HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

We’ve reached the halfway point in the beekeeper’s winter (October 1^st thru March 31^st)!  So far, the winter in central Wisconsin has been upside down.  Snow in October and warmer weather in December.  Hopefully your bees are warm and snug in their hives because January is usually the critical time frame when the majority of winter losses occur.  

December 29th, 49F, 12:30PM

On the last few days of December I went out and checked my hives and winter nucs.  It was odd to not trudge through the snow on my rounds.  I added emergency sugar to those hives that needed it.  As mentioned previously the bee clusters in almost all hives were in the upper brood chamber.  Other ECWBA members reported the same observation at the December club meeting. 

The winter nucs are doing well also.  Two weeks ago I thought the nuc on the right side was dead.  They proved me wrong and made a showing in the warm weather. 

So far 98% of my hives and 98% of the winter nucs are alive. The survival of the nucs continues to surprise me.  Weren't we always told that it takes a big cluster to get through winter?  The mite control and feeding last summer and fall is paying off.  But to repeat, January is usually the critical time for hive survival.  At that time, when in tight cluster and immobilized by the extreme cold, the bees are most susceptible to varroa born viruses and starvation.  At any rate I will be worrying about their survival until the end of March.  The worrying is the plight of all dedicated beekeepers.


January is the time when the queen also begins slowly laying again.  This will limit the movement of the cluster since the eggs and brood must be kept warm.   Consequently, the chances of starvation are increased.  Placing an emergency sugar disc in the center of the hive on the top of the frames will lessen the chances of starvation.   The cost of a few pounds of sugar is cheap insurance against starvation and the need to buy a replacement package or nuc.
  

On the cold and rainy and snowy days in January I will be assembling additional frames.  Call me a traditionalist, but I feel the bees like wooden frames with wax foundation over the newfangled plastic frames.  In my experience the bees seem to ignore and not draw out plastic frames more than a year old.  Apparently, the ultra thin wax coating sprayed on the plastic evaporates over time and after that the bees avoid using it.  Dealing with undrawn plastic frames is just another task that I would like to avoid in the rush of the summer beekeeping season.  Instead I build a wax foundation frames in the winter.   One of the myriad of different choices a different beekeepers routinely make.  If you like plastic frames and foundation go with your preference.

HALF WAY!!!! by beekeeper Fred

Yesterday, December 21st, was the winter solstice.  Meteorologically we are halfway to spring.  It appears that for the next week we will be having unseasonably warm weather.  The bees have been taking advantage of the sunny weather and are out for voiding flights.

The microclimate on the face of the hive is warmer than the surrounding air.  The warm surface and the sun entice the bees to gather on the surface around the upper entrance. Since I don't see much activity by the lower entrance (covered by mouse guard) I assume the cluster is in the upper brood box.  On a few hives the main activity is at the bottom entrance.

Here is a bank of four winter nucs.  I had thought the right nuc was dead when I checked it a few days ago, but maybe not!  Wouldn't be the first time the bees have fooled me.

CURE FOR WINTER DOLDRUMS--A BEE CONFERENCE

Here is information on a bee conference in early January in Schaumberg, Illinois.

https://abfconference.com/?utm_source=Betterbee+Contact+List&utm_campaign=f53b8f38c0-december-newsletter-121919&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_61e19f35ed-f53b8f38c0-190789533

BEE FAMINE

In a recent post I had stated that many of my hives seemed ill prepared for winter.  The following article provides a possible explanation.  All of my hives are in a corn and soybean environment as described in the article.

https://phys.org/news/2019-11-prairie-honey-bees-famine-farm.html

HONEY WARMER/DECRYSTALIZER by beekeeper Fred

I’ve been beekeeping for a little more than 10 years now.  Over that time my honey harvest has been gradually growing as my number hives and proficiency have been increasing.  As the volume of honey increased I have had it in storage for longer periods.  Although honey doesn’t spoil in storage it will I’ve crystalize.  The rapidity of crystallization is depend on the type of flowers used for the nectar and also the storage temperature.  I primary use 5 gallon buckets for long term storage.  Five gallon bucket heaters are readily available from most bee supply houses and will de-crystalize the bucket in a little more than a day.  The rub comes when you need to de-crystalize a large number of small honey jars.  For small quantities a simple frying pan with warm water will do the trick.  I was looking for a bigger set-up that was also less labor intensive.  

So last week I built my first honey warmer.  I chose to use an old metal army footlocker.  Some people use old refrigerators.  Footlockers are frequently available at fleamarkets for between $10 and $20 depending on your negotiating skills.  NOTE: Some footlockers are wood.  I would avoid using a wood footlocker because it may catch fire.  

HERE IS THE OLD FOOTLOCKER

Then I installed a layer of insulation on the inside.  I used one inch foam insulation with a foil backing on one side.  The insulation is held in place with duct tape.  This insulation cost me $20 for a 4’ X 8’ sheet; of which I used about half.  

My heat source was simply two 100 watt incandescent light bulbs.  The bulbs were screwed into low cost plug adapters ($2 each).  To hold them upright I purchased a five socket power strip ($5).  

Finally, there is the temperature controller.  Seeing none locally I went to Amazon.  There were two low cost controllers available.   I purchased a WILLHI 1436 controller (cost $28).  Initially I just placed the controller inside the footlocker.  I plan to permanently install it on the top of the footlocker when I get time to carefully route the wires.  Programming the controller was confusing.  The instructions were all but worthless.  After a bit of frustration and cursing, I somehow got it programmed to turn on below 99F and off above 101F.  Please don’t ask me to do it again! 

Since I placed the controller on the inside it is not possible to monitor the lights/heaters are cycling; ie not burnt out.  So I drilled a small light monitoring hole in the cover.  I just need to glance at the hole and can see the lights switching on and off. 

I loaded up it up with 30 pounds of honey in 1 and 2 pound bottles.   The controller is cycling; 20 seconds ON and 100 seconds OFF.  This is maintaining the footlocker at 100F set point.   I let it run over night and in the morning after about 12 hours the bottles closest to the lights had de-crystalized.  But those farthest away were only partially de-crystalized.  Also there was a thin layer of undesired sugar crystals on the bottom of some jars.  These crystals could act as the starting point for re-crstallization.  So I made several minor changes.  First, I repositioned the temperature to the lowest point in the box and also farthest from the heat source.  Next, I raised the jars on a grill so warm air could circulate to the underside of each jar. These changes have dissolved the sugar crystals on the bottom of the jars.   My third option is to increase the temperature set point.  Researching this issue, it appears temperatures above 120F will damage the enzymes in honey.  I will avoid this third option since I want to consider my honey as raw.  Honey in the hive probably reaches 100F on hot summer days.  

The "grill" is simply 1/2 inch hardware cloth on a wood frame. 

Two light bulbs easily keep the box at 100F and de-crystallize the honey.