Larry Garrett’s Natural Bees Site

Larry Garrett’s Natural Bees.

Larry Garrett has a unique top bar hive that handles supers. Larry once coined it the Franken hive. But it’s now called the Thur hive. The details can be seen on his Natural Bees site.

And he works with Warre’ hives as well. Check out that neat Warre bottom board/stand.

The Toolbox

Larry’s Inspection toolbox.

Larry dropped me a note and sent a photo of his inspection toolbox. What do you think?

I hate to admit it, but I often use a plastic 5 gallon bucket or one of those plastic storage bins.

After a couple of yard visits, everything ends up in one big messy pile. And if it’s hot and things get sticky, that’s one big messy stuck together pile.

Larry built this toolbox in an idle moment with a few scraps of wood.

There’s another bee toolbox, the Merrill toolbox, for those not wanting to build one.

What a neat addition. I think I’m going to have to change my messy ways.

Thanks Larry.

UFO

Not much about bees. But it’s sure got this beekeeper in a buzz! Just saw my first UFO. I can’t believe it!

My wife was looking out the backyard picture window and called me to come take a look. So, I did. And I’ve never seen anything like it before.

Background: I’m an amateur astronomer and have been watching the night skies since my youth. I’ve got a Celestron telescope sitting in my basement. And I’ve been around aviation as a pilot as well.

Conditions: Absolutely clear sky without any wind or thermal distortions. Venus was bright. The emerging stars were clear and steady. There were no aircraft in the sky.

So here goes. My wife noticed this object moving toward her. It was a very bright red, pulsating object. See watched it move across the sky and stop. So, she opened the window for a better view and to listen for it’s sound. It was silent. She watched it for another 3 to 4 minutes. Having never seen anything like that she then called me.

I looked out the window and saw a  very large, much larger than any aircraft, high altitude, stationary, oblate shaped, orange glowing object that pulsated by changing from orange to a very bright red. It was about 40 degrees above the horizon.

And I have never seen anything like it. Venus was high in the sky and that object was much brighter than Venus.

I watched it for a minute and called my son whose was in the basement. No response. So, I decided to run and get him on my way outside for a better view. He was on the phone and it took a minute to get him moving.

Meanwhile, my wife decided to go outside at the same time. And we met on the back porch. By then the object has disappeared.

My son looking out the window saw the object disappear.  He said it didn’t move across the sky but appeared to move directly away from him,  getting smaller, dimmer and then quickly disappearing.

I estimate it took less than 30 seconds, probably closer to 15 seconds, as that’s about how long it took for me to get to the backdoor.

I’ve seen and heard meteors that have left contrails then exploded in the sky. I never miss seeing a comet that passes by. I watched eclipses, sun dogs, high altitude cirrus, standing alto lenticulars, aurora, etc.

And I’ve always watched everything that flies by. It wasn’t a jet, a balloon, a blimp, a rocket, a helicopter or any kind of conventional aircraft.

I’ve always been skeptical. But can no longer easily discount what others have seen.

It’s the most unusual thing I’ve ever observed in the sky. I was sorry the observation was so brief. And I’m even more sorry that I didn’t continually watch it.

Regards – Dennis

Package Bees

After searching Youtube, I’ve found a video that shows how I handle and install package bees.

As a commercial beekeeper, I’ve installed thousands of packages this way with some minor changes:

• using a spray bottle of very light sugar water is easier than a spray tank.
• manually release the queen after a week if the bees show no aggression towards her.

A couple of shots of spray through the screen, then a couple of shots into the package after removing the feed can is all the spray that’s needed. The idea is to use just enough spray to keep them from flying.

A week later,  the queen is released if the the bees aren’t biting or clinging to the queen cage. Some bees will cluster on the cage. But will freely move around on it. That’s OK.

If the queen is in a typical 3 hole Benton cage with candy:

• remove the cork on the candy end.
• push a small hole through the candy using a frame nail.
• let the bees release her.

I don’t like to manually release the queen when installing the package. When it works right, it works great. But under some conditions and with some kinds of bees, it just doesn’t work at all.

Package bees are stressed bees:

• they have been shaken from more than one hive.
• the queen is young, newly mated, skittish and unaccustomed to the bees.
• they have been confined and subjected to non-hive smells, vibrations, movements.

It’s going to take some quiet and undisturbed time for them to:

• associate each other as nest mates.
• see their new hive cavity as home.
• begin to collectively think and act as a colony.
• accept the queen.

It’s best to keep them well fed and undisturbed for a week or more. Disturbing recently installed package bees can result in the bees absconding or killing the queen. So:

• leave them along as much as possible.
• when feeding use as little smoke as possible.

Give them time. It will take a brood cycle for the queen to mature and the bees to really become a cohesive colony.

And thank you beefitter for the video.

Regards – Dennis

Learning Beekeeping

McCartney Taylor's Learning Beekeeping.

There’s nothing like hands on experience to learn beekeeping. But the use of audio and visual media are a good alternative when the bees aren’t near.  And there’s none better than McCartney Taylor’s website and YouTube channel.

He has kept the camera rolling with lots of very helpful info on natural comb handling, top bar hives, swarm trapping, cutouts, etc. It’s a must visit for everyone interested in simple, natural beekeeping.

And if you like what McCartney’s done, why not buy him a cup of coffee.

Center for Honeybee Research

Center for Honeybee Research.

My friend Carl Chesick dropped a note saying:

Still organizing conferences and bee schools… We have started an Annual Honey Contest  open to all real beekeepers and which will award $500, $250, and $125 prizes in 2012. The idea is to keep it going and make it bigger and better each year.

Carl and the Center for Honeybee Research are located in Ashville, NC. Unlike Wyoming’s hostile environment, it’s a beekeeper’s paradise. There, the bees get their resources from the forests. It’s truly as wild and natural honey as can be found anywhere.

Buncombe County beekeepers.

Awhile back, I was invited by the Buncombe County beekeepers to talk about about my beekeeping. There, I meet the most cordial, gracious and enthusiastic group of beekeepers I’ve ever encountered. Even after a computer failure left me standing befuddled in front of the local tv cameras, they remained as gracious as ever. That Ashville environment must be great for beekeepers as well as the bees.

Interesting in North Carolina beekeeping? Be sure to check out the Buncombe County Beekeepers and The Center for Honeybee Research.

Package Bees Ordered

Package Bees.

Wyoming’s spring weather has been unusually warm and mild. And while out and about digging the garden, I noticed a few bumblebees  and wasps trying to find a new home. Interesting!

And the weather has been mild enough to allow some limited foraging on the cherry blooms. Noticed some wild bees and a honeybee.Now that’s not a full recovery from the devastation the bee populations have suffered over the last several years. But it’s enough for me. A beekeeper must be full of hope, especially in the spring.

So, I’ve decided to get some package bees and start over.

It’s been awhile since I’ve been around package bees, something like the late 90′s. But I contacted Ken Smith who hauled and sold them in central Wyoming. He’s not in that business anymore. But he referred me to Brian Houtman  who had taken over from him.

After a pleasant talk with a very busy Brian, I’ve ordered 5 three pound packages. They are due to arrive by the end of the month. And will be put on new comb. So, I’ve got lots to do in just a few weeks:

• reclaim and process all old comb.
• scrap, scorch, and disinfect all woodenware.
• procure summer and winter beeyard locations.
• get some sugar feed stockpiled.

I like to use a push in cage and confine the new queens on comb for awhile before releasing them. It gives the 3lb glob of unrelated and traumatized bees time to:

• settle down.
• form a cohesive unit around the new queen.
• pick up comb odor.
• begin foraging.

The queen can begin laying without any harassment. And that helps packages succeed.

But this time, without any comb, I’m going to keep the queens confined to their queen cages. And then manually release them about a week later. I’ll:

• gently open the hive .
• look for any worker bees tightly clinging to or biting the wire on the queen cage.
• if so, I’ll keep the queen confined and inspect that hive in another week.
• if not, I’ll release the queen and close up the hive.

It should be a good chance to take some photos and describe how to quickly and easily handle package bees. I’ve done it thousands of times as a commercial beekeeper.

And I’m looking forward to beeing in the saddle again.

Regards – Dennis

It’s Spring

It’s April 1st and like most April 1st’s, my spirit soars as the winter doldrums pass and are replaced with the promise of new abundance. That winter malaise, so often the result of a lack of vitamin D and a boring winter diet will soon give way to nature’s best. And it should be a good year indeed:

Ah, there’s nothing like all natural spaghetti!

Regards – Dennis

Knowing there’s nothing like today’s 80 F temps and tomorrow’s  forecast for more snow. Happy April !st

 

The Scale of Things

How we view the world has much to do with our scale of vision. Today, it’s possible to see both ends of the spectrum at incomprehensible scales. Here’s a neat site that can help put things in perspective. Cary and Michael Huang’s:

http://htwins.net/scale2/scale2.swf?bordercolor=white

Incredible!

This gives us beekeepers something to ponder when thinking about the great scheme of things.

Thanks guys.

SAD and BAD Bees

While doing a little clean up work on this site, I went back to BeeSource’s POV page to get a link. And while there, was drawn to re-read some of Andy Nachbaur’s Bee-L posts.

Andy was one of the first commercial beekeepers who spent any time writing on the net. I never met him. But always found him well worth reading.

And who can forget his experiments with web scripting. Remember his bee swarm cursor? That was at a time when web graphics were a novel experience.

Anyway, Andy Nachbaur has been gone for awhile. But it’s well worth while spending a little time with Andy’s writings. They are informative and his dry wit is very entertaining. He wrote:

MY REPORT ON S-A-D AND B-A-D BEES from 35 years field experience.

Stress Accelerated Decline [SAD] and Bee Immune Deficiency [BAD] are not new spectacles in managing honeybees, or is it even limited to honeybees. They have been described in the popular and scientific literature for over one hundred years, by both beekeepers and biologists.

The SAD or BAD condition in bees in the United States has been called by many names in years past. Such as Isle of Wight Disease, Afro-hereditary Disease, fall, winter, or spring Collapse or Decline, and Disappearing Disease. The cause has been diagnosed by biologists as everything from poor nutrition to pest infestations. Such as the TRACHEAL MITE, which is at this time is the populace view. It is my opinion, based on my own experience with bees, that all of the above and every other natural and unnatural condition that afflicts bees, that can be identified as stressful can be made scape goat for SAD or BAD bees. (Including weather; hot, cold, wet or dry; pesticides; and management; good or bad.)

Most of this speculation only leads to SAD BEEKEEPERS…

Interested? Andy has more to say about  SAD and BAD bees.

Reading this one perked my memory. I too noticed that unique odor from my CCD hives. But just never remembered reading about it. Had I remembered it, I could have saved myself lots of trouble.

Check out the rest of Andy’s writings. And look over BeeSource’s POV. There’s some good stuff there.

Enjoy – Dennis

Bee Genetics

ABF Session Recordings.

Natural beekeeping tends to produce superior honeybee colonies. Ever wonder why?

Randy Oliver, in a talk with North American Beekeeping Federation(ABF) bee breeders describes why. The ABF recorded his presentation and kindly provides access to it:

Scientific Beekeeping: Thoughts About Queen Breeding

Randy discusses:

• epigenetics.
• natural selection processes.
• the effects of treating and genetic selection.
• why natural triumphs over hybridization.
• and how to win in the bee versus pest war.

Randy also talks about some of those natural behaviors that impressed and converted a handful of conventional beekeepers, like myself, more than a decade ago.

Other ABF Stuff

There are other recordings well worth listening to. Check them out:

2011 ABF Session Recordings

And thanks to the ABF for sharing them.

Regards – Dennis