For those beekeepers with fruit trees....make your own dormant oil spray....for treatment...NOW!
Dormant oil spray is a non-toxic material that can be sprayed on trees and shrubs in the fall after leaf drop or in spring before leaves/blossoms appear. It smothers overwintering bug eggs before they have a chance to hatch. Apply in temperatures 40 degrees, plus. Apply weekly 'till leaf formation.
BIG recipe:
1 gallon of mineral oil (can be found at walmart/fleet farm in the health/pharmacy area)
1 pound of oil based soap (this is a powdered "baby" laundry soap...flake form)
1/2 gallon water
REAL LIFE recipe:
1/8 gallon (2 cups) mineral oil
1/8 lb. (2 oz) oil based soap
1/16 gallon (1 cup) water
Directions: BOIL all these together and mix well. DILUTION RATE IS: 1 part to 20 parts water (so even the "small batch" makes a lot). This mix must be used quickly as it separates.
Non-toxic commercial off-the-shelf products are also available under the trade names: "Dormant Oil Spray" and "Oil-Away Supreme Insecticidal Soap". Oil Away is made from cottonseed oil.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Wisconsin honey to stay pure and sweet
By Jill Blocker
March 22, 2010
Wisconsin residents with a sweet tooth for honey will only get the pure, bee-made stuff, thanks to a new law raising honey standards in the state.
Diluted or fake forms of the sweet, sticky substance labeled as honey is far too common, said Tim Fulton, president of the Wisconsin Honey Producers Association, in the Kenosha News. He petitioned state Rep. Peter Baraca, D-Kenosha, to create a legal definition of honey to weed out imposters.
Some honey products include additives and can include no bee-produced content at all, said Fulton, according to the News.
“Corn and rice syrups are cheap, and anyone could put in any amount of that and still call it honey and do it legally,” he said. “Honey should be a product that comes from bees.”
The fake honey also hurts real honey producers’ business. Real honey can cost double of what imitation or blended products are sold for.
Gov. Jim Doyle signed the law last week, requiring the state Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection to develop honey standards, according to the Times. The bill prohibits labeling a product as Wisconsin-certified honey or implying that a product is Wisconsin-certified honey when it contains additives or other ingredients. Honey at grocery stores and farmers’ markets are also affected by the new law.
The law provides standards consistent with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Health Organization’s Codex Alimentarius, which says honey is bee-produced and without additives.
Diluted or blended honey products could be sold with appropriate labels established by the department.
“We’re not trying to ban people from selling products,” Baraca said. “We’re trying to get truth in advertising and give a competitive edge to our honey producers.”
In July, Florida became the first state to require “all-natural” honey sold in the state to be free of additives, chemicals or adulterants (any substance that alters the purity of honey). If honey sold in Florida is found to contain additives, sellers must cease sales of the altered product within state lines. Failure to comply can result in a $500 fine per violation.
There are no federal honey standards, but Fulton said U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials have said they would consider a nationwide standard if enough states pass honey-regulation laws.
March 22, 2010
Wisconsin residents with a sweet tooth for honey will only get the pure, bee-made stuff, thanks to a new law raising honey standards in the state.
Diluted or fake forms of the sweet, sticky substance labeled as honey is far too common, said Tim Fulton, president of the Wisconsin Honey Producers Association, in the Kenosha News. He petitioned state Rep. Peter Baraca, D-Kenosha, to create a legal definition of honey to weed out imposters.
Some honey products include additives and can include no bee-produced content at all, said Fulton, according to the News.
“Corn and rice syrups are cheap, and anyone could put in any amount of that and still call it honey and do it legally,” he said. “Honey should be a product that comes from bees.”
The fake honey also hurts real honey producers’ business. Real honey can cost double of what imitation or blended products are sold for.
Gov. Jim Doyle signed the law last week, requiring the state Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection to develop honey standards, according to the Times. The bill prohibits labeling a product as Wisconsin-certified honey or implying that a product is Wisconsin-certified honey when it contains additives or other ingredients. Honey at grocery stores and farmers’ markets are also affected by the new law.
The law provides standards consistent with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Health Organization’s Codex Alimentarius, which says honey is bee-produced and without additives.
Diluted or blended honey products could be sold with appropriate labels established by the department.
“We’re not trying to ban people from selling products,” Baraca said. “We’re trying to get truth in advertising and give a competitive edge to our honey producers.”
In July, Florida became the first state to require “all-natural” honey sold in the state to be free of additives, chemicals or adulterants (any substance that alters the purity of honey). If honey sold in Florida is found to contain additives, sellers must cease sales of the altered product within state lines. Failure to comply can result in a $500 fine per violation.
There are no federal honey standards, but Fulton said U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials have said they would consider a nationwide standard if enough states pass honey-regulation laws.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Website for keeping track of hives!
Check this out! this website offers tools to keep track of your hives, installation, inspections, etc....for those of you with 6 hives or less - it's FREE.
http://www.beetight.com
http://www.beetight.com
Monday, March 15, 2010
50's this week
was EVERYONE out checking bees this weekend!?!? in the shelter of the beehouse - i actually performed my "spring cleaning" and "hive body switch" on the two backyard hives. one is THRIVING and the other...alive.
from the strong hive - i brushed....maybe a couple thousand dead bees from the bottom board....very few. the cluster had made it into the middle of deep number two (this is a three deep hive....i'm experimenting) and had small areas of brood. deep number two was examined and placed on the bottom board (hive body switch). deep number one is now deep number two. it was still somewhat full of bees on some empty frames....these frames i kept in relative vertical position for the "cluster" (try not to break the cluster)....frames that were somewhat empty and empty of bees - i "checkerboarded" with honey frames.
"checkerboarding" is sometimes also called "nectar management". it's essentially re-arranging and alternating frames - one empty/one honey/one empty/one honey/etc. (WITHOUT breaking the cluster!!!)
deep number three was also checkerboarded with honey and some empty frames. the method behind this madness is to "give the bees room". this particular bee (feral by now) seemingly goes through a really strong SPRING BUILDUP....if i don't break up all the honey frames - they'll feel "honeybound" and swarm. what i've read on nectar managment, indicates that by alternating frames as this - the cluster and bees utilize more of the box.
...and getting back to the "alive" box. maybe a few thousand bees is all that's left!....and the queen (saw her - she was easy to find as they were guarding/protecting her). hindsight being 20/20....SOMETHING went on with this hive already last fall. i think it was taking a population dive at that time already. i had a queen issue with that hive mid-summer - maybe they requeened late. i got them down to one box....kept the cluster frames together in the corner and did what i could to remove icky frames and bees. ....likely won't make it through the remaining cool nights. didn't want to combine them with the strong hive...don't want to transfer any disease if that was the issue....i wish i had a nuc box - they might fare better in there.
from the strong hive - i brushed....maybe a couple thousand dead bees from the bottom board....very few. the cluster had made it into the middle of deep number two (this is a three deep hive....i'm experimenting) and had small areas of brood. deep number two was examined and placed on the bottom board (hive body switch). deep number one is now deep number two. it was still somewhat full of bees on some empty frames....these frames i kept in relative vertical position for the "cluster" (try not to break the cluster)....frames that were somewhat empty and empty of bees - i "checkerboarded" with honey frames.
"checkerboarding" is sometimes also called "nectar management". it's essentially re-arranging and alternating frames - one empty/one honey/one empty/one honey/etc. (WITHOUT breaking the cluster!!!)
deep number three was also checkerboarded with honey and some empty frames. the method behind this madness is to "give the bees room". this particular bee (feral by now) seemingly goes through a really strong SPRING BUILDUP....if i don't break up all the honey frames - they'll feel "honeybound" and swarm. what i've read on nectar managment, indicates that by alternating frames as this - the cluster and bees utilize more of the box.
...and getting back to the "alive" box. maybe a few thousand bees is all that's left!....and the queen (saw her - she was easy to find as they were guarding/protecting her). hindsight being 20/20....SOMETHING went on with this hive already last fall. i think it was taking a population dive at that time already. i had a queen issue with that hive mid-summer - maybe they requeened late. i got them down to one box....kept the cluster frames together in the corner and did what i could to remove icky frames and bees. ....likely won't make it through the remaining cool nights. didn't want to combine them with the strong hive...don't want to transfer any disease if that was the issue....i wish i had a nuc box - they might fare better in there.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
new...discussion group link added
i will add a ECWBA discussion group link to the sidebar. beekeepers - use this are to discuss and ask questions about beekeeping or meeting material. http://groups.google.com/group/ecwba
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