. The middle legs are also used by the bees to clean the wings and to dislodge the pollen from the baskets on the back legs.
The back legs are most well known for their pollen baskets. These “baskets” aren’t actually baskets, but hairs that surround bare spots on the leg. So the hairs hold the collected pollen which is placed on the back leg. Often, nectar is added to the pollen to make it stay tightly together. Only the work is equipped with these rear leg pollen baskets. Propolis is a stick substance which the bees gather from tree sap and sticky plants and the bees also carry the propolis back to the hive in their pollen baskets.
As expected the honey bees is magnificently made and every part has many purposes.
What to Expect from Your Overwintered Hive
Many beekeepers are finding that as it warms up, they are peaking into their hives to see if there are still bees alive.
Newer beekeepers are sometimes alarmed by what they find, things like dead bees…lots of dead bees. Even hives that survived the winter and are alive still may be filled with dead bees, certainly on the bottom board but sometimes even between frames.
Often time in the winter the bees break cluster to gather honey from frames that are beyond reach of the cluster. But when the temperature drops, they sometimes fail to regroup as one cluster, and instead form two or more smaller clusters. These smaller clusters cannot generate the heat needed to stay alive, so the smaller clusters die and usually freeze within the hive.
If your bees died with their heads stuck in the bottom of cells, this usually means they starved to death. They died licking the last drop of food from the bottom of cells.
It is very common for the bottom board to be full of dead bees. They either died of old age or winter kill. Left alone, the bees will eventually clean out the dead. However, I like to remove the bottom board and shake out all the dead bees. This keeps a cleaner hive and makes life easier for the bees.
Mold and dampness. It is common for beekeepers to find dead and moldy bees in frames too. This means that your hive had too much moisture over the winter and that you needed better ventilation. Every winter, in our yards, the hives that do best are the ones with opened screen bottom boards, drafty holes and propped lids.
What to do about moldy dead bees in a hive. Shake them out or rub them out, at least as many as you can. You can’t get them all out. They are dead, they won’t sting you. Be careful not to break the comb if you try knocking out the dead bees. Typically, we don’t worry about the mold unless it is really thick. A slight glaze of green or white mold doesn’t worry us. We reuse the frame and let the next package clean it up. Dead bees stink bad! Sometimes beekeepers ask me if they have American Foul Brood since there is such a stink in the hive. But I remind them that there is little to no brood in the winter to smell. The smell is the dead bees.
If you forgot to seal off your entrance to keep mice out, you may find some fury friends in the hive, and even a sizable mouse nest with little baby mice. If so, serve the eviction papers and throw all the mice overboard.
You might also notice bee poop all over the top and sides of your hives. It’s a light to dark brown and thick almost waxy substance. Do not panic and conclude you have Nosema. What you are seeing is that the bees have finally had a chance to defecate outside the hive and they didn’t bother to fly away very far. You wouldn’t either if you’ve spent  4 weeks waiting for a bathroom break. Excessive spotting might happen on some of your hives and not others. Don’t worry, it will clear up with additional warm days. In the slow motion video below you can see my bees have messed on the front of their hive. This was taken on March 4, 2010. If you have trouble watching the videos in your Email, go to our website at: http://basicbeekeeping.blogspot.com and you can watch the video there.

Now, if all went well with your bees over winter, then this is what you’ll see in the video below. Lots of bees, and a queen and lots of stored honey still available. This is an example of the queens that we produce. We graft from hives with strong winter hardiness and good honey producers and very gentle bees. They also show hygienic behavior which means they are more mite resistant. Again, if you have trouble watching the videos in your Email, go to our website at: http://basicbeekeeping.blogspot.com and you can watch the video there. Notice how gentle our bees are even at 40 (f) degrees! No gloves. These hives are as strong coming out of winter as most beekeeper’s hives are in the summer. Our candy boards that we sell also help absorb winter moisture.

Let’s have even more fun. Here’s a video I’ve made into slow motion of bees flying into their hive.

Beekeeping techniques that we teach at our beekeeping classes will help beekeepers have the success in overwinter hives like we do as well. And of course, having the right queen helps, like our Pioneer Queens. In fact, here’s another video of our Pioneer Queen and her overwinter gang. Notice how many bees there are and how much honey they’ve stored for the winter and the key is…how little they have eaten to survive the winter. Watch this…

Before I finish today I do want to let everyone know that we have set aside a large number of packages for customers who also purchase hives from us. In other words, if you want a hive and bees, we have that combination available. Other wise, if you need just bees, we are all sold out. But you can get bees from us if you wish to also purchase a hive.
Here’s the info on our upcoming beekeeping classes:
e limited.Until next time, remember to behave yourself!
David & Sheri Burns
Long Lane Honey Bee Farms
14556 N 1020 E. Rd
Fairmount, IL 61841
Phone: 217-427-2678
Website: www.honeybeesonline.com
FREE ONLINE LESSONS: www.basicbeekeeping.blogspot.com
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Hello! We are David & Sheri Burns from Long Lane Honey Bee Farms in Central Illinois where the weather has been freezing!
We have some real nice videos in this lesson. If you received this via Email, and your Email program will not display the videos, you can use this link to view the two videos below: http://basicbeekeeping.blogspot.com
If you are new to our bee lessons, let me say we had a huge request for candy boards from our last lesson. Check out that last lesson if you missed it. Here’s a video showing how I place candy boards on hives that are short on food.

24 hours later, I took these pictures showing how well the bees took to the candy board. You can click on the image for a larger picture. In this picture, taken at 1:30pm January 13, 2010, the temperature was 30.6 (f). Even at 2 degrees below freezing, the cluster loosened enough to feed heavily on the pollen patties and the candy on the candy board. You can see how they have made chewing marks on both. I also noticed that some bees were breaking off the sugar crumbs and letting them rain down on the bees below who were immediately picking it up.  At this point, I am totally convinced that candy boards are a must on all hives in the winter, along with pollen patties. We sell are selling these boards as fast as we can make them. Click Here To Order
In today’s lesson, we’ll do two things. First, I will share how important it is to encourage others to become beekeepers. Then, I’ll teach Part 1 on bee biology and today we’ll look at the eyes of the bees. The better we understand the honey bee, the better care we can give them. Before we jump into today’s lesson, let me say that we are counting down to spring when we will enjoy watching the bees return to normal activities instead of being clustered in a ball in their hives.  This winter is certain to be very hard on the bees. While bees can withstand very cold weather, the longer they are cold and the longer the cold spell is, the greater the chance they might perish.
Here in Illinois we’ve had at least 2 weeks where the clusters have been forced to be extremely tight, unable to move within the hive for more food. Hopefully, by the end of this week, the weather will rise above freezing and allow the clusters to loosen enough to move over to more frames of honey. Today the weather warmed (30 degrees Fahrenheit), so I was out taking a peak and couldn’t believe my bees did so well in the extreme weather.
Here’s a video you’ll enjoy that was from last summer, showing how we find a queen, mark her, place her in one of our shipping cages and then how we add 5 young nurse bees to accompany her royalty during the shipment.

As usual I have many first time experiments underway to test for overwintering, and so far insulated top covers are proving to be winning the race. All hives that have wintered with pollen patties are doing terrific. We produced some outstanding queens last year, and some lines we loved but wouldn’t sell until we tested them for winter hardiness. This winter will be a great test and that line is still doing good so far. If they are winter hardy, then we’ve got a keeper!
It’s January 13, which means in just 3 months we’ll be getting excited about package bees pickup and delivery (with purchase of hive). Usually it is the latter part of April, so around 120 day and we’ll be out of winter and into a new bee season.

It is always paramount this time of the year that I encourage all beekeepers whether new or experienced, to be sure to have all their equipment purchased before April. Otherwise, you might get your bees before you have anything to put them in. Don’t delay. All beekeeping suppliers become overwhelmed with spring orders and shipments are delayed. So by waiting, you could risk having to wait longer for your equipment to arrive.

LESSON 69: Basic Bee Biology & How to Convince Others to Keep Bees.
First, how can we encourage others to become beekeepers? This is so important! The only way we can significantly improve the overall population of honey bees is to increase the number of beekeepers. Let me share three ideas with those of you who presently keep bees.
1. Set a goal, a certain number of people you wish to introduce to beekeeping. It might be one or it might be 10 or 20.
2. Introduce them to beekeeping by sharing how much you enjoy it, and how keeping bees benefits you and your area.
3. Offer to mentor them to help them get started.
4. Invite them to attend local or state association meetings or conferences with you to learn more about bees.

5. Invite them to attend one of our beekeeping classes or a class near you.
Some pointers about introducing people into beekeeping. Be encouraging and positive. Don’t make beekeeping sound worse than it is to prove that you are Rambo. And don’t exaggerate pests and diseases to the point where they think the sky is falling on the bees.
Sometimes we are reluctant to help others get into beekeeping due to a lack of information or help. But as you can see, when you direct your friends to us, we have the advantage of online lessons, real people answering the phones and your friends can receive everything they need from one place, including bees and queens! In fact, we have a lesson gear just toward the new beginner beekeeper. CLICK HERE You can point them to that lesson.
Now on to bee biology! The better we understand the bee, the better we can keep bees. Biology lessons can sometimes become too technical, complicated and seem impractical, so I want to share some bee biology in a way that you will not even know you are in biology class.
Let’s first look into the eyes of the honey bee. I spent an hour today, looking at bee eyes under my microscope. It is awesome to look at a bee under a microscope. How many eyes do bees have? You might be quick to answer two, but they actually have five. On each side of their head they have compound eyes made up of almost 7,000 individual hexagonal sections known as ommatidia. This is very important in helping bees see and evaluate light rays and movement from various flowers. Because of these 7,000 facets to each compound eye, the honey bee can quickly detect motion and movement. In fact, it has been said that if a bee were to watch a movie, they would see it as frame by frame. It would have to be sped up to be seen as we see it. That’s why you should not swat at a bee. The rapid movement is alarming and extremely exaggerated through their sights.
The compound eyes are fixed focus, so for a bee to see letters on a page as we do it would have to be magnified significantly. It is not true that bees are colored blind. They do see in color but not all of our colors, yet they can see colors we cannot, such as ultraviolent colors. They cannot see the color red. To the bee it would only look black or nothing. That’s why we wear red lights when working bees at night. They would be attracted to a white light.
In addition to the two compound eyes, bees also have three additional eyes located in a triangle on the top of their head. They are simple eyes with a single lens. These are the navigational eyes of the bees, the GPS that continually takes readings of the location of the sun’s light rays, allowing the bees to fly with little to no sunlight. These eyes are called ocelli. Just exactly what these three eyes do is still a mystery, but most agree that these eyes are used in orientation.
Thanks for joining us for another lesson today, and we do hope you’ve enjoyed learning about candy boards, how to package a queen, how to encourage others to become beekeepers and more about the eyes of the honey bee.
Here’s our contact information:
PHONE: 217-427-2678
EMAIL: david@honeybeesonline.com
WEBSITE: www.honeybeesonline.com

Until next time, remember to BEE-have yourself!

David & Sheri Burns
Long Lane Honey Bee Farms
14556 N. 1020 E. Rd.
Fairmount, IL 61841
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Happy Thanksgiving everyone, from David & Sheri at Long Lane Honey Bee Farms! Thanksgiving is one of the holidays that our family enjoys the most. All the women love to cook and all the men love to eat. Sheri and hope you find plenty of reasons to be thankful.
Today, I want to give a lesson on improvements we have made to the woodenware (hives) we sell and how I recommend pollen patties to be used in the hive and why mice are bad for hives during the winter. But first, alittle about what we’ve been doing.
We are enjoying an Indian summer, nice warm days. That should change soon, but we’ve taken advantage of these nice days to try and get our outdoor winter preparation projects finished.
This week , I’ll be moving a bunch of my hives into an area where we had walls of dirt brought in to act as a wind block. Then, I have large, and I do mean LARGE, canvas material that I am going to use to shield the hives. Again, this is somewhat experimental. I’ve never had any better winter survivability when I’ve wrapped in the past, but this time I’m adding more ventilation. So we still have lots of hives to move.
(Remember you can click on all pictures for a larger picture.) We had a new and larger sign made for our farm, and signs for the vehicles. I have been really surprised at how much business those signs have generated.
I was featured in another newspaper. It was a nice article, but the reporter got a few details incorrect on the timing of raising queens. That article really generated a lot of interest and phone calls. Here’s the link if you want to see the article. CLICK HERE


LESSON 68: WOODENWARE (Langstroth & TBH Hives), POLLEN PATTIES & MICE
Woodenware is a term used in the beekeeping community to refer to the actual wooden bee hive, not the colony of bees. There are two commonly used hives today. The most common is the hive that pastor Langstroth designed back in 1851. Pastor L. L. Langstroth was pretty depressed over his ministry and found comfort in his bees. It’s hard to believe that a congregation could sting more than a hive of bees. During his work, he designed discovered bee space, a space measuring around 3/8” that bees would leave as a travel space. With that knowledge he designed a hive known as the removal frame hive. Before that, most bees were kept in skeps and logs.
Another common hive is known as a Top Bar Hive. TBHs are gaining popularity. They are shaped like an upside down triangle. Simply put, the only part of the actual frame used is the top bar. The bees add their comb to the top bar down toward the bottom. Langstroth’s hive is not the perfect design, nor is the TBH.
I’m often asked what I think about TBH. I’ve never operated one, so I may change my mind if I were to use one. But apply some basic beekeeping knowledge and comments I’ve heard TBH folks make, here’s what I think.

The TBH followers claim it is much more natural and usually they are referring to the cell size. Since bees are not using a pre-existing foundation pattern, and some conclude they make smaller cell size. Then, the small cell size proponents claim this helps reduce mites. However, in scientifically controlled assays the results did not show any advantage of small cells comb in controlling mites.
The disadvantages I see with TBH are:
1) In order to inspect a frame, the comb is often attached to the side of the hive and must be cut away to be lifted out.
2) Honey frames cannot not as easily extracted and is often crushed and allowed to drain.
3) Other components are not as available, such as feeders, supers etc.
4) Some state bee inspection rules state that frames must be removable and might not view TBH frames as easy to remove without having to cut the comb.
And I always suggest and encourage new beekeepers to become familiar with beekeeping by using the traditional Langstroth designed hive, and once they have the basic fundamentals under their belt, then they might try a TBH.
We’ll probably one day make and sell TBH but as for now, we are happy with the Langstroth’s hive.

The Langstroth hive has been slightly improved over the last 158 years, but is basically the typical white hives you find sprinkled throughout the countryside, and city backyards.
We enjoy the ease of the Langstroth hive. It is easy to use, compatible with various accessories such as pollen traps, top feeders, frame feeders, entrance feeders, supers, cloake boards, fume boards etc.
Since we are beekeepers, we keep improving upon the way we make our hives that we sell. I want to point out a few of these improvements.

Here’s a picture of one of our deep hive bodies being built. We now place 9, 8 penny nails in one corner. That’s 36 nails in one deep hive box. Holes are predrilled. Also each corner receives a generous amount of exterior glue. Those of you who are wood workers know the strength is really in the glue. But those 9 nails give the box strength especially the 4 nails that are cross nailed.

Also, we’ve hunted and hunted until we’ve finally found the perfect wood we like for our hives. We use a high quality pine. It took us several years to finally locate the perfect wood source. We buy it through our local small town lumber yard. They actually get it out of Indiana. It is strong, dried to our perfection. Knots are small and kept to a minimum.

Here’s a look from the inside of the deep hive. We make our own metal frame rests. Notice how we staple them in from the side not the top. When stapled in from the top, the staples catch the hive tool when scraping off propolis. So we staple the frames rests in from the side, leaving the top smooth. These frame rests allow the frames not to stick to the wood. In other words, a wood frame against a wood frame rest can become so glued together by the bee’s natural bee glue (propolis), that the frame’s ear can actually break. But the frames do not stick as much to a smooth metal surface.
Also, this picture shows the frame rest area that is cut into the front and back pieces just above the metal. Since the board is 3/4” thick, half way through is 3/8”. However, we have widened that cut so that the remaining piece is slightly thicker because historically that has been a weak spot.
We’ve also improved out telescoping top cover in three ways. First, we’ve added a screw at the bottom of each corner. We noticed that beekeepers use their hive tools to prior open the tops when they are glued down by the bees. So we’ve stiffened up the corner with a screw. Secondly, we’ve started using screws to fasten our metal down. Thirdly, we are now using a high quality, painted aluminum for the metal top.
Another improvement that we’ve have made to our hives is the frames. The frames that we now use in our hives are of the highest quality. No knots on the wood used for frames.
Notice in these pictures that wide staples are used, connection points are glued, side bars are a full 3/8 inch, bottom bars are much thicker and ears are tapered up to assist in moving and freeing the frames if the bees use lots of propolis.
The final improvement we have made to our hive is our paint. We’ve always used a high quality Valspar exterior paint, but we’ve added a paint room to our operation. The controlled and consistent drying temperature and humidity has significantly improved the overall paint coverage.

We’ve also listened to our customers and they keep telling us they need an entrance reducing cleat that fits when they have their entrance feeders on in the spring. So we now include two entrance cleats, a large one and a smaller one for use with our entrance feeder.
These improvements require more time in producing your hives, but we feel quality is important. But do remember, that your bees really aren’t impressed at the quality of your hives. Bees are comfortable in old, nearly rotten trees. But the better quality your hive is, the longer it will last so that you can enjoy years of beekeeping.
POLLEN PATTIES
We’ve been asked a lot of questions about pollen patties. I’m sure I’ve address the issue before, but rather than waste time trying to find out, it is faster just to address pollen patties here. WHEN, WHERE, WHAT and WHY?
It is my opinion that the major producers of pollen patties are good and reliable. We sell BROOD BUILDER pollen patties which are filled with pollen, and other minerals and nutrition that is good for bees. You’ll find some beekeepers like some brands better than others.
These are pre-made and come between two pieces of wax paper. Again, I can only share my opinion and experience, but I feel and have found that pollen patties are very beneficial to the overall improvement of nutrition in the hive. Of course, one would expect that the bees would bring in plenty of their own choice of pollen during nectar flows, and they do. So I only use pollen patties in late winter, early spring just prior to a good balance of natural pollen. However, if a beekeeper only has a few hives, it wouldn’t hurt to keep a pollen patty on the hive all year, just in case they need a boost. It will not get mixed into the honey because pollen is kept separate than honey in the hive.
Lay the pollen patties just on top of the frames above where the winter cluster is located. One is plenty, maybe even half of one is enough. Keep an eye on it and when it is almost consumed, add the other half. The bees can move up into the pollen patty on warm days. DO NOT remove the wax paper. The bees will consume it. If you remove it, you’ll find on warm days, the patty can become so soft that it can melt and fall between the frames, and be messy in the hive. So keep the paper on it.
Here’s a friend of mine who has a pollen patty on now that it is fall. You can see they have not consumed much of the pollen patty. You might also notice the Ziploc bag full of sugar water with a few holes on top to help feed the bees. Wonder why they are not consuming the pollen patty?
I found out why. He called me in fear that he might have American Foul Brood. He saw a frame that appeared greasy and spotty. So, I ran out the next day and we examined his hive. Though I have never had AFB, I have examined several frames of it in study of my master beekeeper certification. Spending any extended time in the presence of a frame of AFB makes me nauseous because it smells so horrible.
My friend pulled out the frame under suspect and I’ll let you see it here too. What do you think? Click on the image for a full size picture and see if you know what is wrong with this frame? I’ll give you a minute and then I’ll tell you… His description was accurate. Looks greasy and wet and perforated.
Nothing is wrong! This is a beautiful frame, not of brood, but of bee-bread. Bee bread is a combination of pollen and honey. Take a look at this article on the discovery of what bees do with bee bread:
Scientist solves secret of bee bread from Science News, Nov 5, 1988 by Ingrid Wickelgren
A microbiologist has discovered the microbial ingredients honeybees embed in the nutrient-packed pollen derivative known as bee bread.
Martha A. Gilliam of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Carl Hayden Bee Research Center in Tucson, Ariz., identified 107 molds, 81 yeasts and 29 bacteria in the bread while she and co-workers sifted through the yellow granules for proteins, lipids, vitamins, minerals, amino acids and enzymes.
Workers bees newly emerged from the comb must eat bee bread so their glands produce food for the queen and developing larvae, whereas older worker bees -- the foragers -- survive primarily on honey.
"We think bee bread is somewhat more nutritious than regular pollen, but until recently, we weren't sure what happened to it [after the bees collected it]," says Elton Herbert, a research entomologist at the Agriculture Department's Beneficial Insects Research Laboratory in Beltsville, Md.
Using standard chemical methods, Gilliam picked apart pollen on its path from plant to hive. She took samples from beeless almond trees, from the carrying basket on the bee's leg and from the combs in the hive.
"We found that as soon as bees touch the pollen on the plant, they are adding glandular secretions, microorganisms and either honey or nectar to make it sticky," Gilliam says. The added microbes produce enzymes that help release nutrients such as amino acids from pollen, and the organisms manufacture antibiotics and fatty acids that prevent spoilage. The bees also remove unwanted microbes from the pollen.
My friend was pleased and overjoyed that his hive did not have AFB, but rather had a good source of bee bread to take into winter and next spring!

MYSTERY PHOTO??????
WHAT IS THAT…..
A friend had this dripping out of the edge of his hive. Anyone want to venture a guess? Most beekeepers can quickly identify it as propolis. Indeed it is as I pinched and smelled it. But the real question is why would it run out of the hive and down onto the cement stand. Email us your answers and we’ll publish them in the next lesson. Email your guess to: david@honeybeesonline.com
MICE
Mice like warm places to overwinter. When nightly temperatures drop and farmers harvest their crops, mice look for shelter. What better place than a warm and roomy bottom board of a bee hive. Dead bees are nicely dropped down for the mice to consume. Often, mice and bees coexists without harming the other. In the spring, mama runs out of the hive with her new family. However, usually what happens is the mouse gets greedy and wants more than just dead bees. They start eating live ones, honey, wax, pollen and begin to move up into the brood next of the hive where the heat and food is and by that time, the mouse will kill the hive. It’s challenging enough to overwinter bees, so don’t over winter mice in your hives.
Usually the entrance cleat is sufficient to deter mice from taking up residency in the hive. Do keep mice out! One year I overwintered a nice number of colonies along with huge families of spring mice. That crop of mice then raised me a nice crop of snakes who stayed curled under my hives waiting for mice. So, since I stopped raising mice in my hives, I no longer have snakes either.
That’s all for now and I do hope you’ve learned a thing or two new about beekeeping. Maybe it’s all new and maybe it all sounds Greek. Don’t despair. We beekeepers just like to rattle on and on about beekeeping. But you can be an excellent beekeeper just by keeping it simple. Bees existed fine before we tried to domesticate them, so rest assured your bees will be very forgiving of your learning curve.

WE ARE NOW TAKING ORDERS FOR PACKAGE BEES ONLINE. CLICK HERE TO ORDER Package Bees

Here’s our contact information

David & Sheri Burns
Long Lane Honey Bee Farms
14556 N. 1020 East Rd.
Fairmount, IL 61841

PHONE 217-427-2678
EMAIL: david@honeybeesonline.com
WEBSITE: www.honeybeesonline.com

Until next time, remember to BEE-Have yourself!

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Hello, we are David & Sheri Burns from Long Lane Honey Bee Farms in Central Illinois.
Today, I want to address a few controversial issues about preparing a colony for winter. For example, screen bottom boards are of tremendous benefit in reducing mites in the summer, but should we leave these open for the winter winds? And, what about feeding bees in the winter? How can we feed bees without the sugar water freezing? Before I address these and other issues, let me remind you of our upcoming beekeeping class.













Those of you who have visited us know why we are called Long Lane Honey Bee Farms. We live down a long lane, a long gravel lane and with heavy trucks coming and going, our road is constantly full of potholes. So, we added Thomas the Tractor to our arsenal against potholes. A 1958 Case 800 tractor with a front pallet fork and a rear box scraper. I'm a penny pincher. When we first moved here, I had 5 loads of gravel dumped in piles down my lane and for weeks, my son and I used shovels and rakes to smooth it out. I've been working on Thomas for a couple of weeks, repairing hydraulic lines but now the old tractor has joined the work force at the honey bee farm.
LESSON 66: Screen Bottom Boards In The Winter & Fall & Winter Feeding
In a previous lesson, I shared several approaches on how to prepare for winter. In this lesson I want to go into more detail about screen bottom boards and winter feeding.
Screen bottom boards prove to be very beneficial in the summer for reducing mites and for increasing ventilation. But do they pose a threat to a colony during the winter? That's a debated issue. Some cover their screen bottom boards while others leave them open. A few years ago, we did a simple test. We placed covers over 3 colony's screen bottom board and left the others open. We lost all three that were covered. So we always leave our screen bottom boards open all winter. It is our opinion that an open screen bottom board cuts down on excessive moisture. Cold air sinks and warm air rises, so the threat of an open screen bottom board, in our opinion, is minimal.

If your hive is up in the air 6 or 8 inches, then you want to prevent cold wind from curling up and blowing onto the cluster. This can be accomplished by building a wind block around your hive.
Remember, that a winter cluster warms only the cluster and not the inside of the hive. On an extremely cold night, the air several inches away from the cluster will be the same as outside the hive. The bees consume honey, and vibrate by flexing their muscles to generate heat, much like we do when we shiver. That heat is transferred throughout the cluster. They will be able to accomplish generating the cluster heat with or without the screen covered.
WHAT ABOUT WINTER FEEDING?
Many beekeepers allow their colonies to become extremely undernourished. Pollen and stored honey is essential to winter survival of colonies. In the fall, I work to beef up my colonies. It's tricky for me because of the number of colonies in one location. Even an inside top feeder can create a robbing frenzy. In the fall, boardman feeders placed in the front of hives is a certain robbing disaster.
So my approach is two fold. 1) During the fall only, after most nectar is no longer available, I want to prevent robbing, and 2) I want to beef up my colony nutrition for winter.
You can click on the images for a larger view. My approach is simple. I do use boardman feeders, but I place them on stands throughout the bee yard. And on dry days, I pour dry pollen out on the feed stands. My sugar mix is two parts sugar and one part water for fall. I have to make the holes bigger in the lids for the syrup to pass through. I also add one teaspoon of Honey-B-Healthy.
Winter-Bee-Kind For Winter Feed For Bees

In The summer of 2011 we introduced our Winter-Bee-Kind after several years of studying overwintering hives. We could barely keep up with production they were in such demand. We still make them right here at Long Lane Honey Bee Farms but we've expanded our production methods to keep up with demand. So many beekeepers told us that these were the only thing that got their hives through the winter. This year, it's time for the 2014 production year. We even mix the sugar and pollen and right here and pour the candy into the Winter-Bee-Kinds. WHAT IS A WINTER-BEE-KIND? It is a one piece candy board that provides food, ventilation, upper insulation and an upper exit/entrance to help bees remain healthier during the winter. Someone said it insulates, ventilates and feed-i-lates. With the built in upper vent, you don't have to worry about snow covering up your hive's lower entrance. The bees can still go in and out through the top vent spacing. We avoid shipping Winter-Bee-Kinds in hot weather and start shipping each September-March. You can place our Winter-Bee-Kinds on your hive anytime, even in the winter. Because it goes on top of the hive in place of the inner cover, and you are NOT removing any frames, it can be placed on the hive in cold weather. Just do it fast. Open the top, remove the inner cover and place the candy side down and the vent slot toward the front of the hive and you're done. Click here to order your Winter-Bee-Kinds Some form of a candy board has been around for a long time. Beekeepers of long ago placed candy in their hives to provide enough food for their bees to survive the long months of winter. There are various mixtures and receipts for candy boards. Some are made with soft candy and some with hard candy. The end result is still the same. The bees will consume the sugar as they need it. We've always been concerned about the amount of condensation that can develop in the hive during the winter. The bees produce heat within their hive and as the temperature is very cold outside the hive, condensation will develop on the warm side, just above the bees on the inner cover or top cover. This condensation can accumulate and drop down onto the winter cluster of bees below. Bees can stay warm in the winter but they must remain dry. If this cold water drips down onto the bees, it can reduce their ability to keep their cluster warm. The insulation on our Winter-Bee-Kind helps reduce the excessive moisture and even puts some of that moisture to work, as it accumulates on the candy and makes it easy for the bees to consume the sugar. Thus, a Winter-Bee-Kind can help lessen two winter stresses, the lack of food and excessive moisture. We make our Winter-Bee-Kinds with sugar and a healthy amount of pollen powder. Many beekeepers make the mistake of only feeding their bees sugar in the winter, but the bees also need protein which they obtain from pollen. Our Winter-Bee-Kinds come with pollen mixed in with the sugar.. Click here to order your Winter-Bee-Kind today. We recommend that you place candy boards on your hive any time between Oct-March.


Commonly Asked Questions
Q: Which way does the candy face in the hive?
A: The candy faces down just above the winter cluster. Normally, this means that the Winter-Bee-Kind would be placed on the brood box that contains the cluster. For example, if you overwinter your bees in a single deep hive body, the Winter-Bee-Kind would be placed on this deep hive body with the candy facing down toward the cluster. If you are using two deep hive bodies to overwinter, then the Winter-Bee-Kind would be placed on the top deep hive body. It is best to disregard the use of an inner cover, and simply place your top cover over the Winter-Bee-Kind.

Q: What about winter moisture?
A: Moisture can develop in the winter from condensation, a contrast of the heat the bees produce in the hive and the extreme cold temperature outside the hive. Condensation accumulates on the warm side, which means moistures collects on the inner cover or top cover above the hive. This can drip down on the bees and chill them during the winter. A Winter-Bee-Kind takes the place of an inner cover and any moisture that develops from condensation aids the bees in consuming the candy.

Q: How long will a Winter-Bee-Kind last on a hive?
A: On average about 3 weeks. However, a colony that has ample stored honey may not consume the candy board as fast or not at all until they need it. A colony close to starvation may consume a Winter-Bee-Kind within a week or two.

Q: Since Winter-Bee-Kinds are placed or replaced on the hive in the winter, can I open the hive up on a cold day?
A: It is best to place the candy boards on a hive when the temperature is above freezing and try to place the candy board on and have the hive sealed back up within 1-2 minutes. It should not take over 1 minute. Do not remove any frames in cold temperatures, only place your Winter-Bee-Kind on and off quickly. If you can choose the warmest day during the winter, that would be best. Try to avoid very cold, windy or rainy days.

Q: How do I refill a candy board?
A: It is best to send back your candy board and we will refill it for $7 plus shipping. If you are a good candy maker, you can do it yourself.

Q: How do I get one with a pollen?
A: Our Winter-Bee-Kinds contain pollen as well.

Q: Can I make my own?
A: You can, but you must experiment, because you do not want the candy to be too hard or too runny. The exact mix depends on your altitude, heat source and other conditions so it will be different from one location to another.

Q: Why was some liquid sugar dripping out of my Winter-Bee-Kind when I received it?
A: It is the nature of candy boards to be a bit on the dripping side even though the top may be hard. Do not be concerned if you see liquid sugar dripping out of your boards when you receive it. It usually means it was left on end during shipment for a prolong period of time. The bees will clean everything up and enjoy this soft liquid.

Q: How much sugar is in one Winter-Bee-Kind?
A: Approximately 5 pounds

Q: When do I put a Winter-Bee-Kind on my hive?
A: Any time! Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb are good months to place on the boards.

Q How often should I check my Winter-Bee-Kind?
A: Every three weeks, take a peek.

Q: Do you make Winter-Bee-Kind for 5 frame nucs or 8 frame hives?
A: Yes, check out our website to order, but carefully read the description to make sure you are ordering the correct size and type.

Q: Can the candy break loose from the board on the hive?
A: It rarely happens, but during extreme winter weather, the candy and separate from the board while on the hive. This is not a problem. The bees will continue to consume the sugar.

Q: When I place it on the hive, do I use my inner cover. Just how does it go on?
A: Winter-Bee-Kind takes the place of your inner cover. Simply place the Winter-Bee-Kind on the top of your upper hive body or super with the candy facing down, then place your top cover on top of the Winter-Bee-Kind. Be sure to use a rock or brick to make sure the wind does not blow your top cover off. There is overwhelming enthusiasm about our Winter-Bee-Kinds. Click here to order now.
Feel free to order your hives for the spring by calling us at 217-427-2678. We take credit cards over the phone, or you can order online by clicking here.
We always appreciate your business, whether it is for your woodenware hive needs, queens, packages, nucs, clothing or extraction equipment, we always appreciate your loyalty.
Here's how you can contact us:
Phone: 217-427-2678
Email: david@honeybeesonline.com
Web Address: http://www.honeybeesonline.com/
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Until next time, remember to BEE-Have yourself!

David & Sheri Burns
Long Lane Honey Bee Farms
Fairmount, Illinois
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