A group of 45 or more creative thinking beekeepers got together on August 17, 2015. Attendees were receptive to new ideas and methods and enthusiastic about helping out a peer if they could. Here's some of the many member contributions. If you want more information about the technique or gizmo please come to a meeting and meet the beekeeper who will be happy to explain further.
Bob: showed a feed sack swarm catcher made with a thick telegraph wire rim hooked into top of long ½" electrical conduit pole, admits telegraph wire is no easy find.
Bob: brought a box feeder tray with different sized mesh openings sized for smushing in a pollen patty or setting on an upturned ball jar syrup feeder with holes poked in the lids. Hive body shell will contain all.
Bob: carries a portable hive stand to his out yards made of 2x4's mostly, with pivoting legs.
Mary: is willing to coordinate a bulk Russian order and intents to start a "What to do with my Russians this month" blog (says it'll be a lot of: "get your favorite beverage, sit back and put your feet up".)
Randy: uses a slow cooker to heat wax and paint over foundation. Ask your spouse first.
Rick: uses a beeswax candle or burr comb to rub over corners and edges of foundation where manufacturer missed waxing. Says "Bees will take care of the middle."
Jerry: does same but also adheres it with a sweep of a heat gun.
Lee: uses industrial heat gun to decap frame. When cappings melt off to cell wall, move on. Easy to decap even low spots this way. Honey stays cool.
Eric: also uses this method. Says it takes 15 min to do a super and leaves virtually no wax in the honey.
Eric: made a production style reusable queen releasing system. Its first a 3" +/- wood frame with side hole for queen cage. Frame is set over ideal area in brood nest. Push in cage slides inside frame. Once queen walks through wood hole, push in cage is set down. Wood frame is then removed to be used in next hive with new push in cage insert. If you make this as nice as Eric's you could also store jewelry in it off season.
Gary: made a low tech cappings extractor by cutting the bottom end off a gallon milk type jug. Simply use jar like a funnel over honey container, drop in cappings, they'll restrict the opening and honey will drain through the gaps. Brilliant!
Adrian: recommends Mann Lake's One Handed Queen Catcher because it allows marking or clipping with your other hand. http://www.mannlakeltd.com/beekeeping-supplies/product/HD-101.html Joe Myers agrees in absentia.
Adrian: found a helpful free Bee Health App. from the government in Alberta, Canada.
Adrian: also uses a programmable outlet thermostat for regulating the electric heater and dehumidifier fan where he stores honey supers. Its available through this link and at Home Depo.
Gary: uses a canvas portable ice shack with floor for his super conditioning room.
Bob: to melt a crystallized bucket of honey, uses a trouble light (sold in the auto departments as a cord, light socket and switch, all in one piece) and a 100 watt bulb.
Lee or maybe Brady: described his use of a 60W bulb, thermometer and fan to condition their supers before extracting.
Bob and Lee: uses a heat sensing gun (optional to using a thermometer) to get a measurement of the honey temp to make sure all is warm enough for extracting or bottling.
If you go over 115 degrees you will degrade the taste of the honey and destroy some of the good enzymes. Said these cost around $29 bucks.
Bob: dries out high moisture content honey by stacking the supers alternately, running a heat fan, and dehumidifier, in an enclosed room for a few days before extracting.
Rick: says an indoor/outdoor remote thermometer is helpful in checking status of his super conditioning area.
Tom: got a used $40 commercial tower proofing oven for his supers. Works like a charm.
Bob: described his winter top cover moisture venting box with upper entrance. Joanne swears by them.
Dan: adds Bilt Rite on top for its heat conductive properties.
Bob: says Dan (Miller Manufacturing for Fleet Farm) now manufactures his top box.
Joanne: recommends metal screen not plastic as mice can chew through plastic screen.
Elizabeth: showed her version of the Ed Simon Winter Feeder Bramble box. If you use ½" hardware cloth in the center you can do baggie feeders or lay over a tighter mesh when you want the bees to stay contained below to feed through the screen for thicker slush/fondant or a pollen pattie.To buy new go to:
WW-9909 Winter Top - Bramble http://www.thebeeshed.com/documents/General_Price_List_2015-05-01.pdf
David: said cappings, even several years old, are fine to feed bees if not fermented. Much easier than extracting them.
David: advised when using formic acid/MAQS keep screened bottom board open.
David: commented that Oxalic acid doesn't permeate cells so need to do again after brood emerges or wait for brood break.
Jerry: says you can also combine oxalic acid with sugar syrup and do the seam drizzle method but its less effective. Warns to check the label before buying wood bleach oxalic acid from a paint store to make sure its the same stuff.
Mike: filters wax by simmering and then letting it settle. Wax floats to top, impurities can be scraped off. Repeat as necessary.
Jerry: says the sun will bleach wax.
Adrian: uses saran/plastic wrap or clingfilm (if you're from the other side of the pond) to take off the floating layer of wax on his honey settling buckets.
Rick: cuts strips off political yard signs (of opposing candidates of course) across the grain/tubes and staples them to the deep side of his inner covers to add ventilation. This also gives height and ventilation for using the inner cover as a feeder tray for syrup baggies or flipped for fondant and eliminates the draft caused by a typical upper entrance hole.
Rick: has found duck tape around top inner edge of boxes miraculously keeps bees from wanting to boil out and get squished.
Rick: recommends finding a woodworker to get a dense hardwood scrap to make into your entrance reducers. Mice can't chew though woods like Ipe and Purple Heart.
Rick: uses duck tape to reduce an entrance reducer on the fly.
Rick: says a paint mixer wand attached to a cordless drill works great for syrup making.
Rick: uses feed stimulants like lemongrass, spearmint, wintergreen and a pinch of trace mineral salts (available from hunter supply shops) in his feeders.
Rick: uses a sign cutting bit to turn political signs (again opponents are best) into the disc style entrance reducers. Especially satisfying if your bees have nosema.
Adrian: said his North facing nucs were weaker than his South facing nucs. He noticed at the first inspection that there was more ice in the North facing nucs than the South facing ones, and believes this inhibits the build-up.
Rick: says to get a lighted magnifying glass to help see eggs. No more struggling on overcast days.
Rick: recommends a galvanized pail for your smoker instead of melting up your car. He didn't say how he knew this.
Rick: uses a wood plug to snuff his smoker out. Reduces time and wasted smoker fuel.
Rick: uses a frame spacer in each hand for speed. Sounds like a good idea if you are a multi-armed Indian goddess. Not sure how he manages, but there may be stuff about him we don't know yet.
Rick: carries just-in-case supplies like a queen cage, shims and an extra hive tool. I carry a just-in-case beer.
Rick: revealed to many of us wondering --what the hidden properties of sumac berries are in smokers...He says the hairs on the berries exude a small amount of oxalic acid. When you smoke them you are giving a small vaporized dose to your mites. Those of us trying to raise bees and not mites should harvest Staghorn sumac berries when dry and not after rainy weather to get the most oxalic acid. Very cool.
Rick: carries a cappings scratcher to open capped honey cells if you want the bees to move it or to do drone brood removal. His tool box also includes a water mister bottle for quick clean-up of sticky honey hands and a frame hanger.
Tom: uses a section of a political sign to sheave his cappings scratcher. This guy is neat and probably swears a lot less than the rest of us!
Tom: has found the cheapest wood pellets do not contain glue and make good smoker starters. He also uses pine cones.
Tom: sprinkles cinnamon around the inner cover top to deter ants.
Tom: sprinkles moth balls around the ground outside of his hives to deter mice.
Randy: brought in several jigs for making boxes and hand holds all of which allow him to make and assemble woodenware inexpensively and with a lot of precision. He plans to show us some videos in November as we were running out of time.
Thanks to everyone for their generous input and support of each other. It is very nice to be part of this club. You make the difficult job of keeping bees alive, a lot easier.
btw Margot Monson, MS Entomology, beekeeper is coming Sept 21st. She says her "presentations have been emphasizing the less well known and appreciated native pollinators, that are often not recognized as beneficial, let alone as pollinators: flies, beetles, moths, social wasps, solitary bees and wasps, etc., and how important they are in creating the balance necessary to a healthy garden, that plant diversity will naturally establish insect diversity, eliminating for the most part serious pest problems." She will show her photos as a part of a power point presentation.
ELW
