Mead Making

At our bee meeting this week, Ricky Barbour gave a great demonstration on mead making. He won the Blue Ribbon at the NC State Fair this year for his mead.

The recipe "Joe's Ancient Orange Cinnamon Clove Mead" was very simple and the whole process so easy everybody was ready to go home and make a batch.

Check out this website www.gotmead.com for more information and the recipe.

My Dad and Grandfather (the beekeeper) both made homemade wines and ciders. I think I need to give it a try too.

Veteran's Day - November 11

11 November 2008 will be the 90th anniversary of Armistice Day.

Hive #6

And on Thursday, I worked in Hive #6 . . . my biggest concern being they just don't have enough food to last thru the winter.


This looks like a mess but I left the bottom super where it was and added frames from the top super to make one good super.


The brood box was put on next and it has food but not completely full of honey.



The empty super is being used just to provide an inner cover for the baggies of sugar syrup. I've never fed my bees this way so we'll see how it works. Two gallon bags and you cut a couple of slits in the top and trickle a little syrup down so the bees will know it's there.



I'll check it and see how it's working.










Hive #6 all ready.

Hive #1

Hive #1 - the bees getting back in the house. It was 70+ degrees today and time to finish up with bee work.

I combined the top two supers on this hive into one - they should be fine for the winter or at least until mid-January.

I'll have to be sure and check all the hives this winter more closely - they are using their stores quicker than I've seen before.

This is Hive #1 after combining the supers. The entrance reducer is on and they're ready for winter.

VOTER #69

Yep - I was #69 at the polls this morning. Stopped on my way in to work and no lines - walked right in and said hello to the Board of Election Ladies (my neighbors and friends) and voted!

I checked and back in May I was Voter #49 - some folks got ahead of me today.

It's rainy and messy outside and to hear the news, you'd think you had to stand in line for hours but not the case in my small town.

Please VOTE! Don't want to hear you complaining later if you couldn't get out there and make your voice heard.

Hive #6

Hive #6 is really low on food for the winter. I'm gonna have to start feeding them immediately. I switched around the supers - top to the bottom and brood box in the middle.

I'm surprised at how little honey is in the supers. The bees look fine but they'll never make it thru the winter without some help.

There were tons of ants in Hive #4 - didn't seem to matter to the bees but I'm surprised - I think I had made a note before to put some used motor oil around the bottom - need to take care of that asap.

So out of the three hives and two nucs - Hive #6 needs some help and Hive #1 needs some rearranging - and since the time change, I'll have to leave work early to get this done. Don't want to wait till the weekend and it'll be dark when I get home now - YUK!

Bee Check Up

I've missed a couple of really good weather days to check on the bees but today was just right. This is Nuc #2 which looks great and has plenty of honey for now - I think I'll have to start feeding the Nucs in late Jan - early Feb.




This is Hive #1 with duck tape on the back of the hive - it was a pretty big gap back there. I need to take the top super off this hive and combine the best frames in one super. They were a "little irritated" with me - I got a sting on my glove and the girls got upset pretty quickly. I don't know what it is about the gloves but I decided to wait and wash them before I combine those two supers.

All the hives have entrance reducers on the front - they're ready for cold weather. I do have screened bottom boards on all hives so there's ventilation and I feel this really helps with varroa mites.