Taking honey in the first year

There are a lot of tales that deal with just about any subject in life. In beekeeping I frequently hear people tell others that they can't take honey off the hives in the first year. When I hear such nonsense I ask why?  Who made this rule and did anyone ask the bees?  The reality is that as long as the colony has sufficient to make it through the winter, go ahead and take off the surplus. Talk to local experienced beekeepers, and not just one or two but find a group. Learn how much honey you need in your area and add another 10-15 percent. Take everything else. Odds are that if you start in the late spring or mid summer they will probably just make enough to make it through. But if you start in early spring and you hit the primary flows then things look much better.  Bottom line is, make sure your bees have enough plus a buffer and go ahead and take the rest. Ignore the people who simply perpetuate foolishness.

Go ahead and crush the honey comb

I was recently at South Florida Bee college and among other topics, the idea of spinning vs crushing comb for honey came up.  I frequently hear how it takes 8 pounds of honey for a pound of wax. This is data taken form research done over 150 years ago. Might still be true but a pound of wax, drawn into comb is a lot. One pound of wax can fill 6 or 7 deep frames.   Randy Oliver at Scientific beekeeping did some tests and the results show about 1 1/2 pounds of sugar for a deep frame. I've also heard, and I've even said myself that it makes more work for the bees. But does it really?
 God made bees with the equipment to make wax, and it's what they do first when the colony swarms.  Maybe bees like to draw comb. Maybe the festooning while they draw is actually exercise, no need for a bee Planet Fitness.   From a commercial aspect, one in which gathering as much honey as possible is the objective, it makes more sense to preserve comb as long as possible.  But the conversation was with some hobbyists. Someone asked me about using foundation or just comb.  I told them I don't use foundation any more. We did some tests last year between some wax coated starter sticks and coated foundation. We found that in all of the colonies, the bees drew wax on the strips before the plastic. So I decided to forgo foundation. So how do you get out the honey? I was asked. Being a machinist, I made a cage of sorts to support spinning frames. And if you add wire or fishing string, it will help.  But I'm still not the typical backyard beek. What about the home-schooling mom, who only wants one or two beehives? Should she really worry about spinning honey? The average yield in Florida is 50 pounds per colony, that's a lot of honey for most people. Double that for two colonies. What is this home-school mom going to do with 100 pounds of honey?  So our focus needs to be on why we have bees. If you're a hobbyist, back yard beek, just cut the comb out of the frames and crush it. When I do extractions and there is comb honey, I simply put it in paint strainer bags and hang it for a day or so. Pretty easy to do this. So maybe you get 75 pounds and not 100. You'll also have maybe two pounds of wax. And you won't need to worry so much about wax moths during the off season.

How long should my bees stay in the nuc?

I get that and a similar question. When can I add a super?  a lot. The standard answer is when the bees fill all of the gaps between the frames. But that really isn't what people want to know. We want numbers, weeks, days, months, how long? So we'll do some math. Things will be different depending on what type nuc you have. If you bought a commercial nuc, you'll already have a laying queen and it should be close to full of bees. In this case it will probably just be a week or two. Might even directly put them in a full sized box. But what about splits? You'll need to wait for your queen to start laying, and then for enough brood to cover the frames. It takes about 1200 bees to cover a deep frame, around 800 for a medium. So to fill the gap you need about 2000 bees. A good queen can lay up to 2000 eggs a day but more typically 1200-1500. There will also be a daily attrition of several hundred. So in reality we can expect daily increases of 500 - 700 bees. This starts after our queen begins to lay. So if you have a walk away type split, one with no queen but suitable larvae to make a queen. It will be 12 days before any queen can come out, then 10 days to mate. We won't see brood for 21 days after she begins laying, then another 12-15 days to get the numbers up. So for a new nuc, walk away split, expect them to be in that box for 2 months. If you start with an unmated queen you can subtract 12-15 days, and a mated queen 22-25 days.  Using theses same formulas we can make some good guesses for when to add the super. If I look in my 8 frame box and they cover the gaps of 5, I need another 6000 bees, so about 10 days, or 3 1/2 days for every space that isn't filled.

Are you ready for spring buildup?

So pretty much true to form, Valentines day is kicking off the bee buildup here in Central FL. Now in all of my hives I'm seeing some drone cells, population has increased and in the past week more nectar is coming in. I don't know what it is but in the past week the bees in my backyard hive have drawn out three whole frames without foundation. So what does all of this mean? Primarily it means that I need to have a number of boxes and frames ready right now. And I need a game plan for long and short term. For every colony that over wintered (Florida winter LOL), I can probably make a split. The question is, do I want to, or do I want to give away some bees? I'd suggest considering how many beehives you want to have at the end of this season, and you should have all of that equipment right now. In addition, for every three colonies, you should have another complete set. Yes one can end up with a lot of stuff pretty quickly. As the build up has certainly started, and will continue or the next month at least, it's more important to do regular checks. It will only take 12 days for the bees to throw a swarm, you can be in the box and see no signs of queen cells or cups then 12 days later half the bees are gone and they left behind a brand new virgin queen. That's why a 10 day cycle is suggested. And I'd recommend checking every frame for at least the next month. So now what do you do if you check and there's a capped queen cell? Or several? You can take the frame with QC's and start a colony, that's pretty common. Some may choose to cut off the cells and try to prevent swarming but that typically doesn't work. And if you miss 1 cell they're gone. Personally I have a plan for this year, it's been done by others before so I think the potential for success is there. I'm running all 1 size box and frames so my logistics are a bit easier than some. I am keeping three boxes with frames in my truck now, just in case. About half of the frames have some comb, the rest are starter strips. When the situation arises and I spot queen cells, capped or uncapped this is my plan. Move the beehive, either across the yard if possible or just move it over 2 feet and spin it around 180 degrees. Put a new box and bottom board in the old location. Take the frame or frames with the cells and put in the new box. Locate the queen and be certain that she stays in the old box. Move all but 1 or 2 brood frames to the new box, and two frames of food. In the old brood box I want 1 or 2 frames of brood, 2 frames of drawn comb, 2 frames of food, and two frames with starter strips. In the super, whatever stores were left after the split and fill the spaces with starter frames. By doing this I create a virtual swarm, the queen and whatever bees are in the box have moved. Some may migrate back but the nurse bees on the brood combs won't, the queen will continue to lay, and the young workers will stay. In the new split, there is emerging brood with nurse bees as an anchor. And any foragers will return to the old location. I can monitor things, again every 10 days and should something go wrong, I only need to turn the old box back around and re-stack the whole thing into 1 colony again. That's my plan for now, but as a colonel I knew in the service used to say, the plan is only good until the first shot is fired. Along the lines of spring buildup, we are seeing some swarms and I expect to get regular calls for the next several weeks. Be ready, have some sort of box, a nuc at least for that chance to go nab a swarm. Everyone should have at least 1 empty nuc just in case. And of course, as always we're here to help if you have questions or problems.

My price gouging

Although I know stuff like this shouldn't bother me, but this has gotten under my skin a bit and I just want to vent. Today is January 30, 2019, last week, I believe Friday, Jason Chrisman at JC's Bees did a video featuring the grafting tray. I appreciate the video, thank you very much. Today I got a note from someone asking if I'd read the comments. Hadn't been there since I first saw the video so thought maybe I'd check them out. For the most part positive comments, some on the tray, some on Jason's truck. There was one that kind of set me off, that my price gouging is ridiculous. I wanted to immediately respond but thought better of it. Drove home and since it still bothered me I thought I just might write a blog. Some history on the products. The frame fingers were first. Made a bunch from scrap, sent out a LOT of samples all over the country with some response but nothing great. Then the queen disk came about 1 year later. The first responses were that it was a dumb idea. I'd like to have a few more ideas just as dumb. Again the first disks were made from scrap on some free machine time. Sold them very cheap, in fact I set a price before finding out what postage would cost. It's fifty cents for the bubble mailer and $3.38 for postage up to 8 ounces. (That's why I charge $3.95 for shipping, a few cents for tape). When I started receiving more orders and it became apparent that this item would sell, I spoke with a financial advisor. I needed to set up manufacturing and incorporate as a company. We figured out what the material cost, the fact that the owner of the shop where I work didn't mind me making a few items but if I'm running an actual business on his machines I needed to pay for them. And while I think my profits and losses are no-ones business but mine, the state and federal governments both think differently. When one adds up the material, the machine costs, state corporate, sales and income taxes, then the federal taxes too it's amazing how much our silent partners take away. Then there was the question of what I wanted to pay myself, something that a lot of small business owners don't think about. I told him that I wanted to keep prices down to where the average tinkerer, like me, won't go make his/her own, but I could still make some profit. So we came up with the current prices. It's still possible for someone with the tools and skills to copy my stuff for less than my selling price but that assumes their time has no value. The tray was a real tough one for me. I fought pretty hard to get that price lower. My initial desire was $50 to include shipping but there was just no way. A part of the issue is that my stuff is all American made. American metal and fasteners. Foregin material has been cheaper but I set on American made. I was approached by someone who could have all of my stuff made overseas, I could have the disks machined and assembled and fingers cut for less than I am currently paying. And I wouldn't need to assemble anything. But that's not what I want. I still have a pretty strong sense of national pride. I can't guarantee where some of the hardware is made, I do know the source for the aluminum though and the fasteners. 

I also want to address the sending of products to You-tubers. I made some strategic gifts one might say. Never specifically asked anyone to do videos or endorsements. But I will admit that I hoped for some. Ian and Jason are the only two who've done any videos and I am sincerely grateful for their endorsement. I sent out a lot of stuff to a lot of channels. Some said thanks, some said nothing and some said, how much will you pay for me to sell this?
As I said, strategic gifts. 

I've not had any specific complaints, some feedback on possible improvements, but as far as I know my customers have been satisfied and that means a lot to me. 

So if you've purchased I want to say thank you very much. 

Mid January thoughts

The title speaks for the blog today, just some random thoughts. It's January 13th and I'm still getting queens mated. Not grafting a lot or trying that many, just running four mating nucs. Last Wednesday the temp dropped down to mid 40's. I lost seven grafts. I'm blaming it on the cold, they should have emerged Friday or Saturday. I candled them and saw the pupae just flopping around as I turned the cell. Cut open and it was obvious the development had stopped.  I've since build an incubator, I'll do a video of it soon. It operates on 12 volts so I can plug it in the truck. Currently I have it connected to an old car battery with a battery maintainer in the garage. The thermostat reads 93.5, it runs from 91.5 to 94.  Don't know how accurate it is. I have five cells in now which should emerge on Wednesday. Bee Culture magazine came out yesterday, they did a thing on my gadgets, pretty cool. I anticipate an increase in sales. Certainly hope for one. If you read this and came here because of the article, leave me a note.  I've upgraded the spindle on my engraver, makes a big difference, still not at full speed, a new power supply coming next week should solve that. My Youtube channel is n_spect_r.
Today much of the country is under a severe winter storm warning, it's near 60 here with a forecast of sun and 80. We're having another club build day, trying to make some wooden-ware and stay ahead of the spring buildup.  Around here Valentine's day sort of marks the kick off, drone populations rise and swarms start. Although we had some swarms in December, been a strange winter.  Maple is already starting to bloom, I see my bees bring in white and yellow pollen every day and all of my boxes have some honey and nectar. I re-queened three boxes last fall, as a necessity since the original queens were lost. In all of those boxes they are totally packed with bees and the queens are laying brood on three or four frames. Something I plan to try again this fall. I think as soon as the Brazilian pepper starts to flow, I'll introduce new queens in half of my colonies and see how they winter (yeah right winter in Florida). Met some new people at the monthly club meeting this month. We had more than 40 attend. Been a club now for two years and we've had at least 30 people at each meeting. One new member said he found us from Ian Steppler's video on my gadget. On the subject of the gadgets. When I made the first one there were a few people who said it was a dumb idea, sold over 300 since then. I need some more dumb ideas. I've had some thoughts on this lately and been watching some Youtube videos on queen rearing. In most videos I see two specific items, Chinese grafting tools and JZ-BZ cups. They're almost the standard. Personally I don't like the Chinese tool but it's still the most popular. So I have an objective that five years from now, new videos on grafting will also include my disk. With that in mind I'm looking for places and people who regularly hold queen rearing classes. I'll make a deal with you for bulk disks for each student.  The tray has been and continues to be a frustration for me. I should have had some inventory two months ago but constant delays. I will have limited inventory in a day or so. And I mean really limited, like less than 10.  It's still a bit early, I know most people won't start the queen rearing for another two months so I'm hopeful to have some decent numbers by mid February.  Stay tuned to the blog and watch the gadgets page.

What's it like to have a day off?

It's been another busy Saturday, I think for me every day is busy. A day off work isn't a day off. I had several things I wanted to do today. My truck radiator was leaking,  bought a new one which arrived Thursday. Figured I'd do the timing belt while I had the radiator out.  Did not go as planned. I needed a tool to remove the damper pulley, went to the shop and made one. Came back, took off the pulley and broke the crank position sensor bracket. Back to the shop to do some welding. Instead of two hours it took close to six. Wanted to do some work on the engraving table, I did get a table built for it to set on. In the process blew a seal on my framing nailer. That will wait for repairs, I hadn't used it in probably 3 years.  Wanted to do some work on the grafting trays, didn't happen. I do have some blanks cut out but need to bend and install hinges. Maybe Monday evening. I did get a modified Langstroth box made for a club member who received some flow frames as a gift.  I also wanted to cut wood for my incubator but that didn't happen. We're doing a build day at the club tomorrow so maybe then. Even though I didn't get everything done it was still a pretty good day. So thankful for the skills and resources to fix my truck. Thanks dad for those years in the garage.