Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween from

Baby Boy!

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.

www.safechildnc.org

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.

Colony Collapse Disorder - A Fungus

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/07/science/07bees.html

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.

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!

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.