In Poland, my friend Edward keeps about thirty hives thriving on his farm. During a tour, he shows me that his bees are bringing in a lot of honey during this lovely summer day.

One of Edward's keys to success is to constantly be raising queens for the eventual splits, swarms and necessary re- queening of his hives.

Our language barrier prevented me from asking him about varroa mites, but I suspect the mites don't get a chance to infest his hives as he is at the apiary daily.

Edward and I compared notes on production quality. We discussed comb honey and top-bar frames (see my blog post on this at http://www.lincolnlandbeekeepers.com/blog---around-the-hive/are-you-experimenting-with-top-bar-frames).

He was very interested in this method as well as how we cover our hives on movable frame hives.

Beyond out love for beekeeping, We also shared our love for scraping together scrap wood and (in his case, tar paper for roofing) to construct solid hive-bodies for the bees.

I thoroughly enjoyed my visit with Edward. His excitement and knowledge were what you expect in looking at his bee yard. His pride in handing me a jar of his and his bee's delicious efforts was not disappointing!

The Poles like to cream their honey, which is what you are seeing here. And Edward likes to re-use jars as much a I do!

Let's try 25%.
If you've heard this expression, supposedly attributed to Woody Allen, you know he was never a beekeeper.

Personally, I lost 6 out of 8 hives.  Many of my beekeeper colleagues here in Sangamon County lost 60% or better.

Strangely, I was sad for our little creatures more than I thought I would be....more than if they had simply swarmed.  Probably because I felt I could've done a better job preparing them for winter, leaving more food on the hive, or throwing a few more bales of hay around the hive for a wind-break.

In recent weeks I've scoured my garage for bits of wax to send to my grand-niece for candle-making.  In due course, I ran across some older photos of some of the fine wax art that appeared at our local bee club (Lincoln Land Beekeepers Assoc), which our talented members had crafted.  This got me to thinking about my top five honey bee products.  So here are the top five in descending order, along with the one that surprised me the most in preparation for this post.

I'm curious to know what your favorites will be and look forward to your comments.

#5.  Jar Honey.  When extracting honey for my family, friends or customers, I think about how much people enjoy this fine food.  And I hope they will appreciate all that our little insect friends do to produce such a wonderful treat to our taste buds. 

I consume a lot of honey, and give away a lot as well.  So I rated this one as number 5, since the other items below are unique or new or surprising.  Then again, this could easily be number 1!

#4. Bees Wax.  As mentioned above, I am fascinated by the lovely art and methods of my talented friends who can patiently torture such lovely images.  From wax candles to wax replicas of roses and bee keeping equipment, my friends Fred and Carolyn have some truly remarkable displays.  I can barely pour clean wax into a jar with a taper daubed in it without making a mess.  Just look at these beautiful items!

#3.  Honey Pearls. Most surprising, this honey product is a new take on crystallized honey.  In short, it's more like dehydrated, crystallized honey.  Here's the product description from the manufacturer.  "Honey Pearls® are 100% natural and containing no artificial flavors or additives. Honey Pearls® add the delicate sweetness of honey to your cup with the convenience of sugar. At only 12 calories per teaspoon serving, our crystallized honey can adorn your coffee or tea cup every day!" 

I was introduced to these little packets at a conference I recently attended in Texas.  Pleasantly surprising,  Honey Pearls were a welcome relief from white sugar and aspartame.  Using a few packets, I could taste the honey in these little grains of sweetness, albeit faintly.

I'm going to buy a larger supply and see if I like it more regularly.  I'm curious if there's a method to make this type of product at home.

These are closely related to #2, below, which can be made at home....

#2.  Honey Caviar.  Ok, here's the link for you from Cookistry to make these.  I doubt you can come up with a way to sell these delightful honey products, but the process for making these looks simple and I aim to give it a try.

I'll let you know how it turned out in my next blog.

#1.  Comb Honey.  No surprise here, but I enjoy eating honey in the comb.  Honey in the comb is a thing of art all on its own.  As you can see here, this artist combined her talents with that of her bees!

Comb honey to me is the highest product line we can offer to our friends and customers.  An offering of purity and sweetness and beauty that cannot be improved upon (even with Abe's portrait).    As much as I like and consume and share "jar" honey, I get out the comb honey for special occasions, like when my daughter Cordelia makes biscuits from scratch.  These deserve something special, and I have just the thing to top off those biscuits.

If you have not checked out the Education & Reference page tab or the Summary of Events page tab recently, you should do so.  There is a new sub page to the Education & Reference page called Classes but a more comprehensive list is contained on the Summary of Events page.

As information is forwarded to the webmaster (Steve Petrilli) concerning classes, will be posted.   You can send the information to spetrilli45@gmail.com

New Year's Eve is here, but who cares about that when you have new Bee Keeping Catalogs to browse through!

I got two this week alone, along with some from the fruit growers and seed companies.   Lots to look through and many decisions to make in the next few cold weeks. As I reviewed my catalogs these last few cold days, I made a list of items I'd like to order, along with ideas I want to implement in 2014.

For example, I am going to order a drone board this year, so I can stay ahead of the Varroa mites.  Several of my colleagues have told me this is a good working solution to keeping the mites (and drones) in check.

Am I prepared for 2014's Growth?
This year the bees gave me a fair harvest.  However, I was worried that the girls would produce what they did last year, and I wasn't ready. I was quickly borrowing processing supplies from my fellow club members and bee buddies.  So this year, it's time to get out the hive tool and pry open my wallet to get an extractor and hot knife.  Every year I say I'm going to do it, but every year, my fiscally conservative Scrooge overtakes my ghost of Christmas present. 

It's highly unlikely I'll make one, unless I want one that doesn't work, but I may be looking for a used one or just treat myself to a new extractor.

Back-ups for Your Sanity.
The other item I want to get is a few back-up hive tools.  I keep losing mine! 

I use both versions of hive tools.  There are advantages to both, but again, having a backup is worth it to me, along with a pair of alligator pliers.

There are other "back-ups" I am looking to add to my collection, as I have bees at my house and my farm.  So having a smoker and veil in both places is important to me.

Bee Trix for 2014.  As with all beekeepers, we all have our tricks and tips.  Feel free to share these on this blog.  Many of you have your secrets that you love to whisper out loud to the rest of us. 

Last year I learned about swarm traps, candy boards and ways to reduce winter moisture, among many others.  Please feel free to email me your Bee Trix to lowell1500@gmail.com  Please put Bee Trix in the subject line.  Include a photo if possible.  I'll credit you if you like.

Until next time, I hope you enjoy this blog.
tim

With colder weather setting in, you should have stopped feeding your bees any liquids by now.  If you still have feeders, you probably notice the bees do not take much when the night time temperature plunges and they cluster.

Did you check the weight of the colonies the last time you were at your hive(s)?  Even if the hive(s) are not light, it is still a good idea to furnish each colony with a candy board.    It may prevent your bees from "starving to death"  even though there may be many frames of honey just inches away from the cluster.

There are several recipies for the "candy" in candy boards.   Do an internet search to get more information on construction of the candy board, the recipe for the candy or where to buy them if you prefer not to or do not have the time to make them.

The candy board  (candy side down) will replace the inner cover on the hive.   You can quickly check it every 3 weeks or so to see if it has been consumed and needs to be replaced.   So it is a good idea to have one spare board to give to a colony which has consumed all the candy on the board you previously put on the colony.

If you have not done so already, you should consider installing a mouse guard / entrance reducer on your hive(s).  There are not too many nice days left before the weather is scheduled to get a lot cooler here in Illinois.  So take advantage of a 60 degree or 70 degree sunny day in Illinois to check your colonies and while you are at it, install a mouse guard / entrance reducer.

Received reports of drones being run out of colonies here in central Illinois.

If you have not done so already, you need to take stock of what you have on hand to get your colonies ready for winter.  If you need anything, then you need to built it or purchase it so it is available when you need it.

Items such as a wind break on the North and West sides of a hive if it does not already have one is important.

Mouse guards.  

Do you proactively treat for Nosema Apis?  If so, do you have the medication on hand?

Candy boards will ensure the hive does not starve (but do not put them on now).

If you have a varroa problem, then you may want to initiate a treatment for varroa as soon as you get your honey supers off and treat per the directions of whatever medication you utilize (such as Api-Guard).

Do you shut off your screen bottom boards?  Some bee keepers do, some do not.

Do you have sufficient paramoth crystals to protect your stored honey supers until next year?

What do you do which is not mentioned above?

With the cool nights becoming more frequent, if you have not already replaced your screen inner covers with conventional inner covers, you should do so. 

It will help the colony keep the temperature regulated and expend less energy to do so.

Update of old post:   If you use screen inner covers with #8 hardware mesh, you need to fortify it against Small Hive Beetles (SHB) by putting a layer of metal window screen above or below the hardware mesh.  The easiest approach is to cut metal window screen to the same footprint of the inner cover and staple it to the bottom of the inner cover.    Small Hive Beetles cannot get through the metal window screen