Honey for Sale

Bluebird Gardens Honey is just the way bees made it; this is an 8 oz jar with 12 oz. of honey. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Bluebird Gardens Honey for Sale

In answer to a number of requests, I now have Bluebird Gardens honey for sale. This is honey the way the bees made it; not heated or otherwise changed. All I do is filter it from the frames and bottle it. Well, and first convince the honey bees to let me have their extra honey. Each colony has at least two boxes full of honey left to consume through winter.

When you look at honey - and it still amazes me when I do - think about all of the flowers they had to visit to accumulate the flower nectar they dehydrate to 18% to make honey. It takes 2 million blossoms to make one pound of honey.

Not all honey tastes the same. The honey profile changes depending on what flowers they visit. Bluebird Gardens honey is wildflower honey, a collection of nectar from a wide variety of blossoms giving the honey a different profile from year to year.

This Year’s Jar Shortage

It’s been an interesting year to try to find jars and other glass containers as well as lids. The increased interest in gardening and canning has generated a bit of a shortage where I live. With the help of several friends, and by paying a little extra, I now have a good supply.

If you want to bring your own jars, I can work with that as well, the price in general is $1 per ounce of honey. Honey is much heavier than water so I weight the empty jar first, then fill with honey and re-weigh to get the actual honey weight.

Bluebird Gardens Raw Filtered Honey Prices (net weight)                          

8 oz jar (12 ounces)                         $ 15                    

16 oz (1 lb jar)                                     $ 20                    

22 oz 1.5 lbs (1 pint jar)                    $ 25                    

24 oz (2 lbs jar)                                  $ 25                    

40 oz 2.5 lbs (1 quart jar)                $ 40                    

5 gallons                                             $350                  

 I will have the honey available at my home so contact me to make arrangements for pick up. When you stop by, you can easily see Bluebird Gardens northern apiary from the driveway.

Bluebird Gardens north apiary visible from the driveway. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Please turn around at Bluebird Lane’s dead end and park along the road. My driveway does not handle turnaround traffic. Thanks!

Charlotte

It's a Sign!

My new Bluebird Gardens apiary signs. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

It’s a Sign!

Delivery trucks are regular visitors to my house. Most know that my driveway is not a U turn; it’s not designed to carry heavy vans and it’s located uphill from one of my apiaries.

This particular delivery van driver was new but not so new that he had been told not to drive down my gravel driveway. He also did so when I was working the closest hive so bees were actively flying around the area.

I found the driver at a neighbor’s house claiming he had been stung several times. When I asked to see where he had been stung he pointed to one area on his ear lobe. There was no sting there but I treated it anyway and reminded him he should not be driving his heavy van down my small gravel driveway.

So after I maneuvered his van out of my driveway, I decided it was time to put up more signs. I live on a dead end street and all of my neighbors know me as the “bee lady.” Nevertheless, I thought it was time I put up signs that honor the work bees are doing without being scary, a gentle reminder of sorts that I am a bee lover and there are honey bees on the property.

Most of the available signs are directive and include “no trespassing.” Since I was going to be the one looking at these signs most of the time, I chose a more friendly route. Here is one of the first signs I put up in my apiary many years ago.

This is a more typical sign noting bees in the area. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

After a brief search, I found the “Honey Bees at Work” signs that now mark my two apiaries. The signs are bright and easy to see and honor the work bees do. And I like seeing them!

My new apiary signs honor the bees without being threatening. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins0

To make sure the clear path was obvious, I added a garden flag that reminded visitors there are bees on the property and that this was a safe path to use.

Garden flags can also be an easy way to sign bees in the area. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

So far the new signs and garden flag seem to be working.

And yes, I have been repeatedly told I should not have driven the van out of my driveway but I was only too glad to get it out of the way.

Oh. And he did drop off the packages he was initially delivering but he left them at the top of the driveway.

Charlotte

Queen Begonia Coloring Page

Fun to see Queen Begonia in full color by a 10-year old! (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Queen Begonia Coloring Page

How cute is this colored-in page?

The daughter of one of our local bee club members wasn’t feeling well so I sent her the two coloring pages included in the back of my book “Bee Club Basics or How to Start a Bee Club.” The book includes 28 pages in the back that can be copied and used to establish a bee club including the coloring pages for young club visitors.

The beekeeping book illustrations are by a very talented local artist Jake Tupper, here is his final version of the same book cover.

Here’s the original Bee Club Basics book cover. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

I’ve been asked how realistic is this illustration. Actually, very. Honey bees love coffee, will chew paper inside their hives to easily remove it - they are fastidious house keepers and the clover flowers are good for honeybees.

The flowers on Bee Club Basics book cover is Red Crimson Clover Trifolium incarnatum, the one red clover honeybees can access because of the shape of the flowers. Not to be confused with “Red Clover,” which is pink and has a round flower head bumblebees can access but not honey bees.

So here’s the same coloring page for your beekeeping fans feeling cooped up.

Enjoy coloring this page and don’t forget to share the final work of art! (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Once completed, please share, would love to see your works of art!

Charlotte

What Success Looks Like

One of my desks commemorating my goals. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

What Success Looks Like

2020 started out on a roller coaster ride. I was finishing my beekeeping reference books, developing beginning beekeeping class curriculum and then teaching classes. It did cross my mind that I can’t keep this up once spring arrives and the outdoors is calling.

In the meantime, I was very happy to be one of the first Missouri beginning beekeeping classes certified through Great Plains Master Beekeeping. The program through University of Nebraska at Lincoln is providing scientifically-based, best management practices beekeeping to a five state area including Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Wisconsin and Missouri. They review my class materials to make sure what I am teaching is not only best management practices but also current. And they review instructors backgrounds to temporarily allow them to teach these classes until we have certified master beekeepers.

I have been teaching beginning beekeeping classes since 2012, first through University of Missouri Extension and now through our educational non-profit bee club. All of our class materials are being reviewed and certified as offering scientifically-vetted best management practices, a process that takes a lot more time and effort than just throwing a presentation together. The narrative has to be included in depth and materials double-checked. Sometimes triple-checked when recommended practices conflict.

My second beginning beekeeping class February 15, 2020. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

One of the challenges with some beekeepers and beekeeping students is to make it clear that bees, flowers and their environment are all connected. Some beekeepers want to just focus on bees when plants provide food and nutrition. Others only focus on planting without considering what bugs depend on the plants they are growing. My goal in the beginning beekeeping classes is to make the connection clear; bees need flowers and vice versa.

So how does one gauge success.

Successfully keeping honey bees is one way and the usual mark I use for success.

There are also several ways to gauge how well the class is doing; registration numbers is one way. Class surveys are even better.

If class surveys are well-written to ask the right questions, one can determine if facilities are ok; if classes meet expectations and what other classes students may be interested in.

Class surveys are important success gauges. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

As I was compiling the beginning beekeeping class surveys to assess what we need to do differently, if anything, I turned the surveys over to mark the ones I had reviewed.

There, on the back, was a class doodle and my newest favorite mark of success.

It’s not a drawing of just a flower.

Or just a bee.

The two are drawn together.

I loved it so much I framed it.

my favorite mark of success, a class doodle behind a survey. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

When I think of all of the measures of success, with the exception of healthy bees - this one is my personal favorite. She gets the connection between bees and flowers. I think I made my point!

Charlotte

Winter Feeding Check

Wait, what? Why are the bees now on the other side of the hive! (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Winter Feeding Check

Normally it takes a colony about 50-70 lbs of honey to make it through a typical mid-Missouri winter.

Our weather, however, is anything but typical any more. For the past three years, we’ve had longer falls and springs and barely cold winters. A nice change for those who don’t like cold but bad news for bees. When temperatures are 50F plus they are out looking for flowers amid a desolate winter landscape.

This past year, my colonies had extra honey on all hives so I left it for them. I thought if we have another mild winter, they are going to need the extra food supplies since there will be nothing in nature.

Sure enough, when Christmas was 70F and I was checking - not inspecting - my colonies, they had worked through most of their honey supplies. Time to give them supplemental sugar cakes to help them make it through winter.

Now sugar cakes cannot feed bees full time, it just supplements them until they can find new flowers and food sources in nature. When temperatures are record warm, it also gives colonies a chance to move stored honey to areas in the hive where they can better reach it. The challenge is that temperatures can get cold very fast, leaving them separated from honey sources. That’s where the supplemental sugar cakes comes in handy, it gives them food until they can find their own.

As I opened this particular colony, I was struck by the location of the bees, on the right, and the placement of the supplemental sugar cake, on the left. When I added the sugar cakes, it was right over where the bees were clustered.

Seeing the bees had moved to the right told me they must have baby bees now. If worker bees have to decide between keeping brood warm or eating, they will die of starvation to keep the baby bees warm.

Another winter storm was heading our way so I moved the white sugar cake over the cluster. I also added a second supplemental sugar cake with pollen so the bees will have a source of protein.

Bee cluster now has food over it while it keeps brood warm. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

It will be interesting to see if there is any honey leftover come spring. If I had to guess, I will say there won’t be any.

Charlotte

Getting a Drink

Some of the honey bees in my garden getting a drink out of a bird bath. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Getting a Drink

We had a couple of days early February 2020 with temperatures in the 70s. Record warm temperatures for mid-Missouri that time of year, and only a couple of days before another winter storm was forecasted.

As I walked through my limestone hillside garden, I enjoyed watching my honey bees doing what they normally do during a warm week, which included taking a drink. All of the bird baths I have scattered close to their hives were busy. Most still had water, and the ones that didn’t were quickly refreshed. As I filled up the bird baths, it reminded me of the set of the Days of the Week kitchen towels featuring bees. I couldn’t remember if one of the days featuring water carrying.

Honey bees need water close by. They use water to mix with pollen to make bee bread among other things. Seeing the water carriers lapping up the moisture confirmed that they may be making bee bread for to feed baby bees, or brood.

And yes, the water is not “clean.” Dr. Dale Hill confirmed at a conference a couple of years ago that honey bees prefer aged water. That’s where they pick up minerals that they need to stay healthy.

This particular bird bath has leaves and small sticks for safe landing spots. I also place rocks in the center of the bird bath to give them a safe landing spot.

Bird baths are usually available at most home and garden centers. The concrete ones tend to stay in place on my Missouri hillside a little better than the plastic ones although both can be susceptible to the ground heaving and thawing. One of my early spring jobs is to make sure they are all level and, if not, get them back to that condition.

But I confess, I wait for the bees to get their drinks first.

Charlotte

Beekeeping Classes 2020

Launching one of Missouri’s, if not the first Great Plains Master Beekeeping certified beginning beekeeping class, for a local bee club. Great way to spend a winter Saturday, talking bees! (Photo by Lorri Thurman)

Beekeeping Classes 2020

Let’s see, I have been teaching beginning beekeeping classes since 2012. Launched first at the request of our local extension office, this year’s classes mark a new milestone in Missouri beekeeping history. The Rolla Bee Club beginning beekeeping classes this year have been certified through Great Plains Master Beekeeping Program, which means students are getting the most current best management practices.

Students from the historic first Great Plains Master Beekeeping Apprentice level classes at Rolla Bee Club for 2020. Several attendees told me this was their last attempt to be successful at keeping bees after trying for several years. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

It’s a big deal for several reasons.

Some beekeepers enjoy making their own hives as well as new associated contraptions. We say learn the basics, then branch out into whatever catches your interest. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

First, most beekeeping questions tend to be answered with “it depends.” In other words, there can be many answers to a beginning beekeeper’s questions, making it challenging to make critical, expensive decisions as one buys and scouts hive locations. By focusing on best management practices, the answers are narrowed down to the ones that lead to success.

Secondly, beekeepers like to tinker. They’re either making something for their hives or trying something new with their bees. Not an issue if you understand bee biology but it you’re starting, this can be confusing. Our beginning beekeeping classes focus on what a beginning beekeeper needs to know to pull their honey bees through their first winter. It can take a couple to three years so this is also a lesson in patience.

The symbol that a course is approved by Great Plains Master Beekeeping out of University of Nevada at Lincoln.

As a member of the Great Plains Master Beekeeping program, these beginning beekeeping classes qualify for the entire first Apprentice Level. Although several students suggested in their class survey that the class should be divided into two sessions, we spend a good 8 hours on the basics including providing a diary with check lists that can be referred to later on.

Jessie Scrivner-Gunn, left, and David Draker demonstrating January 25, 2020 how to carefully inspect a hive. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

The thing is, even if we could go over everything, we’re only coaches, the honey bees are the real teachers. And they don’t read beekeeping books, as we like to tell everyone so as much as we try to provide most likely scenarios, no two years of beekeeping are the same.

Did I mention beekeeping can be a lifelong adventure?

The bottom line is Rolla Bee Club’s beginning beekeeping classes in 2020 mark a new era. Considering the bee club was launched February 2014, this is a good way to mark our sixth year introducing people to beekeeping. And supporting them as well through our monthly meetings and associated events.

Rolla Bee Club January 26, 2020 club meeting included a discussion of the pros and cons of various hive designs besides a Langstroth, the current industry standard. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Two more beginning beekeeping classes are scheduled for this year. We hold the classes in winter when the bees are supposed to be clustered inside hives consuming honey. When temperatures sneak above 50F, though, I find my bees sneaking into my garage looking for something to eat.

My Bee Buddy and Club co-founder David Draker welcoming students to our January 25, 2020 beginning beekeeping class. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

The next beginning beekeeping class will be Saturday, February 15, 2020 at Doolittle Community Hall, 380 Eisenhower, Doolittle, Missouri. Deadline to register is February 1, 2020. Cost is $75 and includes a beginning beekeeping book, calendar, refreshments and catered lunch. Register online.

Doolittle Community Hall is located off Interstate 44, exit 179.

For those who help their bees make it through winter, we have a Second Year Beekeeping Class Saturday, March 14, 2020 also at Doolittle Community Hall. This class will focus more on basic techniques including how to merge colonies and how to make a split. Deadline to register is Friday, February 28, 2020. Register here.
So let’s talk bees, shall we?

Charlotte

Bee Club Basics Book

The first in a series of books to help beekeepers. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Bee Club Basics Book

Ten years ago, Missouri had a total of 6 bee clubs, volunteers in major metropolitan areas helping primarily sideliner and commercial beekeepers. It was also about the time most bee hives in the US died, the result of what we now know was a combination of pesticides, pests and pathogens, poor nutrition and poor management.

Fast forward to 2015, when our state beekeeping association was holding discussions about the needs of Missouri beekeepers. The number of new bee clubs had just started to expand, including the one I started in Rolla but there weren’t resources to help those clubs.

Now there are.

I wrote “Bee Club Basics” for those who are starting, and want to start, an educational non-profit bee club. There are more than 50 now in Missouri, some struggling more than others for help with monthly discussion topics, speakers and the basics, such as how to make their meetings welcoming.

I have started over a dozen educational non-profits since 1979 and have a master’s degree in management. There are a lot of management books on the market; this is not a typical one. I facilitated the club planning process by having forms and check lists to guide the club managing group. Include suggestions for beginning beekeeping as well as experienced beekeeping discussion topics and even included coloring pages for the kids who may make club meetings.

The paperback book is available through Amazon to cut down on duplication and shipping costs. It will also make it easier for me to update the book.

In addition to helpful check lists, the book and the 2-hour lecture “Tips on Running a Bee Club” qualify for Journeyman Level credit in the Great Plains Master Beekeeping program through the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. That means the information shared is state of the art best management practices and qualifies for 2.25 how to be a mentor and 2.26 how to be an effective communicator.

On a personal note, this is my first book in print, a goal I have had for a number of years. There are two more books in the works for this set, all designed to address current beekeeping issues.

I hope this books helps us all continue to share information, experiences and fun in a club meeting setting.

One of our secrets to being welcoming, a cup of coffee! (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

At the October 1`9, 2019 Missouri State Beekeepers Association fall conference where I had the first “Tips on Running a Bee Club” session, one of the questions was how to “get people to come back.”

First, provide good, relevant content. Discuss what beekeepers should be doing now and what may be coming up in the next couple of months.

Secondly, have people who welcome attendees to the meeting. We have greeters who are responsible for signing people up for the email list and for showing them the coffee pot.

Ah, yes, the coffee pot, the symbol of hospitality. We have a “social hour” from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. prior to the meeting, where people can stop by and discuss their particular issues one on one if they don’t want to discuss them in open session. Several people have noted that time period at our local bee club meetings sound like “a party.”

And that may be the biggest secret, making it an enjoyable time for everyone involved!

Charlotte

From My Garden to Yours, Merry Christmas!

Jake Tupper’s charming Christmas post card for 2019. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

From My Garden to Yours, Merry Christmas!

Hard to believe a couple of days before Christmas the temperature was 62F and sunny.

My bees were out in force flying with not much to do. There are no flowers in bloom so they chose to visit me in my garage, checking out what I was doing.

Christmas Eve will be devoted to finishing another flower bed to plant this spring, where I can offer them even more flowers in bloom.

In the meantime, here’s hoping you have a wonderful Christmas!

Charlotte

Beekeeping Magazine Gifts

Two of the current beekeeping magazines available, both excellent sources of updated information. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Beekeeping Magazine Gifts

The beekeeping community is lucky to have two long-standing magazines that keep beekeepers up to date on new developments.

Bee Culture Magazine, out of Ohio, will be under new editorial leadership in 2020. Editor Jerry Hayes is following in Kim Flotum’s footsteps, offering beekeepers a round robin of upcoming event information across the country as well as a variety of feature stories. The A.I. Root company publication also has BEEKeeping, Your First Three Years focused on beginning beekeepers. I haven’t seen BEEKeeping but based on their other publication it would be safe to say it will be a very helpful resource for beginning beekeepers.

The other beekeeping magazine is American Bee Journal, published by Dadant in Illinois. Editor Eugene Makovac focuses on both native and honey bees as well as some pollinator planting information. I wrote several bee plant articles for the publication earlier this year, something I was glad to do to increasing beekeeper’s awareness of how to feed their bees naturally. I suspect Eugene had his eye more on the recipe for making Chicory roots into coffee, something we had discussed previously.

If I had to choose one, which one would it be?

When I was starting to keep bees, I found Bee Culture to have articles that I could more easily follow and understand. When I passed the 5th year, I graduated to better understanding articles in American Bee Journal. I get both publications and tend to catch up on reading over winter so pardon me if I don’t quite correctly identify the source of a particular bit of information. Knowing the new information is what is important.

If you are a member of Missouri State Beekeeping Association $10 a year, you can get a discounted American Bee Journal subscription. Nice way to bundle both into a gift!

The bottom line is as beekeepers we have to stay on top the current research and recommendations. The day of doing what grandpa did are long gone.

Here are links to their subscription pages:

Bee Culture $25/yr

American Bee Journal $28/yr

American Bee Journal discounted subscription with MSBA membership: $23.80 plus $10 membership.

And starting next year, beekeepers will have an excellent third resource, Two Million Blossoms from Dr. Kirsten Traynor. You can get a sneak preview of the kinds of beekeeping-related articles she plans to have with this one in the inaugural edition from University of Minnesota’s Dr. Marla Spivak on the role of propolis in the hive.

This grand new quarterly magazine will launch January 2020. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Two Million Blossoms offers a hard copy subscription for $35/yr and a digital subscription for $20. I am among the contributing writers to this edition with an article on how to use cardboard instead of chemicals to start a new flower garden.

The nice thing about giving magazines is that it’s a gift that keeps on giving.

Charlotte

Storing Bee Equipment

The space beneath a deck that has now become my beekeeping storage space. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Storing Bee Equipment

If you are new to beekeeping the one thing that can easily sneak up on you is storage. Or to be more precise, storage space.

It’s not apparent spring through summer when bees are using most, if not all, of your equipment. By fall, though, it becomes apparent that your garage can either hold your cars or your beekeeping equipment but not both.

I was facing this dilemma when earlier this year an unexpected option opened up under a deck area. With a little creativity, we closed in the area, gave it a dry ceiling and arranged it for extra space.. The area already had my water totes so with a little of reorganizing it now holds my extra beekeeping equipment including suits and hive bodies.

Another storage area winters over extra beekeeping equipment. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

The storage area - not a he shed, or she shed but a bee shed - is close to one of my apiaries. I now have “easy to move doors” and can use a shoulder to nudge the opening wider.

Beekeeping equipment is now readily accessible to my apiary. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

I added a grapevine wreath with some dried flowers last week, a traditional welcome to my outside garden rooms. You can’t see it well but I have a little yellow bee skep on the right side. Skeps, or woven baskets, are a popular symbol to represent beekeeping, it even appears on garden quilts.

Fun to add another grapevine wreath to my bee shed door. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

It’s wonderful to have most of my beekeeping equipment now all in one place. I can now do a better job of ordering whatever I need for next year; make repairs and, if all goes well, even extract honey in this space.

As I was leaving the area, I noticed one of the sure challenges beekeepers have, keeping track of their hive tools. See where I left this one?

Not the best place to store a hive tool. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

The hive tool is now safely back in the bee shed, waiting for the next time I need to use it.

Charlotte

Apologizing to Wind Blown Bee Colony

My wind blown colony settling on winter sugar cakes under the hive lid. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Apologizing to Wind Blown Bee Colony

As a beekeeping coach, I am pretty insistent about not opening up a hive over winter. Honey bees have worked diligently to seal up the hive cracks with propolis, or bee glue. We now also know propolis has antibacterial qualities, so we want to keep as much of the propolis in the hive as possible.

So it was with great trepidation that I saw one of my hives knocked over. We had had 65+ mph winds the night before. Although I had checked and secured all straps around hives the day before, this one hive was apparently in the perfect spot to get hit.

Another hive 10 feet to the left and forward of this poor colony was untouched.

The wind blown colony as I found it after 65 mph winds hit our hillside. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

A mad dash out to the apiary confirmed the bees had made it, they were gathered in the bottom two boxes. Which originally were the top two hive boxes full of stored honey.

I removed the empty bottom two boxes to shorten the hive and gently, slowly, carefully - settled the bees back in.

Once I moved the frames back into boxes, I found several clumps of bees among the dried leaves. I took those to be young, nurse bees that couldn’t orient themselves. An empty box with drawn comb settled over them for a few minutes and they got a comb ride back into the hive.

I rewrapped the hive since the wind had broken their propolis seals. The wrap should help keep them dry from incoming rain and wind.

The hive back together with a couple of empty boxes removed. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

I frankly did the least amount of rearranging frames to minimize stress on the bees. While I was in there, though, I did take the opportunity to do a quick inventory of how much honey they had stored. They were well stocked for winter with two honey-filled supers. I tried to be as quick as I could without rushing the introduction of the frames, I didn’t want to squish the queen. Most settled in; a few left a few stings.

I understood. It was a bad situation all around. The best outcome was to get them back into the hive.

As I watched bees flying back in, I decided to make them supplemental winter sugar cakes. I had added some to a couple of my smaller colonies earlier in case the smaller bee clusters ran out of honey. There are a number of stressors bee face but starvation - and well, falling over in a windstorm - should not be among them.

Once the sugar cakes were ready, I suited up with my beekeeping jacket and headed out to the hive to place the sugar cakes. i leave a feeding shim on top of all my hives so the bees have a back up entrance in case the lower front door is clogged with rain and ice. It was 62F and sunny so bees were out flying. To no surprise, NONE were too happy to see me and let me know. I made quick work of adding the sugar cakes to the top feeding shim and left.

A week later, when temperatures were warm again, I approached the hive. Not a bee in sight. Usually when temperatures are over 50F, bees will out in the garden flying.

When I carefully lifted the hive lid, a few bees peered calmly out at me. Ok, so they made it. And were calm. Good signs, they had settled back in. Whew.

Bees under the lid taking a peek at the hive visitor - me! (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Bees under the top inner cover on their supplemental sugar cakes. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

I spent only a few seconds under the inner cover, long enough to take these photos. Bees were working the supplemental sugar cakes, which is what they should have been doing. I closed up the hive with nary a sting.

Yes, it was a good idea to give them the supplemental sugar cakes as insurance against starving. I monitor my bees throughout winter to make sure they have food.

Part of me was also a bit relieved. Apology accepted!

Charlotte

Native Bees Houses

Native bee houses wintering over in my storage shed. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Native Bees Houses

One of my favorite Christmas gifts is to give the gift of native bees. Native bees are not only excellent pollinators but if you don’t use chemicals where you live, chances are you can easily attract native bees by putting up native bee houses.

To give native bees give the gift of a native bee house. Native bee houses are available at most home and garden centers. Some are as simple as a group of hollow bamboo sticks in a container to the more fancy bee houses with a variety of nesting spots. Either way, native bee homes will attract native pollinators and help improve the health of your garden.

This is my first native bee house which has been remodeled a number of times since I first got it. If you look closely, you can see where the native bees hatched out of the bamboo pieces while others are currently sealed with occupants. I have made a number of covers to keep the bamboo sticks dry. Most recently, I wrapped the bee house with wire.

My first native bee house still has tenants even after all these years. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Once I get the bee houses, I make a chicken wire mesh that goes over the front to protect the native bees from birds and other predators.

This is my most recent native bee house with a variety of accommodations for pollinators. See the clear sealed holes? That’s a sure sign of Cellophane Bees, also called Plasterer Bees and Polyester Bees. They are about the same size as a honey bee.

There are a number of other sealed holes, a sure sign of residents. The ones with mud are mason bees.

A variety of native bees are nesting in this bee house. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins0

I have 8 native bee houses in my Missouri limestone hillside garden that I bring into my storage shed in the fall to protect the bees through winter.

This was my last bee house to store. You can’t see it well in the photo, the top entrance has a paper wasp nest, one of the better fruit tree pollinators. Some of the bamboo tubes with smaller holes show they were used last season while sealed ones have native bees that hopefully will hatch this coming spring.

A well-used native bee house with native bee residents. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

These will get placed outside in early spring when temperatures are more than 55F.

If you are handy with a drill, you can also make your own bee houses; this one is for mason bees. You want the depth to be at least 6 inches long with 5/16” diameter holes in a non-treated wood block. This was made from three 2x4 untreated blocks.

This was a Christmas gift from one of my professional colleagues. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Regardless of what kind of native bee house you give, download this guide to Missouri native bees and include it with your gift so the recipient can identify what tenants they have: https://www.stlzoo.org/files/9413/3303/3161/MO_Bee_Guide_w_boarder.pdf

You can also add a little glass bee ornament so that you don’t have to wait until spring to have a bee.

I love putting out my bee houses and periodically checking the residency through the growing season. They are wonderful gifts that will truly keep on giving!

Charlotte

Wind Blown Colony

Wind gusts of 60 mph one night knocked over one of my tied down bee hives. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Wind Blown Colony

By this time of year, some beekeepers are missing time with their bees, myself included. In mid-Missouri USA, honey bees are tucked into their honey-filled hives, wrapped with insulation to help keep them warm from winter winds. They are not supposed to require any work now but I daily check them to make sure they are snug and undisturbed. If temperatures are 50F or warmer, I will find them out and about looking for something to do. I know inside the hive they are consuming higher amounts of honey to be able to fly.

This year I left extra honey on the top of the hives. The forecast is for higher than average precipitation this winter so having extra honey stores should keep them fed through winter storms without my having to supplement feed them.

This particular day, the forecast was for strong winds so I headed out to my apiary to double-check straps holding the hives down, anchored by cement blocks. I also ensured the hive entrance was closed to the smallest size and double-checked that hive lids were on securely. It does cross my mind that I wish I could move them to a safe spot like my garage, or living room. It’s not that far fetched, some beekeepers in colder states use potato storage silos to keep their bees.

By late evening, the wind was howling and a tornado watch had been issued for where I live. I didn’t sleep well, neither did my cats. Several times the wind was blowing so hard it sounded like a train, the usual description given for a tornado. I headed down to the basement, just in case. So did the cats. I had their favorite blanket.

By morning it was time to check the damage. Downed limbs, missing deck chairs, several garden arbors were bent over and two very cranky cats were settling in for naps.

First signs of storm damage, my bent garden arbors. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

And one of my bee hives had toppled over, the hive boxes upside down on the hillside.

Good thing I had changed into work clothes because a bee suit over pajamas is not a good look. I was the bee suit and at the hive in nothing flat. It was below 40F so the bees were not able to fly even if they made it.

I removed the first box. It was the larger bottom box, empty. Not unexpected this time of year, the bees move up the hive as winter progresses.

The second box was also empty.

As I carefully moved the third box, there was sign of life.

First signs of life, bees in the third box from the bottom. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

These boxes are all upside down so now I needed to careful turn the box right side up and move the movable frames without squishing bees. I took the remaining medium super and carefully moved frames, and bees, into it.

Two more boxes, the ones on top, where not only full of honey but bees as well. I did the same thing, carefully moving the frames into one of the empty boxes and giving the bees a ride back into their home.

A few bees were on the ground. After checking that the queen bee wasn’t there, I moved some empty frames over them so they could easily climb on and get back into the hive.

It didn’t take long. With a little re-arranging, the bees were back in the hive, the hive was strapped back down and wrapped for winter against further winds.

Rebuilt and insulated hive containing the surviving colony. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

I removed the two bottom empty boxes to make the hive more stable in wind.

We tell beginning beekeepers to stay out of their hives through winter. Bees seal up their hives with propolis, a glue-like substance made from tree sap. They don’t have time to re-seal hives mid winter so the insulation will be good to have since the wind knocked the hive boxes over breaking the propolis seals.

I worked fast getting them back into their hives but have to confess, it was nice to be working with them again.

As I headed back inside for a warm cup of tea, it crossed my mind that if I’m missing them already, this could be a very long winter for me without my bees.

Charlotte

Bucket Stool

Now I have a safe place to haul my smoker, this metal recycled pail. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Bucket Stool

I’m back from Missouri State Beekeepers Association fall conference in Moberly, a great opportunity to meet beekeepers from around the state, update my beekeeping knowledge and go shopping. Every beekeeping conference features a number of vendors who bring the latest beekeeping, and sometimes cooking, tools although I have yet to see something as cute as our Honeybees Dish Towel sets.

The reason I bring up cooking is that one of our beekeeping students was also shopping and a vendor mistook her for a spouse, trying to sell her a bundt pan instead of the multipurpose hive tool that had caught her eye. Yes, beekeeping may still be primarily a male hobby but there are a few of us ladies who enjoy it, too.

This year I was enticed to bring something not quite brand new home. It is a metal bucket the same size as my plastic 5 gallon paint buckets with a handy lid that turns into a stool. The metal bucket makes it safer for me to carry a hot smoker around the apiary without fear that it’s going to roll down my limestone hillside and the bucket stool doubles as a lid.

The metal bucket was repurposed, which to me was even better. Crooked Hills Beekeeping also added a tool skirt with pockets for beekeeping tools.

After a little remedial training, I learned how to edge the bucket stool upside down on top of the bucket to use it as a lid.

The bucket stool turns my bucket into a garden seat. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Beekeepers are engineers at heart, quite resourceful when it comes to making equipment they need. This is a perfect example of that ingenuity and one I plan to enjoy for many years to come!

Charlotte

Out With the Guys

Poor little drones were killed and kicked out of the hive. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Out With The Guys

I don’t mind telling you, this part of beekeeping is hard for me to watch. When a honey bee colony is short of food, and when fall rolls around, the worker bees kick the male bees out.

Male bees, also called drones, carry 50% of a colony’s genetics. They are also the bees with the largest eyes and, although large, they don’t sting. They also don’t do much in the hive as they wait to mate with a queen bee from another colony. That means they are eating resources and taking up space.

When the colony starts getting ready for winter, the worker bees, all female, kick the drones out. Sometimes it’s swift and I will find their stung dead bodies in the front of the hive. Other times I will spot the drones trying to sneak back into the hive, only to be chased out by the guard bees keeping an eye on the hive entrance.

Yes, it has crossed my mind to try to keep them in a separate box and feed them myself but that’s not how the honey bee colony works.

Come spring, the colony raises new drones so the queen bees will have new suitors. It’s an efficient way to run a colony through the winter months, when no plants are blooming to provide the colony with nectar, which is flight fuel, and pollen. Pollen is basically baby bee food.

Come to think of it, I don’t recall seeing drones featured in our Honeybees Dish Towels and Pot Holder Vintage Kitchen towels, either.

Poor guys, they don’t get any respect!

Charlotte

Paper Combining Hives

Combining honey bee hives with a newspaper. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Paper Combining Hives

Sometimes I think explaining how to do this takes more time than actually doing it.

There are times when beekeepers need to combine two honey bee hives. It could be because one has lost a queen or the beekeeper wants more honey bees working together. Regardless of the reason, the process to combine two honey bee hives is relatively simple.

The night before, close up the hive that is to be moved so all of the bees are home. If you don’t, forager bees out looking for nectar and pollen will come home at the end of the day to an empty place where their home once existed.

When deciding which hive to move, choose the weaker one.

The next day, spread one newspaper on top of the strong honey bee hive and make several 1-2 inch slits in the newspaper to help the pheromones mingle. Add the second hive and give the added hive a top exit either through a feeding shim or by putting a small stick under the inner cover. That will give the bees in the top hive access to the outside.

After a couple of days, check how the co-mingling is going. You should see bees removing some of the newspaper.

After 3 days, the two colonies are combined and have removed some of the paper. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

If you want to have a little fun, sit close by the hive and wait to catch worker bees dragging out tiny pieces of torn newspaper.

Remove the remaining newspaper and the top hive entrance. Now all worker bees should be going in and out of the hive through the bottom entrance.

Worker honey bees actively work to remove the newspaper. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Once you are doing a hive inspection, you may find tiny newspaper pieces at the bottom.

Over the years, I have watched honey bees literally dragging newspaper scraps out of the front of the hive, worker bees are nothing but meticulous when it comes to housekeeping. Yet another reason to love and appreciate bees, it’s what inspired this Bee Lover’s Gift Set.

These worker bees are close to newspaper they were moving out of the hive. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

I usually wait to do an inspection for a couple of weeks to give the two bee groups time to get to know each other.

Have you tried to combine hives?

Charlotte

Wonky Comb

This plastic frame is missing something so bees are making do. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Wonky Comb

It’s probably not a term one would find in any beekeeping book but “wonky” is a good description as any of what can happen to new Langstroh frames.

Honey bees have to first add wax comb to the frames before they have space to work to lay eggs, store pollen and honey. To do that, they build wax on frames copying the design imprinted on the frames.

To help get them started, the frames are usually covered with a layer of wax. When the wax is unevenly applied, the honey bees develop what I call “wonky comb.”

Better view of how the honey bees are drawing comb. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Wonky comb comes in a variety of interesting patterns. This frame on top has wax comb bees drew off three wax pillars they build on the original foundation.

The following frame is another example of how uneven wax coating will encourage bees to build uneven comb.

Another example of bees drawing comb away from frame. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Honey bees will also build this kind of wax comb when too much space is left between frames.

Now if this is comb they will use, I don’t remove it. If, however, these are frames I plan to extract the honey from later for my honey samplers, I do replace them and then add another layer of wax before re-using.

Frankly I find their construction amazing, don’t you?

Charlotte

Check for Hitchhiking Bees

The back of my bee buddy after checking a hive. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Check for Bees

You’ve just finished checking your hives and you’re close to the garage or storage shed where you keep your beekeeping equipment. Since you are away from the hives, you assume the bees have stayed behind so you think about taking off your bee suit.

Well, think again.

If you have been to one of our apiary visits as part of Rolla Bee Club, you know that we insist beekeepers check each other before taking off a bee suit.

This is my bee buddy David helping me work one of my honey bee colonies. It was a calm and peaceful experience until I looked up and saw the honey bees gathering on David’s bee suit. Here he turned around at my request so I could get the photograph.

So as you head away from your apiary, do a check of your bee suit before you take it off. The check will reduce the opportunities for you to be stung and ensure you are not squishing bees as you take off your suit.

Charlotte

Pallet Garden Bench

This garden bench was made out of one wooden pallet. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Pallet Garden Bench

Do you pour over posts of the creative things you can do with pallets? I have, enough so that I actually hauled a number of wooden pallets home with the idea of making a compost bin.

Well, until I saw this pallet garden bench.

No, it’s not mine, it was in the garden of one of our beekeeping students. She took my advice and set it up within 20 feet of her honeybee hive so she could watch the bees flying in and out of the hive.

Initially I plopped myself down on it to watch her bees. As I was standing up, I realized what it was made out of, a simple wooden pallet cut to have a taller backing than seat.

As beekeepers, it’s helpful to have woodworking skills so I thought of all of the beekeepers I know who may want to make one.

The original owner said if she were to do it again, she would place the legs on the inside instead of the outside to better brace the seat.

Besides reusing pallets, the garden seat was relatively lightweight to move, something I take into account when I place a bench in my garden. I have a tendency of moving things around depending on the season and what may be blooming, or flying.

One of the things we encourage beginning beekeepers to do is to set up a seating area within easy view of their bee hives so they can sit and observe the bees. The more time they spend watching bees the more they will learn, and better understand, what bees are doing.

I suspect with basic woodworking skills most beekeepers can make one of these benches. Maybe even if they don’t.

Stay tuned.

Charlotte