Category: Bees

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January in the Hive

 

Entering the new year with even colder temperatures can be nerve-wracking for any beekeeper. Here are some tips for checking on your bees without too much disturbance to the hive:

  • If there is snow on the ground, check the areas around your hive. There may be brown spots signaling that the bees have recently had the strength to fly outside and relieve themselves. There may be visible dead bees outside, particularly in areas with heavy snowfall, but this should not be cause for alarm.
  • The easiest way to check on your bees from outside the hive is to listen to them. Stand, or kneel, at the corner of a hive. Set your shoulder against one surface and bend your neck so your ear is flat against the hive body, just around the corner. Other keepers have found success listening through the walls of their hive with a stethoscope. You should be able to hear the familiar buzzing of your bees. Even a faint whisper is a good sign of life.
  • If you discover that your bees did not survive over winter, don’t be discouraged! Over wintering bees in cold climate is challenging, especially with temperature fluctuations and length of the winter temperatures. When warmer weather comes, take time to inspect the hive to determine what caused the colony to die; Beekeeping Made Simple’s Hive Autopsy may help figure this out. Take steps to clean equipment, learn, treat neighboring hives if needed, etc.
  • Some dead bees may have piled up by the entrance. This is normal for the wintertime as morgue bees may not risk venturing outside to dispose of the dead. You can help them by using a long, flat stick or metal rod to sweep out the dead bodies from the entrance and from along the sides and corners of the hives.
  • You can also check the weight of your colony. In January, it should still feel heavy compared to their fall weight, because bees do not use up much of their honey in the early winter. If your hive feels too light, you can provide extra food for your bees, like loose sugar or fondant. However, once you start feeding you may encourage the bees to move upwards, prematurely leaving some stores behind. If you provide supplemental feed, keep doing it regularly until the bees can forage again.

 

 

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December in the Hive

 

Winter should be a quiet time for your bees. Take a look at our November In The Hive blog for any last-minute preparation you may be doing to prepare your bees for cold weather. You should avoid disturbing the beehive too much during this time, but occasional checks can help you identify issues early.

Keep your eyes out for signs of disease, pests or deceased bees in or around the hives entrance. If you can hear a quiet hum outside of your hive, that is a good sign that your bees are actively maintaining their temperature.

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DIY Beeswax Holiday Ornaments

 

As you get ready for the holiday season, you’re probably spending less time with your hives, which means more time decorating! Handmade beeswax ornaments can save you some expenses this year, and use up any extra beeswax you might have lying around. They also make for a great children’s craft!

To make beeswax ornaments, start by melting your beeswax over low heat on the stove. You can add essential oil or fragrances for extra holiday flair. If you have silicone molds, you can prep them with vegetable spray and pour the wax directly into the molds and leave to harden. You can also pour cold water onto a plate, place cookie cutters, and distribute the wax evenly. Then poke holes into the wax and add ornament holders, twine, fishing line, or ribbon to hang your ornaments on your Christmas tree or holiday garlands.

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November in the Hive

 

You should already be preparing your hives for colder weather by providing plenty of food for your bees and insulating the hive, but November means your bees may be entering dormancy.

A strong hive won’t need much help feeding during the winter. To know how much assistance your bees may need to keep their nutrition up, look at their stores of honey. If the honey has been recently depleted or the bees have simply not produced enough, it may be time to add sugar, fondant, or liquid feed to the mix before it gets too cold.

You can also prepare for the cold by providing wind-breaks, such as hay bales or scrap metal, to protect your hives from harsh wind. But be careful not to shade the hive, as the bees will be needing as much warmth and sunlight as they can get.

Now is the time to start preparing for next year! Take stock of what kind of equipment you’ll need, such as more hives, new foundations, or more specialized tools. We have a variety of bee equipment and hive tools available for purchase online at Great Lakes Bee Co.! You can also spend the extra time this winter not tending to your bees by studying up on bees and beekeeping. Check out this selection of books recommended by the Best Bees Company!

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October in the Hive

 

As we near the end of October, there are several things you should be keeping in mind as the weather continues to get colder.

Now is a great time to be checking on your queen bee. If she is no longer present in the hive, don’t wait to find a replacement. It’s best to find a new queen bee sooner rather than later so she will have time to settle into the hive and lay eggs. This would also be a good time to consolidate hives if you have multiple weak ones. Any hives with empty space should be restructured to allow enough room for the strongest bees.

Another aspect of preparing your hives for the colder winter months involves hives insulation. To insulate your hive, wrap it in black tar paper to absorb heat from the sun, remembering to leave the hive entrance and upper ventilation holes uncovered. You can also utilize a hive stand to protect your bees from the cold while preventing moisture problems. Moisture is one of the biggest things to look out for, as too much moisture could potentially freeze your bees. Wood chips or burlap in a quilt box can help keep condensation out of the hive.

Lastly, make sure your bees have enough food before winter. If you were keeping them healthy throughout the summer and early fall, ensuring they had a productive queen, you shouldn’t have to worry much. But if your hive doesn’t have 60 to 100 pounds of stored honey, October will be your last chance to feed them with liquid feed. You can also use fondant or sugar bricks. Pollen and pollen substitute is not recommended at this time, as the reduction in pollen flow signals the bees to finish rearing winter bees as they prepare for winter.

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A Brief History of Beekeeping

 

In honor of National Honey Month, let’s take a look back on the history of beekeeping, and how honey harvesting has evolved!

Beekeepers have played an essential role in honey production for at least 10,000 years! All around the world, archaeologists have found ancient methods for beekeeping and honey production, including hives made of straw and unbaked clay. Ancient Egyptians were some of the earliest pioneers of beekeeping, where honey was not just a delicacy, but a symbol of wealth and power. In fact, when King Tut’s tomb was discovered, pots of honey, often used to coat and cure berries, were alongside the ancient Egyptian pharaoh’s mummy. Even thousands of years later, the honey and berries remained preserved, reportedly still holding onto their sweet scent.

In medieval times, beekeeping was most often performed by the church and aristocracy. Beeswax served as an important aspect in producing candles, while fermented honey was a key ingredient in mead, a popular drink in regions where grapes could not be grown for wine.

Using varying methods including hollowed-out trees and skeps (a similar practice to the Egyptians, using baskets woven from twigs and straw, coated in mud), monks and clergy-members were in charge of tending to bees and their hives. For many of these religious beekeepers, their bees came to be seen as role models. For instance, monks often imagined a “chastity” in their worker bees that they took upon themselves to devote themselves fully to the good of the community.

During the 18th century, beekeeping transitioned into a science methodology. European natural philosophers, including an entomologist who specialized in honey bees named François Huber, were among the first to observe bees within their habitat. Although he developed blindness in his early adulthood, Huber continued studying bee colonies with the help of his wife, Marie, and assistant François Burnens. With his companions, Huber was an early creator of what we now recognize as a bee hive: building a box where each comb had glass sides to observe the bees at work. Some of Huber’s most famous scientific studies include confirming that a colony consists of one queen who is the mother of all workers and drones in the hive, and proving that bees use their antennae to communicate. Huber is widely regarded as “the father of modern bee science,” and his publication, “New Observations on Bees,” contains many of the basic scientific truths of the biology of honeybees.

Our bees may be the reason we have honey, but it’s because of beekeepers around the world and throughout history that we get to enjoy the sweet savory treat.

For more information on the history of beekeeping, visit:

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September in the Hive

 

This September is extra sweet … not only is it National Honey Month, but we’re also celebrating the 50th anniversary of Hasselman’s Honey!

Initiated by the National Honey Board in the U.S. in 1989, National Honey Month is a time to celebrate bees, honey, and beekeepers – just in time for harvest. People throughout the world depend on honey bees and their role in pollinating the ecosystem. Did you know about one-third of the average person’s diet in the United States is derived from insect-pollinated plants, and honey bees are responsible for about 80 percent of that process? It’s true! Without honey bees, we wouldn’t have apples, cabbage, lemons, onions, or watermelon, and other fresh crops.

Because of beekeepers, honey production continues to thrive. Rounding out the harvest season this September, there’s plenty for beekeepers to pay attention to in their hives, and some might start thinking ahead to the winter months.

If you’re harvesting honey, we recommend extracting your supers as soon as possible to avoid wax moth and small hive beetle larva, which can damage your hives. Beekeepers should also monitor for extra space in your supers, as any that are light with nectar will create more space for wax moths and small hive beetles to invade. Getting your supers extracted also lets you set them up back outside as a community feeder to both let bees build their stores, and get your combs cleaned out for winter storage. You should put these far away from the hives, or freeze them to reintroduce to the hives when needed.

Enjoy the last few weeks of summer with your bees! Thanks to you and your bees, beekeepers help make the world a sweeter place. Join us during Fremont’s Harvest Festival Parade on Sept. 26 as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Hasselman’s Honey and Fremont’s OG Beekeeper, Larry Hasselman!

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Beeswax: it’s the bee’s knees!

 

Have you ever noticed how often honey and beeswax appear in your healthcare products? Just like the honeycomb in your hives, beeswax can serve as the foundation for improving your health, with some surprising benefits.

Beeswax has many unique properties that make it the perfect addition to your skincare routine. A natural moisturizer, beeswax can repair dry skin and fight against premature signs of aging. Like Honey, beeswax has a potent antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties, which gently exfoliate your skin to keep it soft and smooth.

Pain relief, swelling, and inflammation are other issues that beeswax can help prevent. Even those with sensitive skin will be happy to hear that beeswax is gentle enough to be used directly on the skin. If you’re feeling extra crafty, we recommend trying this handmade beeswax lotion recipe!

Beeswax Lotion

  • 1/2 cup beeswax, freshly grated or beeswax pellets
  • 1 cup organic olive oil
  • 1/2 cup coconut oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon Vitamin E oil
  • 30 drops of your favorite essential oil

Using a double boiler or heat-safe bowl place pint jar in the pot of simmering water. Melt beeswax, olive oil, and coconut oil until melted and blended. Remove from heat and cool for 15 minutes.  Add Vitamin E and your favorite essential oil. Stir until blended and pour into 2 oz containers or leave in a pint jar.

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August in the Hive

 

August is a big month for your bees! As the summer grows hotter, asters and other wildflowers create an abundance of pollen and nectar for the colony. This will help the bees as they start to prepare for winter, and you can support them in this process too!

This time of year, beekeepers should be checking hives for mites and other pests. Varroa mite populations increase in hives during the summer and hit a peak just as honeybee colonies are laying eggs and raising brood for the winter. To fight back against a mite population in your beehive, take precaution and follow the Honey Bee Health Coalition’s Varroa Management Decision Tool.

The most important thing we recommend for beekeepers in late summer is to help keep your bees cool. During the hot summer months, keep water available at all times, such as in bird baths, tubs, or other shallow containers. Even a simple bowl of water with rocks and sticks can be extremely helpful for those busy bees!

If your bees are happy, the keeper is happy!

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Month in the Hive – July

 

Summer is prime bee season! Michigan bees have been foraging on all the blossoming flowers and trees, including sumac, milkweed, basswood and clover, in order to create a robust nectar flow.

Now that we’re in July, West Michigan bees are busy making honey in their hives. For beekeepers, there isn’t a need to be constantly digging around in the hive unless you’re managing swarm prevention. Be patient if you see a swarm as they usually disband, often within about 15 minutes or an hour.

During July’s hot and humid days, you may notice bees resting outside of the hive. This is completely normal as this is their way of keeping cool.

Throughout the month of July, continue weekly hive inspections, looking for the queen, and checking on the overall health of the hive.