Harvested the honey!!! Youtube link in last post

[retiredwith4acres]

North is fine for bees, Minnesota is big bee country. Mites are one of the biggest problems. We just have to learn how to recognize problems and try to do non chemical kinds of intervention. The only chemical is when they might get an upset tummy and then our state apiarist recommends meds to be given, only then you don't use honey for consumption. Most of the die off is associated with those that transport large numbers of hives to pollinate crops and it is believed the stress from the travel might help create problems. Yes, there is disease where the hives have to be burned etc. but most states really keep an eye for that and work to eliminate the problem quickly. In 3 years we have had no major problem other than the hive leaving (swarming) in the spring and the ones left have to hatch a new queen and that puts them in low numbers and have to start over. I did lose one hive last winter from starvation even though they had lots of honey (cold and won't leave ball of bees to eat and they starve). If you read and/or get a mentor, you will be fine. Hands on is best teacher!

 

[lesa]

Winter has it's challenges for the bees and beekeeper- but no more so, than the south (IMO). This year ours bees were happy foraging and multiplying and the poor bees in the south were suffering a terrible drought and nothing in bloom. The hives are packed with honey, we will wrap the hives in black felt- and count the days till spring....
Are you thinking of Colony Collapse Disorder? That is the big one, that has been covered by the news. No one is really "sure" what is causing it (I am sure it has nothing to do with all the chemicals we spray on anything and everything...) You have all winter to research bees and beekeeping - by spring you will be ready!

 

[Nifty]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HDzQ30LF9Q
This is a home made extractor made from a 55 gal drum and a ceiling fan. Just a short video to see it in action. (There are 5 videos all together- but you will get the idea after the first one!)

I LOVE those extraction videos. I was at a client's office a couple days ago and he keeps bees as a hobby. I asked how they were doing and he said that his hives have been devastated by CCD. It just makes me so sad to hear when that happens and I could tell he was pretty upset about it too.

 

[lesa]

Glad you enjoyed the vid! I was really surprised how great the "invention" worked! We are leaving an awful lot of honey out there, so hopefully, we will be extracting in the early spring as well. The CCD is so terrible. In my mind, the bees are like canaries in the mine. If we can't keep bees healthy in our world- I am afraid I don't have high hopes for the rest of the creatures in it...

 

[rickdigschicks]

I know I'm a little late to the party Lesa but do a Google search for " Joe's ancient orange mead" It's a quick mead that is perfect at about six weeks. Tastes fantastic. Also you can do staggered nutrient additions and get a good
semi-sweet mead in a couple of months. Lots of great info and recipes at Got Mead dot com.

 

[lesa]

Cool! I will check it out in the morning- ready for bed! We did start a real simple mead- and so far it tastes great....