Follow this link to review which natural oils may help keep bees healthy.
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Beekeeping/Guide_to_Essential_Oils
Friday, May 1, 2009
Home-made Dormant Oil Spray
(I'm sorry that I'm a little late in getting this out - apple trees are beginning to come out of dormancy - but file this away for future reference)
There are likely many of us who maintain a couple of apple trees (or keep hives at orchards) and are weary of spraying because of our bees. Dormant oil spray is used kill overwintering insects or insect eggs. It is meant to be sprayed at 2 week intervals when the tree is DORMANT (before buds form/open) (I also spray around the base of the tree and the ground surrounding)
The recipes for homemade dormant oil spray I've come across must have been written for an ORCHARD! Here's a scaled down version to treat 3 or 4 trees.
2 Cups of Mineral Oil
2 oz of Oil Based Soap (granular)
1 Cup Water
Boil all of these together and mix well. Further dilute: 1 part to 20 parts water and use immediately (cooled of course). ingredients separate quickly.
Mineral oil can be found at Walmart/Fleet Farm (around the pharmacy/health area). Oil Based Soap is like "Ivory Snow" - though I couldn't find it in a granular form.....I found something similar called "ECOS" in the natural foods section of Festival Foods.
There are likely many of us who maintain a couple of apple trees (or keep hives at orchards) and are weary of spraying because of our bees. Dormant oil spray is used kill overwintering insects or insect eggs. It is meant to be sprayed at 2 week intervals when the tree is DORMANT (before buds form/open) (I also spray around the base of the tree and the ground surrounding)
The recipes for homemade dormant oil spray I've come across must have been written for an ORCHARD! Here's a scaled down version to treat 3 or 4 trees.
2 Cups of Mineral Oil
2 oz of Oil Based Soap (granular)
1 Cup Water
Boil all of these together and mix well. Further dilute: 1 part to 20 parts water and use immediately (cooled of course). ingredients separate quickly.
Mineral oil can be found at Walmart/Fleet Farm (around the pharmacy/health area). Oil Based Soap is like "Ivory Snow" - though I couldn't find it in a granular form.....I found something similar called "ECOS" in the natural foods section of Festival Foods.
Pollen
The girls have actually been taking in pollen for some time now. The first pollens available to them in the season is from trees.
A quick glance as I passed this hive revealed bees covered from tip to tail in YELLOW! So thick with pollen that I couldn't see any stripes - and I thought there was something wrong with them.
Much can be learned about your hive by observing from the outside. Bees incoming with pollen...means BROOD. Pollen is the bees protein - it's body builder. Nectar/Honey is the bees carbohydrate - it's energy.
Lack of pollen inflow can mean a couple of things:
- Remember, that the queen slows laying and stops all together in preparation for swarming (this is a good thing - you have lots of bees in the box!). Check the hive for swarm/queen cells. Remove ALL queen cells and or create a "false swarm" (consult your favorite bee book for details). or SPLIT the hive - ideally - you want the queen in one box and the new queen cells in the other.....if you're unsure - check both soon after for eggs to verify which box the queen is in.
- Something has happened to your queen or she's failing miserably. Check for her. Check for eggs (no eggs = no queen). If you have a spotty brood pattern and/or a lot of drone brood, the queen's fertility is failing - this hive will fail. Replace her. If it's too late to purchase a queen, and you still have sufficient workers to make one, give them a frame of eggs from another hive. If this colony is otherwise healthy and it's getting late in the season - you may want to plan on combining it with another hive before winter (you'll have to pinch the weak queen - if she exists). Your goal is to go into the cold months with strong & populated hives - population increases their chance of survival.
- Disease. Check the hive for signs of disease with your bee book in hand. Treat if neccessary. Don't combine colonies weakened by disease with healthy hives. Nature may take it's course with this hive.
Beekeeping Class Well Received
The first part (of two) meetings went well. Over 50 people joined-in for the evening - our room was changed to accommodate the numbers.
An interesting question that I will quickly comment upon - because it's very relevant to NOW:
Spring Feeding - why and what ratio? Use the 2 parts water to 1 part sugar/fructose mixture in Spring. This thinner mixture simulates "nectar flow" and will get your queen stimulated to laying more eggs. When you start feeding - don't stop. Keep feeding until they don't take it anymore.
(the 1 to 1 ratio is used in the fall. This thicker mixture requires less evaporation and is easier on the bees to store for the coming winter)
An interesting question that I will quickly comment upon - because it's very relevant to NOW:
Spring Feeding - why and what ratio? Use the 2 parts water to 1 part sugar/fructose mixture in Spring. This thinner mixture simulates "nectar flow" and will get your queen stimulated to laying more eggs. When you start feeding - don't stop. Keep feeding until they don't take it anymore.
(the 1 to 1 ratio is used in the fall. This thicker mixture requires less evaporation and is easier on the bees to store for the coming winter)
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