Winterizing the Bees!

Dad is back from his 2 month RV trip, so on October 30th we winterized our bees! Temps were in the upper 30's, and it was windy. Not ideal but still the best weather day of the week, so we figured we'd better get this done as winter is moving in fast all of a sudden!

Beeatrice still seems to be the weaker of the two hives...there were some dead bees at the entrance (though I remember those being there a couple weeks ago when I went to feed them), and there were more bees up under the cover in the top box. They all really stayed inside the hives as we worked.

Penelobee's colony, however, we could hear the roar of buzzing inside as we worked, and they immediately started coming out once they saw the vaporizer coming in their entrance.  There were not many up around the lid so I'm assuming they are down low where they should be.

Feeder pails were pretty full on both of them, which we removed and dumped out, so they've gotten all the syrup they are going to get for the winter!

Here is a video of what we did today!

Our next BIG activity will be the glorious day of honey extraction!! This will happen in November, when we can get a date to get together, so stay tuned!

Hap-BEE Halloween from G's Bees!

Hap-BEE Halloween everyone!

My dad is back from his 2 month RV trip, which means we'll be extracting the honey that's been patiently waiting in his garage at some point here within the next few weeks! Yesterday we treated for mites and got them all covered and ready for winter.  Stay tuned for the movie....as you can see, I've BEEn busy prepping for Halloween! :-) Maybe next year I can convince my boys to dress as bees so I can wear my bee suit. Haha!

Progress pics!

Hope you all have a fun and safe Halloween!

Feeding the Bees - October 5, 2017

Last week I went to feed the bees again on September 27th.  Beeatrice's sugar syrup was only maybe 1" down from full. The holes in the pail lid seemed to be plugged with wax or propolus...not sure if that was an issue, or if the bees are trying to tell me they have enough food! But, Beeatrice is light on food so I tried scraping the lid and getting the holes un plugged, and filled it up again.  I picked up a couple more buckets (and the two empty deeps we need to cover the pails) from my Dad's last weekend.

Today I went to check the bees' feeder pails, and also checked the weight of the boxes to make sure they are getting filled up with honey for winter.  Beeatrice's pail was down about 1/3, so she took more syrup than last time.  Must have helped unplugging the holes! I topped hers off.  The top box was pretty heavy, and the other two light.  Wondering if I should try double feeder pails right on top of the frames...though my dad reminded me that we also want to be careful not to over feed, stimulating the queen to start laying eggs again.  We'll leave it as is for now and see what happens next week.

Penelobee's pail was down maybe 3/4, so she's slowing down a little with taking the syrup.  I filled it up.  The two top boxes were both heavy, and the bottom one light, which is what we want to happen. The bees should start the winter hangin' out in the bottom box, and then will move up throughout the winter as they need food. Here's a video from today!

While I anxiously await my dad's return from vacation so we can extract the honey that's waiting for us, I'll just keep on feeding! Till next time! :-)

Feeding the Bees - September 21, 2017

Today I fed the bees.  Beeatrice still had about 1/4-1/3 of a pail full of syrup, so I topped hers off.  Penelobee's was totally gone so I re-filled hers!  Here's a video from the day.

Day 21 of 21-Day Mite Treatment, + Fall Feeding!

Today marked day 21 of our 21 day mite treatment using MAQS! Now that we're done with the strips, we're clear to start feeding the bees for fall! Today was a quick visit with the bees...I just took off the strips and put on the feeder pails (filled with 2:1 sugar syrup).  Here's a video from today...watch below or click here to view on my YouTube channel!

Checking the Bees: Day 14 of 21-day Mite Treatment!

Today marked the 14th day of our 21 day treatment using MAQS (Mite Away Quick Strips)!  Today's task was simply to remove the old strips (optional, but they get crusty and gross so we remove them), and replace with a new strip.  These will remain on the hives now until next week, when I'll go back on day 21 to remove them and start some heavy feeding for fall!

Scraping off some extra wax

Nice ball of wax today from inner covers and a few frames!

Here's a video of what I did today!

Bee sure to stop in again next week! :-)

Minnesota State Fair!

If you live in Minnesota, you have to go to the state fair. And if you are a beekeeper, you of course have to check out the honey and bee exhibits!

 
As an artist as well, I of course love to check out all the bee themed art! This year it was SO fun to see this gorgeous piece, done by my very talented niece, Lucia!!

And speaking of art, inside the Honey and Bee building there is a painting that has been hanging there for as long as I can remember, painted by my mom, of my dad! 

Painting by my mom Rollie Brandt of my dad, Phil Brandt

Mom says, "Yup a professor bought that original for $100 and donated it to the fair. They hang it every year! That was back before Dad could afford a full bee suit! He just had the hat!" We always stop and check out Dad hanging on the wall in the bee building!


It's always such a cool sight to see all the beautiful jars of honey on display!

 Gotta pose in the photo cutout boards....awe, my boys are such good sports!

Next year I hope to actually enter some art in the fair! This year I was out of town on entry day, so hopefully 2018 will work out! :-)