Back into the bee shed today to sweep up some bees, some things are not quite right, and it is my own fault as I had planned to remedy them last year but didn’t get around to it. The Canadian Winter is nearly through… I hope, and I am optimistically looking forward.
High Humidity in the Bee Shed
Counting Equipment and Dealing With a Mishap
Winter Honey Bee Attrition
Swept out the bee shed today. Weighed and calculated the honey bee attrition rate to date. Wondering what is normal. What are you seeing?
Our Small Scale Wintering Shed
Moving Bees Indoors for Winter
The forecast looks like winter, time to move the bees inside. Kayla and I moved the bees into the wintering shed.
Really Digging this Thanksgiving Weekend
Testing Honey Moisture Content
Testing Honey Moisture Content
Here is the link to where I purchased the refractometer, it is pricey but very convenient:
https://www.itm.com/product/atago-pal-22s-digital-handheld-honey-refractometer?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIpuC-s9Hf4wIVjpOzCh1zZwOyEAYYAiABEgKfS_D_BwE
Checking Honey Super Space After The First Pull
Checking Mini Nucs and final Queen Graft
I have had a bear of a time getting the Styrofoam mating nucs going in early spring with the cool weather, cut and assembled these mini nucs so I can multi level them, they are half length medium frames.
The plan is that with brood already in them, I can split them back to single depth to get a head start on early queen rearing.
I think there are about 75 of them, the plan is to sell local queen in larger numbers than we have been, with more consistency next season.