Author Archives: Phil Craft

A Tale of Two Hives: Following the progress of two new hives created from package bees – post 3

Posted on April 15, 2012 | Comments Off on A Tale of Two Hives: Following the progress of two new hives created from package bees – post 3

Checking on the queens in the new hives
It has been three days since I installed the new package bees in their hives. Now is the time to check and see if the queens have been released. I light the smoker first, though newly installed bees from packages are normally pretty docile. It is my policy to go ahead and light the smoker before opening hives, so as to prevent having to go back and light it after discovering that the bees are agitated.

First I check hive #2, this is the hive in which I installed the queen that was alive. (While installing the package in hive #1, I discovered a problem – see post #2.) The queen cage in hive#2 is empty, so she is out. I make no attempt to look for the queen. I remove the empty queen cage, push the frames back together and close the hive back up. I’ll leave them alone until Sunday, which will be one week after installation.

Queen cage, empty, candy plug eaten out by bees

Now I proceed to hive #1. You might wonder why I am checking a hive where I know that the queen is dead. Continue reading →

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A Tale of Two Hives: Following the progress of two new hives created from package bees – post 2

Posted on April 14, 2012 | Comments Off on A Tale of Two Hives: Following the progress of two new hives created from package bees – post 2

Installation of the new packages
On Saturday, April 7th, I picked up two, 3 pound packages of honey bees from The Honey & Bee Connection, in Morehead, Kentucky. I would like to thank Jim Coss, owner and proprietor of The Honey and Bee Connection, for making this series of posts possible by providing the bees and equipment. (For more information on this series see post 1). I arrived home from Morehead late in the day, tired and still suffering from jet lag after my return from Asia, and decided to postpone installation of the new packages until the next day. While it is important to install  packages as soon as possible, a one day delay is not a problem, especially since I knew that these bees had been shaken into the packages no earlier than Thursday. If bad weather had ensued, I would not have hesitated to wait even another day to get the packages into hives. Upon arriving home, I placed them in a dry, unheated, but not cold room in my house, where I knew the temperatures would remain in the 50s to low 60s – ideal holding temperatures for the packages. I also dug out a CLEAN spray bottle, filled it with 1:1 sugar syrup (though 2:1 syrup would work as well) and sprayed some on the sides of the screen package. Though each package contains a can of sugar syrup which the bees can access, it is a good idea to supplement this food. But do not spray the package so much that the bees get wet with the syrup. You’ll see the bees stick their proboscises (tongues) through the screen to suck up the syrup. After they have taken an application of syrup, you can spray some more on every few hours or 2-3 times a day as long as you don’t wet the bees down. Other than that, I just left them alone until the next day. Continue reading →

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A Tale of Two Hives: Following the progress of two new hives created from package bees – post 1, April 12, 2012

Posted on April 12, 2012 | 9 comments

A new series of posts for new beekeepers
This is the first in a series of posts designed to assist new beekeepers who are installing package bees this year. Thanks to Jim Coss of The Honey & Bee Connection, who provided the package bees and hives for this project, on April 8th I installed two packages of bees in new hives in my home apiary. Over the course of the 2012 beekeeping season, I will maintain and care for these hives in the same way as new beekeepers throughout the United States are doing. I will report on their progress at each step along the way – through the best of times and the worst of times. The posts will be accompanied by photographs to allow new beekeepers to compare the progress of their hives with mine. One of the difficulties for beginners is knowing whether or not their hives are developing normally, since they don’t yet have a sense of what normal is. This series is designed to help them with that question. When you read the next post, you will learn about the problem I faced on the first day, and how I handled it.

In addition to following the two hives begun from package bees, I will chart the progress of two nucs which I will be starting this weekend. Continue reading →

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Africanized honey bees identified in Tennessee Beekeeper’s hive

Posted on April 11, 2012 | 4 comments

Tennessee State Apiarist Mike Studer has announced that honey bees in a hive belonging to an East Tennessee beekeeper have been positively identified as containing Africanized genetics. The hive belonged to a hobby beekeeper in Monroe County, Tennessee, which is located southwest of Knoxville. The hive has been “de-populated”, meaning that the bees in it have been destroyed. The subject of African/European hybridization in honey bees is extremely complex, and the details are rarely understood or reported clearly by the news media. These bees were described as being 17% Africanized honey bees (AHB), which I presume means that 17% of the genetics which vary from species to species in honey bees are of those of Africanized bees. The media articles quoted Studer as saying that bees are not considered Africanized unless they are 50% AHB. However, in my opinion, bees that are 17% are a cause for real concern. The only bees in Kentucky ever identified as having any Africanized genetics had Continue reading →

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Posted in Africanized honey bees, Beekeeping in the media

Phil’s trip to the far side of the world: Final chapter

Posted on April 6, 2012 | 2 comments

April 2, 2012 Bangkok, Thailand
Today, for the first time in Asia, I got out on my own! While in Bangladesh, I was so well taken care of that I literally did not have a moment outside of my hotel room when I was alone. This was really for the best, since most of the time I was in places where literally no one spoke English. If I had gotten lost, I would have been hard pressed to even ask for directions. Here in Bangkok, I’m staying with friends and have been with them all the time.

Since my friend Sean and his wife both had to work today, I had my first chance to wander unattended. I accompanied Sean to his office and then struck out on foot for the area of the Royal Palace and the Sanam Luang ceremonial ground. The ceremonal ground is a large open area Continue reading →

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Spring IS here – right??

Posted on March 4, 2012 | Comments Off on Spring IS here – right??

Another guest post from Kent Williams. For more about Kent and to view his post from last month, see his February post.
Phil

Hello again, and welcome to the March edition of the LBBA newsletter. Spring IS here – right?? This year reminds me a lot of a spring four or five years ago. I remember very well counting yet-to-be-hatched chicks, thinking the year would be a banner year for honey and bee production. Corn was planted early that year, during the third week of March, and some fields were nearly 6 inches tall the week of Easter. The weather was near perfect for an early bloom, and some colonies had already worked into the first honey super by Easter. The subsequent change of events has since become known locally as the “Easter freeze.” Continue reading →

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Posted in Guest post from Kent Williams, Guest posts, Hive management

Phil is heading to the far side of the world

Posted on March 2, 2012 | Comments Off on Phil is heading to the far side of the world

On March 15th I’ll be leaving Kentucky for several weeks, bound for the far side of the world to serve as a volunteer for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in a farmer to farmer program in Bangladesh. USAID programs offer agricultural assistance to developing countries by providing volunteer experts from universities and departments of agriculture to train farmers and local agricultural leaders. The project that I will be working with is coordinated by Winrock International, a non-profit foundation based in little Rock, Arkansas, which recruits volunteers and provides logistical coordination with local organizations in the host countries for farmer to farmer programs. Continue reading →

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Article on honeybees and Kentucky’s forests

Posted on March 1, 2012 | Comments Off on Article on honeybees and Kentucky’s forests

Since the early colonists first entered Kentucky, honeybees have been a part of the state’s forest ecosystem.  I recently authored an article, which has just been published, for Kentucky Woodlands Magazine entitled “Non- timber Forest Products: Beekeeping”. You may read in online at the Woodland Magazine webpage. Kentucky Woodlands Magazine is published under the direction of the University of Kentucky’s Department of Forestry Extension and the Kentucky Division of Forestry.

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Posted in Thoughts on beekeeping by Phil

An early spring hive inspection. Here are my observations.

Posted on February 29, 2012 | 11 comments

Though it is still the end of February, what with temperatures above 60°F and the sunny weather we have been experiencing this week here in Central Kentucky , I decided it was time to open my hives, remove frames, and actually see what was going on inside. What did I want to see on the frames and what were my concerns? I was looking for brood, food and bees.

First, I checked for brood, both larvae (uncapped brood) and pupae (capped brood). Due to the time of year, the nice weather, and the pollen I’ve been seeing  carried into the hive, I expected my colonies to be rearing brood. I was correct in this, and saw at least 2-3 frames of brood in all the hives (with one exception). This tells me that the spring buildup (increased population) is starting in my hives and progressing normally.

I was also concerned about food stores, both honey and pollen. This time of year I would like to see at least Continue reading →

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Posted in Beginning Beekeeping, Hive management

2012 Bluegrass Beekeeping School – list of presentations on KSBA webpage

Posted on February 28, 2012 | Comments Off on 2012 Bluegrass Beekeeping School – list of presentations on KSBA webpage

A list of presentations to be given at the Bluegrass Beekeeping School in Frankfort on March 10th has been added to the Bluegrass Beekeeping School webpage. A schedule with times for each class should be up by the end of the week. In addition, updated information on the Frankfort Bee Friendly weekend has also been added.

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Posted in Schools, classes, beekeeping groups, education