June Beekeeping Chores

June is when beekeepers try to keep up with their bees nectar and pollen collecting. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

June Beekeeping Chores

If you’ve tried to see a beekeeping friend this month, or even talk to them, don’t take it personally if they don’t respond. June is a very busy month for beekeepers keeping up with the quick growth of their colonies.

It’s quick growth if the colonies are healthy, have a good queen bee and the bees have access to plants to collect nectar and pollen. Nectar to bees is flight fuel; they collect it this time of year and dehydrate it to have food over winter. Pollen is baby food, it’s what nurse bees mix with royal jelly to feed larvae.

If a colony is not healthy, beekeepers are managing the colony to get it there before the food source stops.

Here are some of the June beekeeping chores for mid-Missouri:

1. Are your colonies queen right? If not, add open brood from another colony so bees can raise their own queen.

2. Do your existing queen bees have room in the brood box to lay? Remove nectar-full and pollen-full frames to give the queen room to lay. Move those frames to an upper box.

3. Monitor how much nectar they are bringing in. The nectar flow ends when temperatures are over 86F.

4. This time of year, check colonies every 7-10 days. Look at the bottom of frames for swarm cells.

5. If you haven’t monitored for Varroa mite levels, do it now as you inspect colonies so you have a benchmark for how colonies are doing.

6. Make sure your bees have access to water near their hives. I have bird baths close to their hives as well as a deck rug they seem to like as well. Keeping water sources close by will reduce their interest in visiting your neighbor’s swimming pool.

7. Note what plants are blooming within 2 miles of your colonies.Plan on planting trees and shrubs that will provide them with more nectar and pollen. It takes 2 million flowers to make one pound of honey.

Charlotte

Rolla Book Store Carries My Book

Nice book placement at the end of the aisle, easily visible as customers come in. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins

Rolla Book Store Carries My Book

Being a self-published author means one has to also market and sell the books, which means making them available to our local book stores.

Most book stores take time to review the product first, then decide whether it will be consigned to their inventory. Luckily “A Beekeeper’s Diary Self-Guide to Beekeeping” made the cut and the book is now for sale at our local book store Rolla Books and Toys.

It was a fun moment to watch the book store manager find a place for the beekeeping book among the other new books. The book case is deep and angled so the books safely stand and the readers can better see book covers.

And yes, my beekeeping books are considered “large print.” Most beginning beekeepers are over 40 years old and the larger print makes it easier to read.

About this same time, I found the answer to another challenge, how to safely ship the books. After a quick survey of padded materials, I settled on a wonderful padded envelope to ship the books.

Padded envelopes get my books safely to their final destination. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

The padding ensures the book is not torn in shipping and the padded envelope color brings attention to the book.

Charlotte

Beekeeping Today Podcasts

We taped the June 14, 2021 podcast on May 20, 2021. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Beekeeping Today Podcasts

The podcasts “Beekeeping Today” happen to be a personal favorite so imagine my delight to be invited to be a guest. Mark your calendars for Monday, June 14, 2021 and make sure to check it out for their other guests including Dr. Samuel Ramsey, who discovered how Varroa mites impact bees.

Kim Flotum and Jeff Ott host a conversation that reaches more than 5,000 listeners and is considered one of the top 10 beekeeping podcasts available today.

Kim was the first to reach out to me after seeing a copy of “A Beekeeper’s Diary Self-Guide to Beekeeping.” Jeff Ott followed up with the details of how the podcast is taped for later broadcast. Even though this is only an audio production, the three of us could see each other via Zoom, which helped make the discussion much more conversational.

It was interesting to hear what parts of the book Kim and Jeff enjoyed and why. We all agreed “A Beekeeper’s Diary Self-Guide to Beekeeping” is uniquely different from beginning beekeeping books.

Both Kim and Jeff are beekeepers themselves with impressive professional backgrounds. If you’ve read “Bee Culture Magazine” you may know Kim as their editor in chief. Kim also hosts a podcast with Jim Tew that is very interesting, the Kim and Jim Show covers an eclectic list of topics including major changes in beekeeping.

As a beekeeper one of the challenges is to stay on top of current information and developments, and both of these podcasts makes that easier.

And if you enjoy podcasts. Dr. Kirsten Traynor just launched her podcasts on pollinators.

Charlotte

Swarm Season

One of three swarms picked up on the same day. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Swarm Season

Mother’s Day weekend in Missouri usually kicks off the honeybee swarming season. Swarming is the honeybees way to reproduce and is not something to be feared. In most cases, a swarm is at its most docile, worker bees full of honey as scout bees go looking for a new home.

To beekeepers, the swarming season is either something to look forward to or something they try to avoid. Some experienced beekeepers prefer to make their own “swarms” by splitting colonies, which ensures the new colonies have room to grow and are not prompted to split.

Other beekeepers like the excitement of a swarm call and “catch.” Although I split some of my colonies earlier I also enjoy the periodic swarm call, it’s a great opportunity to talk to non-beekeepers about what the bees are doing. And we usually manage to snag a potential new beekeeper or two.

This particular day I had three swarm calls. I passed one on and took two of them, one literally at dusk and this one late in the afternoon. Swarms tend to be on the move as they look for a new home so the call has to be answered quickly if you want to find the bees in the first spot.

The bees in the first call were 5 feet off the ground hanging from a tree branch so it was easy to move them into a hive box.

I had the hive box half full of sugar syrup-coated wax frames in case they were hungry. To entice them to stay. I left the branch in the open space until they settled back in my apiary. One can tell if they are settling in by the sound they are making inside the hive box.

Sneak peek at the inside of the hive box where the bees are settling in. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

These are the bees later that same evening, apparently accepting their new home.

The next morning I found the bees doing orientation flights in front of their temporary home so that’s a good sign they like their new accommodations.

I also removed the tree branch and added two more sugar syrup-infused wax frames in the empty space. To make sure they were making the transition, I draped the branch over the top hive entrance.

Once the queen starts laying the swarm will move into the yellow bee hive. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Swarms have a 5-day lifespan to find a new home. In the process, they’ve left their original home full of honey and are ready to build new wax. The tree branch I cut down was covered in pristine white wax, made while the worker bees waited for scout bees to come back with possible new home locations.

Loaded up with honey, swarm worker bees like to build wax. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Swarms have their own management challenges. The queen bee is usually the old queen so it may need a new queen before the season is over. Varroa mites and small hive beetles also travel with the colony so they are not pest free. And no one knows the genetic background of the bees.

In addition, more than half of all swarms don’t make it through their first winter in a hive so they need extra attention to make sure they are strong going into winter with adequate stored honey.

The basics of catching a swarm are in A Beekeeper’s Diary, Self-Guide to Beekeeping.

Although splitting colonies is easier, there’s still a thrill about going out on a swarm call. I hope I never tire of doing it!

Charlotte

May Beekeeping Chores

Bumblebee on Ajuga, or Bugleweed, in my Missouri garden. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

May Beekeeping Chores

Busy, busy, busy, that’s May for beekeepers where I live. Besides the beginning of swarm season May marks the beginning of the nectar flow, when bees are storing the flower essence and dehydrating it for winter food. What we all call honey.

May is the time to monitor brood boxes to make sure the queen bee has laying space. Add empty frames in the broom box if it’s full and add supers when bees are working the outermost frames.

Check the frame bottoms for swarm queen cells.

If you ordered bees, install package and pick up bees. Remember to ask if they have been treated for Varro and what was used. Add it to your beekeeping diary and record-keeping.

Monitor small hive beetles and Varro mite levels with sugar shakes or alcohol washes.

Last hard frost day is May 10 so you can start planting annuals. Also keep track of what plants you see bees visiting and add more.

Charlotte

Rain Gauge

A rain gauge is helpful to have in an apiary to know how much moisture plants are getting. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Rain Gauge

Maybe it’s not the typical beekeeping tool but a rain gauge is important for an apiary.

Bees depend on plants for food - protein for baby food and nectar for flight fuel. Knowing how much moisture plants are getting helps to determine how long the nectar flow will continue. With May being the traditional beginning of the nectar flow in mid-Missouri, a rain gauge will help beekeepers keep track of plant growing conditions.

Plants vary in their growing needs. They also have a good 20 or so variables that impact them, from temperature to rainfall.

The nectar flow, when plants are attracting pollinators so the pollinators move pollen to help plants reproduce, tends to occur when temperatures are between 74F and 86F. Rain helps the plants prolong the nectar flow; drought encourages the plants to shut down reproduction and concentrate on survival.

To make a rain gauge helpful, pick one out with large letters so you can easily read the letters from inside the house. If your apiary is set apart and a distance from your home, the large letters will also make it easier to read as you drive by.

Charlotte

Queen Introduction Window

The introduction window, also called the “get acquainted window,” on the bottom of a JZ BZ queen cage. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Queen Introduction Window

JZs BZs, sometimes just called by the letters J Z - B Z, queen cages were designed to help introduce queens into new colonies. The JZ BZ cage was invented by Jim Paysen, owner of the JZs BZs Honey Company.

The queen cage has several features I never heard about before so I decided to research all of the cages features. This is about the about the “introduction window” on the bottom, also called the “get acquainted” window.

One of the challenges beekeepers have is successfully introducing new queens to an existing colony. This queen cage has several helpful features including the bottom opening where one can create the “introduction window.”

Here’s how to use the “window” as you introduce a new queen:

• 􏰀  For slow introductions, leave the plastic cap over the candy tube until you are ready to allow the bees to start eating out the candy. I know, most of these don’t have those caps.

• 􏰀  If there is no plastic cap for the candy tube, cover the candy tube opening with a small piece of duct tape. Double this to two layers of duct tape to be sure worker bees don’t eat through the candy quickly.

• 􏰀  When you are ready to start the introduction, remove the plastic cap or the duct tape from the candy tube opening and let the bees eat out the candy.

• 􏰀  At this time, open the Introduction Window by removing the breakout bar before inserting the new queen in the hive --- providing you want to use it and you are ready to allow workers to enter.

• When the break out bar is removed from the bottom of the JZ BZ queen cage the window still acts as a queen excluder, keeping the queen inside, but letting the worker bees, a few at a time, come and go from the cage. That helps to transfer the queen pheromone throughout the hive before the queen is released.

• 􏰀  Check back in about 3 days to make sure the queen is released. If not released, you can probably release her safely providing the bees aren’t attacking the cage and trying to ball her. A lot depends on the conditions and the nectar flow.

• 􏰀  Keep a few cages in your bee suit pocket whenever you go to check bees, You will be ready when you suddenly find emerging virgin queens in your hive or you need to move a queen safely.

I keep a supply handy to also collect queen cells and carefully moving them to an incubator.

Charlotte

Superorganisms Are Family

A sweet Christmas gift from a friend got me thinking about families. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Superorganisms Are Family

One of the concepts beginning beekeepers struggle with is the idea of a bee colony as a superorganism. According to Wikipedia, a superorganism is “a group of synergistically interacting organisms of the same species.” an important concept for a new beekeeper to understand as they learn how bees interact and work together.

Scientists will argue that only a few species meet this inter-dependent and supportive criteria. Ants, for example, work together for the benefit of the colony. So do honey bees. And in a sense, so do we as healthy functioning countries, communities and families.

I can think of a number of times my parents made decisions that were in the best interests of the family and not necessarily them as individuals. Bees also make similar decisions. Sick bees will leave the hive to die away from the colony. Guard bees will sting, and loose their lives in the process, to protect the colony.

Bees, like families, also work together for the benefit of the whole colony. They store flower nectar, then dehydrate it, to store food for winter consumption. They will groom each other, share water and pollen, and communicate the location of food sources.

As we continue to navigate the unknown challenges of a pandemic, getting vaccinated is a step we can all take to benefit the rest of our neighbors. As we get vaccinated, we are creating a superorganism to combat COVID and its associated, and newly-mutating viruses.

i suppose calling a family a superorganism may sound silly but that’s what it is, a group of people living together and making decisions for the benefit of everyone. We can use a little of that today.

Charlotte

April Beekeeping Chores

Sunny warm days bring out the bees to collect pollen and nectar. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

April Beekeeping Chores

Depending on weather, April can be an anxious time for beekeepers in USDA Hardiness Zone 5 where I live, especially how soon they can get inside their hives to see how their bees are doing. This year, spring arrived relatively on schedule so there were periods of warm days to check colonies for size as well as provide room in the bee nursery.

Not only was I surprised at how well they were doing but one colony wanted more room so they decided to build wax comb under the inner cover.

If you are interested in keeping bees, this is a good time to start, you may be able to find beekeepers who could use a hand and that’s the best way to learn. Start by reading a book such as A Beekeeper’s Diary Self-Guide to Beekeeping to get the terms down and understand the biology basics.

Some of the other typical April beekeeping chores include:

1. Inspect colonies. Add small hive beetle traps with lure.

2. Pull together swarm-catching equipment.

3. Prepare nucleus colonies before getting new queens. Use these smaller hives to house your old queen in case the new queen is not accepted.

4. Have new boxes with frames ready to add to existing colonies.

5. Monitor weather for best conditions to split. If you want honey, split after the honey flow.

6. Blooming blackberry plants mark the beginning of the spring nectar flow. Do you have enough woodenware and frames on hand to add space?

   Charlotte

March Beekeeping Chores

March Beekeeping Chores

One of the biggest jobs beekeepers do in March is - well, get excited. Where I live in USDA Hardiness zone 5b, the weather is starting to warm up, which means bees are getting busy. Not busy enough, though, to qualify for full hive inspections so as a beekeeper we have to wait for the right conditions before checking how our colonies pulled through winter.

Some of the other things beekeepers can do in March:

1. Air out wax frames stored in plastic containers with Paramoth crystals before they are placed in a hive.

2. Add sticks and rocks to “bee bar” birdbaths to make sure bees have easy access to water within a quarter mile of their home hives.

3. Monitor colonies for supplemental food needs; feed as necessary.

4. Order extra queens if planning to split colonies.

5. If you want to catch swarms, register on swarm-catching lists.

6. And put on your roller skates because next month should be even busier!

Charlotte

Educational Signs

Some of the signs on my Missouri property. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Educational Signs

So you’re getting ready to keep honey bees on your property? Congratulations and welcome to the club, this has been the best of all of my life experiences so far!

As you check your list of equipment, you may want to consider adding a sign. I found these fun “honey bees at work” signs on Amazon and have them posted where our local delivery trucks stop and where my neighbors walk. The signs may be among the reasons why I’m now called the “bee lady” in the neighborhood.

Why signs?

If you live inside city limits, check your local ordinances on any provisions that impact beekeepers. If you have close neighbors, make sure your hive locations minimize bee impacts. By that I mean have a water source close to your hives to keep your bees out of your neighbor’s pool; place the hives where the bees will fly above the head of pedestrians and away from high traffic areas.

And provided your neighbors are interested in your new adventure, put up a sign to remind them.

Not everyone thinks putting up a sign is a good idea. Some beginning beekeepers have told me the sign just brought attention to their new hobby and made people afraid of bees even more afraid so carefully deliberate before you do this.

The bottom line is that now that you are learning to keep bees, you will become an ambassador for these marvelous pollinators and the more chances you get to educate others about what you are doing, the better.

Charlotte

Dead Bees on Frame

Beekeepers learn from live, as well as dead, bees. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Dead Bees On Frame

It’s the time of year many beekeepers both dread, and hope, will turn out well. It’s almost spring. Beekeepers at this stage start discovering whether their bees made it through winter.

The national statistics are that on average, 40% of honey bee colonies don’t make it through winter. Usually the average is lower for hobby beekeepers compared to commercial operations. Regardless, the death of one colony is upsetting to me, even if it’s something I can’t prevent.

In the case of this frame, the bees made a choice. Between getting food and keeping the baby bees or brood warm, they decided to keep the babies warm. And as the end of winter rolls around, there were less and less and less bees available to keep the colony warm. With less bees, the cluster of bees couldn’t reach both the brood of baby bees and reaching nearby honey. Honey needs to be warmed up first for the bees to access it.

Even though it is disturbing to find a dead colony, it’s a good time for beekeepers to learn more about their colonies and what it takes for them to survive winter.

Charlotte

Bee Hive Registration

Some of the hive locations on BeeWatch’s website. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Bee Hive Registration

One of the challenges as a beekeeper is how to keep bees safe from pesticides. In Missouri, there are 8,000 commercial pesticide applicators and 18,000 private pesticide applicators juggling when to apply products that can kill honey bees.

There is a current tool available that tries to bridge beekeepers and pesticide applicators. BeeCheck, formerly called Field Watch, provides an online application where beekeepers can register their hive locations. The idea is that then pesticide applicators can check the map to determine where hives are located and contact, and otherwise work, around impacting bees.

Beekeepers have the option to restrict who sees their hive locations. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Some Missouri beekeepers have had second thoughts about registering their hives. With the value of bees on the increase as well as hive thefts, some have been reluctant to share their hive locations.

To accommodate that concern, BeeCheck now has two mapping options; one for the public and the second one that is only for pesticide applicators. Restricting the information to just pesticide applicators may increase the map use.

Charlotte

February Beekeeping Chores

Time to get my beekeeping equipment inventoried and order what I will need for this year. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

February Beekeeping Chores

One of my recent orders was for one of our buzzing bee toys, an item so anticipated that the Dad called me today to ask when would it ship. He said “my son can hardly wait to get it!”

I know the feeling. Even as a beekeeper for 11 years, I also anxiously await for the arrival of my new beekeeping equipment. First, though, I have to figure out what I need. This is actually a chore I try to get done in January but since I’m behind, I’m keeping it on my February list.

1. Check my colonies for where the clusters are located. Add sugar cakes for supplemental food.

2. Inventory all existing beekeeping equipment. Separate items that need repairs. Make a list of items I expect I will need.

3. Place my beekeeping equipment order.

4. Repair those items that need repairs.

5. Organize my equipment so I have all similar items together.

6. Replace used foundation with new foundation.

7. Order queens bees. I want to add Varroa Sensitive Saskatraz queen bees to my apiary gene pool so I have those on order. They should be shipping in April, when, weather permitting, I plan to make splits.

8. Paint my woodenware. I didn’t get around to painting my nucs last year so this should be their lucky year.

9. Scope out garden locations for temporary housing of nucs and hives from swarms. Last year I ran out of space and was scrambling.

10. Catch up on reading; I’m behind there, too.

    Charlotte

January Beekeeping Chores

January is as exciting as a new pair of beekeeping gloves. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

January Beekeeping Chores

Snow is falling. The garden is covered in a blanket of white. My bees are tucked into their hives, clustering to keep warm and eating their stored honey. Good time to review last year and make new plans for this one.

Although the bees are not around, I have a lot to do this month to get ready for a new beekeeping season.

1. Review my notes from last year. What worked, what didn’t, what do I need to learn more about this winter.

2. Research, take online classes, read - this is the time to learn more about what didn’t go well last year,

3. Catch up on current beekeeping research.

4. When temperatures are between 30-40 F, good time to give my brood less colonies oxalic acid vapor treatment. Temperatures this winter have been record warm so there have been few days when the temperatures were at t optimum vapor application.

5. Check food stores in the hives. I placed supplemental sugar cakes on top of all of my colonies a week ago prior to the latest snow storm. I will check them in another week by peeking under the lid, I want to make sure they are not running out of food.

6. This is also the month I should do an inventory of my existing beekeeping equipment and order what I am missing. Once the growing season has started, there usually is very little time to place an order and get what I need before I need it. I prefer to be prepared.

7. Once I have the equipment inventory done, it will be time to get it all organized so I can easily find it.

8. I have some hives I need to paint sitting in my garage from last year. Those need to get finished this winter.

9. While I have the paint out, I also need to paint my nucs, I didn’t get to those last year, either. Bees didn’t care but I do.

10. I plan to split some colonies this spring and will be trying to add Saskatraz queens to my apiary for genetic diversity. I’m a step ahead there, already have my pre-order in!

Charlotte

Sharing Honey Bounty

This Little Red Riding Hood-look alike basket has honey for my neighbors. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Sharing Honey Bounty

When I first started beekeeping in 2010, I had no interest in the honey, I wanted the bees to pollinate my one acre hillside full of dwarf fruit trees.

Since then, I have developed an appreciation not only for the honey but for how much others appreciate it. I now consider a honey devoid year a bad one because then I don’t have honey to give as gifts. Some of the favorite gifts I have given over the years have included honey.

Honey is an amazing product in many ways. Besides a sweetener twice as sweet as cane sugar, honey can be used to treat scrapes and cuts. A friend who has horses said her vet told her to find a local honey source to treat a laceration on one of her horse’s legs. You bet I replaced the gift honey she used, there’s nothing quite comforting in the middle of a cold gray winter day that a hot cup of tea with honey.

Besides family, I share my apiary bounty with my neighbors. They all live uphill from my apiary and periodically they will report seeing my bees on their flowers. One even rescued a bedraggled delivery driver who had the poor sense of driving down my one lane driveway when I was working on a nearby colony. He wasn’t stung but he was rattled enough that he asked me to drive his truck back out of the driveway.

Some people don’t know much about honey so I have business cards with my contact information one one side and honey facts on the other one. Several years ago I made up a business card with a honey recipe. It’s helpful to give people who don’t know what to do with honey some ideas.

These honey jars are packaged and labelled as I do my honey jars for sale. I also add how many flowers it took to make that particular jar of honey. It takes 2 million blossoms to make one pound of honey. I don’t know about you but that gives me pause every time I think about that number.

The ice and snow have melted enough so I can now safely deliver these honey jars to my neighbors. Enjoy!

Charlotte

Bee Magazines

Three excellent beekeeping magazines for beekeepers on your gift list. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Bee Magazines

The longer I keep bees the more I know what I don’t know; beekeeping is a continuous, life-learning experience. To help beekeepers with the changes and recent beekeeping developments, we are lucky to have three excellent magazines focused on these tiny, fascinating creatures.

i know the editors of all three magazines, all excellent beekeepers themselves with a passion for what they do and the information they share. The following is a short description of each and what the reader can expect to get.

All four are available in both print and digital formats.

American Bee Journal offers a range of interesting, and current, beekeeping information. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

American Bee Journal

American Bee Journal (ABJ) magazine is the “oldest English language publication on bees” helping beekeepers for more than 100 years. The magazine includes .monthly crop and market information, scientific and experimental reports, industry news, and display and classified ads.

Annual subscription: $29. You can get a discount for multiple year subscriptions and a 15% discount by being a paid member of Missouri State Beekeepers Association.

You can also request a free sample.

Bee Culture Magazine also offers informational, how to articles. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Bee Culture

Kim Flotum and Jerry Hayes make sure this monthly publication also has a nice range of articles from beekeeping book reviews to a kid’s page, honey plants and urban beekeeping information. They include a segment that highlights the amateur engineers that beekeepers are, this segment features tips and tricks beekeepers themselves have developed.

Annual subscription: $25 with discounts for multiple year subscriptions.

Free annual calendar with every subscription.

BEEKeeping

Bee Culture also has a quarterly magazine devoted exclusively to beginning beekeepers and their first three years of beekeeping. Since there is such a learning curve getting started, this magazine would be an excellent gift for those who are thinking of getting into beekeeping.

I haven’t personally seen this publication but knowing it comes from Bee Culture I know it will be a quality product.

Annual subscription: $20

One of the fascinating articles in 2 Million Blossoms magazine. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

2 Million Blossoms

Managing Editor Kirsten Traynor is heading into her second year with this elegant quarterly publication about pollinators and what we can all do to protect them. As the former editor of a couple other magazines, Kirsten is developing a network of reporters and photographers around the world who help her highlight the amazing world of creatures that provide us with one out of every three bites of healthy food we eat.

A note for my Canadian friends, there is a separate Canadian edition.

This would be an excellent gift for not only beekeepers but also gardeners on your gift list.

Annual subscription: $35

How to Make This Into a Gift Set

Giving a magazine is not easy unless you can find a previous edition to attach to a subscription card. So how do you make this more immediately special?

Flower seeds are currently still available at home and garden centers so pick up a few to add to the subscription card. Regardless of what magazine you subscribe to, flowers feed bees. You may also be able to find local honey to buy, which is basically the essence of flowers. It takes 2 million blossoms to make one pound of honey.

If you want something more immediate, look for a good pair of beekeeping gloves. Or a smoker. Many home and garden centers are now carrying basic beekeeping equipment. You may also be able to get these ordered online and delivered in time.

I get all three magazines and look forward to catching up on my reading over winter months when my bees, and garden, don’t keep me so busy.

Charlotte

Beekeeping Alphabet Book

Charming book about honey bees for any interested in these fascinating pollinators. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Beekeeping Alphabet Book

Actually the title of this charming new book is “H is for Honey Bee: A Beekeeping Alphabet.” Written under the umbrella of Sleeping Bear Press, which specializes in other alphabet-themed books, this would be a delightful addition to anyone interested in the fascinating world of honey bees.

Robbyn Smith van Frankenhuyzen takes readers through each alphabet letter and explains basic honey bee-related activities. The book is written for US School Grade levels 2-5 at a Grade 3 reading level. Eileen Ryan Ewen’s illustrations are beautiful and accurate to what I know about beekeeping after 11 years with my own honey bees.

Brood, or baby bees, are nicely illustrated from when queen bee lays an egg. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Frankly learning to keep honey bees is a huge learning curve. Even though this is a book for grade school level children, it would also be an excellent introductory book for older children, and adults, on the life of honeybees and beekeepers.

Robbyn has been keeping bees since 2012 and lives in Bath, Michigan.

Eileen has illustrated several children’s books. Some of her work includes Miss Colfax’s Light and Mr. Mcginty’s Monarchs. She lives in Cleveland, Ohio.

Swarms are misunderstood and probably when bees are at their gentlest. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Having just read more than 40 beekeeping books for the research on my own Beekeeper’s Diary, I would have loved to have found this book in a basic beekeeping reference library. It’s a fun read with simple explanations of some difficult terms.

The book is excellent for STEM lessons on environmental issues, conservation, bees, beekeeping - and I know a few nature lovers who would love this book, too.

Sleeping Bear Press has other alphabet-themed books. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

“H is for Honey Bee: A Beekeeping Alphabet” is a 9.5 inches by 11.5 inches by .5 inch hardback book. The information for each alphabet letter is in short rhyming verses accompanied by side bars with more in-depth information.

You will find the book on Amazon and at Cherry Lake Publishing Group.

To give this as a gift, I would be tempted to add a buzzing bee toy!

Charlotte

Honey Foam

Bottling honey can generate air bubbles that form into white top foam. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Honey Foam

I’ve been bottling honey for Christmas gifts and noticed that some of my honey is getting a little white foam beard on top.

When I started beekeeping over a decade ago, I remember an experienced beekeeper telling me this is one of several ways to identify real honey. The white foam is actually air bubbles caused by stirring honey in the bottling process. Although most bottling advice notes to let gravity naturally decant honey into bottles so the white foam stays in the bottling bucket, there is nothing wrong with honey with a white top.

As I was bottling honey, I found myself spooning whatever white foam was on my honey into a container. Looking closer, I realized how much it looks like whipped topping.

White honey foam has a similar consistency to whipped topping. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

I decided to use the honey foam in a cup of hot green tea. It was so good, adding just a hint of sweetness.

One teaspoon of honey foam in a cup of green tea, so delicious! (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

I am currently testing how long the honey foam lasts as a foam. So far, some of the honey foam has remained in its frothy form for several days.

Saving honey foam for later use. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Looks like the head on beer, doesn’t it.

You can’t buy honey foam but if you live with a beekeeper, put in your dibs for the jar of honey foam. It’s a nice little treat!

Charlotte

New Uncapping Fork

The latest wax uncapping fork taken out for a test drive. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

New Uncapping Fork

If you haven’t been around beekeepers, one of the things they tend to like to do is try out new things. If they are not trying something new with their bees in the garden, they are usually making something in their woodworking shop. Every once in awhile a new gadget makes it to the market and catches their attention and this is one of them.

To extract honey, beekeepers have to first remove the wax cap the bees build over the honey ready for storage.

Traditionally the wax caps are removed by hand with this pick-like tool.

Not a hair comb, this is the old fashioned uncapping fork. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

To use it, the scraper has to be carefully pulled across the top of the frame to remove the wax caps without gouging the frame of honey.

The new uncapping fork is designed to help guide the scraper so that it doesn’t dig too deeply into the frame of wax.

During a honey extracting demonstration in August, several of my beekeeping students took turns trying out both the traditional scraper and the new one.

One of our beekeeping students using the new uncapping fork. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

The consensus was it takes a little practice to be able to glide the new uncapping fork across the wax frame.

With practice, most of the beekeeping students preferred the new uncapping fork even to a heated knife.

More students testing both the new and the old uncapping scraper. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

So if you are looking for a beekeeping gift idea, this would be a good one to add to your list. It runs around $20 and would make a nice stocking stuffer!

Charlotte