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THE BEEYARD REPORT

The foul bees I shook on to foundation at the beginning of October look great. The wax is pulled out. They have three good frames of brood and filled up on syrup. All this happened within 30 days. I had intended to shake them out but they look too good. I put a box underneath them so they have some empty combs to cluster on. Now, I wish I had done the other ones on foundation. Shaking foul bees on to old combs is risky business. The honey they have in their stomachs will carry foul brood spores. They can come down with foulbrood again if the count is high enough. Putting them on foundation forces them to use up this honey as they draw wax.

I didn't finish cutting up comb honey until early November. I had to leave the extracting system in place because the rack we cut the comb honey on drains into the uncapper sump. We've cut up over 2000 squares. Most of it has been sold. There are only about 250 squares left.

Adam and Alex finished winterizing the yards on November 16. Adam says there are three yards that are going to have a big death loss but he thinks the others look better than last year. Brood rearing lasted into November this year. Last year the bees looked great but brood rearing cut off in late September. The colonies should be carrying more young bees into winter than they did last year. We went through a lot of syrup bringing them up to weight. Our numbers decreased more than I anticipated. I thought for sure we would have 500 for winter. It's looking more like 475. Soon we will play the guessing game of "How many queens will we need next spring." We can make a living with 500 colonies but it doesn't leave much margin for error. We need a decent survival so we can get our numbers up. I have considered leasing bees but then you work with assets that belong to someone else. I prefer to work on building up my own. I still think about it, though.

Most of the electrical work is done in the new addition. I still have to run the 220 lines for the extracting equipment. I don't want to do that until I move the extracting line. I don't visualize things well. I need to see it in place before I know it is right. We also need to get rock up to the new door in the back of the building. I can't get the truck inside when it's muddy.

I went to two pesticide meetings. A new bee rule has been proposed. It would prohibit spraying within a mile of a registered beeyard between the hours of 8 AM and 6 PM. I think it's a good proposal. Chuck Eckerman thought it was likely to be approved.

I have been curious about Randy Oliver's path in life. I asked him about it when he was at the annual meeting. I knew he held a masters degree in science. It turns out he holds another one in fisheries. After all that, he wound up building houses for 25 years. He built up the bees on the side while he was doing that. If you have read his articles in the Bee Journal, you know he has a great range of knowledge. He didn't have a great plan to write all the articles in the beginning. He did an article on almond pollination and Joe Graham liked it. After that, it was like the proverbial snowball rolling downhill. Randy doesn't get any funding for his work. I need to send him a donation.

My next project needs to be a lean-to for the horses. They haven't had any shelter since the barn went down in the tornado. I was too busy when the weather was good. I rented a skid loader with a post auger. The holes are bored. Once the posts are set, I can complete the shed at my leisure.

I enjoy winter. Everything takes longer but there is no pressure. I can really sleep on overcast mornings. The occasional afternoon nap feels good, too. I'm sure spring will be here before all the winter work is completed.

Submitted by Phil Ebert