Hello, we are David & Sheri Burns, beekeepers operating Long Lane Honey Bee Farms. Feel free to contact us at: 217-427-2678. We’re having the time of our life enjoying helping others get started in beekeeping.
In today’s Lesson, I will be explaining the importance of rotating hive bodies in early spring. Before we start today’s lesson, let me invite you to two our our upcoming classes.






LESSON 93: ROTATING HIVE BODIES
It's important for beekeepers to be well prepared to properly manage hives that have survived the winter. In our last lesson we looked into a more detailed look at the Demaree swarm prevention method. Use this acronym to help you remember how to prepare:

Stimulate For Rapid Foraging Force
Prevent Swarms
Rotate Hive Bodies Inspect The Productivity Of The Queen
New Queen
Give 1:1 Sugar Water & Pollen Patties

It is important for the second year beekeeper to understand how the bees gradually move upward in the hive during the winter. During the winter the cluster gradually moves upward into the top hive body eating its way into stored honey above the cluster.

Normally the colony is found in the upper deep hive body during the start of spring, leaving the bottom deep hive body empty of bees and honey. The colony will expand in the upper hive body but will quickly become congested and will not likely move down.
The congestion can cause the colony to swarm. Therefore, by reversing the hive bodies the main nesting area is placed on the bottom, giving the colony room to expand into the upper hive body thus elevating congestion and helping to prevent swarming.
This is referred to by beekeepers as rotating the hive bodies or also as reversing the hive bodies. Many beekeepers become too eager to reverse the hive bodies and make a mistake so huge that it devastates the hive, and the colony usually never fully recovers. So let me give some practical advice on rotating the hive bodies.
First, DO NOT ROTATE TOO EARLY. Many beekeepers rotate the boxes too early in the season when the nights are still below freezing.

While a large hive may not be too effected, a smaller hive can suffer from being moved to the bottom. Why? When they were in the top of the hive, they enjoyed living in the pocket of heat that became trapped in the upper part of the hive. This provided assistance in heating the newly reared brood. If the hive bodies are rotated and the temperature drops drastically from a surprise spring cold snap, the colony is now on the
bottom and may have difficulty keeping the brood warm. In Illinois I make it a firm practice never to make splits or rotate hive bodies until after May 1. I simply want warmer nights.
Secondly, many beekeepers make the mistake of not fully inspecting and locating the nesting area. Before reversing the hive bodies it is essential that the hive be inspected. If any of the capped or uncapped brood dips down into the lower hive body, DO NOT REVERSE. If the brood/nesting area was in the upper half of the lower deep, and into the lower half of the upped deep then rotating will damage and break up the brood area and the hive will likely not recover throughout the summer.
So before rotating, make sure there is no brood in the lower hive body. It must be empty of brood, capped or uncapped. If there are some bees in the lower hive, but no brood, it is okay to rotate.

Rotating Hive Bodies & Cleaning Out Bees That Died In Winter

Let me summarize rotating hive bodies:
* Be sure the nights are warm enough not to chill the brood.
* Check and make certain all capped and uncapped brood is found in the upper hive body.
* To rotate, simply reverse the locations of the hive bodies. Place the bottom one on top and the tope one on the bottom.
...in our next article Inspecting The Productivity Of The Queen


Thanks for joining us today and here is our contact information:
Long Lane Honey Bee Farms
14556 N. 1020. E. Rd
Fairmount, IL 61841
(217) 427-2678
http://www.honeybeesonline.com/
EMAIL: david@honeybeesonline.com



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We are David & Sheri Burns from Long Lane Honey Bee Farms. Our main website is: www.honeybeesonline.com
Thanks for joining us today as we continue to look at important preparations for hives that survive the winter. We call these hives overwintered colonies. Today we’ll specifically look at an effective swarm prevention method known as the Demaree method.
But first, let me thank you for your interest in honey bees. Thank you for realizing how important honey bees are to our food supply. 1 out of 3 bites of food is the result of honey bee pollination. Do your part by keeping bees.

LESSON 92: SWARM PREVENTION
It's important for beekeepers to be well prepared to properly manage hives that have survived the winter. In our last lesson we looked at how to stimulate the colony to produce a large population of foraging bees prior to the first strong nectar flow. In this lesson we look into the very challenging task of swarm prevention. I'm using an acronym to make it easier to remember 6 important management practices to implement in the SPRING and today we'll look at number 2, Prevent Swarms.
Stimulate For Rapid Foraging Force

Prevent Swarms
Rotate Hive Bodies

Inspect The Productivity Of The Queen

New Queen

Give 1:1 Sugar Water & Pollen Patties
In this lesson, we'll look at a few techniques to prevent swarming. Swarming is probably the greatest cause of low honey production.

First, I'll give some important bullet points on swarming, then I'll give three swarm prevention methods. Keep in mind that swarming is not completely understood and no matter what methods are used colonies may still swarm. There is no 100% sure method that works every time.
* 60 percent of the colony swarms with the older queen.
* Clipping a queen's wing does not prevent swarming, because they will wait and swarm with the new, virgin queen.
* The primary cause of swarming is congestion in the brood area of the hive.
* The swarm is made up largely of young bees at the optimal age for producing wax since the swarm must quickly build new comb.
* A large hive (one that has not swarmed) has more foraging bees than bees caring for brood even though the large hive has more brood. In other words, once a hive swarms it will greatly reduce its ability to produce surplus honey.

* A healthy colony will swarm in order to reproduce another colony.
* Colonies are most likely to swarm during spring and early summer during the start of a nectar flow.
* Colonies with queens that are more than 1 year old are more likely to swarm.
* Keeping a young queen in the hive is a very effective swarm control method.
* A colony makes queens in preparation to swarming and as soon as the newly created queen cells are capped, they can swarm at any time.
* Beekeepers who capture swarms often have queen issues afterward because the swarm is accompanied by the old queen that may soon die or not lay well, and be unsuccessfully replaced.
* The main swarm is headed by the old queen, and normally additional swarms (afterswarms) are headed by virgin queens.
Swarm prevention has always been a challenge. There are many methods to control swarming, but three are most often followed: 1) Reversal of brood bodies 2) Providing a young queen 3) Demaree method
Reversal of Brood Bodies
During the winter the cluster gradually moves upward into the top hive body eating its way into stored honey above the cluster. Normally the colony is found in the upper deep hive body during the start of spring, leaving the bottom deep hive body empty of bees and honey. 
The colony will expand in the upper hive body but quickly becomes congested and will not likely move down. The congestion will likely cause the colony to
swarm. Therefore, reversing the hive bodies places the main nesting area on the bottom, giving the colony room to expand into the upper hive body thus elevating congestion and helping to prevent swarming. We'll talk more about this method in our next article as it is part of our SPRING acronym.
Providing a Young Queen
As the queen ages she is less likely to produce queen pheromones as strongly as a young queen. With the reduced queen pheromone the hive is more likely to swarm. Providing a new queen is part of our SPRING acronym so I will deal with this more in a future article. But for now, realize that a new queen each year can greatly reduce swarm tendency.
Demaree Method of Swarm Prevention
When I began studying for the master beekeeping certification, I learned about the Demaree method to prevent swarming. It frequently shows up on the
tests and I’m glad I studied it, because it showed up on last years test. George Demaree was a beekeeper from Kentucky who came up with an effective method of swarm control in 1892 which separates the queen from the brood. It requires more colony manipulation, but the method is effective.
For demonstration, our hive under consideration will have two deep hive bodies and let's assume the queen is laying well and there is capped and uncapped brood throughout the two deep hive bodies.

1) Examine the frames and cage the queen so that you do not injure her while moving frames.

2) Move frames of capped and uncapped brood into the upper deep hive body. If both deep hive bodies have brood that will not fit into the upper deep hive body, use a third deep hive body. Replace the brood frames that you moved up with empty drawn combs.

3) Place the queen (release her if she is in a cage) into the bottom deep hive body and place a queen excluder to hold her down into this bottom deep hive box.

4) Now, place drawn comb into a new deep hive body and place it on top of the bottom deep that has the queen excluder on it (in the middle of the two deeps).

5) In 7 to 10 days go through the upper hive body and destroy all queen cells. Since the queen is held down to the bottom of the hive, this upper box could start raising their own queen. But once you destroy any cells, they cannot raise another one because the brood is too old to raise a queen. Now you can remove the queen excluder. The bees have been given more room, the queen has been given more room and no bees have been lost due to swarming. And the bees will begin to fill the upper hive body once the brood has emerged.
...in our next article The Details of Reversing Hive Bodies

Thanks for joining us today! Here at Long Lane Honey Bee Farms we appreciate you business. Contact us to order all your woodenware (hive equipment), beekeeping equipment and supplies. We appreciate your support. 217-427-2678 or visit our website at: www.honeybeesonline.com
HERE’S OUR CONTACT INFORMATION:
PHONE: 217-427-2678
EMAIL: david@honeybeesonline.com
WEB: www.honeybeesonline.com
TWITTER: http://twitter.com/longlanehoney
See you next time,
David & Sheri Burns
Long Lane Honey Bee Farms
14556 N. 1020 E. Rd
Fairmount, IL 61841

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We are David & Sheri Burns from Long Lane Honey Bee Farms and we are glad you’ve joined us for another lesson in beekeeping.
We are located in central Illinois where it is cold and snowy and the bees can’t wait until a nice warm day and neither can we.
I was going to jump into some lessons on Top Bar Hives, but I’m going to save that after this series of lessons.
There is plenty of information in the beekeeping literature to help beginners. But there is far less information that goes into great detail about what to do with your bees the second year as they come out of winter. In today’s lesson and over the course of the next few blogs I’ll address what you should be doing with your bees as winter draws to a close and spring makes its usual grand entry.

LESSON 91: BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES FOR OVERWINTERED COLONIES
There is plenty of information in the beekeeping literature to help beginners. But there is far less information that goes into great detail about what to do with your bees the second year as they come out of winter. I'll take the next few articles to address what you should be doing with your bees as winter draws to a close and spring makes its usual grand entry. The first thing you should do is celebrate and rejoice that your bees made it through a long winter. After you've had sufficient time to celebrate, you'll need to get serious about helping your bees have a great season. I've made an acronym to make it easier to remember how to prepare your bees for their second seasons:
Stimulate For Rapid Foraging Force Prevent Swarms Rotate Hive Bodies Inspect The Productivity Of The Queen New Queen Give 1:1 Sugar Water & Pollen Patties
In this lesson, we'll look at how to stimulate your late winter bees for a rapid buildup of the foraging force. A colony that is very populated with foragers will be able to gather more pollen, nectar, propolis and water. This alone will make a much healthier colony. And if you desire to increase your honey yields per hive, increasing your foraging force is essential.
How can you help your colony build up a huge foraging force to gather an abundance of resources? To start, we have to do the math. We have to work backwards to arrive at our target stimulation date. Let's randomly choose May 1st as the day we want our full foraging force.
By foraging force I mean a maximum number of worker bees of foraging age. Since worker bees take 21 days to emerge and another 21 days until they take their first foraging flight, that gives us a total of 42 days. So we want our queen to be laying at her maximum 42 days prior to May 1st, which would be March 20th. But, we'll need to stimulate the queen about a week before March 20th so that she can be at her maximum laying on March 20th. Bingo, March 13th is our date that we will want to manipulate the colony to ensure we have our full foraging force for May 1st.
To stimulate our queen to lay at her maximum we would normally want a natural, heavy nectar flow. That might be the case the further south you live. In central Illinois I will have to introduce pollen substitute patties and a 1:1 sugar feedings to stimulate my queen to start laying prior to the natural nectar flow. And once I start, I cannot stop, because the colony is counting on my pollen and sugar water to feed to their larva. Even the adult bees feeding the larva need this same food so the glands in their head can produce the much need brood food.
Of course you'll need to be sure you have a prolific queen and you'll be able to determine this once the temperature warms up above 65 (F) and you can lift out brood frames and inspect for eggs and sealed brood.
…next time we’ll look at Spring Swarm Prevention
We hope you are finding our lessons very helpful and if you can, please purchase all your beekeeping needs from us! We sell packages of bees, 4 frame nucs, raise and sell our own queens and we manufacture beekeeping equipment as well. Make us your one stop shop for all your beekeeping needs. Thank you in advance.
HERE’S OUR CONTACT INFORMATION:
PHONE: 217-427-2678
EMAIL: david@honeybeesonline.com
WEB: www.honeybeesonline.com
TWITTER: http://twitter.com/longlanehoney
See you next time,
David & Sheri Burns
Long Lane Honey Bee Farms
14556 N. 1020 E. Rd
Fairmount, IL 61841
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Hi, we are David & Sheri Burns from Long Lane Honey Bee Farms in central Illinois. We love keeping bees. Thanks for visiting our blog and we hope you’ll read what we have to say today about how to become a beekeeper.

I never really know who will be reading our beekeeping lessons. You might be an experienced beekeeper, having kept bees for years. Or you may have only kept bees for a year or two. Maybe you are like so many others who are interested in keeping bees in the spring of 2011. We try to write our articles to reach each group each time. So today, I want to walk you through the process of how to keep bees. Those of you who are already keeping bees will still learn something, I’ll throw in some goodies for you, too.

Before we start today’s lesson, let me tell you what we’ve been doing here at Long Lane Honey Bee Farms. In addition to producing our own beekeeping podcast, I am now hosting a nationwide beekeeping podcast called “Save The Bees.” This podcast has existed for several years through the Wild Life Pro Network and I just recently became the new host. What’s so fun about this podcast is that it’s recorded LIVE on the internet. You can actually call in to the live recording and ask me questions or just shoot the breeze about bees. It’s low-key, home spun fun. So call in to make the show more interesting! You can call in with any question you’d like to ask about bees. These broadcasts are recorded live each third Thursday of the month. Our next one is coming up tonight September 16 at 7pm Central Time. I will be talking about equipment used in beekeeping, specifically about specialized equipment, like queen castles, slatted bottom racks, cloake boards, nucs, smokers, hive tools and more!



Sheri and I have had such a wonderful summer! The weather has been beautiful now that we’re getting into the Fall. Summer has been all about queen rearing. We’re still sending out as many queens as we can produce each week. We have had a wonderful year for raising queens, and our queens have been mating fast and completely, resulting in our usual bounty of outstanding queens. I have a particular breeding technique that has stayed consistent over the last few year to produce a very nice queen that we called the Illinois Pioneer Queen. In his book, “50 Years Among The Bees,” C.C. Miller wrote, “The queen being the very soul of the colony, I hardly consider any pains too great that will give better queens.”

In addition to raising queens, summer and early fall is always a time for us to prepare for the next bee season. We’ve stayed busy repairing, replacing and improving equipment and processes for the upcoming year. When the bee season is in full operation, there is no spare time to make these repairs and improvements. We have about another 45 days left to have everything in place for another exciting 2011 honey bee season and we are excited. Already beekeepers are scrambling to purchase their packages and nucs in advance.

That’s why I want to share in this lesson how to get started in beekeeping. It continues to be our passion to help encourage more and more people to start keeping bees. We believe with more practical information we can help others take the step to keep bees.

A friend of mine visited the island of Palawan in the Philippines where he took a turn off the beaten path on a rented motorbike and journeyed through rivers and between mountains to arrive at a unique bee farm. My friend Aaron Bergman tells the rest of the story.






“Finally we found the bee farm. The "bee farm" is a demonstration facility sponsored by the Palawan city government for the education of local beekeepers.





It's on the bottom side of a mountain on a dirt path. As you see in the pictures, they have 6 hives. They have a small extractor, informational posters, and sell some local honey there. There were 3 friendly ladies happy to show us around when we arrived.





Luckily almost all Filipinos can speak English so communication was no problem. They told me that there are currently 44 local beekeepers, most with only one or two colonies. They purchase queens from Kona Queen in Hawaii as well as Australia. Some of the beekeepers are keeping Apis Cerana. There is also Apis Dorsata, but they told me that they are too aggressive to be managed. They are using Apistan for mite control and it's still working for them. They told me they have a problem with bee-eating birds.

One of the pictures is a poster showing all the local beekeepers, their locations on the map, and at the top is a picture of the mayor of Puerto Princesa, Edward Hagedorn. They told me their honey crop mainly comes from local wildflowers. They didn't have any honey from the Italian bees available, but I bought a jar of Apis Cerana honey and a jar of Apis Dorsata honey. Each jar was 80 pesos, less than 2 USD.” Thanks Aaron!!

In our lesson today, we’ll look at why it is so important to have more people start keeping bees. Hopefully, this lesson can be printed off and handed out in clubs to encourage others to become beekeepers. Or you could forward this lesson to someone you know who might be on the fence about becoming a beekeeper.

How To Become A Beekeeper
by David Burns, EAS Certified Master Beekeeper
I cannot think of any outdoor activity more enjoyable than observing and enjoying the majestic and industrious honey bee. I further cannot believe that everyone isn’t keeping bees. Those who have joined the honorable ranks of being a beekeeper do so for many different reasons. Some keep bees so they can harvest their own home grown honey.

Others keep bees to pollinate their fruit trees, crops and gardens. Many keep bees because they have heard of the decline in honey bee colonies and want to do their part in keeping our honey bees alive and well. There are many other reasons, but deep down all beekeepers enjoy keeping bees because it is simply enjoyable!

A common thread among our customers who are becoming beekeepers for the very first time is that they now have time and a place to keep bees. Many say their dad or grandpa kept a few hives and they were always intrigued with bees and would like to try it for themselves.

If you’ve ever considered keeping honey bees, good for you. It is so important that we understand the essential and significant role honey bees play in our world. Honey bees pollinate 1/3 of all the food we eat. Apples, almonds, melons and even the crops that cattle eat to produce our beef and milk all tie into the pollination of the honey bee. And this is just scratching the surface.

We are here to help you take the step to becoming a beekeeper!  I’m a EAS certified master beekeeper and when you buy your equipment and bees from us, I’ll give you my personal cell phone number so you can call me anytime you have a question about your bees.

Just about anyone can keep bees, from the young to the old, from the University entomologist to the stay at home mom. Even the white house has a hive.

Yes, you can be a beekeeper. All you need is a beehive, some protective clothing, a few tools and some bees. You don’t have to know everything about bees to get started. After all, most colonies are pretty forgiving, and experience continues to be the best teacher.

Let me give you a few recommendations in the checklist below so you can become a successful beekeeper in the spring of 2011:

1)  LEARN ABOUT BEEKEEPING through online lessons such as the ones you see on our site, or take a class. Beekeeping classes are springing up all over the country. We offer classes almost monthly here at our apiary.

2) DECIDE HOW MANY HIVES you want to start out with. Of course you can start with only one if you have a tight budget. However, most everyone would recommend starting with 2-3 hives. Why?  If you only start with one, and it dies or flies away, then you do not have any bees. But with two or more hives you can always equalize your hives by sharing frames of brood or bees.

If you lose a queen or a whole hive, you can make a second hive called a split, or you can even move a frame of eggs over from the strong hive into a queenless hive and let them raise their own queen. You will also be able to harvest more products from the hive such as honey, pollen, royal jelly, propolis and wax. Once you put on your suit and light your smoker, it really doesn’t take much longer to inspect multiple hives.

3) PURCHASE YOUR BEES AND EQUIPMENT at the right time of the year. You should purchase your equipment between September through February. You can purchase your hives later than February, but you might find a longer wait time as this is the busy season for production. Purchase your protective clothing and tools at this time as well.



Purchase your bees between November and March. You can try to see if packages of bees are left after March, and it is possible, but we completely sold out last year on March 1st. If you live close enough, you can pick up your bees at our honey bee farm, but if not we’ll be happy to ship the bees to you either through USPS or UPS.




OLD EQUIPMENT VS. NEW EQUIPMENT
Many people try to save a few bucks and climb up in someone’s old barn loft to resurrect some old beekeeping equipment. This can work, but the risk of disease could cause you to lose your colony. Some diseases can live and remain dormant in old boxes for nearly 80 years.

We would love to be your bee equipment supplier. Your purchases from us will help us continue our beekeeping research, provide these free online lessons and pay our bills. Thank you in advance. We carry a full line of beekeeping supplies and we manufacture our own hives including 5-frame, 8-frame and 10-frame equipment.

DO NOT WAIT UNTIL APRIL OR MAY TO MAKE YOUR PURCHASES. It could be too late. Every year so many people call in May and June once it’s too late. So follow the time table above.



4) CHOOSE YOUR LOCATION to place your hives. Depending on where you live you may want to see if there are restrictions to keeping hives. This is usually only the case if you live in a town or city. However, most city ordinances allow for beekeeping, but you might check first.

If you find that you cannot keep bees where you live, remember there many places in the country where people would be more than glad for you to keep your bees on their property. Just remember not to place your bees too far from where you live or the long distance commute could keep you from enjoying your bees as often as you’d like.

Hives do well in partial shade, but because of various pests such as small hive beetle, ants and mice, it helps to keep hives in complete sun. However, when this is not possible, some shade is fine.

FACE WHICH DIRECTION? Hives can actually face any direction. Generally, facing them East or Southeast allows for early morning sunlight to get the hive out working early. Another consideration is the bees’ flight path. When you’re placing your hive, consider what might be in the hive’s flight path as they leave the hive. Do not place them near your clothes line or next to a walkway. They will stain your clothes and bump into people if they are too close to common walkways.

5) WHAT ABOUT YOUR NEIGHBOURS? There are several steps you can take so that your bees are liked by your neighbors. If your neighbors are close, keep plenty of water around for your bees to prevent them from looking for water in your neighbor’s kiddy pool. Bird baths make great bee waterers. If your neighbors are real close, you might consider giving them a jar of honey each year so they can see first hand how sweet bees are.
Try not to work your bees when your neighbors are having an outing or outdoor party. Always maintain a gentle line of bees.

6) JOIN A LOCAL BEE CLUB AND STATE ORGANIZATION.  Most areas have state associations that are made up of smaller beekeeping clubs throughout the state. These are great opportunities to learn, build up your beekeeping confidence and meet other beekeepers. I realize that many beekeepers are very independent or are so busy we don’t have time to join a club. But recently a local park district called a pest control company to kill a large hive in a tree. The hive was full of honey, so once the colony was dead and full of poison, nearby hives quickly robbed the poisoned honey and took it back to local beekeepers’ hives, killing those hives as a result. Our club quickly became involved by educating how bad this was, and how beekeepers are more than willing to remove hives. And our club was instrumental in helping one beekeeper receive compensation for his dead hives from the pest control company.

Our state association (Illinois) recently lobbied and had bottling honey removed from the oversight of the public health department. Now beekeepers are free to bottle and sell their own honey without the same restrictions imposed upon restaurants. This was hard work and took the “muscle” of a state association of beekeepers to get the attention of politicians.



7) PROTECTIVE CLOTHING & TOOLS. There are basically three levels of protective clothing: A complete suit with a built in hood which covers every part of your body, a jacket with a built in hood which protects you from the waist up, and a hat and veil that merely protects your face and head. Rarely do I have to wear a suit. Mostly I’ve learned to work my bees with a hat and veil, and sometimes no protective clothing at all. I have a complete lesson on how to work bees to avoid stings. CHECK OUT LESSON 21

If you are really worried about being stung, start with a complete suit and gloves. As you build your confidence you can slowly reduce the amount of protective clothing until you finally are wearing a hat and veil and no gloves.
What about gloves? I respect those who have to wear gloves. But, I believe if you keep the right tempered bees, which you should, you should develop your skills to the point where you do not wear gloves. I do not wear gloves and enjoy working my bees with my hands. My bees seem to respect that and I kill less bees.






 
 TOOLS. Two tools are needed to keep bees. A hive tool and a smoker. Do not get caught up in specially designed smokers and hive tools. An inexpensive smoker works just as well, and usually just as long as an expensive one.

Smoker fuel can be anything you have handy that produces non-toxic cool smoke, such as clean cotton rags, burlap, some types of twine, pine needles, dry grass cuttings, mulch, tree bark and cardboard. All of these fuels burn differently, so find the one that you prefer. I have a complete lesson on using your smoker correctly. Click Here

There are various types of hive tools but the traditional hive tool will be all you really need. I prefer using a stainless steel hive tool because if you drop it in the grass and can’t find it until next spring, it will still look the same. A regular steel hive tool will rust quickly, even if painted. Stainless steel hive tools are hard to find, but we sell them. Click here

Like any hobby there is a ton of various gadgets to buy and some are fun and enjoyable and helpful. But your basic tools are the smoker and hive tool.

These are some of the basics you need to know to start keeping bees in 6 or 7 months. So now is the time to begin learning, purchasing your equipment and bees and deciding on your location. Maybe you are looking for something to occupy your time through the winter. Now you can study beekeeping and be prepared when spring arrives. Maybe you need a hobby, something to keep your mind alert or maybe you would benefit from joining a group of people and interacting more with others. Beekeeping is just right.

Finally, Sheri and I are here to help you start keeping bees. We are both beekeepers and are available to answer your questions and personally mentor you when you purchase your bees and beekeeping equipment from us.
Thanks for joining us today, and here’s our contact information:
PHONE: 217-427-2678
EMAIL: david@honeybeesonline.com
WEBSITE: http://www.honeybeesonline.com/

Our mailing address:
Long Lane Honey Bee Farms
14556 N 1020 E. Rd
Fairmount, IL 61841
Until next time, remember to Bee-Have yourself!

David & Sheri Burns

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We are David & Sheri Burns from Long Lane Honey Bee Farms located in Central Illinois and it is nice to join you for another lesson in beekeeping.

Before we get started today, we are happy to announce that we are now taking online orders for packaged bees!! That's right, interest was so strong, we jumped in a week early. CLICK HERE to order your packaged bees online now. Don't delay too long as last year many people called us too late and we could no longer supply bees.
You can click on all images and enlarge them. Have you ever wondered how we make up packages of bees. Here's a video I took in April outside of Orlando, Florida. We will do it all again in just 5 months. These packages are available for local pickup from our apiary here in Illinois but must be pre-ordered online or by phone.

We spent the summer adding on a new build room to our operation, and it will be a very nice addition to our production of bee hives.
We are already having an unusual increase in orders, which leads me to believe that it will be another year of extraordinary interest in beekeeping.
In our next lesson, I want to share some special and unique touches we have incorporated into our beehives. I can't wait to share those things with you.

And we have a new edition of our Podcast, Studio Bee Live available, so check it out at: www.honeybeesonline.com/studiobeelive.html
One more thought before we jump into today's lesson. Feed your bees on these nice fall days. Use 2:1 sugar water with Honey-B-Healthy. Several days this week will be perfect days to feed bees here in our apiary, and so I've already mixed my syrup. I'm feeding them now with chicken waterers. I do have to modify the opening by placing in a piece of 1/8 hardware cloth to keep the bees from going up into the jar. They will get up into the jar and then they drown. Every beekeeper needs to have a roll of 1/8 hardware cloth available to keep bees either in or out.
As you can see in the picture, since the syrup mixture is so thick, I've started heating mine on the stove to dissolve the sugar. I also add several other spices and such that I've found to be helpful. I will not share my secret receipt, not because it is a secret, but because what I do has not been tested or written up about, but I believe it in. I add a natural mineral and spice along with Honey-B-Healthy.

As you can see, the bees go crazy over it. I did review various scientific research that has been done on this particular mineral to help bees, so that gave me the idea to add it to my fall syrup.
LESSON 67: BECOME A BETTER BEEKEEPING THROUGH BOOKS, MAGAZINES, CONFERENCES & MENTORSHIPS
In most parts winter is setting in, the bees have kicked out all the drones and soon the bees will form their winter cluster. The bees have done all they can do to prepare for winter and we hope as beekeepers we have done our part to help them make it through the winter. There is very little we can do now except wait for spring and see how well the bees go through, what many are saying, is going to be a harsh winter.
But, why waste your time worrying and wondering about your bees! You did a good job as a beekeeper, now relax and use this winter to become a better beekeeper by reading good beekeeping books, which I want to tell you about two books that are really good, and by attending conferences and association meetings where you will find those willing to mentor you along.
First, let's look at two books that I highly recommend. HONEY BEE BIOLOGY AND BEEKEEPING by Dr. Dewey M. Caron. This is an excellent book. With some books on beekeeping, they are either oversimplified or overcomplicated. But this book finds a good balance so that it is helpful to the new beekeeper and to the experienced beekeeper as well. Dr. Caron is Professor of Entomology at the University of Delaware where he was presented the University's Outstanding Teaching Award.
Here's what Dr. Caron says about this book. "My intent is to explain bee and beekeeping basics in a manner meaningful to a person who lacks an extensive background or knowledge of biology. Yet I have not oversimplified bee biology to the point where it is meaningless to the serous beekeeper or informed biologist."
I will suggest where you can purchase this book, but first let me tell you about another great book because you can purchase both books from the same place.
The second book is another book that I highly recommend. "What Do You Know" by Dr. Clarence H. Collison. I met Dr. Collison in August at the Eastern Apicultural Society conference in New York. Dr. Collison heads up the master beekeeping program. Dr. Collison is Professor of Entomology and Head of the Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology at Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS. He has also had a column in the magazine, BEE CULTURE, for over two decades.
This book is fun! It allows you to answer questions to see how much you really know about beekeeping, then the next chapter gives you the answers so you can see how well you did and learn the correct answer.
Both books are available at WICWAS PRESS. Dr. Lawrence Connor is WICWAS PRESS. He's an Entomologist and is always on the cutting edge of beekeeping and has a column in the magazine, AMERICAN BEE CULTURE. Contact Larry today and order these two books. You can email Larry at LJconnor@aol.com or call him at: 269-344-8027 or online at www.wicwas.com
These two books will greatly advance your beekeeping knowledge!
BEEKEEPING CONFERENCES
Most state beekeeping associations offer conferences and classes. Most areas have small affiliate beekeeping associations. To find one near you, you should contact either your state's Department of Agriculture or Department of Natural Services. You can also contact your local county extension office. Attending local bee clubs and state associations is a great way to meet other beekeepers, learn from knowledgeable and experienced beekeepers and develop friendships that can turn into mentorships. By subscribing to the beekeeping magazines, you can read all about the conferences, workshops and classes in your area.
BEEKEEPING MAGAZINES
I used to think that subscribing to beekeeping magazines were expensive. But, when you consider the information you gain and how much money that information can save you through better beekeeping practices, it is well worth the investment. There are two major and well known monthly magazines: AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL also know in conversation as ABJ. It's a product of Dadant & Sons in Hamilton, Illinois. The second magazine is BEE CULTURE. It's a product of the A.I. Root company. Both journals provide the latest discoveries. I highly recommend that the serious beekeeper invest in subscribing to both magazines. Click on the links below for more info on each:

AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL
BEE CULTURE
Finally, let's talk about mentors. Every new beekeeper could benefit from having a more experienced beekeeper to lean on. Of course, not everyone who keeps bees is a beekeeper. Some are bee-havers, meaning they just have bees but they have not gained experienced through the above mentioned points of learning. So here's what to look for in a mentor:
1) Has kept bees for at least 5 consecutive years.
2) Attends regular club meetings or state association meetings, classes or conferences.
3) Is well read in beekeeping.
4) Lives near you or has email and you have the ability to email digital pictures of your hives when you have questions.
5) Is willing to help you.
It really is nice, when you first start keeping bees, to have someone that can answer what you might call "silly questions". I think that new beekeepers would enjoy beekeeping faster if they spent the first year being tutored by a seasoned and well informed beekeeper.
Thanks for stopping by for another lesson in beekeeping. Do keep us in mind for all your beekeeping needs.
Click here to order your hives today. Remember two hives are always better than one. If one hive begins to weaken or loses their queen, you can use bees and frames from your other hive to strengthen the weaker hive.
For those of you wishing to drive out and pick up your supplies but not sure of our location, the easiest way to find us is to go to google.com and type Long Lane Honey Bee Farms, then click on MAPS
Here's our contact information:
PHONE: 217-427-2678
EMAIL: david@honeybeesonline.com
WEBSITE: www.honeybeesonline.com
MAILING ADDRESS:
Long Lane Honey Bee Farms
14556 N. 1020 East Road
Fairmount, IL 61841
Until next time, BEE-Have yourself!
David & Sheri Burns
Long Lane Honey Bee Farms

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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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Hello Friends! We are David & Sheri Burns operating our family honey bee business in Central Illinois where summer seems to be giving way to fall. We've had a few cool nights in the mid to upper 40s so it seems like fall.
NEWS FROM AROUND OUR FARM
Sheri's chickens are laying about 5 eggs a day, not quite enough to keep up with our family's need, but they are just now 20 weeks old. Every day we all race out to the chicken coop to gather up the eggs. I didn't realize until I read up on it that fresh eggs are much better for you than older eggs. Speaking about what's good for us...we all know that honey is good for us. And in today's lesson I want to give you some information explaining why honey is so good for us. Before I start today's lesson, let me continue to bring you up to date on what we've been doing.
I bought an old farm tractor,  a 1958 Case 800 with a front end loader. We are always plowing, digging and hauling things around, so this will be a big help for us. I bought it on Ebay and hauled it up out of southern Illinois last Saturday. It's two years older than me!
Two weekends ago we had a wonderful group at our beekeeping and queen rearing courses we offered at our honey bee farm. We had people here from Ohio, Missouri, Illinois and California. The students were very enthused about keeping bees and raising queens. The weather was great so we were able to spend some time in the hives as well.

Our honey crop was good and we were able to bottle up a good amount of beautiful tasting honey and our customers have lined up to buy it before we run out as they do every year. Our customer's appetite for honey is greater than our bee's ability to keep up with demand.
This will be our last month to produce queens. It becomes much more difficult to produce late queens but this is when so many people want to requeen, in September. Once again we gained so much knowledge and skill in our queen rearing operation. Can't wait until next year!! Where we really need to improve is in overall production of our queens. We have the quality where we want it, but now we must increase quantity. We had to turn away so many request.
on including the location and directions: http://www.easternmobeekeepers.com/meetings.htm
And for those of you who are Studio Bee Live addicts, we are producing more finally! These are broadcast that we produce here on our farm and place on the Internet. These broadcasts are located at: http://www.honeybeesonline.com/studiobeelive.html Check it out!
LESSON 64: Why Is Honey So Good For Us?
Nutritional Value
What's in honey? The actual chemical make up of honey can be slightly different based on the local nectar sources. Typically, honey consists of simple sugars known as glucose (dextrose) and fructose (levulose).
Bees do not gather honey from flowers. They gather nectar which is a sugary substance from plants which is very high in moisture. The bees carry the nectar to the hive and then hand it over to carriers in the hive. These carriers work the nectar droplet. Invertase is added by the bee who works the nectar to help evaporate the moisture from the nectar. This goes on for nearly several minutes and then the nectar is placed in the comb where it dries even more. Bees fan the open cells of nectar to cure it by evaporating the moisture level down to around 18%. Then it becomes honey and is sealed over with a wax cap.
Honey is made up of Moisture (17-18%), Fructose (around 40%) Glucose (around 30%) and other sugars, vitamins, minerals, and complex carbohydrates.
Honey is fat free, sodium free and cholesterol free! Honey does have vitamins like B6 and thiamin, niacin, and riboflavin. Honey contains minerals that are good for us like calcium, copper, iron magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, and zinc.
Antioxidants are also found in honey, such as chrysin, pinobanksin, vitamin C, catalase and one antioxidant that is only found in honey, pinocebrin.

This nutritional information was obtained from the National Honey Board's website.
Honey is the only unprocessed food that never spoils. Sometimes honey will become hard or solid. This natural process is known as granulation or crystallization. For the most part all honey will eventually crystallize over time, but some takes much longer than others. The deciding factor is the type of nectar or floral source from which the nectar was gathered which determines the sugar content.
What causes honey to crystallize or granulate? Since honey is composed of glucose and fructose, this high concentration of the sugar begins to separate out and can then form crystals. Remember that honey is 70% sugar and 20% or less of water. Any small particle such as pollen specs, or even air bubbles will provide a seed for these sugar crystals to begin to grow. We count on this process in making our cream honey. We just grind the seed crystals to be extremely small so it makes the honey feel creamy.
Granulated honey is not spoiled. It can be warmed and most of the crystals can be re-liquefied. Remember, all honey will eventually granulate unless it has been heated to 140-160 degrees and highly filtered to remove all particles. Of course, heating honey damages it by removing or killing valuable enzymes.
Something that often does follow granulation is fermentation because water is forced out of the sugar in the granulation process. This extra water causes the honey to ferment. Natural yeast within the honey will begin the process of turning your honey into mead or alcohol when the moisture level is above 18%.
Honey absorbs water? It will absorb it from the room you process it in. That's why I keep my processing room around 30-35% humidity and dry my supers 3 days before I process the honey. I've never had a fermentation issue.
What is the shelf life of honey? A long time! Do not put it in the refrigerator. It is fine left at room temperature.
Many people including myself use honey on skin injuries. I recently spoke with a hand surgeon and he explained to me that honey can keep a wound very moist to aid in healing yet kill bacteria. Honey kills bacteria because it is hygroscopic. This means that honey absorbs moisture from bacteria that tries to grow.  This is why honey is such a safe food to eat no matter how long it has sat out, maybe centuries!
Thanks for joining me today, and I really enjoy preparing these lessons each week.
I want to remind you that we manufacture our own hives, built to our own specifications because we are beekeepers. Please check out our website at: http://www.honeybeesonline.com for all the honey bee products we carry including hives!
I always welcome you comments or suggestions on future lessons and I also appreciate it when you pass these lessons on to others.  You can encourage your friends to sign up to receive these directly via Email.
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Here's our contact information:
PHONE: 217-427-2678
EMAIL: david@honeybeesonline.com
WEB: www.honeybeesonline.com
Until next time Bee-have yourself!

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