Honey-Bee News

From a post on Beemaster, I have found a marvelous resource for bee news and movies.

It's the Honey-Bee News.

The news articles are presented in an inviting way, with pictures to pique your curiosity. All in all it is a fabulous and useful site. Be sure not only to read the well-stocked list of news items, but also visit the "movies" page and watch the informative and helpful movies that are there.

I believe from clicking on the movie clips that are there, that you can watch the entirety of the program from Nature: The Silence of the Bees.

The page comes from someone in Valdosta, GA. I can't seem to find the name of the generous soul who has put all of this together, but we beekeepers are lucky that he/she has.

A Dangerous Time for Bees in the Mid-South

If a hive is going to fail in winter in Atlanta (in the mid South), now is when it will happen. Between now (early January and the middle of March we have crazy weather.

The good news is that it isn't so cold on many days and the bees can leave the hive to relieve themselves.

The confusing part is that with it 70 degrees as it was today, they might think we are closer to spring than we are. With global warming, last year, the red maple, which usually blooms at the end of February, was in full bloom in the middle of January. The bees then have a pollen source and think maybe it's time to build up. I do see bees fully laden with pollen going into the hive on these warm days.

Then as frequently happens we have a hard freeze for a week or so and they are confined to the hive again. By now the bees may be quite low on stores, raising young, and they starve to death.

The worst snow in the 30 years I've lived in Atlanta occurred on March 13, 1993 - it could certainly happen again. It is not unusual for us to have quite cold weather when one would think it is spring. We had a very hard freeze for several days in April a couple of years ago.

So now is the time, at least in the mid South, to watch colonies and check for weight to know if the honey stores are strong enough to make it through these roller coaster months. And to feed the bees if the stores are low. Because we are feeding to help in the event of cold, cold weather conditions, feeding should be done in something like a baggie feeder inside an empty hive box above where the hive cluster is probably hanging out. This weekend I'll probably be supplying sugar syrup to a couple of my hives.

Pictures below are the activity at my hives this morning....lots of bees out and about.

Beeswax and waterproofing

Someone posted the question on the Beemaster Forum about how to use beeswax to make a waterproofer for leather boots.

Michael Bush, my beekeeping hero, said that he melts equal parts of vaseline and beeswax and puts it on warm boots to make them waterproof.

At the moment my boots are not leather ones - they're hiking boots that are Gortex, but I might try this on a pair of leather walking shoes that I like to use rain or shine!

Not much bee news, but I cooked with honey

The bees were flying at all four hives today, but nothing remarkable or particularly interesting to report, so I decided to cook with honey instead and report to you about that adventure. Even after giving away honey to everyone I know, I still have enough left to use in cooking this year.


I'm going to try more honey based dishes or at least dishes with honey in them. This week it was Apricot Carrots from an about.com page on recipes with honey. Here's the recipe:

2 T butter
6 carrots, peeled and sliced into thin rounds
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup dried apricots, coarsely chopped
1 tsp honey
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
2 green onions, sliced very thin
salt and pepper

Saute the carrots in butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat for 3 minutes. Add broth, apricots, honey, balsamic vinegar and cinnamon to the carrots. Cover and simmer 4 minutes. Add green onions, re-cover, and simmer an additional 1 - 2 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

It was good, but if I were to make it again, I'd use a tablespoon of honey rather than a teaspoon, and I'd leave out the green onions. I couldn't tell that they added a thing and I missed enough honey to glaze the carrots. I used organic carrots and six of them sliced was a lot of carrots. Perhaps if I had used insipid ordinary carrots, I would have recognized the honey in the dish more!

PS if you're curious, the whole dinner was from Real Simple - Pork chops with escarole and onions cooked in balsamic vinegar. I thought the carrots would round the meal out pretty well.

Really Good Video about Plight of Bees

I love to visit Ted.com. There are inspiring and informative talks to be heard there. Often they last about 20 minutes and I always walk away curious about something I didn't know about before.

Here's a good video about the bees that a friend posted on Beemaster.com

The Bees are Out and About - Pollen in December???

Today as the "winter" temperature rose to the high 60s, the bees were out and about at all four hives. There was orientation behavior, particularly at Mellona and at Aristaeous2. I was pleased to see so much flying because I know there is life at all the hives - what a relief.



At Persephone, I saw two bees with full loads of yellow pollen in their pollen baskets - can you believe it? What in the world might be blooming in December? BTW, I "googled" pollen in Georgia in December and found that the only pollen present right now in Georgia is cedar...so it must be the source of the yellow pollen being brought into the hives.

In addition, that probably means the queen is doing OK because there must be babies to feed, although they may simply be refortifying their stores.

If you click on the picture below, you can see the bee at the entry way with one pollen-laden leg. Both pollen-carrying bees went into the hive too quickly for me to catch more than that.

Of course, another task when it's flying weather is the carrying out of the dead. Many bee bodies lie cast away on my deck. I'm sure the wren will have a feast.

BeeKeeping Ornaments

I couldn't post over the holiday because I forgot to take my transfer cord for my camera to the mountains. I did want to share my beekeeping ornaments. The collection grew a little this year.

I've loved the beekeeping angel below ever since my friend, Roberta, gave her to me.



My daughter Becky gave me the two bee ornaments that are flying and the beekeeping glove with the skep in it is a gift from my book club friend, Nancy.

I never see beekeeping ornaments, although I do look. I'm lucky to have others who find them for me!

Belated Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all.

Honeybee Hand Cream

I made a new batch of hand cream to give to people that I love with their Christmas gifts. I didn't have enough sweet almond oil but I did have red palm oil. I changed my formula to include less beeswax so that it wouldn't be so stiff and used the red palm oil since I didn't have any sweet almond oil.

Surprise! Surprise! The hand cream came out more like lotion and the red palm oil turned it bright yellow! I should package it in black and yellow striped containers. People seem to like it so far. I am waiting to hear from my nephew Clifford who is a fan of this lotion. I sent him a container of both the old formula and the new and hope to hear what he thinks.