The Buzz Newsletter

October 2009

 

 

Page 6

THE BEEYARD REPORT

We must live right. We went all summer with very little honey being put into the boxes. August normally produces very little. This year proved to be an exception. The yards we first pulled in early August provided a second pull. The yards we didn't bother to pull because there was nothing there plugged out at the end of the month. By Sept 12, Alex had all but two yards pulled and the mite treatments in. We had 46 barrels extracted and 600 boxes left in the warehouse to extract. Some of them aren't very full. When it takes 30 boxes to make a barrel full, it's slow going.

I talked to a number of SE Iowa beekeepers when we were at Threshers.
The crop reports were pretty dismal. One report out of NE Iowa said 40# per colony. There have been some isolated good spots but I think they are few and far between.

There aren't many holes in our yards.  Our numbers have held up. Many colonies will go into winter as a story and a half. When I melted my old combs, I though we would get some wax drawn over the summer. This didn't happen. Now, we are short of deep boxes. I considered combining some of the singles but they have mega bees. It seemed to be a waste to unite them.

We have had bees on Delmar Emmack's place east of Colfax for at least 20 years. Delmar was never very healthy but he got a lot done. At one time, he was working full time at Maytag, lambing 300 ewes and growing vegetables for the Des Moines Farmers Market. It was a clear case of mind over body.  I saw Delmar on a Tuesday night, Wednesday morning he was gone. I was shocked by the suddenness of it. I never understood how he got everything done. I work pretty hard but I could never have done everything he did. His doctor had told him he was near he end of the trail but his mind was full of things he was going to do right up to the very end. I hope I can do as well.

By the time we get to the end of the summer, there are a lot of bees in our queen yard. It's less than a quarter mile from our building. This can lead to problems in the fall. The bees decide they want to empty the honey out of the building. They find multiple ways to get inside. This year, it didn't get ugly until mid September. It was bad enough that I had to cancel a tour group. I put the nucs together into single story colonies and moved them to the other side of the Skunk River into a wetland reserve. I built 15 colonies. It's hard to get enough young bees for winter in a deal like that unless the weather stays good and brood rearing continues.

Problems seem to arise in bunches. The day the bees started coming for the building, we burned out the heating element in the wax melter and the AC in the honey house conked out. Of course, having no wax melter negates the need for AC. This still leaves the problem of what to do with the cappings. A trip to Sully Plumbing and Heating and $400 later, my problems were solved.

I am sure we sacrificed several barrels of honey by pulling our supers to put mite treatments in but I am also sure we did the right thing. All of our yards have had the first mite treatment. Some will not need a second one. Any yard that tests below 12 on ether rolls will go into winter with one treatment. This will probably include only five or six yards.
Most yards are testing in the 18 to 20 range after the first treatment.
I could probably keep those yards alive but then we would have to deal with the mites in the spring when it's harder to find a treatment window.

I bought a syrup pump two years ago. It has been setting in the shed ever since. Alex has it rigged up on a pallet with a 125 gallon tank.

It's going to make feeding a lot easier. The yards I have seen so far are pretty heavy. I'm hoping we won't need much syrup. It all hinges on how long brood rearing lasts. I'm sure bees do better on honey. I also know I can keep them alive with syrup. If you don't control the mite load, it doesn't matter what they have to eat. They are going to die.

The boys have done the heavy lifting but I am still tired. I'm looking forward to January.

Submitted by Phil Ebert

HONEY BUTTER POPCORN BALLS

Printed from COOKS.COM
1/3 c. honey
1/4 c. light molasses
1/4 c. light Karo syrup
1/2 c. butter
2/3 c. sugar
1 qt. popped corn
1 c. chopped roasted cashews

Cook honey, molasses, syrup, butter, sugar slowly until mixture reaches soft crack stage, 260 to 270 degrees on candy thermometer. Do not over cook. Stir occasionally. Remove from heat. Pour over corn and cashews. Allow to cool a little. Butter your fingers lightly and mold mixture into balls. Cool on buttered cookie sheet. Makes about 11 balls.