tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81901371043445421482024-03-13T13:09:26.598-04:00Reef Botanicals - Farm Fresh and Handcrafted IndulgencesAdventures in beekeeping, mushroom farming, chicken keeping, honey production, maple tapping, soap & candle making, drawing, crafting, sewing, knitting, baking, raising pets, and living life.Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254108021356196149noreply@blogger.comBlogger418125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8190137104344542148.post-80534611397797574952018-05-20T19:35:00.000-04:002018-05-20T19:35:24.395-04:00RecoveryWe had another bear attack a few weeks ago, this one on the two hives in our own yard. Eric did his best to slap the hives back together, and then I picked up queen cells form a local master beekeeper, to help the hives recover with strong, new queens.<br /><br />This afternoon, after face painting and balloon twisting in Ramsey, Eric and I finally had a non-rainy, fairly sunny-ish day to check on the bees! Miracle of miracles!<br />
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So we took advantage of the opportunity and checked to see what was doing.<br />
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In the first photo, you can see a big empty space in the hive, which the bees are filling in with honeycomb. Bees don't like spaces, and fill it - the larger ones with comb, the smaller ones with propolis. This space was caused by the mess Eric faced when he put the hives back together post-attack, and he wasn't able to get all ten frames in there. We're really going to have to figure out what to do about that, but right now, we're happy to let them have it so we don't kill the pupae in there and diminish their impending population. In that photo, you can also see the very top of the queen cell that Eric installed, that green plastic cap is what it's attached to. In the second photo is the bottom view of the same queen cell, with a nice round hole. The queen hatched out, and hopefully is prepping for mating or is working on mating. <br />
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We question what's going on a bit, because although we saw brood, we also saw a LOT of queen cells on that hive, built by the colony's workers themselves. They're sealed and not hatched yet. You can see them in the third photo - the ones hanging down looking like peanuts. The bees build them out and down like that because queen bees need to grow bigger than workers, and will need that space.<br />
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In photo 4, you can see capped over honeycomb cells, which contain worker pupae. We can tell by the way the caps look. They're tan, rather than white (which would contain honey), and flat, rather than bumps (which would contain drones). In the open cells, you can also see larvae, white worm-like bee babies. The ones that pretty much fill their cells are obviously older than the ones that have smaller larvae set farther in.<br />
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Happily, in one of the photos, I also got a really nice shot of a drone, photo 5. Those are the male bees, identifiable by their rounder, fatter abdomens (not really visible in the photo), and also their HUGE eyes, which are visible. Aren't they crazy?<br />
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The sixth and seventh photos are just great shots of larvae and capped worker brood, in which pupae are busy growing, respectively.<br />
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And the eighth and ninth photos are photos of foragers coming on back home. You can see the bright yellow pollen packed onto their back legs, and if you look closely, you can see one with red pollen. I'd love to know what flora that's from!<br />
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Somewhere in the middle of it all, I was being a bit of a brute, and took two stings to my upper, inner thigh through my jeans. I'm glad to have the first ones over with, and with some apple cider vinegar topically and a dose of prednisone, I'm absolutely fine.<br />
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The end result? Both hives look good, and we added honey supers, hoping that they give us a crop this year. The resource hive that Eric used to make a small colony looks amazing, so we put on a second level. And since we had so many more frames with queen cells (more than the one in the photo here), we took a few to try more colonies in two more resource hives. Theoretically, we could have five hives by the end of the season. That would be nice after all the losses!Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254108021356196149noreply@blogger.com1Franklin Lakes, NJ 07417, USA41.0167639 -74.205701140.9209099 -74.3670626 41.112617900000004 -74.0443396tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8190137104344542148.post-74656538279931217342017-10-24T12:37:00.001-04:002017-10-24T12:37:07.248-04:00Sheep & WoolThis past weekend was the amazing <a href="https://sheepandwool.com/" target="_blank">New York State Sheep & Wool Festival</a> at the Dutchess County Fairgrounds in Rhinebeck, NY. And when I say amazing, I mean it. It's huge, with a hefty attendance.<br />
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It made me think... just a year ago, I'd just taken up spinning, and attended with friends, on the hunt for some wool and mohair roving with which to practice before my first angora bun shearing. This year, I went with the same friends on Sunday, plus more spinning friends, plus Eric, to show him why I was so excited.<br />
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I've been spinning for over a year now, and I've gotten good fast, if I do say so myself. This year, I had a more narrow idea of what I was looking for. First, I got a huge bag - 5.5 lbs! - of a raw fleece I've never tried before... <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navajo-Churro" target="_blank">Navajo-Churro</a>, a threatened heritage breed. I'm glad to buy the fleece to spin, as a market for it will give the farmer/owners the incentive and capital they need to maintain and rebuild the breed.<br />
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I was also in the market for some natural dyes for my yarn, and some naturally-dyed roving. I got these really nifty Japanese mud-based dyes that I'm very much looking forward to trying. Plus I got some of the roving pictured below, the green you see in the top middle, which is Corriedale dyed in yarrow and indigo, and a beautiful bright yellow you can't see in the photo, more Corriedale, but dyed in weld.<br />
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There was braided roving too, which I've never tried. Didn't get any this year, either, despite the tempting prettiness.<br />
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For the knitters, crocheters, and weavers who may or may not also be spinners, there was a boatload of yarn too. The colors... all the colors! Amazing.<br />
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There were finished products, too. Knitted and crocheted clothes and accessories, felted suit, ornaments, toys, and cat beds. And hooked tapestries and rugs. I was, of course, enamored with the Halloween ones.</div>
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There were all sorts of tools I recognized, like carders, Turkish spindles, and even antique wheels.</div>
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There were even vendors of beautiful pelts. Something for everyone, for sure.<br />
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But then I saw something I'd never seen before. It was so cool! It was a mini tabletop spinning wheel... that works like a walking/great wheel! You draft with one hand while spinning the handle with the other. I did try it, but stopped for fear of making a mess of their yarn. It was hard!<br />
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And of course, the sheep part of Sheep and Wool... and goats, too! It's settled, I really, really, really need angora goats. Their fleece is mohair. And they're adorable.<br />
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And they like to be scratched behind the ear, just like Jack. In fact, this one tilted it's head just like Jack when Eric scratched it.</div>
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Look at that 'do! Before they're sheared, they look like they have no eyes. It's awesome. I need them, I tell you.</div>
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And there were cashmere goats. So soft! These kids were adorable.</div>
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Of course, can't have a Sheep & Wool Festival without sheep.</div>
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The personality!<br />
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The bangs!<br />
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And? Alpacas & llamas!</div>
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Alpacas are awesomely ridiculous looking, but llamas are really pretty. Love those ears!</div>
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Check back here at <a href="http://reefbotanicals.com/" target="_blank">Reef Botanicals</a>, the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ReefBotanicals/" target="_blank">Facebook page</a>, and in the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/211199759411585/" target="_blank">Facebook group</a> to see what I do with my new acquisitions!</div>
Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254108021356196149noreply@blogger.com0Rhinebeck, NY, USA41.9318294 -73.907437241.742810399999996 -74.2301607 42.1208484 -73.584713700000009tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8190137104344542148.post-36685627396713095782017-02-09T01:32:00.000-05:002017-02-09T01:32:50.871-05:00Maple Tapping: A How-ToIn case anyone else wants to try this. Instructions courtesy of Eric:<br />
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Step one: Determine if your trees are maples (or otherwise tappable). It can be hard to tell during the winter, but the branching patterns can help you determine what type of trees you have. Oak trees, which are common here in New Jersey, have an alternating branching pattern, while maple trees have an opposite branching pattern (see image, below). You can also tap walnut and birch trees, but they have a lower sugar content, so you'll need more sap to get syrup, but it will be equally tasty. Obviously, if you're allergic to walnut, avoid tapping walnut trees.<br />
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Step two: Order equipment. You'll basically only need a few things. Your taps, or spiles, are what go into the tree. You'll need one tap for each tree over 12" in diameter, and 2 taps can be put into trees over 18". Don't tap anything smaller than 12". There are different types of spiles, metal and plastic, but they all work similarly. Below is a photo of the ones we ordered. Depending on the spiles you order, you may also need tubing to direct the flow into your container. Our spiles came with 2' lengths of tubing attached, as pictured.<br />
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You'll also need buckets to collect the sap. You can use 1 gallon milk jugs or water bottles, but you'll need to collect the sap frequently. We did this last year, and, sadly, probably lost a ton of sap to spillage without even realizing it. We learned from our mistake, and this year are using 5 gallon pails with a hole drilled in the lid. In just a day or two, we found that we already had 20 gallons of sap in 4 full buckets, so if you keep up with it, you can get quite a bit!<br />
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Step three: Tap trees when temps are freezing at night and above freezing during the day. You'll need a drill and a 5/16" wood bit for this. Mark the bit at 1.5" with either tape or a thick sharpie marker. You want to drill no more than 1.5" into your trees. Don't skip the marking of the bit, as you don't want to go too deep and damage your trees. Use a new bit, or one that has been cleaned well and wiped with alcohol to sanitize it. Drill into your tree at a very slight upward angle to 1.5". If it's a maple and the temperature is right, you should have sap flow almost immediately. (When we tapped ours this year it was still a bit too cold, so there was no instantaneous flow, but it started the next day.) Insert your spile, and carefully tap it in with a hammer, or (better yet) a rubber mallet. Choke up on the hammer, and tap it in lightly until the hammer bounces back when you tap it. Put your tubing in the bucket and you're done. Wipe your bit down with alcohol before moving to the next tree to prevent possible disease transmission.<br />
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Step four: Collect your sap frequently, and store it below 38 degrees. If you have to leave it outside, cover it and try to keep it in a snow bank, or pile snow around it. Sap should be used within a week.<br />
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Step five: Freeze your sap. We skipped this step last year, thinking it'd be a waste of time, and of course learned the hard way that it's actually a time saver. This step separates much of the water out of your sap, and speeds up the boiling time. We're definitely doing it this year; 10 gallons are already in the chest freezer.<br />
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Step six: Clear your day. Pour your sap in a large pot. (This is best done outside, on a large propane burner, or your house will become a rainforest, complete with dripping ceilings. For real. Don't ask me how I know this.) Bring the sap to a rolling boil and watch it throughout the day, adding more sap as necessary to keep the pot 2/3 full. Once it all boils down to a smaller amount, you can transfer the sap to a smaller pot and finish the boil indoors. The sap is officially syrup when it reaches 219 degrees. It takes up to 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup, so seriously... Clear your day and start early.<br />
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A note - that was how we did it last year. This year, we've bought an evaporator pan. We'll be building a trough out of cinderblocks and placing <i>two </i>propane burners in it, with the pan over them. This allows for a shallower, longer, wider surface and two burners rather than one, and is reputed to be much faster. I'll be posting once we get to boiling, which will be Friday or Saturday, so watch this blog for more photos and updates!<br />
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Step seven: Filter your syrup through a few layers of cheesecloth, and pour into pre-warmed canning jars (if you put 219 degree syrup into cold jars, they can crack, so make sure you warm them in a pot of hot water beforehand. Wipe the rims of your jars, put the lids on, and screw the bands finger tight. As they cool, the lids should pop in, and you can store your syrup at room temperature for a year or more.<br />
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Enjoy!Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254108021356196149noreply@blogger.com0Franklin Lakes, NJ 07417, USA41.0167639 -74.205701140.9209099 -74.3670626 41.112617900000004 -74.0443396tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8190137104344542148.post-85146693723348455272017-01-06T08:00:00.000-05:002017-01-06T08:00:13.532-05:00There's a Reason I've Been So QuietLots of reasons, actually. They boil down to: We've been busy! Insanely busy. And I've been downright lazy about keeping up here. But at least now you get a ton of photos!<br />
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We had a warm spell back in the winter/early spring, which got the queen bees laying new brood early... and then a really cold snap that kept us from getting into the hives to do splits. And then warmth... and then rain that again kept us from getting into the hives.<br />
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As a result, were dealing with swarms from all our hives for the entire spring and into the summer, in addition to the nucs we bought. It was exhausting. Eric was working from home a lot, and our friend Carol, who was a brand new beek and our mentee this season, also works from home, so they spent every day chasing swarms all over town. We have one tree in the backyard we dubbed "the swarm tree," and at one point, it had <b>three</b> swarms in residence.<br />
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We weren't able to catch them all, and lost a lot of bees. On top of that, we had bear attacks that took out six of the twenty-four hives to which we'd built up. We tried combining, requeening, and did what we could. It was a tough season that resulted in much more work and less honey than we anticipated, and us being down to eight hives now. Fingers crossed they all make it through winter!<br />
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Agriculture is rough. Love it anyway, even through the occasional tears.<br />
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On top of all of that, there's <a href="http://www.webeelieve.org/" target="_blank">We Bee-lieve</a>! Eric and I have formed a NJ domestic nonprofit corporation to bring bees to kids and vice versa. Feel free to visit the site or <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Webeelieveorganization/" target="_blank">Facebook page</a> (and "like" it to keep up with our doings! We're on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/webeelieve/" target="_blank">Instagram</a> too! The plan is doing bee talks, which we've already started (photos on the Facebook page and Instagram), plus put hives in depressed areas and teach kids everything from how to make seed bombs and what pollinators do all the way up to how to be beekeepers. We have our five inaugural hives on the roof of the old Uniroyal factory in Passaic, NJ, and our initial investor is the land developer who owns that property. It's amazing, and so far the girls up there are flourishing. The hives are facing the Passaic River, where there must be a ton of forage, because over the spring and summer they were working their little wings off bringing in nectar and pollen.<br />
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In case we weren't missing enough sleep (Who needs sleep? Sleep is boring!), we've taken on some new endeavors too! First of all, Eric has gotten into fine woodworking. You can see his wares at <a href="http://bladesandboard.com/" target="_blank">Blades and Board</a>, and like his <a href="https://www.facebook.com/bladesandboard/" target="_blank">Facebook page</a> if you're interested in also seeing his stuff that doesn't get listed for sale. He's really amazingly talented. In addition to the stuff on his site and FB page, we had a joint effort... he turned apple wood and walnut ornaments, and I painted them! We got a ton of custom orders, which was fun but harrowing. These are a few of the ones we did...<br />
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Of course, I couldn't let Eric have <b>all</b> the fun! I've taken up some new avocations too! It just so happens that Eric and I made some new friends from whom got these angora buns...<br />
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<i>Washburne William, a/k/a "Wash"</i></div>
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<i>Malcolm Lassie, a/k/a "Mal," together with Jack</i></div>
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How freakin' cute are they?... and this drop spindle...<br />
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... and what felt about two seconds later, I had this spinning wheel.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCJvCZm3ODggS3RdVXiwXPmCuZ3_v7xJe1epyt-FM9LDNr-jbXkYR57CsxUZzdociHkxngG8m5R9zPGBlKg2Kn3aE7h3X9FBwJHvMyM7zLSlmvFkiGXnkPZ5CjvtDa9uHxWQfv3MRaiYs/s1600/14910529_10154744531762578_5734606830804567260_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCJvCZm3ODggS3RdVXiwXPmCuZ3_v7xJe1epyt-FM9LDNr-jbXkYR57CsxUZzdociHkxngG8m5R9zPGBlKg2Kn3aE7h3X9FBwJHvMyM7zLSlmvFkiGXnkPZ5CjvtDa9uHxWQfv3MRaiYs/s400/14910529_10154744531762578_5734606830804567260_n.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>
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She's a 1960-something Ashford Traditional, named Serenity (you nerds will get the connection if you read the buns' names), and I made some <b>more </b>new friends in the process of the purchase! This was in October, and I've been spinning ever since! I'm completely addicted. I even got to spin with some help from Santa when Eric and I were vendors at a holiday festival.<br />
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And for Chanukah, Eric got me the best gifts ever.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyalnm08bYCE39FIKjxAfK-WX7l4ThGGtbmVtulKGIERbiTRWNO3mWQCmx9YwuiRjT_ujuWrnuG59_NyFdQIwd4q2lbnlR31UqiNBjtmXVslXiM6ep-vxNYPNDm-o9nK0EqV-BFie8vUQ/s1600/15732603_10154938132837578_6584229604324157639_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyalnm08bYCE39FIKjxAfK-WX7l4ThGGtbmVtulKGIERbiTRWNO3mWQCmx9YwuiRjT_ujuWrnuG59_NyFdQIwd4q2lbnlR31UqiNBjtmXVslXiM6ep-vxNYPNDm-o9nK0EqV-BFie8vUQ/s400/15732603_10154938132837578_6584229604324157639_o.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Those right there are two yarn dyeing books, which I plan to start reading imminently. I'm really looking forward to putting the one on the left to good use right away, and the one on the right, which is about creating natural dyes, to good use come spring when things start blooming. Apparently tickseed makes an amazing red-orange that Eric is really looking forward to.<br />
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In the middle is King Gumdrop, an out-of-print antique book (1916) I had as a kid, which has old candy recipes in the back! And that little thing there is a remote shutter control for my DSLR. Expect some amazing photos of the bees come spring!<br />
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Meanwhile, I think in the not too distant future, there will be yarn for sale!Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254108021356196149noreply@blogger.com0Franklin Lakes, NJ 07417, USA41.0167639 -74.205701140.9209099 -74.3670626 41.112617900000004 -74.0443396tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8190137104344542148.post-78683370099355854762016-02-23T13:08:00.000-05:002016-02-23T13:08:56.440-05:00It's Spring!OK, so today's high is forecast to be 38 degrees Fahrenheit, with snow, and the current precipitation consists of ice pellets. And yes, it's February.<br />
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But for the bees, and therefore beekeepers, it's early spring! The girls are starting now to build their populations up, the queen is ramping up her laying of brood, and they're preparing for the inevitable arrival of dandelions, their first food of the year aside from what we feed them.<br />
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As an aside, we don't touch our dandelions until they've bloomed and gone to seed. And then we make sure to kick and blow the seeds around the yard so there'll be even <i>more</i> later in the summer and next year! Yes, that's the exact opposite of what my mom told me as a kid, when she classified dandelions as "weeds" and freaked out that there'd be too many when we blew the seeds. But that's because now that I'm an adult, with my own yard, I know their value and I want them!<br />
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At any rate, it's definitely time for us as beekeepers to start thinking spring, and this time we're expanding from 10 hives to nearly 30 (yes, you read that right!), so on Saturday we went to the bee supply store and picked up a bunch of woodenware for some of our new hives.<br />
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo: Carol Peterson</span></i></div>
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Part of the fun was also bringing two friends who've <i>just</i> ordered their first two nucs, and getting them set up with everything they'll need as well! Eric and I are both so excited to be mentoring new beekeepers, you have no idea.<br />
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And then on Sunday when it was nice and warm, I visited the hives to see how they're doing, give them some more food of protein filled "winter patties" to keep them going until the nectar and pollen arrive, and treat them with a bit of Apivar. Now's the time for "spring" mite treatments, since varroa mites attack the larvae, and the queen is ramping up her brood production, the mites'll be ramping up too. Yuck. There's no sadder sight to me than seeing honey bees with varroa mites clinging onto them, sucking them dry like a plate-sized tick on a human. <i>(shudder)</i><br />
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Spring feels so, so close now.<br />
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In the meantime, we console ourselves with our tapped maple trees, which are producing nicely. I have to say, I understand why maple syrup is so expensive now! Boiling it down is a long, long, long process, and when 10 gallons of sap yields just 1.5 pints of syrup... well, you get the picture. But it's such a <i>pretty</i> picture!<br />
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And what to do with your maple syrup? Well, I personally highly recommend <a href="http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/maple-buttermilk-pudding-cake" target="_blank">this recipe for maple-buttermilk pudding cake</a> that I tried Sunday night.<br />
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Whoa!Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254108021356196149noreply@blogger.com0Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA41.0167639 -74.205701140.9209099 -74.3670626 41.112617900000004 -74.0443396tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8190137104344542148.post-527017538144089032016-02-08T15:43:00.000-05:002016-02-08T15:43:27.766-05:00This One's for UsBecause we don't do enough things <i>(yes, that's facetious tone right there)</i>, Eric came up with the admittedly awesome idea that we should make maple syrup too! So he ordered a set of 10 taps, and we gathered all the plastic gallon bottles we could find, and this weekend before the Superbowl, we found five trees in our front and back yards that were viable to tap. They've got to be at least 12" in diameter for a single tap, and over 18" in diameter for two. One of the trees fit the bill for two taps, so we got to use six of them!<br />
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We were completely unprepared for <i>(and amazed by!)</i> how quickly the sap started to flow and how fast it came. We put in the taps just yesterday, and we'll likely have 10 gallons of sap by tonight! Of course, it takes 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of actual maple syrup once it's boiled down, but at this rate, we'll have that before the week's out! We were figuring 1-2 gallons would come from the whole 6-week season, but it looks like we'll have more like 5 or 6, which is awesome.<br />
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These won't be for sale in the shop, though, these are just for us and gifts for friends. After all, who wouldn't love 100% pure New Jersey maple syrup?Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254108021356196149noreply@blogger.com1Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA41.0167639 -74.205701140.9209099 -74.3670626 41.112617900000004 -74.0443396tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8190137104344542148.post-948827458485647692016-02-05T15:29:00.000-05:002016-02-05T15:29:44.825-05:00Back to the BeesHere in northern New Jersey, it got near 60 degrees on Sunday... January 31! Crazy. But that meant the bees were flying. They were going nuts, in fact, uncrossing all their little legs in their "cleansing" (bathroom) runs since they won't go in the hive, bringing out their dead, and generally cleaning house.<br />
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We took advantage of the terrific weather and the girls' activity, and did inspections on all 11 hives.<br />
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The six in our yard are doing well, most with phenomenal populations, one with the population a little lower than the rest, and we'll need to keep an eye on them. One of the hives, the Pooh hive, was downright <b>angry</b> because their mouse guard had been removed somehow, and we believe a mouse or other animal had gotten in and shredded some of their comb. We replaced the guard, and when they get a chance, they'll repair it like new.<br />
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They all still seemed to have quite a bit of honey, but had eaten the two winter patties we provided to each colony, so we added one more to each hive. Better too much food than too little, and if there's one thing these bees will <b>not</b> die of under our watch, it's starvation due to lack of stores.<br />
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The two hives up the road, one of which we're actually overwintering as a single deep hive box rather than our typical two-deep, are going gangbusters, bursting at the seams with bees. We'll have to be right on top of them in early spring so they don't swarm! We gave them each a new patty too; they'd devoured theirs.<br />
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The two hives farther across town were also going gangbusters, and actually really calm and unstressed, which was nice to see. We gave them each a patty and let them go about their business unhindered.<br />
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And then there was the small summer swarm Eric had caught and collected back in <a href="http://reefbotanicals.blogspot.com/2015/06/erics-amazing-ambassador-for-bees.html" target="_blank">June</a>. We tried our darnedest all summer and fall to keep them going, requeening them when theirs disappeared, adding honeycomb and brood from other hives, and feeding them, but they just never really got their population where it needed to be to survive the cold snap once it came. We found the hive devoid of live bees, and just a handful of dead ones on the bottom and in the comb. The top box still had all their honey and they hadn't come near the food we'd left them.<br />
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So we're down to 10. In practical terms, we're ok with that. I personally get upset over losing a hive, and cried for those girls, but in the end, we're doing well. If it keeps going like this, we're in a really great place for honey and expansion come spring!Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254108021356196149noreply@blogger.com0Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA41.0167639 -74.205701140.9209099 -74.3670626 41.112617900000004 -74.0443396tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8190137104344542148.post-7160382482461491832016-01-26T08:00:00.000-05:002016-01-26T08:00:24.239-05:00Chickens and Mushrooms and Coloring, Oh, My!We've been working diligently on the mushrooms, and have sold our entire first flush of lion's mane, plus a bunch of pink and blue oysters.<br />
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<i>Lion's Mane Mushrooms</i></div>
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<i>Pink Oyster Mushrooms</i></div>
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<i>Blue Oyster Mushrooms</i></div>
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How pretty are they? And I love that people are almost as excited about them as we are. The ones we didn't sell, we used to make oyster mushroom tacos for dinner!<br />
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So good, and an amazing vegetarian option for the non-meat-eaters out there.<br />
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Meanwhile, I've been busy with the <a href="https://handmadeartists.com/shop/FabricOfMyMind&secid=6231" target="_blank">coloring pages</a>, coloring the ones I'd already listed, plus adding some more!<br />
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And the chicklettes? Well, they aren't fond of the cold and outright hate the snow we got over the weekend, but they're doing well. We get eggs every day, even though it's understandably slowed down a bit in these cold, short days. And Miranda is really personable.<br />
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<br />Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254108021356196149noreply@blogger.com0Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA41.0167639 -74.205701140.9209099 -74.3670626 41.112617900000004 -74.0443396tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8190137104344542148.post-63461631021325886902016-01-15T08:00:00.000-05:002016-01-15T08:00:00.149-05:00Vegetarian Lobster?The first of our mushrooms to fruit enough for us to try some were the lion's mane, so we harvested a small one today to share. Aren't they cool looking?<br />
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Eric had read that these mushrooms can taste like lobster, but we were both skeptical. I mean, that's just weird, right? Eric actually has spent his life not fond of mushrooms, so after he sauteed them up in a pan with a bit of butter and a touch of salt and pepper, I was the first to try.<br />
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Would you believe me if I tell you <i>they taste like lobster</i>?! They totally do! My mouth is watering thinking about it.<br />
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It's vegetarian (vegan if you don't use butter), low cal, low point, naturally grown & chemical free lobster! Kosher too, for those who are so inclined.<br />
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Even better? Check out <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-stamets/mushroom-memory_b_1725583.html" target="_blank">this article from the Huffington Post</a>. Researchers have been experimenting with lion's mane's apparent ability to regenerate nerves, improve memory and cognition, and boost mood.<br />
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Mind blown!<br />
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Oh, and the pink oysters? Yeah, they're going to be harvested this weekend, for sure.<br />
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<br />Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254108021356196149noreply@blogger.com1Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA41.0167639 -74.205701140.9209099 -74.3670626 41.112617900000004 -74.0443396tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8190137104344542148.post-18892505055217095762016-01-03T13:25:00.000-05:002016-01-03T13:25:06.220-05:00I Satisfy my Drawing Bug, You Get to RelaxSomething new at <a href="https://handmadeartists.com/shop/FabricOfMyMind&secid=6231" target="_blank">Fabric of my Mind</a>... adult drawing pages! I love this new craze, because it both gives me a productive reason to draw... and then gives me something to color afterward!<br />
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There are several already, and more on the way!<br />
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It started with the bee, of course. And then I just got addicted. I'm having so much fun with these!Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254108021356196149noreply@blogger.com0Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA41.0167639 -74.205701140.9209099 -74.3670626 41.112617900000004 -74.0443396tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8190137104344542148.post-47306185087763825292015-12-21T08:00:00.000-05:002015-12-21T10:58:38.818-05:00Mmmmm... Mushrooms!Soon, anyway. Probably in a couple weeks, in fact! Eric and I decided, after buying a shiitake log at the local garlic festival, to become mushroom farmers. Yes, really. Bees and honey, chickens and eggs, and now mushrooms. I've always loved mushrooms, but until starting to read about them, neither one of us realized just how healthy they are. It's pretty incredible.<br />
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So we started with shiitakes, pink and blue oyster mushrooms, and lions mane.<br />
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The blue oysters became fully innoculated with mycelium most quickly, so yesterday Eric and I built the fruiting chamber, sort of a greenhouse that's primarily about keeping the right level of humidity.<br />
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We built a PVC frame around metal shelving, and then covered the whole thing in a plastic tarp, leaving a door of sorts, so we can get in and work with the mushrooms.<br />
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We set up the humidifier with the electronic sensor Eric built, and a light on a timer, and then Eric cut slits in the fruiting bags. See all that white all mixed in with the coffee grounds? That's the mycelium, the body of the mushroom plant! I know it looks kind of ick, but what comes from it is totally worth it.<br />
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And now we're just letting the humidifier do its thing. Can't wait to watch them fruit!Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254108021356196149noreply@blogger.com0Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA41.0167639 -74.205701140.9209099 -74.3670626 41.112617900000004 -74.0443396tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8190137104344542148.post-26208906759314628772015-12-04T13:05:00.000-05:002015-12-04T13:05:08.508-05:00Eggs, Baby!I hope everyone had a terrific Thanksgiving (we did!) and is looking forward to the holidays. I can't believe Chanukah starts this Sunday night already! Where did it all go? I blinked and summer was gone, and then blinked again and it wasn't fall anymore. They say time flies when you're having fun, but this is ludicrous already.<br />
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Anyway, we got a very cool "gift"... over the past week & a half, one (I'm convinced Cher was first) and then another (Lita) chicken started laying! They've been giving us nearly an egg a day each, one brown, one tan.<br />
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And then... and then! Last night I went to check on the chicklettes and get them in their coop for the night, since they still refuse to go in on their own, the little ninnies, and what did I see... but THREE eggs!<br />
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Tan and brown from Lita & Cher, which in total means they've given us 17 eggs so far between them...<br />
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... and a GREEN EGG from one of the Araucanas! I'm betting on Reba; she's bigger than Adele and her little comb got redder faster, so she seems like the mature one. But either way, a green egg!!!<br />
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Go girls!<br />
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So this morning, I brought one tan and one brown egg to work, and had myself some incredible scrambled eggs, courtesy of the chicklettes.<br />
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Thanks, ladies!Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254108021356196149noreply@blogger.com0Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA41.0167639 -74.205701140.9209099 -74.3670626 41.112617900000004 -74.0443396tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8190137104344542148.post-51550776323211822272015-10-17T11:28:00.000-04:002015-10-17T11:28:50.431-04:00Behind the FeathersIt's occurred to me that I didn't show the construction or interior of the coop and run. What was I thinking?<br />
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Eric did the whole thing after a lot of research, but basically without any plans. It started, as most construction projects would, with a frame.<br />
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He made sure that 3 of the sides would be on or butted right up against a cement walk, since we do have quite a few predators in this area, and didn't want to get up one morning to some random feathers and no chickens.<br />
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That platform base over on the right is where he built the coop itself, lofted above the 6' x 12' run below.<br />
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I lined the coop floor with linoleum tiles we picked up at the <a href="http://habitatrestorewayne.org/contact-us" target="_blank">ReStore</a>. It's not the prettiest, but it's whole purpose is to make cleaning the coop easier, so that's quite all right.<br />
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If you haven't ever been to a ReStore, you should check it out, by the way, Everything's wonderfully inexpensive, but also all the proceeds go to Habitat for Humanity. In fact, all the "employees" there are actually Habitat for Humanity volunteers! How cool is that? While we were there, we also got the roof shingles, since Eric built one heck of a serious roof for the top, to foil any hawks that might try to use our girls as lunch.<br />
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Inside the coop, Eric built removable roosts (left) for the girls to sleep on, and cut out the entrances to the nesting boxes (right).<br />
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I'm honestly proud of all the great construction he did, and especially impressed with the nesting boxes and other doors.<br />
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That unstained piece on the front is a double door, the nesting boxes are easy to get to, and to the right of them is another small door with easy access to their feed bucket. Everything has double locks, too, in case those wily raccoons figure one kind out.<br />
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Inside, there's a sliding chicken door with a cord and pulley, and Eric built the ramp for them too.<br />
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Overall, it's just really gorgeous.<br />
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And another shot of the girls, just for good measure...<br />
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Going around from the blonde down front, that's Adele, Reba behind her, then Lita. Martina's in the back middle, Miranda's the other blonde, and Cher the black Australorpe up front right.Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254108021356196149noreply@blogger.com2Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA41.0167639 -74.205701140.9209099 -74.3670626 41.112617900000004 -74.0443396tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8190137104344542148.post-38670598614278349682015-10-01T08:00:00.000-04:002015-10-01T08:00:15.956-04:00I know, I know, I've been a slackerActually, the problem is that we've been really, really busy.<br />
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We had our honey harvest back in July, and then had to bottle and label it all, because we were almost immediately sold out. It was crazy!<br />
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We did save a bunch for ourselves for the year, and there's a it more <i>almost honey </i>to extract to make mead.<br />
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But of course, because one of the season's big things was nearly over, we had to take on another.<br />
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Chickens!<br />
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First came the coop and run, so they'd have somewhere to live.<br />
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Eric built it, with some help from his brother and our friend. I helped stain some of it and pitched roof shingles up to Eric to fasten down. He's pretty proud of it, and rightly so, as he did it with pretty much no plans and just a bunch of research. The run is 6' x 12', and the coop is that closed area raised up on the right. He made the ramp for them, and the nesting boxes are sticking out on the right.<br />
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And then, because their feed and supplies needed a place to reside, a storage bench to match!<br />
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Yes, he made this too. My only lament is that it's a custom piece, so it's too long and wide for commercial cushions. Since I'd like it to have a cushion, I'll have to make one.<br />
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After the bench, he finally made the compost bin he's been talking about!<br />
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Yep, that matches too! He did a great job; the top folds in half to throw in food and yard wast, or lifts off completely. And there's another hinged door on the bottom to shovel out compost. I'm a little obsessed with bringing out every possible bit of compost for the bin. I just love the feeling of "garbage" not actually going to waste.<br />
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And then, since there was wood left over, he made a matching snack table for next to the bench.<br />
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And then the finishing touch... ferns!<br />
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Conor is obviously very interested in the girls, both boys are. But I haven't introduced the girls yet! We got six hens, all pullets, so they're not laying yet. Hopefully very soon!<br />
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Miranda is our buff orpington, and will be largest, fluffiest of the birds.<br />
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Our silver laced wyandotte is Martina.<br />
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Lita's the barred rock.<br />
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The australorp is Cher.<br />
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Our blonde araucana is Adele.<br />
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And the red araucana is Reba. Obviously.<br />
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Now we just wait... impatiently... for eggs!Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254108021356196149noreply@blogger.com1Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA41.0167639 -74.205701140.9209099 -74.3670626 41.112617900000004 -74.0443396tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8190137104344542148.post-2644752246209866092015-07-21T11:02:00.002-04:002015-07-21T11:02:44.400-04:00In other happy news...The new queens in both the Swarm and Fish hives are doing their job! We saw larvae and capped brood (pupae) in both! Go girls! Go girls! Go girls! And we saw the Swarm queen, but unfortunately I was too slow to get a photo. But larvae! Pupae!<br />
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The Fish hive was stronger, but since the Swarm population was so small, we took two full frames of capped brood (pupae) from two of the new hives to add to the Swarm. Once those hatch out, they'll be nurse bees to the queen's eggs and larvae, then guards, and then in a few days ready to forage and help bulk up the hive's population.<br />
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<br />Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254108021356196149noreply@blogger.com0Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA41.0167639 -74.205701140.9209099 -74.3670626 41.112617900000004 -74.0443396tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8190137104344542148.post-88052849202285400772015-07-19T23:30:00.000-04:002015-07-19T23:29:54.321-04:00We're Farmers?Eric tells me that as a kid, he actually dreamed of being a farmer. I didn't. He went to an agricultural high school in New York City. I went to public school, started undergrad as a bio major, and finished as a politics major on my way to law school. Agriculture never even crossed my mind as being within the realm of anything I wanted to do.<br />
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Silly me.<br />
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'Cause somehow Eric and I have become farmers. <i>Weird.</i><br />
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Wednesday evening after work, we decided that it was time to pull some honey supers from the hives. OK, so we're not <i>experienced </i>or <i>bright </i>farmers. The bees are less than thrilled in the evening, you see, even just before dusk. <b>All</b> of the girls are home, all of the foragers are back from foraging, and they're not so keen on dim light or humans (read: potential threats) breaking into their homes at that hour. They're <b>never</b> keen on humans stealing their honey, but very much so not at dusk or just before.<br />
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So, yeah, not bright. And I deserved the message I got from the Pooh hive, via a sting in the tush, right through my jeans. I did, I know it. And it was fine; because it was through my jeans, she didn't get me badly, just enough to feel the pinch and then itch for a couple days. Of course, that didn't stop me from calling to Eric, "Smoke my butt! Smoke my butt!" because when bees sting they release a "danger" pheromone that calls other bees to join in the defense of the hive. The smoke blocks those pheromones. All very logical, and in hindsight, funny as all get out, but I'm still glad our neighbors are far enough away that they didn't hear "Smoke my butt! Smoke my butt!"<br />
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Because I'm sure we would have been getting some pretty sketchy looks in the neighborhood.<br />
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Eventually we got one (ten frames) of the two honey supers off the Pooh hive, and the one super (six frames) off the Wonderland hive. And we brought them downstairs to our nifty brand new Kelley Bees extractor we got (which is actually pretty old and we bought used from a fellow beek, perfect for our first year!).<br />
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It's a manual, three-frame extractor, and we're definitely getting our exercise! Turning the handle had me quoting the witches from <i>Macbeth</i>. <br />
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<i>Double, double, toill and trouble</i></div>
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<i>Fire burn and cauldron bubble.</i></div>
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But I'm getting ahead of myself. First, we had to uncap the wax off the honey.<br />
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To do so, we used our nifty new uncapping knife. It's heated and does a great job slicing the caps off. Turned out I was better at it than Eric, so we figured out quickly how to divide our labor, with Eric holding the frame steady while I sliced. It smelled so good as the honey was exposed, you have no idea!<br />
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From there, the frames went into the triangular metal basket in the extractor, and we started spinning.<br />
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The centrifugal force causes the honey to be flung from the cells of honeycomb onto the wall of the extractor and drop down from there, where it's poured through a coarse strainer (to get out any large wax and bee particles but leave the beneficial pollen) into a bucket.</div>
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And then? We bottled our first 18 lbs of honey!!! There's a bunch more yet to be bottled, and ten more frames we got off the Pooh hive on Sunday to be extracted, and we still need labels, but bottled honey!!!</div>
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I'll take the farmer's life. I love it.</div>
Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254108021356196149noreply@blogger.com0Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA41.0167639 -74.205701140.9209099 -74.3670626 41.112617900000004 -74.0443396tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8190137104344542148.post-80631645190298894072015-07-15T11:03:00.001-04:002015-07-15T11:03:48.709-04:00Truckin' AlongWhile we wait for honey extraction and the forever home for three of our five new hives, I knit. And knit, and knit, and knit.<br />
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And it makes me happy.<br />
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<br />Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254108021356196149noreply@blogger.com0Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA41.0167639 -74.205701140.9209099 -74.3670626 41.112617900000004 -74.0443396tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8190137104344542148.post-85576134484445885032015-07-11T12:11:00.000-04:002015-07-11T12:11:50.998-04:00These Go to ElevenSo... our apiary just expanded to nearly double what it was today. If you're counting along, we started with two hives last spring, one of which died. So we came into this spring with one hive, which we split. We then bought three nucs, making five hives. And Eric caught a swarm, making six.<br />
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And now? They go to eleven.<br />
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Another local beekeeper has chosen to downsize his apiary from two locations to one, and was selling his hives. Someone else bought six, we got five. Five new (old, established) hives. All at once. Whoa!<br />
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Two went to the yard of friends, who are hosting them for us. The funny thing is that the wife said yes, and then forgot to tell her husband! Thankfully, he's got a good sense of humor and is really laid back, because he accepted the concept immediately, even saying, "this will be fun." When we got there today, he'd dug up a bit of his lawn to make it flat to accommodate the hives, and spread mulch in front of them so his landscapers don't have to mow that area. Perfect possible host for our girls!<br />
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The other three were planned for another yard in our town, but the logistics there didn't work out, so they're currently, temporarily, living in our yard until they can be moved, which should happen pretty shortly, since we've got a potential "forever home" for them already.<br />
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Yeah, I think we're real beekeepers now, just in case I had any residual doubts.<br />
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We're getting some honey this year... but just wait 'til next year's crop!Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254108021356196149noreply@blogger.com1Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA41.0167639 -74.205701140.9209099 -74.3670626 41.112617900000004 -74.0443396tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8190137104344542148.post-19226497308432726182015-07-09T11:23:00.000-04:002015-07-09T11:23:02.738-04:00The Queens Have Been Released!Eric checked on the new girls this week, and was able to release the new queen into the Swarm hive on Tuesday and the Fish hive yesterday. Now it's up to them to get to work and build the populations back up. Looking forward to next weekend, when we should be seeing larvae!Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254108021356196149noreply@blogger.com0Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA41.0167639 -74.205701140.9209099 -74.3670626 41.112617900000004 -74.0443396tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8190137104344542148.post-14310803944248620372015-07-07T08:00:00.000-04:002015-07-07T08:00:00.898-04:00Busy, Busy... as a BeeOn Friday, we inspected our two queenless hives, to find that they'd both been unsuccessful in making viable, mated queens. Sigh. We had such high hopes, especially for the Fish Hive. It's been raining a lot, so it's highly likely that any new queens that hatched were unable to mate or simply unable to get back to the hives. It's a precarious thing, going on a mating flight. She could get caught in the rain, eaten by a bird, or any number of other mishaps might befall her.<br />
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Sorry, no photos, we were moving quickly to check them out after my half day at the office.<br />
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So we headed on up to <a href="http://www.hudsonvalleybeesupply.com/" target="_blank">Hudson Valley Bee Supply</a> on Saturday morning <i>(yes, the 4th, but it's become evident that there are no holidays when you're dealing with agricultural concerns)</i>, where we picked up two new mated queens and their attendants, together with just about everything we'd need to extract honey. Except the extractor.<br />
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But then Saturday evening, after I face painted at a country club July 4 party, a beekeeper friend let us know he'd ordered a new extractor and was selling his old one... so we went over there and bought it! We are now the proud owners of a three-frame Kelley Bees extractor, unlike any of the ones currently on their site, but I suppose the predecessor to <a href="https://www.kelleybees.com/Shop/17/Honey-Harvesting/Honey-House-Extracting/4062/3-frame-Honey-Extractor" target="_blank">this one</a>. We're so excited! Now the biggest problem <i>(aside from the fact that we still need to order jars and design/order labels)</i> is waiting for the bees to be done making their honey!<br />
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We're not patient types.<br />
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I guess it's ok, though. Where we are, the echinacea, black-eyed Susans, daisies, butterfly bushes, and balloon flowers are just starting to bloom, and we still have a bunch of our fruits and veggies flowering - zucchini, cantaloupe <i>(although if you watch <a href="http://www.goodeatsfanpage.com/season8/melon/melondrama.htm" target="_blank">Alton Brown's Good Eats</a>, what we're really growing is apparently muskmelon, no matter what the label says)</i>, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, etc., so if the nectar from those blooms all get added into our honey, that's just fine with us!<br />
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In the meantime, I've been knitting my little heart out. This photo shows the bee blanket as it stood a few days ago; at this point, I've got the second motif <i>(with hearts and another row of dots)</i> completely finished, and I've started in on the third motif, the big bunnies and bee.<br />
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Besides that, I got my ceramic bee bowl back from firing! I think it came out really cute, and find it amazing that this...<br />
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... became this.<br />
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<br />Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254108021356196149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8190137104344542148.post-22083582005565528742015-06-29T11:30:00.000-04:002015-06-29T11:30:56.326-04:00She Got MeYesterday afternoon, although it was still grey and cloudy, it finally stopped raining, so we decided to take a look into the honey supers on the Wonderland and Pooh hives to see if they needed any more space. Turns out they didn't, but they're doing well with the space they've got.<br />
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But I got my first sting in 35 years, my first sting since becoming a beekeeper. Totally my fault, too.<br />
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I was dressed in a dark, short-sleeved shirt and nice pants, and I wasn't in the mood to take part in going into the hives, as I'd just gotten back from a 3-hour face painting gig, so I was across the yard while Eric donned his gear to take a look.<br />
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Well, me being me, I got curious and wanted to see too, so I got closer and closer. Eric took the top super off the Pooh hive, put it on the ground, and was looking at honey frames in the second super, as I got closer to have a look at the top super, which was now uncovered, wide open, on the ground. I stood right next to it, leaning over to look in from the top, for all intents and purposes, looking to the bees like a big ol' looming bear about to attack (to a bee, dark clothes a human looks like a potential bear, and therefore a <b>huge</b> threat) their indefensible hive.<br />
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Whoops.<br />
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I felt her land in the crook of my elbow, realized I'd scared them, and immediately walked away from the hives, not freaking out (kudos to me!) not swatting at her, trying to shake my arm to shake her off, but it was already too late. I felt the pinch as she stung me, and immediately scraped out the stinger, which is what you want to do if you're ever stung, FYI. It was weird, then. I felt a gradual, but quick heat start to build, and I knew it was going to hurt. Not deathly, not intolerably, but it definitely hurt. I got an ice pack from the freezer, which immediately numbed the pain, and kept it on until the pain subsided on its own.<br />
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Later last night, while I was knitting, I was fine. Every time I straightened my elbow all the way, it felt sore, but not bad. That's mostly gone now. What I'm left with is a crazy amount of itching, that's driving me a tad insane, but I'll live. And for the record, that Benadryl topical anti-itch stuff? It's useless. Just so you know.<br />
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I'm actually glad it happened. I'm sorry I scared them, and I'm sorry one of the girls felt the need to go kamikaze, but I'm glad I got stung. It's good to know that it hurts no more than I remember it hurting 35 years ago, and I've proven to myself that I can handle it fine. So I'm good!Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254108021356196149noreply@blogger.com0Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA41.0167639 -74.205701140.9209099 -74.3670626 41.112617900000004 -74.0443396tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8190137104344542148.post-46323267549731005902015-06-24T12:09:00.000-04:002015-06-24T12:09:02.968-04:00Back to KnittingI haven't knitted in months, so there's nothing like starting big, right? Know <a href="http://reefbotanicals.blogspot.com/2015/06/the-rockstar-of-beekeeping.html" target="_blank">that bee blanket</a> Eric wanted me to try that means me learning 4 new techniques?<br />
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Started it last night!<br />
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This is going to take a loooooooooooooooong time.Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254108021356196149noreply@blogger.com0Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA41.0167639 -74.205701140.9209099 -74.3670626 41.112617900000004 -74.0443396tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8190137104344542148.post-91380515685479190122015-06-23T08:00:00.000-04:002015-06-23T09:22:51.049-04:00The Rockstar of BeekeepingFriday was "Bee Day" for us, from beginning to end. <br />
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It started with the biggest event, a visit from NJ's Rock Star of Beekeeping, our state apiarist, <a href="http://www.state.nj.us/agriculture/news/press/2007/approved/press070821.html" target="_blank">Tim Schuler</a>. He's an amazing beekeeper <i>(Eric called him the Bee Whisperer)</i>, incredibly knowledgeable, very matter-of-fact, and funny besides. Definitely someone to emulate.<br />
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He and another incredibly experienced member of our Bee Association, probably the best we've got, John Gaut, showed up around 11 a.m. to inspect the three hives in our yard, a service of indescribable value.<br />
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Tim chose to start with the Wonderland Hive, which we told him was an early spring split we'd made from the Pooh Hive and a queen from <a href="http://www.hudsonvalleybeesupply.com/" target="_blank">Hudson Valley Bee Supply</a>. <br />
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You'll note that Tim works with nothing other than his smoker and glasses - short sleeves, no veil. I will admit that I was silly and went veil-and-jacket-free that day, but I was taking photos. <i>(Though you'll see in the videos just how close I get to the bees to get those photos! No fear!)</i> I still can't touch 'em, though. Not yet. Eric, on the other hand, held his first frame of bees without wearing gloves!<br />
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Nice job, E!<br />
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Meanwhile, Tim confirmed that the Wonderland hive was doing great and everything looked as it should. Awesome! He spotted the queen off to the side <i>(you'll see her in the video if you look closely at where Tim points; she's on the frame that Tim handed to Eric. I didn't get a separate photo, but she's the extra long one that's a mahogany color and without striping)</i>, and thought she looked great. While in that hive, we got to taste some of our own honey. Whoa, it's good! It made me really excited for the club's honey competition in September.<br />
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Odd thing, during this inspection <i>(you'll see during the video)</i>, John noticed a queen bee on the ground where she shouldn't be. She wasn't one of ours, and she was behaving like she wanted to mate. I ran and got a queen cage we had, and John put her on in.<br />
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Then we moved onto the Fish Hive, which we already knew from <a href="http://www.hudsonvalleybeesupply.com/" target="_blank">last week</a> was queenless but had capped queen cells. The cells were still there, still capped, and there were a few more of them too. The girls were working hard to make themselves queen-right!<br />
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Tim confirmed that they had a good population and would likely soon be back on track, and that we'd done the right thing in taking a frame with a capped queen cell over to the queenless swarm hive for them to raise. He doesn't even think, because of the number of emerging bees in the Fish Hive and capped brood still to emerge, that the population will diminish by the time the new reigning queen is ready to start laying!<br />
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The worst part? He doesn't want us to check the Fish Hive or Swarm Hive until July 4 for eggs and larvae! Gah!<br />
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As an aside, Tim called attention to the awesome waggle dance a bunch of our girls were doing on their front porch, to call their sisters back home. I've circled a few for you. See those tushes up in the air? They were vibrating around like crazy.<br />
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We were trying to figure out what was best to do with the queen John found, unmated and without a colony, and Tim commented that he needs video of worker bees <b>not</b> accepting a queen, balling up on her instead of trying to groom and feed her. So between the GoPro and my camera, we tried to get that footage while inspecting the Pooh Hive. Didn't work. Our girls must not have seen her as any sort of threat, as instead of balling up on her, they completely ignored her and even moved away to avoid her.<br />
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Something was obviously wrong with her, and Tim said, with all his vast experience, he'd never seen anything like it! Which, although he didn't get the video he needed, is still pretty nifty.<br />
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In the meantime, we got to see, for the very first time ever, a drone pupa. It's very rare to see pupae, since the brood gets capped over as larvae and then emerges as adult bees; the pupal stage is the one you never see unless you break open a cell or one happens to break, which is what happened here. He must have been in some burr comb <i>(the comb sometimes built by the workers between levels where the queen occasionally lays drone eggs)</i> that broke when we took the hive apart for the inspection. Out of that came this awesome photo of a creature that looks more like an alien than an insect.<br />
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At any rate, the Pooh hive is bursting at the seams with bees, brood, and honey. <br />
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In fact, we saw some of our girls sharing some of that honey with each other. So cool!<br />
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We also saw several of the new bees emerge! How awesome are they?!<br />
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They're so cute, and when they're first out, they stagger around like little colts trying to find their legs... and some honey to eat.<br />
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Our queen is amazing, as is the work they're doing. In fact, we were exceptionally proud when Tim pulled a frame from one of the honey supers and told us that if we were inclined to save it and enter it, it could be a winner at the Sussex County Fair! Whoa! So not only is our honey delicious, our girls make beautiful, beautiful frames of it.<br />
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After they'd left, we reveled in our success for a bit before heading to a meeting with a director at a local organization who's interested in having one of our hives on their grounds and having us teach their students about bees! We loved her, and were very happy that she's very excited about it; now she just has to discuss it with the board. Fingers crossed that they love the idea as much as she and we do!<br />
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If they do, you'll be hearing a <b>lot</b> more about it in the future, for sure.<br />
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After that, we went to buy yarn for this blanket that Eric wants me to knit. It'll mean learning four new techniques, but for this blanket, with a big ol' bee as the centerpiece, it's totally worth it! Plus, I like to learn and want to expand my knitting repertoire anyway.<br />
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Eric and I chose a gold yarn somewhere between butter and mustard for the background color and a beautiful dark maroon for the design. It'll go beautifully with our living room rug, pillows, accent wall, and the dining room chair upholstery. I'm starting it tonight!<br />
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From there, we brought hive boxes to Mahwah, where our two new nucs are spending time until they can come home to our neighbor's yard in Franklin Lakes, and we installed them there into our hives until they can be moved. That should be July 4 weekend.<br />
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While we were in Mahwah, I got a call from a woman who found us on the <a href="http://cjba.njbeekeepers.org/swarmremoval.html" target="_blank">NJ Swarm Removal List</a>. I was so happy that she found us and called us before immediately going for an exterminator, but I found when I had her text me a photo of her "honeybees" that they were unfortunately really yellowjackets and required an exterminator. Ick!<br />
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We were sad not to have another swarm to catch, but to be honest, I was relieved at the time we gained back in not chasing it down. That evening was the monthly Northeast NJ Beekeepers Association meeting, and we were dying to go, especially since Tim was this month's speaker.<br />
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He discussed the inspections he'd made over the two days that he was here in northeast NJ, and then focused on mite treatments, as the time for that is coming right after the harvest in July. These days, as he's adamant, mite treatments are imperative for the life and well-being of bees. A survey of the past year's experiences of beekeepers across the country showed that untreated hives had a 76% death rate, which is just outright frightening.<br />
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So... first the honey, then preparations to treat and help our girls fight their parasitic tormentors.Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254108021356196149noreply@blogger.com0Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA41.0167639 -74.205701140.9209099 -74.3670626 41.112617900000004 -74.0443396tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8190137104344542148.post-19005679360788106122015-06-20T08:00:00.000-04:002015-06-20T08:00:01.101-04:00Ups and DownsSo... rather than "good news first" or "bad news first," I'll do this in chronological order, since the ups and downs are too intertwined and affect each other.<br />
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On Saturday, after I face painted and did glitter tattoos from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., we headed over to the swarm hive to see how the girls were doing.<br />
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Queenless. Damnit.<br />
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A bunch of comb they'd built, some nectar and/or sugar water in the cells, no brood... no eggs, no larvae, no pupae. And one empty queen cup. Queenless. And without a queen, a colony just can't survive. Bees only live a month and a half on the outside, so without a queen replenishing the population to the tune of 1,000 - 1,500 eggs daily, the colony just dies out.<br />
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Crud.<br />
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Eric spent some of Saturday evening trying to reach anyone from whom we could purchase a mated queen, but had no luck. So we discussed taking a frame of brood from one of our three backyard hives, which would hopefully have eggs on it (I really wish I could see eggs, but damn these 44-year-old eyes, I can't), giving the swarm the opportunity to move an egg into the queen cup they'd built and raise a new queen. When bees are queenless, they'll do this, but they need to have eggs under 3 days old available to do this. Since there were no eggs in the swarm hive, they had nothing to work with. Giving them another hive's eggs would give them a chance, though this takes a while. It takes about a month for an egg to become larva, then pupa, then queen, then mate, then start laying. And it was a small population to start. So you see the problem.<br />
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Well, Sunday we inspected our backyard hives. The Pooh hive is doing so well that the first honey super is full and nearly capped, the second is getting filled, and we added a third! Yay for a buncha honey!<br />
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And look! I got a photo of eggs! See those white lines in the cells toward the top left quadrant of the photo? Eggs!<br />
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The Wonderland hive is also doing very well, and we added a second honey super.<br />
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The Fish hive, though... ah, the Fish hive.<br />
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Queenless. Yikes! Two of four. Sigh.<br />
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But... the good news in this (yes, really, there's good news) is that the Fish hive population is good, and they're hard workers. They'd already built several queen cups to replace their missing queen, and they were all capped. <b>That</b> is the real good news, because capped queen cells mean queen pupae, the very next stage before adult bees! That cuts down the time until they can mate and start laying tremendously!<br />
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So... we raced one of the frames with a capped queen cell over to the swarm hive, removed an undrawn frame, and dropped in the one with the potential queen. Our hope - fingers crossed! - is that the swarm takes care of her and the other brood on that frame, buying themselves some time, and she emerges, mates well, and gets to work.<br />
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The bad part is we have to leave them alone for 2 weeks while this all happens! So fingers are also crossed for good weather on the weekend of June 27-28 so we can take a look and see how they're doing.<br />
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Meanwhile, we're trust the Fish hive to right itself. We gave them the undrawn foundation from the swarm to work on, and there are a few capped queen cells in that hive, or were on Sunday, and with the other two hives neighboring it, lots of drones are available for mating.<br />
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Again, we're supposed to leave those girls alone for a couple weeks too, which you know drives me absolutely batty, but we <b>may</b> be going in on Friday. The NJ State Apiarist, Tim Schuler, will be coming to inspect our three backyard hives and give us feedback (We're so excited!), so it's his call on what whether we can go in and see how the Fish girls are doing.Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254108021356196149noreply@blogger.com0Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA41.0167639 -74.205701140.9209099 -74.3670626 41.112617900000004 -74.0443396tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8190137104344542148.post-37798263709771915452015-06-08T08:00:00.000-04:002015-06-08T08:00:13.666-04:00Making Themselves ComfortableWe checked on the swarm yesterday to see how they're faring... and make sure they didn't just move on out for new digs, as swarms sometimes do when caught and hived. Nope, they were still there, and the girls were working their little abdomens off!<br />
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Sorry some of the photos are so blurry - that's what happens when I had Eric the camera. But if you look, you can see that on about 4 of the frames, both sides, the girls are building out comb, and if you look <i>closely</i>, you can see that there's a shiny liquid in several of the cells - royal jelly! That means the queen's laying and there're eggs in those cells. Soon... more bees!<br />
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Since they're doing so well, you can see in the last photo we switched the entrance reducer to the larger opening. It's a little more space for them to defend, but it gives them more freedom to come and go and do their work.<br />
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On another happy note, we checked the three hives in our backyard, and look at this beautiful, beautiful honey!<br />
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<br />Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18254108021356196149noreply@blogger.com0Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA41.0167639 -74.205701140.9209099 -74.3670626 41.112617900000004 -74.0443396