President's letter to the club

Bold Beekeepers

Going low tech with the news letter.

Reminder that Dec 6 is the meeting for this month. All the reports I have heard said the November meeting went very well. As in, no mud wrestling!

December is the start of critical times. This year seems to be a little more stressful than normal. The weather is TOO NICE! The nicer the weather the more flying the bees do, the more stored honey they consume when they come home.

There is still 2 1/2 months before the first fruitful "weeds" start to bloom. All I can say is feed, feed, feed. Sugar syrup (2:1 sugar to water) and powdered pollen substitute. I say powdered because that is all I have ever tried. Powdered in a field feeder keeps the foragers busy. Pollen patties in the hive is okay for food but you have some in hive bees not working. Let the in hive bees make honey and the foragers bring in the pollen. The foragers move the pollen all the way to the storage cell so the in hive bees don't have to be diverted to storing pollen.

Try to induce a brood break ( queen stops laying eggs) to interrupt the varroa mite life cycle reducing their infestation. Mid January you can start stimulating the queen to wake up and lay eggs. To do this switch to 1:1 syrup and have the pollen substitute available.

The first of November, the Witch Hazel bushes bloomed and were promptly frozen. What a waste. It was supposed to bloom between 22 Nov. and end of December. Have I mentioned that non-existent global warming. My Mahonia Holly (grape holly) is budding out nicely. I have seen some in the sun that was about ready to bloom. This is an early January bloom that the bees love. Next should be the Pussy Willow. Mine is budding nicely but again should be a 2nd-3rd week of January activity. Mid to Late January you might see early Alder pollen coming into the hives. This all helps wake up the queen.

Weather report indicates that El Nina will continue thru the winter with colder weather up north and warmer drier here in the southeast. Except when a nasty storm blows in from the Caribbean (SW), or the Atlantic (E), or from Chicago (N-NW). Southwest or East storms only last 3-5 days but are "warm and rainy". N-NW storms are cold, cold, and windy. They last a week with the incoming storm, then the storm, then the trailing out storm. During this period the bees are stuck clustered and eating stored honey, if they still have any in the hive.

I would like to say that it doesn't cost anything to keep bees through the winter but you all know that is wrong with sugar at 61 cents a pound.

AND then I start pestering you to order your packages now and pay for them in January. The packages are $100 with a queen, $85 without a queen. I list them this way because frequently I buy 2 packages to replace a lost colony. One with a queen and one without. That is a 6 pound package. About equal to a surviving wintered over colony. Spare queens are $25.

Now something new! I can pick up 5 frame nucs for $135 at the same time I pick up packages around 25 March. Usually, it is April before anyone is selling Nucs. They have to buy the packages and they grow them into nucs. My guess is the warm weather down south is forcing Mike Gardner (Spell Bee, Gardner Apiaries) to split his hives to keep them from swarming.

This is good news. Comparing a package and a nuc available at the same time, the nuc is 6 weeks ahead of the package in population growth and comb drawing out. If I buy two packages it will cost me $185. A nuc will be cheaper. You also have to consider the amount of syrup and pollen you would have to feed the package for 6 weeks to get it to grow into a nuc.

The Bad News. The nucs will sell fast so you need to order them through me now. So I can call Gardner and get then reserved. But, Wait a minute! My hives are still alive! You have to guess on what you will have in February. It is easier to cancel an order than increase the order. There will always be someone that does not order in time that the "turn backs" can go to.

BJ Weeks (Weeks Works) weeksworks@gmail 770 735 3263 has just put the word out that his packages are ready to order. This year I am pushing Caucasian Queens from Blue Ridge Honey Co. Bob Binney, 706 782 6722 Lake Mont GA. If nothing else it is good to get some diversified DNA in your bee yard. I have three of Bob's Caucasian hives from last spring. They are not dead yet?

I am attaching my best guess on Club Members. Always looking for more people, but more importantly, who is keeping bees in your neighborhood for you to talk to.

See you all at the meeting

Glen

PS. Go to our web site (Mtnbeekeepers.org) where we have listed old bee chronicles (what happens in my bee yard by month), Quizzes (arranged so questions match monthly activities), and Esoteria (everything I think I know about bees)