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Feeding Bees

   By now you must of heard that you need to feed, feed, feed a million times and if not you need to feed, feed, feed; whether you are receiving a NUC or Package of bees it critical that you begin by feeding, feeding, feeding.  There are two reason why one feeds, first in the spring to stimulate feeding and in the summer or fall when the hive is low on food.

   Feeding is not simply mixing sugar and water together. Depending on the time of year the blend of sugar and water varies.

-           In the Spring from March to May, a one to one mixture of sugar to water is used to stimulate the production of brood.

-          In the Summer from June to August, a one to one mixture of sugar to water is used when there is a light or no nectar flow.

-          In the Fall from Sept to Nov, a two to one ration of sugar to water is used in event that the hive is low on stores.

   When making syrup, the ratio is measured in pounds. Remember never to cook the sugar water because it is easy to burn. Simply bring the water to a boil and let it sit. After the water starts cooling mix in the proper portion of sugar until it dissolves. 

     When we make syrup, we add Pro Health a feeding stimulant made with Spearmint, Lemongrass Oil and Thymol to entice the bees to drink it faster while aiding in their digestive health. This mixture helps prevent syrup fermentation and can be sprayed on undrawn frames to encourage the bees to quickly accept and draw out the frames. It can also be used to calm the bees instead of smoking. While this is not a miracle drug it has huge advantages when used regularly.

     No matter whether you use syrup in the Spring, Summer or Fall remember to always clean your feeders after use to prevent the growth of bacteria. Or your bees could end up like this guy. 

Life Cycle of the Yellow Jackets.

Have you ever wondered how to eliminate those pesky yellow jackets before they become a problem?  As many of you have found out last year, a few yellow jackets or wasp nest can annihilate an entire bee hive in as little as a week.

    To solve this problem, we must understand the life cycle of the yellow jacket queen.  A fertilized yellow jacket queen hibernates through the winter using natural resources like trees, stumps, rock piles, hollow logs and even stacked fire wood for shelter. Although these are the most preferred types of shelter, the queen will also shelter in man-made structures. 

    The queen will hibernate the entire winter then emerge in the spring to build a small paper nest by chewing plant fibers. After she builds a portion of her nest, she lays her first batch of eggs.  Spring is the time that you need to put your yellow jacket traps out because after the eggs hatch into larvae, the queen will leave the nest to find insects, fish, or any meat to feed her young.  Because none of the newly laid female yellow jackets are fertile if the queen can be trapped and killed this will reduce the number of yellow jackets in your area in the summer.

    The Queen can generate up to 5,000 workers. To make matters worse, if the queen produces young fertile queens, these new queens will leave the nest mate and create her own nest thus duplicating the first Queens’ effort.

    Here’s the good news, because we normally have a cold and wet spring the Queens’ cycle normally begins in mid to late March. During this time there are not too many insects or picnics out, so this is a prime time to put your traps out.

    In the past, I have used all kinds of yellow jacket traps, and the one that I have had the most success with is the “Rescue Yellow Jacket Trap” that uses water. This trap works best because it generates a longer, stronger smell than its dry counterparts.  

     Keep in mind that while trapping a few queens might not seem like much, their absence will greatly reduce the number of yellow jackets that you have in the summer.

Are you saving your beeswax?

When you are inspecting your hive, you will find that the bees fill every space with wax; this is not always a good thing because it can make it difficult for us to get the frames out carefully.  You should scrap off any extra wax build up. But what do you do with it? Everything in the hive is usable. There are lots for uses for beeswax; here are some of my favorites: candles, salves, lip balms, furniture polish, and waterproofing. These are just a few and there are so many more.

Now, you probably are wondering how do I get my wax to go from what I am collecting from the hive  to that golden yellow color that we always see, well it takes some investigation to find out what will work out best for you to render your wax to that state.  I have figured out that anything to do with bees is very sticky. Through this, I have made lots of messes in my kitchen and learned that for me I prefer to let the sun do my work for me. I made a solar wax melter out of an old Styrofoam cooler, aluminum foil and an old window.  Here are the instructions I used for this and I did not even need Alan’s help to do it. https://boobeehoney.com/2014/05/06/diy-solar-wax-melter/  Now that we have thirty hives, this little melter was not enough and Alan actually made me a different one out of wood and I have three 9x13 pyrex dishes in there so that I can take full advantage of the sunny days we have in Washington.

If this sounds a little too much for your one or two hives, here is a guide to rendering wax in the kitchen like a double boiler set up: https://snapguide.com/guides/clean-and-render-beeswax/ .

I thought I would share one of my favorite recipes it is a base salve that you can add any essential oils to.

• 4 – 4 ounce glass jam jars
• 1 qt. mason jar for melting
• 1 cup organic cold pressed coconut oil
• 1 cup quality organic olive oil
• 4 T. organic beeswax (in small pieces or grated)
• 1 t. vitamin e oil (optional)

Add the coconut oil, olive oil and beeswax to 1 quart mason jar. Fill a large saucepan halfway with warm water, set your burner to low to medium heat, slowly melt the ingredients in the warm bath, stirring with a knife every few minutes until melted.

While melting and stirring, line up four 4 oz glass jam jars. To each 4 oz jar ~ add the essential oils and vitamin e oil.

Now you’re ready to fill each jar with the hot oils and beeswax. Carefully fill each jar to within a half inch from the rim. Let the jars cool until the salve hardens, top with a paper towel while cooling to keep dust, bugs etc from invading your lovely jars of salve! Secure lids tightly after the salve has hardened. This salve has approximately a one year shelf life, depending on humidity, heat etc. Note: the consistency of salve will set up soft but solid enough not to splash around in the jar.

Hope you are enjoying your adventure in beekeeping. Remember everything from the hive is usable. Look into what else you can do with your wax.