Red Maple In Full Bloom (Feb 23)

Blooms we have finally been waiting for!!! 

The Red Maple is one of the first real sources of nectar and pollen in North Carolina that honey bees rely on.  This is the bee's signal to get going and foraging traffic picks up.

The average bloom period in the Piedmont area for the Red Maple is 40 days (Feb 1 - Mar 12).  I noticed some blooming earlier in February but today at 72 degrees, the Red Maple blooms are really popping.

This is from the Red Maple in our yard.

Wiring Frames (Feb 13)

There are 3 sizes of frames; deep, medium and shallow.  In our hives we use deep frames and deep hive boxes for the queen, eggs and brood and we use medium frames and medium hive boxes for the honey stores.

Today we are wiring the deep frames.  The deep frames go in the deep hive boxes and ther are 10 frames per box.  This is where the queen will lay her eggs and the brood will be raised.

The purpose of wiring frames is for extra stability of the comb and to prevent the wax foundation from warping in the heat creating uniform comb.  The wax foundation comes with vertical wires already embedded into the wax.  Combining this with the horizontal wiring below creates a cross pattern of wire embedded in the wax.  We will be installing the wax foundation later. 




This picture shows where we have wired the frame and secured the ends of the wire into the frame by nails.  The wire is loose or slack because you cannot get it "banjo" tight by hand.  The red wire crimper tool crimps the wire to take any slack out. 

Using the wire crimper to crimp each of the wires we clamp down on the wire and roll the wire crimper from one end to the other.  It makes small "v" indentations on the wire taking up slack.

All wires are now crimped.  After we wire the frames and crimp them, the next step will be to install the wax foundation. 
We have 19 more deep frames to wire and 20 more medium frames to wire.

Bees flying in the cold?!?!? (Feb 12)

Christin and I stopped by the bee yard today (Sunday, Feb 12).  The temperature reading was 39 degrees at 2pm and the winds were about 10mph.  To our amazement, bees were flying!  Typically bees fly when temps are 52 degrees or higher.  My hive was active, Christin's hive was not.  I saw only one bee enter her hive but no bees left.

I decided to put the bucket feeder on.  That’s 2 parts sugar to 1 part water (also called thick syrup).  This acts as a temporary supplement to nectar during a dearth period.  Recently, we've had above normal temps so the bees have been out flying looking for pollen and nectar.  Since it's still too early to find a good pollen and nectar source, the bees are using more energy than what they can find to replenish.  By doing this, they return to the hive and consume their honey stores that are supposed to get them through the winter.  If they eat through their reserves before the nectar flow starts, they starve to death. 

The Old North State Honey - Logo (Feb 8)

"The Old North State" is the nickname for North Carolina dating back to 1710 when Carolina was divided into two parts.

Here is the logo I designed for The Old North State Honey.  

Logo with dripping honey




Building Out New Frames (Feb 6)

Tonight we will start the process of building out 20 deep frames.  First adding the metal eyeletes, then stringing the foundation wire and lastly inserting the new wax foundation where the honeybees will build comb and eventually store eggs, brood, pollen and nectar.

Here is a picture of the eyelets inserted on the side of a deep frame.  The eyelets are used to keep the foundation wire from digging into the soft wood once it's strung.

Later, I will post how the wire is inserted and why we use the wire on frames that use wax foundation.