starting up for 2012 is not this easy in Wisconsin

All three hives survived the exceptionally mild winter. And, the swam last year ended up in a neighbors hive. At least we think it originated here, without DNA testing, who can be sure. The neighbors sold their house and when attempting to move old hives they thought empty, they heard bees. So, Hilary and I retrieved the bees, hive and all, (thank you neighbors) carefully putting the hive on a wagon and pulling it home. Word of caution, when attempting this be sure to use an adjustable strap to hold the supers together, especially when on a hillside. Despite one major tip over, the bees appear to be healthy and thriving. Oh, the picture is from Florida. What an easy life the bees and keepers must have in a warm climate.

In memory of Paul and Dorothy Hess

Paul and Dorothy Hess died after a car accident this month. Words are inadequate to express the sadness we feel. They were wonderful giving people, generous with their time and knowledge and had so much yet left to share with us all. October 17, 2011

More tests were done on this honey than usual, in fact, most marketed raw honey has no laboratory testing at all. Notice that the high profile microbes are all less than 3/gram, or better. The mold count, probably comes from viable spores, since no fungal structures were microscopically observed in product. Most of the honey now has been extracted and put in jars of all sizes. Several pounds remaining will be sterilized and made into honey-butter, whipped honey and just sterile honey for Max.

collecting honey

After Hilary opened the hives and smoked the bees slightly, Paul used a leaf blower to brush off the bees remaining on the frames removed from teh hive. This was fairly gentle and a lot faster than by hand. The bees were later given sugar water, not a fair trade, but it pacified them somewhat.

Golden rod and wild asters are abundant but not many other flowers are available now. Lidino clover planted this spring did not do well, the area is probably too wet.

We have not weighed the extracted honey yet, we also saved several frames for comb honey, actually our favorite for eating.



Tomorrow Hilary and I will test composites for Salmonella, Listeria, total coliform, E. coli, staphylococci, streptococci and clostridium. We do this periotically when we remove honey, with satisfactory results.

The new queen was accepted, she looks healthy and larva are seen. We tasted honey from the other two hives and it is wonderful. We will not bother this hive again for a few weeks then we will check for mites. I hope to have enough time to do some cultures simular to what I did when I started this project. (refer to start of blog and early entries).

left behind bees are without a queen

No viable larva is seen, no queen or queen cells are seen. since the workers live only about 6 weeks, this colony will be extinct unless we can add another queen. Paul brought a queen cell from one of his hives and a queen emerged on the way here. She was carefully introduced to the hive. We will examine the hive in a few days.

bees need attention, one hive swarmed

The swarm stayed 40 feet up for 24 hours then left for the woods.