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Bees, Homesteading

Bees 2016

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Bees- The Saga

There is so much to learn about keeping bees. Up until recently, I have not known enough to be able to keep mine alive. I have been a very bad bee mamma. I had a hive in the 70’s, which a bear got, and another in the 80’s, which was really mean, but now I am trying again. I did manage to catch a swarm a few years ago when a friend had his bee hive here  but I do not have much experience other than that. Bee keeping is, surprisingly, one of those things that some people get all hyped up about, almost like religion or politics. It is hard to sift through all the conflicting information and make good decisions. I have had bee people get mad at me for not blindly following their methods, but I don’t blindly follow anybody, so they will just have to get over it. I need good reasons for doing things. Reasons that make sense both scientifically and rationally. Some people  blame farmers using neo-nicotinoids or genetically modified crops for killing all the bees,  I think I may have finally found some bee folks whose opinions I can respect and who can give me intelligent, well reasoned answers. Unfortunately, I have already lost two hives, two years in a row.

First Attempt

In Spring 2014 I purchased one package of Italian bees and one of Russian bees and installed them in two hives.  Neither one made it through to the spring.The Russians were stronger than the Italians during the summer and lasted about a month longer, into March, but I did not know enough to keep them going. I was reading books and getting occasional advice from a (militant- “You have to do it my way”) beekeeper in Pennsylvania, but it was not enough.

In the Spring of 2015 I replaced those first bees with one Italian package and one Carniolian nuc. A nuc (nucleus) is a small hive with about 4 frames of brood, pollen and honey. There are bees already working and a queen that they have accepted who is laying  eggs. A nuc is ready to go and I got it from a beekeeper close by who puts them together to sell. All I had to do initially was install them in a full size hive so they could expand. Packages, on the other hand, consist of about 3 pounds of assorted bees collected into a shoe box sized, screened in box with a separate tiny cage holding a queen they have just met. You don’t know how many workers or nurse bees are in a package, nor how old they might be. Bees only live about 45 days so old ones won’t be useful for long. The queen needs to start laying as soon as possible to keep them going but sometimes package bees don’t like the smell of their new queen and they will kill her off. If you open the hive and don’t see any eggs being laid, then you have to get another queen right away.

This package of bees  killed their queen before she was even out of her cage ( they can sting her right through the screen) and they also killed the replacement queen I bought. I was advised to join the two hives in an attempt to get one strong hive out of them. I put a layer of newspaper between the two hives and stacked them together. That seemed to go OK. I applied the HopGuard strips to control the Varroa mites in August but the hive never got very strong. They were dead by December, even though they still had honey stores and it had not gotten cold yet. There was no brood so the queen had either not survived or she up and left. It was depressing. Getting expensive too. Package bees cost about $100 and a nuc is $165, queens another $35.

Second Attempt

Desperate for information, in the winter of 2015,  I joined a local bee chapter and attended their monthly meetings assuming I would get good information. However, they had conflicting opinions about what the proper way to keep bees was and there were even arguments  during the monthly meetings. The last thing I needed was to sit through a meeting where folks got into arguing about who is right. I avoided going after that. They held classes for beginners and advanced beekeepers though and I attended those. I was supposed to get a mentor during the classes but I didn’t because how would I know if the mentor’s ideas were right or if they were just pushing opinions? Instead, I got into a lengthy conversation with one of the guys who had started keeping bees the year before. I decided I would read books, talk to people who kept bees, and see if I could  maybe come across someone who was willing to help me on my own. That did not work out so well because I did not find a mentor and was still not sure what I was looking at when I opened my hives. I could not tell what was normal and what was a problem when I had nothing to compare them with.

One thing I had been told in the classes that seemed to make sense  was that I needed to install screened bottom boards on my hives to help with cooling in summer and prevention of damp in the winter. There was a sliding tray to insert below the screen to catch any mites that fell off the bees to enable counting how many mites there were. So I installed a bottom screen. I still couldn’t tell how many mites there were. I have since learned that screened bottom boards cause the bees too much extra work because they have to bring in  more water as it evaporates too quickly. Then in the winter, they can’t keep the now drafty hive warm enough and will starve rather than break out of their warming cluster to go eat the honey a few frames over.  See what I mean about conflicting information?

By the end of November it was obvious that there was no longer a queen in the hive, no eggs or larvae, just a small group of workers left. There was still honey, which I have saved, and lots of empty comb, so I will use it to help out the bees I get next. I broke down and attended another bee chapter meeting in the hope of meeting someone useful, which I did. Cheryl and Ed Forney, of Geezer Ridge, told me not to give up, they would help me learn about keeping my bees alive. They are a very generous couple who work with Veterans in West Virginia, helping them get started in bees. They would be holding free classes towards the end of winter at their farm and I could come out and go through the hives with them when it warmed up, to learn by doing. Finally.

Third Attempt-Spring 2016

I am bound and determined to successfully raise my own bees. In January I ordered one box of Italian package bees and one Carniolian nuc for delivery in late April from a beekeeper close to me that I had dealt with before. Then, in early March,  I attended more bee classes, this time at Geezer Ridge, a very successful apiary about 45 minutes away. There, I learned about the life cycle of the Varroa mite and why my treatments had not worked to get rid of them. I learned that I would need at least three hives so that I would be able to borrow frames of brood from the stronger hives to help build up the weak ones. So I ordered two more nucs raised at Geezer Ridge, where I knew the bees would be healthy and ready to go, and one more package  to go with the first in case I needed to switch the queens. I also ordered 2 more double deep wooden hive bodies so I will have 5 altogether this year. Three nucs and two packages should ensure I have enough bees to help the weaker ones out. I missed the Facebook announcement for the first class but made the second, third and fourth, which was a field day.

In my first class, I learned that every hive in this area will have mites and there is very little that actually works to kill them off.  Some of the other diseases could be a problem but are not always, so we learned what to look for. I learned that Ed is all about following scientific reasoning and studies and he knows why something needs to be done as well as what. That was refreshing. The bees must have proper nutrition in the form of protein (pollen patties) and carbohydrates (sugar) to keep their immune systems up.  There are many environmental stressors around today that bees did not have to deal with in the past. Breeding queens for resistance to stress and disease is important. Bee colonies will be considerably weakened and lose most of their brood (into which the mites lay their own evil eggs) if the mites are not controlled in the fall and then again in the spring. It is not enough to kill the adult mites hanging on the outside of the bees (the ones that I should have found under the screened bottom board), I have to kill the other life stages as well. Some of the miticides that are sold harm the bees more than the mites and some only kill one life stage of mite.

In the second class Ed showed us how to install package bees and nucs, how to feed them, and how to manipulate the frames so the bees do not have to waste energy. He answered lots of questions from the class of about 50 people without making anyone feel stupid. He advised that we talk with our farmer neighbors and get them to let us know the night before they spray, so we can lock our bees up for a short time.

In the last class, we suited up and went through a bunch of different hives, looking at the eggs and larvae, counting the brood frames in each hive, seeing the pollen they were collecting (Maples), the honey stores they had left. We moved some of the frames around to make it easier for the bees to take care of, placing the honey to the outside, putting drawn empty comb near the brood so the queen could easily lay nearby. Basically centralizing their work for them and taking advantage of their natural inclination to move up. We learned how to feed them for the winter with pollen patties, and fondant, a fluffy icing sort of sugar, and then changing to the warm weather, sugar syrup top feeder. He kept going until we were all feeling comfortable around the bees and done with asking questions.

So this year I am going to follow the advice of these professional beekeepers, who manage to winter over all their colonies, and I will use the systemic miticide that they use. Unfortunately, I have to give up on raising my bees organically or I risk losing them again, which I am not willing to do.  I had  been trying to keep the Varroa mite population down by hanging Hop Guard strips in the hives, rather than using a harsher chemical miticide. The good news is that the hives are not treated when the honey supers are on so the honey for people, when I finally get some, should be fine. I feel much better knowing that I can call on Ed and Cheryl for advice, and I plan on spending time learning in their bee yard whenever I can.

Getting Ready for the Bees-March/April 2016

The two new double-deep (meaning two deep boxes as opposed to shallower mediums), ten frame hives I purchased needed to be painted so my five year old grand daughter and I set them up on boards in the backyard and first applied primer.Then, since I have learned that it is OK to paint them colors and not just boring bright white, we went to the store to get some paint. I picked a light green, so they would not be so glaringly obvious in the pasture. While in New Zealand this winter, I saw hives in all kinds of colors stacked by the sides of the roads. Some people paint them to match their house, some with Amish designs. The bees do not seem to care.

I also bought new top feeders for each of the five hives instead of the frame feeders I had been using. They hold more, are easier to fill and clean, and more bees can reach them at a time. Ed experimented with a hole in the feeder box and came up with the proper size to prevent the bees from building burr comb (wax comb that bees build out to fill any gaps larger than a certain size) between the two halves of the feeder. They like it dark where they build comb. Bees are very particular about the space between their combs. If you don’t space the frames correctly they will bridge them all together and make a mess.

I will be registering my bees so the state inspector can check them out if I need him to. This means that I am now aware of the best management practices for keeping bees in my state. There are limits on liability for beekeepers if they follow certain guidelines.  For instance, if you live on less than 1/2 acre you can have up to 4 colonies , and they need to be facing away from your neighbors or have a hedge or fence that forces them to move up above head height on their flight path. 8 Colonies are allowed on one acre and as long as you can place them no closer than 200 feet from developed land there is no limit. There are also rules about how best to manage your hives. I had no idea.

So now I have to set up more cement blocks and level them so I can put two inch boards across as bee hive shelves. I like the way Ed does it with cement doorway lintels but I will stick to the much lighter weight boards for now. Then I might paint the older white hives with this nice new green if i get the chance. I will set all the hives in place and be ready for when they arrive, which depending on the weather should be somewhere around the third week in April. I will post then with new pictures and the story of installation.

-Wendy lee writing at Edgewise Woods, Gardens and Critters

 

 

 

Homesteading

Mount Sunday to Tasman Glacier-Day 4-5

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New Zealand Trip- Day 4

This morning, while laying in bed, we watched a pickup truck drive all the way across the wide river bed to the railroad tracks on the other side. He had to zig  all over the river bottom in search of crossings shallow enough for his truck. When we finally got up and opened the sliding van door we were met with a such a horde of sand flies ( giant gnat like things with huge teeth) trying to beat their way into our camper, that we high tailed it out of there without even making coffee first.

The plan for today is to go see the Tasman Glacier at Mount Cook National Park , stopping at interesting  places along the way. Rakia gorge is an easy first stop along the road with no hiking needed for the views.

The second stop is way down a  long, mostly gravel road, something like forty six  kilometers, to hike around on a small hill called Mt Sunday,  aka: “Andorras” ,  surrounded by huge mountains ( one was “Helms Deep”) and glacial rivers.

The Road to Mt Sunday
The Road to Mt Sunday
"Little" Mt Sunday with BIG Mts in Back
“Little” Mt Sunday with BIG Mts in Back

There were only a few people there ahead of us and we pretty much had the place to ourselves, with some cows and sheep wandering about for effect.

Sheep Leading the Way
Sheep Leading the Way

The Mt Sunday hill looked small until we started climbing  it which took about 40 minutes and it was quite windy at the top, making our pant legs flap and snap like sails. The surrounding mountains looked huge and seemed close, but it would actually take days to hike into them. The sun was warming our little spot on the hill and it was a beautiful place to spend time just sitting there taking it all in, watching the weather move around in the peaks.

View from Top of Mt Sunday
View from Top of Mt Sunday

On the way out, there was an entire herd of cows being moved down the road into a new pasture, using cattle dogs, pickups and people on foot. It was like swimming through cows as we drove slowly through.

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We have noticed all the houses and farms have above ground water tanks and there are palm trees growing in all sorts of places, mixed in with eucalyptus and pine trees. It must not get very cold in the lower elevations of the South Island. Looking it up on a plant hardiness zone map  it seems to be mostly Zone 8, which  averages lows of -5 to -10C , or 12 to 20 degrees F, in the mountains and then zone 9 on all the coastal edges. I don’t think this takes into account the elevational changes in the big mountains though. In the eastern panhandle of West Virginia, we are in Zone 6b which gets a lot colder, with the average annual minimum being 0 to -5 degrees F, or about -17 to -21 degrees C.  which is why we don’t get palm trees or giant tree ferns at home.

Single lane bridges abound, in the wide river valleys, posted with signage as to who has the right of way. It seems to be that heading upstream you usually give way to folks heading downstream. You cannot always see if there are people coming at you or not from the far side, and you have to go on faith. Sometimes there are lay-by’s in the middle. We are glad we are here in the (just barely) off season. A whole line of tourists could make these bridges kind of scary. Right now all we have to avoid are the sheep…and a few cows.

As we drive further away from the mountain ranges and again head south, the terrain progresses into fairly level farm land, with alfalfa fields and newly planted Kumara (NZ sweet potatoes). We start to pass incredibly  large, aluminum piped,  irrigation setups and then some giant rubber lined ponds that seem to be for warming up and settling out the seriously cold mountain runoff. We are on the “dry” side of the mountains, although maybe since summer is just starting, it does not seem all that dry yet.

We arrive at Lake Tekaupo, with beautiful (although invasive) lupines blooming everywhere, gorgeous turquoise blue water, and snow capped mountains in the distance.

Lake Tekaupo. Lupines
Lake Tekaupo. Lupines

The Tasman Glacier is up ahead, further than it seems, because the mountains are so big in the distance. It looks like storms are brewing up in there but here, the water in the lake is intensely turquoise blue and the sun is shining.

Road to Tasman Glacier
Road to Tasman Glacier

Once we actually get all the way up the valley, the hike to the actual glacier turns out to be further than we are willing to go, especially since the clouds have gathered and it is now cold and rainy, so we don our rain gear and settle for climbing up a steep, stair step path for a view of the glacial pond and morraine dam at the closer end of the glacier. As with most glaciers these days it has been retreating for many years now and will soon be gone.

As we leave the Tasman valley, the glacier, and supposedly a view of Mt Cook, is completely socked in, but the sun slanting under the clouds lends even more color to the landscape around  lake Pukaki.

Lake Pukaki in Tasman Valley
Lake Pukaki in Tasman Valley

We settle for the night in nearby Twizel, ready for another day.

Tuesday Day 5

The hedges, the hedges. There are evergreen tree hedges everywhere (both leafy and needled) and about 30 feet tall, shaved on the sides to make them only a few feet wide. They are between every field and somebody has to go around trimming these things. It looks like a steady job.

Hedges Everywhere
Hedges Everywhere

We are now heading for the coast to check out the Moeraki Boulders. It is weird how sheep pastures have seaside views in New Zealand. There is so much coast and so few people that even ocean front property is farmland right down to the water. Sheep at the beach. I suppose if the water was warmer, people would flock there instead.

Moeraki Boulder Beach
Moeraki Boulder Beach

The boulders are ancient concretions that have been washed out of the sand dunes where they were buried eons ago. Some of them have cracked open revealing the different layers of stone.

Inside a Cracked Boulder
Inside a Cracked Boulder

Next we came to seals sunning themselves on the rocks. Lots of seals. And giant kelp swirling around.

Seal with Giant Kelp
Seal with Giant Kelp

Next, we have to drive through an actual town, Dunedin (pronounced doo NEE din) on our way to an Albatross colony and penguins. It is a city with the University of Otago, and a busy harbour and shipping port. We do not stop, although we get turned around on a road detour and end up at a castle accidentally. The gardens looked promising but it was closing time by then so we found our way back to the road.

Harbour at Dunedin, Otago Peninsula
Harbour at Dunedin, Otago Peninsula

Albatross are huge birds that look similar to seagulls and they fly right over your head very fast, so it was hard to get a good photo of one.

Otago Light ans Albatross Cliffs
Otago Light and Albatross Cliffs

Albatross and gulls were flying around the lighthouse and zooming by right over our heads at this spot. We could see seals and dolphins and diving water birds down in the water and there were flowers blooming all around the cliffs.

It was getting late so we started south again  looking for a camp for the night.

Please share and comment if you can. It is nice to know you are out there reading this.

Wendy lee, writing at edgewisewoods.com

 

Critters, Homesteading, ShepherdstownWV-1993-2017

Snowstorm Jonas

Snowstorm Jonas

I love that we get names for winter storms now. Instead of having to talk about the “Big Snow of 96” we can say “Yeah, in 2016 Snowstorm Jonas hit Shepherdstown and we got the  biggest snowfall on the East Coast! 40.5 inches of snow in one storm! We rock!” Actually we rock around on the floor after shoveling all that snow, in an attempt to ease our aching backs. And then we hang upside down on an inversion table trying to get straightened back up.

The snow is beautiful,  but worrisome too. My barn has an awful lot of weight sitting on it and since I built it myself  I know I did not plan on dealing with 40 inches of snow back then. I should have used bigger supports, more bracing, etc. I had to lock Mara, my horse, up in the barn for two days during the storm because she was going to let herself get all snowy and cold outside. Then I didn’t sleep very well because I was afraid of the roof collapsing on her. So far it hasn’t but now the weather folks say it might rain tomorrow and that would make the snow REALLY heavy. Considering that it was 8 degrees F this morning it is hard to imagine rain happening, but I think I will still have to see if I can knock some of that snow off, just in case. I put a nice slippery metal roof on 3/4 of the barn roof last year so it should slide. Maybe if I started a fire underneath? Just kidding, not going there.

Barn with new plastic wind guard
Barn with new plastic wind guard

OK, just got back inside from shoveling off the part of the barn roof over the horse stalls. It did not slip off at all. I had to push and pull it with a rake and only removed about half but I feel better now.

My little mini greenhouse has not collapsed, which I am happy about, even though there is nothing in there right now. There have been reports of some big hoop houses nearby not making it.

Mini Greenhouse Out in the Garden
Mini Greenhouse Out in the Garden
Happy Chickens
Happy Chickens

I splurged and bought electric water buckets this year and I am really appreciating them and so are the horse, the chickens and the wild birds. I had to pull the pump from the water garden right before the storm because it got jammed with frogs (it was terrible, their legs were stuck in it) and I did not get it back in before it froze, so there is no open water for the deer and birds and other wild critters. I will put a pump sock around it before I re install it when the pond thaws. I thought that the skimmer box I installed last year was going to keep the frogs out but they found a way around the strainer basket.

I have been using my snowshoes (after adding some additional leather laces to them), that Jeff bought me a couple years ago from REI, to tramp down pathways, one to the road, one to the neighbors barn with the two donkeys , Emma and Elmo. My neighbor is not well enough to make it out there herself and nobody can drive to her house yet. The “Long Ears” were pretty sure I was a monster when I came clomping up to them yesterday and they wern’t much better today. They were snorting and carrying on. They now have a path to their heated water trough, and I gave them hay, so they are good. The guy with the plow is supposed to make it out maybe today or tomorrow and do our shared 600 foot driveway.

our driveway is two snowshoes wide
our driveway is two snowshoes wide

The paved road out front has one lane opened up by some very nice neighbors with tractors and plows. No highway department yet. They are working on the main roads first.  I walked up the road, which is a tunnel of pristine  white snow,  to help dig out  my husbands parents and on the way back some people in a 2 wheel drive car were out there  and got stuck, of course. A helpful guy in a pickup , who could have been plowing instead, had to help them get out  and I heard him say, “Now please go back where you started and park it. It is only one lane and we need the road clear for emergencies.”  Update: the roads department got to it Monday afternoon and now it is almost two lanes wide.  I am going to have to dig the mailbox out soon.

No mail for awhile yet...
No mail for awhile yet…

I have tons of good food put away in the freezer and we have not lost power at all, which is amazing. We rarely do lose it here, although the next house down the road is on a different substation and they lose it all the time. Their lines go through some large trees. We have been eating venison stew, pumpkin pie and our fresh eggs. The chickens have slowed down during this storm but there are plenty for us. I have ordered 50 new chicks  to arrive in the spring to replace our old laying hens, and another 25 chicks for eating.

I hear people complaining about being cooped up in the winter, but I love it. I love the excuse to stay inside and do all the things I won’t do when it is too nice outside. When I feel antsy, I go do something energetic outside, and then appreciate coming back in when I get cold. There is time to sit by the fire now and I can read, sew, cook, write. The animals give me a reason to get up and be outside a couple times a day and I am not working at the moment, so I don’t have to go anywhere. It is all good.

-Wendy lee, writing at   edgewisewoods and gardens

 

 

Critters, Homesteading, Ritchie CountyWV-1970s

Goats and Crawdads

Goats do not like to get their feet wet. They don’t like dirty water. They don’t like their barn messy. Considering that, you would think they would do a better job of being neat and clean, wouldn’t you? But no. They drop nanny berries into their water bucket, spill their grain in the dirt, and climb all over the clean hay. When it rains they huddle in their little barn and look down their Roman noses at the terrible wetness out there and refuse to come out. If you drag them out for milking they pussy foot around, dancing on their tip toes (er,hooves, I know) in an attempt to keep their dainty feet dry. It is pretty comical to watch.

We had Nubian milk goats, the kind with the long, floppy ears. They are seriously cute, especially when they are kids. They can be a real pain when it comes to keeping them out of things, though. Like the garden. Or the fruit trees. Or the house.

Kasha on our bed
Kasha on our bed
Kasha was the flightiest, quick-stepping, udder swinging, raindrop dodging goat we had. She bleated like a stuck pig whenever she didn’t get her way. She could sail over the woven wire fence around the garden, do a little twist in mid air, and bleat like a screaming banshee at the same time. Lolipop was more sedate and a whole lot bigger and came from a commercial dairy.
Lollipop on the Milking stand
Lollipop on the Milking stand
She could knock over a grown man if she wanted to, which luckily, she never did. Lolipop once defended the herd from a Newfoundland/ Great Pyrenees, by rearing up and timing her powerful head-butt to coincide exactly with the arrival of the dogs head at the fence. The huge black dog was boring down on her at full speed. Knocked the dog senseless. It was impressive, plus it gave us time to get a rope on him before he tried again. She must have weighed over a hundred pounds and when she reared up she was as tall as I am. The poor dog didn’t know any better. Cherokee lived his first two years chained up in a yard in D.C. and had never seen a goat before. A friend of ours had found him in a “good home wanted” ad in the latest issue of “The Mother Earth News”. For some reason he thought bringing him out to our place was a good idea. The next day Cherokee broke his rope and tried to get the neighbors milk calf that was grazing on their lawn. They almost shot him for a bear. We had to ask him to leave and train him somewhere else. He eventually turned into a good dog.

The spring of 1975 was super wet in Northwest Central West Virginia. Seriously. They called it that on the radio. Ritchie County had at least a little rain every day for a month that June. The creek came up, it went down, it came up again. It overflowed the banks. Mud was everywhere. We could not work the garden and plant. There was a rice paddy right by it. The barnyard was a mucky mess and the goats were very unhappy about it. The chickens looked scraggly in soggy feathers. The water got so high that even inside the barn was getting soggy. We were digging ditches with the mattock all over the place, trying to drain the water away. The goats were huddled in the barn peering out as we worked.

Standing there in my mud boots, scraping away at a ditch, I thought I heard a bathtub draining. You know the sound. Kind of a sucking, swirling glug, glug sound. It was loud and somewhere close by. Except here was no bathtub, not even in the house. Plus, we were standing in the middle of the barnyard.

“Where in the world is that sound coming from? Can you see anything?”

We finally looked down and found a swirling water tornado-lookin-thingy about 10 feet out from the barn wall in a low spot.
“Wow. Check this out. A Crawdad has drilled us our own barnyard drain hole. How handy is that? Little West Virginia ground lobsters helping us out.”

There was a small hill of tiny, round, mud balls mounded up and water was pouring over the top into a hole about an inch or two across. The water was pouring through pretty fast, just like going down a drain.

Crawdads are the same thing as Crayfish and some people eat them, mostly further down South though. They move backwards when they swim and forwards on land, eating insects. We had come across some huge ones on our place that measured about eight inches long when we were digging the well hole. Didn’t know they could be so useful though.

Wendy lee, writing at edgewisewoods.com

Want More Crawdad info? www.nps.gov/laro/learn/…/Crayfish-facts.docx