Go To Sleep

It's true, I have been known to be a total grouch in the mornings, occasionally.  I'm not normally this way, but I know I don't want to do anything or deal with anybody until I've had something to eat and then I'll be fine (I'm not a coffee drinker).

A few months ago I read a book called The Hibernation Diet.  One of the main concepts of the books is about how honey fuels the liver and the effects that has on our body.  What I learned is that the liver converts glucose and fructose that we consume into energy.  Since we eat thruoughout the day, we continually keep the liver fueled.  During the night however, our bodies often use up that fuel supply and the liver can literally be on empty in the morning.  That is why you can feel sluggish, draggy, ucky or grouchy when you get up. 

Having a couple of spoonfuls of honey in the morning will refuel the liver and get you back on track.   Don't forget about all the energy you use during exercise too.  Eating honey before and/or after exercise will help your body recover faster from using all those carbs. 

Try this and see what you think.  Once I started doing this, it was like Wa La!, the Grouchies are gone  (my husband is even happier about this than I am).  The Hibernation Diet has alot more information about how great honey is for the body.  If you would like to read it, you can find copies at the following places.

Mann Lake Bee Keeping Supplies 
Amazon



Saturday, May 29 is Honey Bee Awareness Day.  Let's show our little friends some loving. 

Visit:
Celebrate Honey Bee Awareness Day

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Honey Cornbread

Honey Cornbread
1 c each yellow cornmeal and all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp each baking soda and salt
1 cup milk
1/4 cup honey
1 egg
2 tbs cooking oil

In a large bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  In a small bowl, whisk together milk, honey, egg and oil.  Add to the flour mixture; stir until just combined. 

Pour batter into a well-greased 8x8 inch baking pan. Bake at 350* for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.  Serve warm.

Makes 9 servings

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I have recently discovered Georgia Made Georgia Grown.  It is an organization that promotes things Made and Grown in Georgia.  You will find growers, makers and entertainers of Georgia.  Visit them on Facebook at:

www.facebook.com/georgiamadegeorgiagrown

Swarm Prevention

We have recently had visitors from 18 different countries.  We appreciate everyone's interest and hope you are enjoying our blog.

On to swarm prevention.  Despite the fact that swarming is a completely natural form of reproduction for the bees, once it happens, a bee keeper now has two small hives.  While he waits on each hive to build up their workforce to preswarm numbers, he has lost a significant amount of time of honey production.

A new queen won't get the urge in her first year, but by the following spring, that natural instinct will kick in.  Once she knows it's time to get ready, she will lay several eggs that will be fed royal jelly and form into queen pupa.

 Queen cells are very easy to identify since they are so large.  The developing queen will be to large to fit in a regular cell.  When you see what often looks like a peanut hanging on the side of the comb, you've found it.

Swarm season will be at different times during the spring depending on the climate where you live.  If you are not sure when this time is, just ask another bee keeper in your area or check with a local association.  Once you have this info, you can start prevention procedure a few weeks ahead of time.

Remove queen cells as you see them being developed.  All you need to do is cut them off with your hive tool.  When you identify a hive as a potential swarmer by locating the queen cells, you can make 'splits'.  A split is simply dividing the hive in half yourself.  This way you can control the situation better and you will wind up keeping all of your bees.  Otherwise, if you don't happen to be in the bee yard when they get ready to go on their own and aren't able to catch them, you've just lost half a hive.

'Starter hives' are placed in a smaller hive box called a nucleus or a 'nuc'.  They will hold 3-5 frames each.  In order to sustain a split, you will need to remove one or two frames of brood from a healthy hive to put into the nuc.  You will also need a frame of honey so they will have food right away.  Add two frames of drawn comb so the queen will have place to start laying (or you can add two frames of honey and one of drawn comb, it is not an exact science).  Making a split does require a bit of planning because you will have to aquire an additional queen.  These can easily be ordered from most bee suppliers and will be shipped to you thru regular mail here in the US. 

A full frame of brood and a frame of honey.

When the new bees emerge from the comb that came from a different hive, the bees will stay where they are and not go to the original hive.  When they are born, they know their queen's pheromone and will know that is where they belong.  As the young colony grows, eventually place them in a full size hive box.

Accept one another, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.  Romans 15:7

When They Swarm

The sole purpose of the existense of a honey bee is to reproduce.  It is also a natural impulse for them to want to swarm.  If they didn't reproduce with such ferver, the swarm impulse wouldn't be there. 

There are different ways for a bee keeper to look at swarming.  On the one hand, a swarm means an additional hive, additional honey but only in the long run (probably not til the next year), and perhaps a little adventure in retrieving it.  However, on the more practical side, swarm prevention is preferred by any bee keeper who is wanting to keep his hive population and his honey production high. 

If a hive swarms, you've just lost half your honey producing bees from the original hive and they have to have time to build themselves back up so that they can get that original level of production up as well. 

If you catch the swarm and place them in a hive box that already has drawn out comb in it, you still have to wait on the queen to lay eggs that will take 21-24 days to be born.  A large portion of the bees will be dying off and the population will be dwindling as a bee typically lives about 30 days or so.  The survival of the new hive will greatly depend on the older bees surving til the new bees are born.

One way to give a tremendous boost to bee production in the new hive is to remove a couple of brood frames from another hive, they don't necessarily have to come from the original hive, you may not even know which one the swarm came from.  The baby bees will not go back to the hive that their brood frame was removed from.  When they are born, they will only know the pheromone of that hive's queen and believe that is where they are supposed to be.

Since a swarm leaves home with only the food they can carry inside them, they will need food stores quickly.  Adding a food source will also be very beneficial to the ladies.  Pollen patties are a great source of protein for the bees, but if you don't have any ready available (you can order it from a bee supplier), give them sugar water or even honey.

Our next post will be about Swarm Prevention.