Buried Alive (I hope)

We've had Arctic weather here for the last 4 days. We've had average temperatures between -7C to -20C. We also had a fair amount of snow for a few days. My single box hives which I have stored side by side in an insulated box with a lid is now completely buried in snow. The temperatures are too cold for the bees to escape and go for cleansing flights so I am not too concerned. I just hope they are doing alright. They have 5" of shavings above their hives which I hope is absorbing the moisture they are creating when they uncap their honey and that some of the moisture can escape from the bottom entrance (eventhough warm air rises)....

My other hives look good. I knocked the snow off of the left hive and I put my ear to the hive and could hear them buzzing! They are still alive!

CBC: To Bee or not to Bee

                                 A beekeeper tending to his hives during the Californian almond pollination
                                 ( Image from CBC website, see bottom link)         

I caught the rerun of a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) episode on the show “The Nature of Things”. It was called “To Bee or not to Bee” and was about the struggles that beekeepers from around the world are facing. It starts out with the report from David Hackenburgs’ hives. He is the man that first coined the phrase Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) after he found his hives collapsing with no bees to be found.

The documentary explores the possibilities of what is causing CCD. It goes to different countries and interviews scientists, beekeepers and others affected. It is somewhat reassuring to see that there are a lot of scientists working at finding a solution, but it does seem like everyone has there own opinion and no one claims to truly know the source of CCD. The general consensus among the interviewed is that they believe that it is a combination of stresses. They cite overuse of pesticides, poor nutrition caused by mono-culture (large fields of the same crop, which limits the variety and quantity of pollen available to bees) and an increase in diseases has hurt the bees’ immune system so much that it can no longer fight off sickness.

If you are currently looking for a location to place your hives, think about how many different sources of nectar and pollen that will be have available and if they will be shielded from harsh pesticides.

Follow the link to see the video. The CBC has really done an excellent job of collecting and presenting this information.

CBC: Nature of Things: To Bee or not to Bee

Mead: The Beginning

Mead is wine made from honey. This is the oldest fermented beverage on earth.  Honey moons are called such because it was good luck to drink mead at your wedding. There is a lot of information out there about the history of mead; look it up!

My first meads were quite a long time in the making. Since I had decided that I was going to make some once I got some new honey. I purchased two books to study how I should make mead. Based on what I had read in terms of reviews, “The Compleat Meadmaker” by Ken Schramm is considered the bible of mead makers. There are simple methods and then he goes on to very complex methods. Most importantly, he really knows his stuff; everything is explained as a science and not an art. There are accompanying indexes of different honey compositions and explanations as to how all the ingredients interact and what you can expect when you mix them with certain fruits, spices and honeys. This is a must buy for any mead maker; hobbyist or professional!

The other book I purchased was “Making Wild Wines & Meads” by Pattie Vargas & Rich Gulling. It has 125 unusual herbs, fruits and flower recipes.  It is great because it is fairly simple and tested blends.

I started my first three 1Ga. batches of Mead On Nov 14 2009. The initial fermentations were very rigorous and everything was very exciting. It quickly slowed down and I transferred my 1st fermentation into carboys to take it the mead off the spent yeast on Nov 24th. I transferred them again on Dec 12th and now everything has really slowed down but they are still active as you can see by the airlock being off of its closed position. It means that the carboy is still pressurized.

I added the faint red circle to show what I mean by the air gap which shows that there is pressure in the carboy. (sorry for the backdrop!)

The wines have really cleared up over the last week. The light colored mead has always been clear though. It is a different honey and it is a Dry Mead.

(The marbles present in the last two are there to maintain the volume and the air gap at the top of the carboy, volume was lost in siphoning into the new carboys)


The Wines that I am making are as follows:

1. Dry Mead: 2.5 lbs of my honey (light colored) heated in water bath for 10mins + rest in water

2. Apple Melomel: Unpasteurized Apple Juice + 1.5 cups of orange Juice + 3 lbs of heated dark honey (from Jim) + acid blend

3.    Natural Sack Mead: 3.5 lbs of heated dark honey (from Jim) + golden raisins + 1.5 cups of orange juice + some grape tannin + acid blend.

All of these meads obviously have yeast and a yeast nutrient and energizer added to the mix and other small ingredients.

New Years Resolutions?

Happy 2010!

This has been an interesting year so far. Unfortunately it has been very cold. Well, the weather has been very typical of the region but I still feel bad for my colonies. They have been experiencing temperatures between -8C to -15C for the last week or more. I’ve been more conscious of the weather since I have been keeping bees. During the winter I can really notice the stormy and bitterly cold days.  Spring time will be a testament as to how well I prepared my colonies and how harsh the winter may have been. Luckily this year winter started quite late. This allowed me to feed my hives abundant amounts of syrup (they kept taking it in!). My colonies started to cluster towards the end of November.

I’ve just ordered pollen patties for the first time this week. I will hopefully be able to give my colonies a bit of kick start this spring. Further research will have to be done to find out when patties should be fed in my area.

For Christmas I received a subscription for American Bee Journal. There is an amazing amount of great articles in it. Check it out if you get the chance.


My new years resolution: try to maintain a steady amount of posts!