Central Florida Honeybees

Honey comb

2015-05-22T12:10:00.001-04:00

Saw Palmetto is ready!

My personal favorite, we have had great success with our Saw Palmetto honey this season. Making both comb and filling bottles. I had decided a couple of years a go to scale down my honey production and put out a the highest quality honey we could produce. This would mean not produceing as much honey but a higher quality honey. In doing so I sold my large extractor, uncapping tank and the numerous other items used in my honey extraction. I now extract only by hand our honey is never heated, we no longer use any electrical power in out process at all. Our comb is never placed in a centerfuge to sling the honey out, or put in a clarifier to to remove wax an particles. We now strain out money once with a #400 micron screen to remove any honeybees that may have entered the honey house. The reason for doing this was to maximize the natural pollens, propolis, and particles in our honey. We are a small honey farm and we strive to provide the best product we can produce.

Brazilian Pepper

2014-10-31T15:40:00.001-04:00

Brazilian pepper honey.

All in a day's work.

2014-10-23T18:32:00.001-04:00

The heat had gotten pretty intense in July and August, and the bees worked feveriously to ventilate, insulate, and close any gaps that could cause any problems to the hive. The bees sealed the hive in certain areas where the supers had a gap or didn't align. They would purposefully leave areas partially filled to allow ventilation in the hive. I watched these bees work this area for several days. The propolis appeared to change colors as they worked with it sometimes it took on a reddish clear color then black as it dried. I watched these bees work and was amazed at the diligence they showed day after day to fulfill their task. Propolis is also used for medicinal purposes by people as well as by the bees. Inside the hive pest have been found wrapped in propolis after being stuns to death to keep a steril environment. Pretty impressive for a bug with a life expentcey of thirty days this time of the year. They do actually work theirselves to death.

Based on the available scientific evidence, the National Institutes of Health rates propolis as "possibly effective" for treating cold sores, genital herpes, and post-surgery mouth pain. Currently, there is "insufficient evidence" to rate the effectiveness of propolis in treating canker sores, tuberculosis, common colds and other infections, nose and throat cancer, improving the immune response, ulcers, stomach and intestinal disorders, wounds, inflammation, minor burns, or other conditions.

June

2014-06-07T18:53:00.001-04:00

Wow June 7, my goodness how time flys! in Florida the dog days of summer are right around the corner. Already I am having to be a little more particular on the time and days I spend checking hives.

The nucs aren't bad at all not much to, I just try and make sure the Queen is laying a good pattern, mated, etc... The bees are just finishing up on the Palmetto and will be moving on to the palm and various other nectar.

With the heat the desire to do trapouts and other various other task for the now-beekeeping public.

Not that I don't want to help out, but I can't afford rounding up someone else's at the cost of neglecting my own appairy and believe me someone is always willing to ' Give you their bees " if you will just come over and get them. I have one job I'm in the middle of now and probably not do any more until it cools off a little. That is the nice thing about being a hobby beekeeper, when you want to just sit and watch the bees you just sit and watch bees. If a job comes up that you want to do you just do right, no big deal. That is why I always expect the unexpected and still seem to get it wrong three fourths of the time.

Even so it has been spreety good year so far I have a few more bees, nucs, and look forward to maling lots of honey.

I for my mite control i found that it I run a medium in a deep frame deep brood box the bees will make drone comb when the start to build on the smaller frame I just pull out the smaller frame where they built the drone comb and let them start over on it. I don't fave to freeze it and my chickens say it taste just like bugs to

Recently I have expericened more thefts than any other year, honey and money, unfortunately my little honor stand will have to be made a little more secure. The gaurd bee doesn't seem up to the task.

A keeper of bees

2014-03-28T15:58:00.003-04:00

Spring and things are really staring to Buzz...

The hunt is on!

2014-03-27T11:07:00.000-04:00

Honey Comb June 2013

2013-06-17T11:42:00.001-04:00

Cut-comb honey

Frame of comb honey
ready to be cut

This year June means cut-comb honey at Blackhen Honey. The weather has been good and we have already had a rich harvest. We have also started producing some Ross Round honeycomb along with out bottled honey.

As the summer comes into full swing, you can see more and more bees begin bearding on the front of the hive bodies. The bees start "wash boarding," which is just like what it sounds, the bees will appear to be washing clothes as they gently rock back and forth scrubbing and applying propolis to the hives.

Bess wash-boarding and clustering

This video is of me getting ready to make the comb honey. It really is much better to make videos when your not hot and tired.

I made this video several years ago, at that time I think we had about fifty chickens, couples hives of bees, and our aquaponics. I think it's kind of interesting and thought you might want to take a quick look.

Tuesday March 6, 2012

2012-03-06T22:31:00.003-05:00

newly mated Queen

uncapped Queen cells

This is one of my Queens that was produced using the Cloake board/ Nicot system. I was very pleased with the ease of this method and the results were some very nice Queens although it is to early to tell what kind of brood pattern or quality she will yield. I first spotted this Queen last week but she had not yet mated, she was only about half the size what she is now. The Cloake board and Nicot system will easily pay for itself. I already have additional Queens and placed them in nucs. This is a very easy way to make increases and the initial investment will quickly be recovered.

If someone is handy a Cloake board would be very easy to make, Michael Bush, a well know beekeeper, instructor and authur, has a very good photo of one on his web site Bush Bees, which contains a wealth of information.

strong frame

I did have one unexpected experience this week. I went out early to check a hive that was very strong and calm. I had thought of doing a split from it, but this time, for some reason, the hive became very aggressive. The bee's were relentless in their attack, and I was stung numerous times. I went back to the hive yesterday to see how the bees would react and had no problem at all. The hive was calm, and I was able to inspect it with no problems or aggression from the bees. I will will not make any splits or Queens from it for now until I can determine if it needs to be re-queened or I just messed something up while working with the hive.

March

2012-02-20T22:10:00.000-05:00

once supers, now nucs

My first attempt using Robos technique worked out pretty well and I ended up with six queens. I have started another crop already. I knew I would need to get some more boxes but when I looked up the price to buy cardboard or plastic nucs, and I decided that I would be better off for now to just rebuild some of my old supers that I already have. Since I am transitioning over to all mediums, primarily for the ease of lifting when they are full of bees and honey, it was pretty simple to just rip some of the deeps in half. There were some holes and splits in the old boxes, but I think it will still workout better than the cardboard or plastic and much less expensive in the long run.

12 nucs

We had already planned to get a few new queens this year so we made a trip to Miksa Honey Farm in Groveland, Florida to pick up four Italians and four Ontario Buckfast queen cells. Last year we got queens from them and were very pleased. Miksa is a highly reputable company that specializes in queens. I don't replace all our queens at once, but try to stay aware of when a new queen may be needed on short notice--it happens. I also feel that using new, quality breed queens along with my own breeding, has considerably strengthened my apiary because of the genetics. When I first replaced queens it was only when I lost one resulting in hives that were sometimes stronger and sometimes weaker; I didn't seem to have any control over it. When I started replacing some of the queens every year with queens from a decided genetic line as opposed to "mutts," the hives seems to be consistently stronger and withstand the winter with more vigor in the spring.

I like to open feed in half barrels filled with hay the bees don't drown and I don't know but I like think them crawl. I used to use primarily jar feeders, but this is not only easier but it prevents robbing and seems more natural. It's just my own idea, but bees naturally go out from the hive to feed. I do know that a lot more bees were killed in the other types of feeders I've tried, and this is very simple, cheap, and easy to maintain. I just procured this shelter from a friend, but before that the barrels just sat out on the lawn.

Bees are not the only things that sting in Florida, and it's always a good habit to look before putting your hand under something. This is a Black Widow spider I found moving pallets and empty supers. Snakes and scorpions are also seen around here frequently, so I have to really look at what I'm doing. It's probably made me less concerned about safety around bees than I should be. Getting stung on the face is always the worst to look at, but the fingers hurt the most.

The State of Florida now has a regulatory system for Cottage Food Operations that allows for the production of non potentially hazardous foods, including honey, prepared in a personal residence using home kitchen appliances. Annual gross sales cannot exceed $15,000 and your products cannot be sold on the internet, mail order or wholesale, which includes such places as restaurants and retail outlets. There are food labeling requirements, and the Department of Agriculture has the authority to investigate home-based food operations if there is a legitimate complaint and enforce penalties for non compliance.

These are examples of our new front and back labels we ordered for our 2 lb jars this year. We've never bothered having labels on our honey since we could only take donations. We tried once to make them, but the ink ran since we only have an inkjet and we didn't realize the labels had to be printed on a lazer printer to hold up to use. This year with the cottage food law, we started looking at labels to buy. What worked for us was a label made by Anne Turnham at Custom Honey Labels. Anne is a Minnesota beekeeper who started making honey labels for her bee club and is now taking orders from across the U.S. and Canada. She's got a wide variety of designs to suit whatever your image is, the prices are very good, and she pays personal attention to what you need on your label. Really a full-service business; it makes us feel important even though our orders are small.

Spring is a busy time in the bee business. Though I've been working all winter here in Florida, plants are starting to bloom and the daylight is lasting longer, so I tend to work longer days just like the bees.

Queen Rearing Project

2012-02-03T22:16:00.000-05:00

Queen cells

This week I have been working on rearing Queen's. I had attempted to do some last year with little success. I would liked to find some hands on training, but I live in a fairly rural area and the cost to go to one of the few special classes offered in Florida was just not feasible for me.

I came across ROBOS WORLD on the internet and was very interested in the way he was rearing Queens. It is a combination of using the the Nicot System and Cloake Board.

Nurse bees

So far, I have been very satisfied with the results. I have eight cells and when I checked today it appears that only one of the cell's is not producing a Queen. The instructions ROBO provides are accurate and easy to follow. The Queens should hatch around February 6.

Queen cells

I purchased the Nicot System and Cloake Board from Brushy Mountain, and I have always been very pleased with their service. They also host "webinars that you can watch online. They are a great source for information and a pleasure to do business with.

The aquaponics and BeePonic's continue to do well I recently started some collard greens and cumbers. The lettuce and chard are still doing well with the warm weather. I expect the tilapia will start to consume more food and begin to grow more rapidly. I would like to get some catfish in order to keep the tilapia population controlled, otherwise they will over produce and which will stunt their growth. The catfish will keep the fry population down and hopefully avoid any problem with overpopulating.

Early Spring Bee Report, West Central Florida

2012-01-25T10:31:00.000-05:00

overwintered frame

Spring is on it's way here in West Central Florida, and so far have we have had a fairly mild winter. We had plenty of honey stores left on the hives, and I have started to feed for the spring build up as well as making splits. The bee's did very well over the winter. The photo at the left is a frame of brood I pulled off other day. The temperature's are generally in the seventy's during the day and cooler at night but tolerable.

screened bottom boards

I have been making some bottom board's lately and I'm trying to keep my expenses down by getting scrap wood at Home Depot. I get the dunnage they use Home Depot to separate load's to make the bottom boards. They cost about fifty cents each for them. The metal strap makes a 3/4" grove in the wood fit will with the 3/4" plywood. I also buy 1/4" hardware cloth from Ace Hardware for the screened bottom board's; they're the only store that sells that size around here. My equipment is not as aesthetically pleasing as some but that's ok; I am just trying to make it affordable.

hay feed

I have been open feeding the bee's using hay in the bottom of a half barrel (the barrel came from my previous aquaponics set-up) with a 1:1 ratio of sugar to water. I'm not an expert on the subject, but I really like this way of feeding them; the bee's seem to do well and I don't have any with robbing or drowning which has been a problem with other feeders.

I have also have been able to make several splits already, which I was happy about after having a couple of hives swarm last year . I've been told it's natural, in spite of precautions, to expect 1-3 swarms a year which can be a disaster if that's all you have, but it happens.

chard

I also received three hives from William Mashburn of BeeHappy Honey in Crystal River. William has been a blessing to me as he has been working bee's for many years and is a great teacher and tremendous help to me every since I began keeping bee's.

Bee-ponics: I have been doing aquaponics for awhile now and the bees love it. Now I'm seeing improvements as the tilapia are doing better this year, they survived the limited cold spells, and the we were able to harvest some Swiss chard and lettuce (mostly for the ducks) over the winter.

Whoops, man.., dadgumit! Honey I spilt the honey :(

2011-06-26T17:00:00.000-04:00

Some day's things just don't work out. I had started off on Wednesday getting ready to pull honey on Thursday, set all my equipment up and spent time figuring out my best route to minimize steps in the process of my extracting the honey. I know it doesn't sound like a hard task, but when it comes to dealing with about 40 lb. honey supers and when you have your elbows full of cortisone just to be able to use them and have had two rotator cuff surgeries, you start to take every short cut you can to make the job a little easier. Thursday was hot and I got started a little late but endeavored in my task anyway: that was my first mistake. The supers came off fine with no problems and minimal stings. In Florida I wear as little bee protection clothing as possible when extracting or checking hives. My dad always said if your gonna be dumb you gotta be tough; besides, I only have 13 hives which makes it a little different than the big boys.

Everything went fine until late Thursday afternoon when, on my final task, I made the fatal mistake of trying to lift my extractor by myself. My wife was feeding the chickens and ducks, and I only needed to set it back on the stand. The next thing I knew--whoops, man..dadgumit! In that instant I watched about 60 lbs. of honey go from a bucket to the floor. Tipping the bucket back upright, I had to sit there a moment and think about what had happened and how to react.

A lot of questions and thoughts raced though my mind in that long moment, and in the end the scripture, "In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you," came to mind. Not that I was happy about dropping the bucket, but I also had the thought of when I came out of my coma and I couldn't walk, and how lost and dispirited I felt for any semblance of normalcy. I am so thankful for my life, my son, my Savior, and my bee's. It put my thoughts in perspective.