Winter is in full swing and I checked up on the bees today. I slide open the bottom board’s tray and looked up in to each hive. Antheia was clustering at the bottom of the lower box. I couldn’t see the cluster in Hegemone, so I’m guessing that they were in the upper box. The weather forecast shows many more cold days and nights and the temperature should creep up above 50 on Friday. If the forecast holds true, then I’ll put bag feeder spacers on both of the hives and give them a lot more dry sugar. I’ll also get a chance to replace the falling apart outer covers with some new metallic topped ones that are a bit more weather proof.
I took advantage of Brushy Mountain Bee Farms December free shipping and ordered a lot of stuff to prepare for next year. Next year I plan on adding another hive and if the bees are strong enough, split a 5 frame nuc. I’m undecided about starting the 3rd hive from a nuc or a package. Still a little bit of time to make a decision on that. To prevent robbing and to make feeding easier for me, I purchased top feeder for all of the hives. I also bought screened tops to sit above the feeders to prevent robbing or having the bees fly at me when I refill the syrup.
As a beekeeper, there is not much to do when the weather is cold. I decided to branch out a little bit more and start tinkering with some of the various bee related crafts. I’m starting off with candle making. I ordered 10 pounds of beeswax, a votive mold and a few other essential tools of the trade. Candles and honey will probably be my gift of choice until I start making mead. If anyone know a good source of candle molds or some good mead recipes, let me know.
Swarm Trap
It’s that wonderful time of year when bees build up their hives and reproduce. The old queen ventures forth to establish a new colony, leaving her home in the hands of a soon to be hatched queen. Many beekeeper teachings focus heavily on preventing a hive from swarming by giving them more work, splitting the colony or killing swarm cells. Killing swarm cells is not a very good idea since you can end up with a queen-less hive. “A hive that swarms will produce less honey.”
Since it is not possible to stop a colony from swarming once they decide they are going to swarm, I figure I should try to cash in on their reproductive tendencies. A package of bees with a queen costs around $75. I put a dense cardboard swarm trap in a tree near my future beeyard. It is tucked just out of sight behind a few dogwood trees. There is a small opening on the end with comb guides connected to the base of the swarm trap. If a swarm turns this trap in to a home, they will begin to build comb along the guides as they build up their new colony. I will then take off the cover and relocate their comb in to a hive box for them to live in.
This past weekend, I received more hand-me-down tools; an old air compressor. After a long, entertaining trip to Northern Tool, I was the proud owner of a brand new pneumatic stapler. I chose a model that could do 1/4″ to 1″ staples, mostly because it was the only stapler they had. They had a brad nailer, but staples seemed like the better option for putting together frames. When I need to build more hives, I may buy a brad nailer.
I had purchased 100 unassembled, medium frames with wedged top and grooved bottoms. The local Brushy Mountain seller did not have any grooved tops in stock. The wedges will work well enough for foundationless frames. The groove spacing is 1/8″ and I have not been able to find any stock wood pieces with that depth. I found 1/4″ craft wood that I can rip in to strips and hold in place with glue and the wedge cleat.
The stapler allowed me to quickly build 49 frames without using a jig. I had to stop there since I ran out of side pieces (only 1 left). It turned out that both the seller and I made an error when I purchased the frames. I only received 1 bundle of side pieces containing 100 and every frame requires 2 side pieces. I cannot account for the odd side piece. I’m not sure if it was lost while I was building or if it was never in the bundle. I have no idea, so it will serve as a template for when I make my own frames in the future. I’ve already spoken with the seller and can pick up the missing bundle of side pieces when I’m in the area.
Easy Frame Building Steps:
- Place the top piece on a flat surface with the top of it facing down.
- Hold 2 side pieces together and apply a small amount of glue to the top and bottom notches.
- Attach each side piece to the top piece (larger notch).
- Slide the bottom piece (groove facing down) so it is securely attached to the side pieces.
- Put a 1″ staple down in to each of the side pieces to secure the bottom piece.
- Flip the frame so it is right side up and put a 1″ staple down through the top piece in to the sides.
- Rotate the frame so its top is facing left. Put a 1″ staple in to the side piece, parallel to the top piece, right where it meets the top. The staple should be off centered so it only goes through the wedge side of the top piece. Remember, you need to break off the wedge.
