Beekeeping, Gardening and Quilting in Eastern Wake County, North Carolina









Sunday, October 31, 2010

Happy Halloween


Happy Halloween from
Baby Boy!

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Another Quilt for Safechild



This is another quilt to be donated to Safechild. It's about 40 x 40 - a small quilt but big enough. Just a basic nine patch with fabric I've had for years - I'm trying to use up what I have on hand.
Our quilt guild has several charities but Safechild is my favorite.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Looking for Hive Beetles


I opened Nuc #1 today to check on the hive beetle situation. Didn't see many so I left everything alone. I also looked in Nuc #2 and Hive #5 just to make sure they had plenty of food and also the hive beetle situation in each of those hives. They were okay.
Did not check #4 and Swarm '09 - cannot pick up or even think about lifting either of these hives so I'm sure they have plenty of food for the winter. Actually, I couldn't pick up the other hives either.

In checking my hives before winter sets in, I try to lift the back of the hive - if you can lift the hive - check the hive and start feeding immediately, they will not last the winter. If you can't lift the hive body, you should be okay. But again, it's always a good idea to open the hive and then you can tell what's happening.


This is food for the winter. I have plenty of honey so I want the bees to have plenty too.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Colony Collapse Disorder - A Fungus




An article was in The New York Times this week about the colony collapse disorder. Scientists teamed up with the military and now believe the collapse is caused by a fungus tag-teaming with a virus that interacted to cause the problem.

They don't have a solution but they think they know what's causing the problem.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

A Cheeseburger

A Cheeseburger went into a bar and ordered a drink.

The bartender said "we don't serve food".


We all need a little humor now and then!

Monday, October 4, 2010

Storing Equipment


In the process of beekeeping, you really end up with a lot of stuff - things you will need next year but not right now.

With the wax moths being such a problem, this is how I store my extra supers that have been used - new ones are not a problem.

I stack the supers on a flat board on a pallet - then an empty baggie feeder box which is just a couple of inches in height - and then all the supers, mediums and deeps, whatever I have - another empty baggie feeder box - next a glass/plastic storm window - then another flat board and some type of brick or piece of granite on top.
The crystals go on a paper plate inside the empty feeder box.
I have to check and add moth crystals from time to time. So far this has worked okay. I buy my moth ice crystals 99.90% paradichlorobenzene at a big box store - bee supply places have the same thing.

The top board over the storm window is simply to keep the sun from melting the wax inside the supers - this is again speaking from experience. I had some wax to melt - it just got so hot with the sun hitting that glass.
There's all kinds of ways to store your equipment but so far this is working.