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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Hello everyone! And welcome to another beekeeping lesson from David & Sheri Burns at Long Lane Honey Bee Farms. We’re glad that you have landed on our site. Where else will you receive such detailed and fun information on keeping bees?
In today’s lesson, I’ll teach about package bees, and share a detailed teaching on wrapping hives for winter along with a video of how to do it.



LESSON 86: PACKAGE BEES & WINTER WRAPPING A HIVE
Tens of thousands of packages of bees are shipped to beekeepers throughout the US every year. Bees have been shipped through the postal service for over 100 years and is very successful. Some speak poorly about the stressed placed on bees shipped through packages and suggest that local nucs are better. I’ve addressed this in previous lessons. Our great country provides us with various climates. The southern climate allows us to get a jump on raising bees and queens for northern beekeepers. This has always been the motivation for providing packages, and northern beekeepers have always been grateful. Packages can be produced in early April in the southern states, but nucs aren’t available in northern states until May-June.
All of the southern package producers that I know work hard to make winter hardy stock queens. I’m also a nuc provider so I understand why some people prefer nucs. However, I love packages! I remember when I received my first 2 packages in the mail. Wow! What an exciting time. I thought it was the coolest thing that the post office delivered my bees to me, and they did great.

NOW LET’S TALK ABOUT WINTER WRAPPING A HIVE
Typically, bees do not need to be wrapped for winter. We are in central Illinois and our hives get along fine with open bottom boards and no wrap. Bees do not heat the inside of their hives like we do our homes. Instead, bees do not heat the inside of their hive, they only keep their cluster warm. Parts of the hive away from the cluster are as cold as it is outside.
Even with your best winter preparations, it will not be enough if your bees have a mite infestation or are lacking stored honey. Make sure your colony is disease free and is not infested with varroa or tracheal mites. Then, make sure your hive has an ample supply of stored honey and pollen. A winter hive wrap is useless if these important things go unchecked.
Something negative happens when a hive is wrapped. The extra wrap can allow the bees to warm the inside of their hive so much that on a very cold day, excessive moisture will accumulate on the inner cover or top cover. This cold water will drip down on the bees, causing them to become too cold and wet, and eventually perish. The excessive moisture in the hive can also cause the growth of mold and bacteria.
Two precautions must be taken when wrapping a hive for winter: 1) The hive must be given an upper entrance. This is especially necessary in regions that receive several feet of snow per year. The upper entrance will allow the bees to take cleansing flights even if the hive is buried in a snow drift. 2) The hive must have upper ventilation. Upper ventilation will help deplete away excess moisture condensation from the top of the hive.
We now make a special spacer that has the upper ventilation and upper entrance all in one. We are selling the winter spacer with black wrap paper for $10 and what is neat is that they also accommodate our winter candy boards. CLICK HERE TO ORDER. In the video below, I will demonstrate how the candy board sits directly on top of the upper vent/entrance spacer. And this spacer can also be used so provide space for pollen patty feedings or bags of sugar water as well. It can also be used when medicating your hives. These spacers have lots of uses! Enjoy the video on wrapping hives.

Winter Wrapping A Hive

For those who may not have been able to play the video, let me walk you through the steps in the pictures below or CLICK HERE to watch the video from our website:
I’ve chosen to use a very common material known as roofing paper or black tar paper available at most home improvement stores. A common width is 36”. I like 36 inches because most hives are two hive bodies deep which means the hive is approximately 22” tall. However if the hive has a super, it makes it about 28 inches tall, and two supers puts it right at about 36 inches tall. So for the purpose of this hive, 36” width is perfect.
Next, cut your piece of roofing paper at around 80-85” long. This will allow you to wrap it around your hive and overlap. Overlapping a few inches is critical, especially in windy places. If the wind starts to pull the paper, it could rip it off over the course of a windy winter.
It is important to insert your front entrance reducer, your top entrance spacer and place your candy board on for added food.
Your bottom entrance reducer should be on its smallest setting. The entrance on the upper spacer can face the front or the back. I place it in the front so that I can work my bees from the back.
Now we are ready to wrap. Start on one side and use a hand stapler to fasten the paper to the hive. If you are concerned about staple holes, you can use duct tape or gorilla glue. Wrap the paper along the side, and around the back, stapling as you go, along the other side and across the front. If the bees are flying, you will disrupt their landing and take off and they might let you know about it. You can also wait until a much colder day when the bees are inside and clustered.
You’ll notice I had to notch a small cutout for the opening in the front, both at the bottom and at the top. Once the paper is stapled or taped down, you can put your top on. It might fit tight, but just make sure you get the paper under the lid to help hold it down tightly in high winds.
You’ll notice the top entrance is just below the lip of the top cover minimizing rain and snow from going directly in. However, small amounts of weather will not bother the bees in this upper placement.
You did it, and it looks nice. You’ve given your bees an upper entrance/exit and you’ve given them a nice upper vent. And you’ve wrapped your hive to help keep out excessive winds that might leak through cracked and broken boxes.
Although we rarely wrap out hives, we do enjoy experimenting to see if wrapping does make a difference. So the hive in the picture/video is one that we’ll follow along all winter to see how it does. The queen in this hive has some very unique characteristics in storing honey and pollen, and so we are anxious to observe her overwintering skills. This hive is a 5 year old survival hive that has not been treated with any medication for the last 5 years. It had mites all year, but no signs of infestation and no apparent negative effect. It does not have tracheal mites going into winter. Currently the cluster is very low in the hive with about 60 pounds of honey on board.

Thanks for joining us for another lesson in beekeeping. Our next lesson will be an extensive lesson on Varroa Mites. See you then.
Here’s our contact information:
Long Lane Honey Bee Farms
14556 N. 1020 E. Rd
Fairmount, IL 61841
(217) 427-2678
Email: david@honeybeesonline.com
CHECK OUT OUR PODCAST: www.honeybeesonline.com/studiobeelive.html
See ya next time,
David Burns
EAS Certified Master Beekeeper

2010 Package Bee Work

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Hello Friend, from Long Lane Honey Bee Farms!

We are David & Sheri Burns helping you discover and enjoy being a beekeeper! In today's lesson, I'll be giving you information on how to improve your chances of pulling your bees through the winter, and I'll show you some new inventions I'm working on to remove winter moisture from the hive. Before we get into today's lesson, let me encourage you to get ready for spring by ordering your hive and bees!


Call now to order: 217-427-2678.



LESSON 44: Poor Winter Hives

Now that most of the USA is facing exceptionally cold temperatures beekeepers start to worry about bees and they should! Many beekeepers make the mistake of trying to winter weak and questionable hives. We all do it at times. As a result, many hives fail during the winter months, primarily during the months of February and March. Those that do survive are so weak, they are not very impressive during the following year.

Right now, in most hives, there is excess and dangerous moisture. Moisture develops from the bees themselves and from the stark difference in temperature between the cluster's 90 (f) to the very cold temperature outside the hive. Condensation develops on the inside of the hive and collects on the top cover and drips back down on the bees. Bees can be cold and stay warm effectively, but not with cold water dripping on them.

I've been conducting moisture tests on my hives this winter and already the findings are alarming. The amount of accumulated top cover moisture dripping down was much worse than I thought.

I've been opening my hives and observing how much moisture is on the underside of the top covers.

This photo was taken from my experiments conducted on December 17th at 6:00 p.m. with an outside temperature of 43 degrees (f)

Ventilation can help, but still the threat of cold water dripping on the bees requires more attention than just a few extra points of ventilation.

My brothers is the engineer of the family and we had a discussion the other day on the problem with moisture in the hive. He recommended that I build a particular device to attract the moisture and cause it to drip outside the hive. I took his ideals, headed for my shop and came up with several devices that I am experimenting with.

The first one is a bit more complex than the others. Two pvc pipes 1 1/2 run through the top cover at an angle. The pvc pipes are vented on the top. Metal pipes run through the middle of the pvc pipes and extend 4-5 inches outside. The idea is that the cold air turns the metal pipes cold and that cold is transferred on to the pipe as it runs through the pvc above the brood nest are where the heat is and draws the condensation onto the metal pipes and drips into the pvc pipes and runs out of the hive.

The next one that I am trying is a device that holds an angled piece of metal above the cluster. The air is cold above the metal and the warmth of the cluster is under the metal, thus forming condensation on the bottom of the metal. Since it is angled, the water run out side the hive.

The metal extends outward beyond the back of the hive so that water runs along the angled metal and drips outside the hive.

Another approach to reducing condensation in the hive is to insulate the inside of the top cover. A glass of ice tea condensates on a warm summer day because the water temperature is much colder than the air around the outside of the glass. By wrapping the glass in a thin layer of insulation, the stark contrasts of cold and warm is eliminated and no condensation will form.

By merely insulating the inside of the top cover, much condensation will be eliminated. Here's how you can do it. Go to your local sign shop and ask for scrap pieces of plastic corrugated sign material. I call it plastic cardboard. Politician signs are made from this material.

You can also find this material at most office stores and sometimes at Wal-mart.

Then, go to you local home improvement store and buy a role of floor padding that goes beneath laminated floors. Some call it floor sound barrier material. It is very thin, about 1/8 of an inch, slick on one side and textured on the other.

Now, staple two layers of plastic cardboard on the inside of your top cover as shown in the photo. Then, staple in a piece of the floor covering with the textured side facing the bees. The two layers of corrugated plastic will help insulate the top of the hive where the heat rises. And the textured side of the floor covering will also serve as another layer of insulation but it will also help absorb moisture as well.

Here's what the final work looks like:

It is fine to leave this material on the hive all year long.

These are a few examples of what I'm experimenting with this winter in helping to remove moisture from the hive. Bees are the opposite of fish. Fish need water and cannot live long in the dry. Bees need a dry environment and cannot survive in a wet and moist environment. The modern day beekeeper must place more emphasis on keeping colonies dry and thus keeping them healthier.

OTHER WINTER SURVIVAL TIPS FOR HONEY BEE COLONIES

It seems that many beekeepers fail to realize they must keep their hives extremely strong during the bee season. The hive must always have a good laying queen producing many frames of solid sealed brood. A poorly laying queen must be replaced immediately. DO NOT keep a poorly laying queen. Your hive might survive the summer, but it will not produce enough foragers to gather much honey, and it will probably not survive the winter. This image shows how a good queen will produce solid frames of sealed brood. Limited brood or spotty brood will make for a weak summer hive and a hive that is certain to die during the winter.

The larger the quantity of bees in the hive means the colony will be of better quality. Most people are prone to care for the sick or injured. Some try to nurture an injured bird back to health. We really can't afford to do this will honey bees. A weak hive only means that certain diseases and pests are merely days away.

What surprises most beekeepers is that two weeks ago the hive was strong, two weeks later the hive is weak. What happened? The loss of colony strength can be assessed by an experienced beekeeper. Is it mites? Is it a brood disease? Is it noseam or tracheal mites? Most of the time it is not. More often it has to do with the expansion of the hive being limited and the hive entering into swarm mode or queen replacement mode. If a colony is not satisfied with their queen, they may decided to keep her or replace her. Both are risky. While we believe colonies can successfully replace a failing queen, remember that they usually make more than one queen cell, and when several queens emerge they fight and sometimes they are both killed or injured. Now the hive cannot produce a queen because there are no one day old eggs left.

A lack of hive expansion is another problem why hives fail to survive the winter. They may build a honey dome above them as bees do. This dome can become a barrier. Therefore, the beekeeper must monitor the honey dome above the brood nest and continue to break up the honey dome by putting in frames of empty drawn comb, giving room for the brood nest expansion during the summer.

Poor winter hives are nothing more than poor summer hives. When beekeepers say winter killed off their hives, they really should say that the hive never prepared properly during the summer for the approaching winter. If water leaks through my roof during a rain storm, I can't blame the rain for penetrating my roof. It's my fault for not preparing my roof for a rainy day.

Winter is what it is, cold, snowy and long for those of us in northern states. For those of us losing hives in the winter, we must re-think how we keep bees. We must thing "strong hives". We must have heavily populated hives. When we remove our inner covers, we must have so many bees that we can barely see the tops of our frames because of the number of bees as in the photo below.

A beekeeper keeping ten weak hives would be much better off to combine the ten hives into five strong hives. We are so fearful of our hives swarming that we keep them running far below strong numbers, through divides and splits. We need to re-think this and allow our hives to be "boiling over" with bees like mine in the picture.

Strong hives have a better chance at controlling Small Hive Beetle, V. Mites, American Foul Brood, Chalk Brood, European Foul Brood, wax moths and other diseases and pests. We must remember that a honey bee colony is a single organism. The stronger the hive is in population, the better the organism functions.

So many times I watch beekeepers open up their hives and I am ashamed of how few bees I see in the hive! We must keep strong hives! We must learn to have more bees in a colony through better management practices of better laying queens and breaking up the honey dome to allow brood expansion.

Strong colonies know how to prepare for winter. The stronger they are the better they are at winter preparation. The weaker they are the less they will adequately prepare for winter.

Interview ten beekeepers and ask them how old their queen is and how well she was doing in the month of October, and probably more than half will tell you they do not even know if they have a queen for sure.

Not only do colonies need to be heavily populated, but they need ample stores of both honey and pollen. Most beekeepers only think of honey stores and not pollen stores. But, bees need both pollen and honey. Honey is the carbohydrate and pollen is the protein and bees need both even in the winter.

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 by December 22 (Winter Solstice). But anytime during the fall or winter is fine. Even if your bees run out of honey in February put a Winter-Bee-Kind on in February if you have too.

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. 

Make sure, during the summer, that your bees are storing plenty of pollen in the lower brood chamber. This will help them have a jump on early spring brood production.

In our next lesson, I'll address insulating hives, whether it helps or hurts and I'll show you some experiments I'm conducting with winter wraps.

Check out Studio Bee Live at the upper right side of this blog or by logging on to: http://www.honeybeesonline.com/studiobeelive.html

See you next time and remember to Bee-Have yourself!

David and Sheri Burns www.honeybeesonline.com

217-427-2678

STUDIO BEE LIVE QUESTIONS CALL 217-427-2430

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Hi, we're David and Sheri Burns owners and operators of Long Lane Honey Bee Farms. And we look alittle bit like this caricature drawing that was done of us at our last honey show that we did in Danville, Illinois. Those aren't devil horns sticking out of our heads, they are little bee antennas.

You'll see a widget to the right of this article where you can click on the file for Tuesday and hear it.

Sheri and I work hard at being kind, polite and cordial beekeepers. We try very hard to treat our customers as friends and family. We believe we should treat others as we would want to be treated.
Having said that, I feel it is time to write a lesson of a different nature. We talk alot about wanting gentle bees, but every now and again beekeepers need that same expectation placed on them. We should be gentle too!
I received a phone call last week from a nice gentleman from another state who is wanting to get started keeping bees in the spring. He spoke with a man in his area, a commercial beekeeper to get some advice. But the man was pretty negative and felt alittle intimidated by "another beekeeper" who he perceived could be cutting in on his business or territory.
For the most part, the beekeeping community is matchless when it comes to kindred spirits gleaming with encouragement, camaraderie, and cordiality. Yet, like with every group there can be competition, strife, jealously and fear. And some beekeepers have to prove they are the smartest at the meeting. Beekeepers are a bit proud of the knowledge that they have gain because most of us have gained that knowledge and wisdom at a great cost to our pocket books and our total hive count. Or we've paid hundreds of dollars for various beekeeping courses and conventions we've attended where we've gained our knowledge. We want a pat on the back for all that knowledge we've gained.
This is to be expected and is okay to a point. However, it can become prideful and greedy. I consider the knowledge I've gained so far to be public domain, shareware, free for others to know too! I share what I know not to seem or sound like a know-it-all but to help others avoid problems and to enjoy greater success. But some beekeepers, not a lot, but some are grouchy, resentful, territorial and negative! They are in every organization, so don't think that just beekeeping has its share of curmudgeons. That's right, curmudgeons. This best summarizes that elite segment of beekeepers who are no fun to be with. Look at the definition of a curmudgeon:

Sound like someone you know? Ill-tempered full of resentment and stubborn notions. Avoid these kinds of beekeepers. They are out there and they are ready to tell you how stupid you are for listening to some other beekeeper or for buying your equipment from one place and not the other. Some will tell you of all the insurance you have to have in case your bees should sting a customer and on goes the list of expressed fears.
Sometimes they don't even have to say a word, but they just give you that look, that makes you feel that what you've just said is stupid and ignorant. Behind your back they'll snicker and say things like, "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. His bees are going to die if he tries that..."
Almost every association has atleast one curmudgeon. And one is all it takes to silence the eager student from asking genuine questions. One is all it takes to cause an association to be poorly attended.
There's not much we can do for the few curmudgeons out there. You can requeen a mean hive but you can't requeen your association from the curmudgeons.
So let me give you 10 things for you to do not to become a beekeeping curmudgeon and to deal with those who are...
1) Be nice, friendly and encouraging to other beekeepers and to everyone for that matter.
2) Speak up at your association meetings. In a kind and nice way, try to refute the curmudgeons negative outlook. Share what is positive and what successes you are enjoying.
3) When a curmudgeon gossips about someone else, stop them right there. Do not listen. If you listen and say nothing, even your silence is taken as agreement with them, so don't be silent. Speak positively.
4) Perhaps in a humorous way, you can ask the curmudgeon if he or she might consider requeening their attitude. "Why do you keep bees if you are so down on things anyway. I think you need to get out of beekeeping or requeen your attitude".
5) Each association should give out an annual award for the most kind, helpful and encouraging beekeeper among us.
6) When negative things happen to you, like your hive dies, look at it from a positive point of view. Look at what you learned from the bees that you can apply next time and do better or try a different approach.
7) Contribute to your local association. Don't just show up with a chip on your shoulder because you have family or financial issues. Leave those behind and come with something encouraging and positive to share at your meetings.
8) Think back to when you first started keeping bees. You had to work hard to find answers. So look around and find those new to beekeeping and mentor them and help them along with positive and encouraging advice.
9) When you think you know it all, and you badly want to share it, bite your tongue and try to learn more. Mark Twain once said, "It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt".
10) Keep learning. You'll never reach a point where you know everything about beekeeping, so remember that though you may know more than some, lots of folks know more than you. So keep learning.
So, remember to be positive and supportive of other beekeepers. Why not share some equipment or if a neighbor beekeeper loses some hives in the winter and you didn't, why not give him a hive or two. After all, you could have lost those hives anyway.
If your life is filled with hardships and negative happenings, perhaps you need to focus on something positive. Why not listen to our new Studio Bee Live Beekeeping Broadcasts! Sheri and I have fun sharing silly things and smart things that we do on our honey bee farm. We'll give you information on beekeeping as well as make you smile. Just log on to: http://www.honeybeesonline.com/studiobeelive.html or click on the player in the upper right side of this blog.

4)We love to answer your beekeeping questions and now we have a new line just for questions. 217-427-2430. Call that line if you have questions about beekeeping, but call our other line to place orders. The order line is 217-427-2678.
When you call in with your question, we'd love to play your question on our broadcast along with our answer. So, when you ask your question, and it's okay for us to use it on our broadcast, just say, "Hi I have a question for studio bee live..."
Or you can email us questions: david@honeybeesonline.com
Finally, now that it is November, here is what you should be doing with your hive.
NOVEMBER AND THE BEES: The bees continue to cluster for winter. They may not yet go into a full winter cluster, and may actually develop two clusters. They may break cluster frequently on warm days and recluster at night. But they will begin to cluster for the winter. The days are getting much shorter. The queen will lay less and less.
NOVEMBER AND THE BEEKEEPER: Feed your light hives as long as the sugar water doesn't freeze. Finish up all winterizing of your hives. On a cold day when the bees are all inside, weed-eat around your hives. Enjoy Thanksgiving! Start purchasing next year's equipment.
That's all for now, from Long Lane Honey Bee Farms, Sheri and I appreciate you and enjoy calling you our friends!!
Remember to Bee-Have yourself!
David & Sheri Burns
Long Lane Honey Bee Farmshttp://www.honeybeesonline.com/
ORDER LINE: 217-427-2678
QUESTION LINE: 217-427-2430
EMAIL: david@honeybeesonline.com
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Below is a video of us getting bees off the truck that arrived in Illinois from Florida. The bees were off loaded from the truck, seen at the end of the video and placed on this trailer that we used to carry them to our farm.







One of our customers has even started his own blog. Charles Holmes got some hives from us and some packaged bees and set them all up Friday. Check out his blog: http://tuffstreetapiary.blogspot.com/
Here I am giving a demonstration to customers, showing them how to locate the queen. Plan to join us on our farm in October for our beekeeping class.
NOW FOR TODAY'S LESSON...



Let's face it. Most of us keep bees in order to gather the honey! It's a blast. Very few things excite me as much as seeing honey flow out of my extractor. It has such a wonderful smell and color. All the hard work, stings and expenses all seem worth it when the honey starts flowing.
I realize that some keep bees for reasons other than the honey. But for those of us who must harvest honey, I want to share the details of how to do it. I'll give a quick outline, then I'll elaborate on each topic in more detail.
1). Make sure it is capped (ripe).
2). Harvest for individual types of honey.
3). How to rob honey from your hive and live to tell about it.
4). What to do with combs full of honey.
5). Various harvesting methods.
6). How much should honey be filtered?
7). Should honey be heated?
8). A clean honey room and processing procedure.
9). Getting rid of air bubbles.
10). Bottling honey.
MAKE SURE IT IS CAPPED (RIPE)Honey bees ripen nectar by removing the moisture and when the moisture level is to their satisfaction, they seal it off with wax, like putting a lid on a jar. This prevents the honey from drawing any additional moisture.
You must be patient and wait for the bees to cap the honey comb before you remove it. If you remove the super of honey prior to it being sealed your moisture level in the honey will be too high and could cause the honey to ferment which will cause your customers to complain and want their money back. So do not remove the honey combs until all frames are completely capped.
Here's a picture of one of my sons using a hot knife to cut off the cappings. We sell these for around $100. Notice what the sealed area looks like. The capped area is white because the newly made wax is a bright color at first. As it ages through the years it becomes darker.






Here's a photo of one of my nicely sealed frames and it looks like this bee had just woken up and had not done her hair yet, so she was too embarrassed for a photo and hid between the comb and frame.



You can click on all photos for a full size image.
If you pull out the frames prior to the caps being completely sealed, you can leave the frames in a room with a dehumidifier for a day or two and it will draw out moisture.

HARVEST FOR DIFFERENT TYPES OF HONEY
Honey from specific flowers does have a different taste. I would not begin to describe the difference but believe me it is different. Here's how to harvest specific honey. Essentially you must remove your honey supers after that particular flower stops giving nectar, and place new supers on before the bees change to a different source. This way, the honey will not be mixed from different sources. Of course, some mixing may happen, but you'll get more of the type that had the largest nectar flow.
HOW DO YOU ROB HONEY FROM THE HIVE AND LIVE TO TELL ABOUT IT?
Bees aren't going to freely hand over their honey to you. You have to figure out some way to remove the stored honey from the hive by first removing the bees from the honey supers.
What works best is to remove the bees from the honey super so that you can carry the entire super full of frames of honey to your honey room. There are several common practices: Leaf blower or an official bee blower, a fume product such as Fischer's Bee Quick, a bee escape or a feather. Though there are many other methods, these are the common practices.
A blower works well and many beekeepers do use leaf blowers to blow the bees out from between the frames of a super. I've found that bees are agitated by the engine on a leaf blower. They feel the vibration of the engine and it bothers them. So I do not use the blower method. Others use a fume product which is a chemical that the bees do not like. To use it, you pour some of the liquid fume on a fume board and place it on top of the super you want to remove. The bees run out of the super to get away from the bad smell and the super is empty within 5 minutes of bees. Many love this easy method. I'm skeptical of the product being absorbed into the wax or honey and having an overall effect on the hive. However, many people use this with no signs of ill effect.
Another method has been common for many, many years. It is a method that I started out using. Simply pick up each full frame of honey and either shake or brush the bees off. This works pretty good, however, bees do not like to be brushed off and I always get stung alot whenever I use a brush. Old time beekeepers used a large feather and many still do. They brush off the bees with a feather.
Finally, many people use a bee escape. The bee escape is a plastic device invented by Mr. Porter in 1891 and commonly referred to as the porter escape. It fits into the oval shaped hole in the inner cover, and then the inner cover is placed below the super you want to empty. As the bees depart the super through the escape, they can get out, but they cannot get back in. This works real well for me most of the time but not always. We do sell a lot of these.
What I have found works great for me is a modification of the leaf blower. I blow my bees gently out of the super with compressed air.
We are able to drive our truck near the hives, and in the back of the truck are two important items. A generator and a 15 gallon air compressor. The air compressor is powered by the gas generator. We then stand a honey super on edge and with the air compressor we gently spray off all the bees toward the front of their hive. They simply fly back into their hive. Since we have a long air hose, the noise of the generator and air compressor are kept a considerable distance away. The bees just think it's a windy day. Then, we place the bee free honey supers in the truck and drive them back to our honey room.
HOW MUCH SHOULD YOU FILTER YOUR HONEY?
Once in the honey room, the individual frames are loaded into our automatic cowen uncapper which uncaps the sealed combs. But, most beekeepers with smaller operations use what is called a hot knife. We sell these and they work great at slicing off the caps on each cell so that the honey can be extracted. Some people who do not wish to pay $100 for the knife simply scratch open the comb with a kitchen fork.
Once the comb is uncapped, now the honey must be extracted. In the simplest way, a frame can be left upside down to drip out over night. It would need to be a warm room, atleast 80 degrees. Then the comb would have to be reversed and the same done to the other side. If you cannot afford to purchase an extractor, this may be your best option. You can squeeze or crush out the honey from the comb, but this destroys precious drawn comb that you could reuse and it mixes in too much wax with the honey.
Once uncapped, we then, placed the frames into our 33 frame extractor which spins at a high rate of speed, slinging the honey out of the comb. You can purchase a very simple plastic extractor for just over $100 but a more common extractor is a stainless steel hand crank 2 frame extractor for just over $300. This is our best seller. If you can afford a little more, then a 4 frame extractor does 4 frames at a time. It runs just under $400.
Once the honey is slung out it collects in the bottom of your extractor which has a value on the bottom. At this point, you can bottle it, although you'll have pieces of wax, bee legs and wings and other things that came off your frames. So most beekeepers filter their honey.
We are against heating honey. Honey does not need to be heated or pasteurized. It is a pure and natural product and the only food that never spoils. Heating honey destroys precious elements within honey. It does not need refrigerated and can be kept at room temperature forever without spoiling.
We filter our honey through micron filters, usually a 600 or 400 micron filter. We sell a lot of these filters that fit down over a 5 gallon bucket. These filters are $10 and can be washed and reused over and over again. The honey flows very fast through these filters and important elements of the honey are allowed to stay within the honey but foreign particles are filtered out.
We like our honey to be free of air bubbles. So we allow our honey to sit after it has been filtered. It sits for at least one week. Then we bottle it. We have a 500 gallon settling tank which allows all air bubbles to float up to the top. Then we drain from the pure honey at the bottom of the tank. You can do the same in a 5 gallon bucket with a valve on the bottom which we sell too.
Most honey will become hard, known as crystallizing. This is normal and does not mean the honey is bad. It means it simply crystallized. This can be remedied simply by leaving a jar in warm water for a while.
A CLEAN HONEY ROOM
Keep a clean honey room. One drop of honey on the floor soon gets tracked all over the place. It is a messy job, but fortunately honey cleans up very nicely with water. So, after you are finished harvesting your honey, clean all your equipment up.
When processing honey, since it is a natural product and all you are doing is bottling it, there are very little guidelines. If you giving away your honey or selling it, here are some common practices you should follow.
Wear a hairnet, clean clothes and keep your hands clean and properly wash all equipment including bottles. If you are selling honey, your processing room should not be in your house. The room should be kept very clean, lights covered and walls and floors washable.
If you are just keeping the honey for yourself, you should still practice cleanliness and you can use your own kitchen.
BOTTLING HONEYBottles are expensive. We use a combination of glass and plastic bottles. Many of our customers enjoy the small well known teddy bear bottles. Bottles must be cleaned well and dry, free of any foreign objects and dust. Most of our bottles come with lids that have the safety seal within the lid. So once we secure the lid, the safety seal is activated and the customer is the only one who breaks that seal.
A common bottle for us to sell is the quart jar. Most of our customers buy the one quart size and the traditional canning jar with canning lid is very cost effective. Some customers return their jar when finished.
There you go! I hope this lesson has been helpful and I hope within the next few weeks, you'll be harvesting the spring honey crop!
We'd like to thank all of our fantastic customers for how nice and encouraging you have been to the Burns family here at Long Lane Honey Bee Farms! We love receiving your photos and video of your hive operation. And why not consider starting your own blog too! It's really simply and free at http://www.blogspot.com/
For all your honey harvesting needs, such as filters, extractors, buckets, and supers give us a call. 217-427-2678!!
Sheri and I are busy building a store on our farm now, where we will also hold our fall and spring beekeeping classes. We are building a very large observation hive as well for study and demonstration.
See you next time and remember to BEE-have yourself!

David & Sheri Burns
Long Lane Honey Bee Farms
217-427-2678
EMAIL US AT: david@honeybeesonline.com

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http://www.honeybeesonline.com/
Fax: 217-427-2678
We are a family business manufacturing our own hives and selling every thing you need to keep bees.
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