It is dry. Part 2

Posted on July 12, 2012 by Jason

The Monthly U.S. Soil Miosture – Last 12 Months data.  Currently this is displaying June 2011.

The second tool I utilize to look at precipitation and weather is from the National Weather Service.  It is called the Climate Prediction Center.  I look at it less for prediction or even current conditions, but more of a comparison and overview over the last year.  The page I use the most is the Monthly U.S. Soil Moisture – Last 12 Months.  A warning before you start snooping around on this site.  I am new to it in 2012, every time I visit I find something new.  I don’t want to be blamed for hours of lost productivity.  Also if you don’t enjoy the use of the metric system don’t click on the link. Continue reading →

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It is HOT and the bees need water

Posted on July 10, 2012 by Jason

Yesterday I mentioned that it was pretty dry around here.  We have also been experiencing record and near-record temperatures almost every day.  This post was written several days ago, and I hope by the time you are reading it that things have gotten a little cooler around here.  The weather forecasters are predicting temperatures 15-20 degrees F cooler than what we have been experiencing.  I am losing faith in them fast, but I hope they are right.

This information comes from Hamm Weather 7/6/12 for the area code 47353.

On Friday 7/6 we had another example of what has been going on here for almost two weeks.  General theme:  HOT with no chance of rain.  The last rain we did get only amounted to about 0.3 of an inch and I don’t think it did much to help the overall soil moisture.

Continue reading →

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It is DRY – Part 1

Posted on July 9, 2012 by Jason

This summer has been making me think of my grandpa over and over. When I was a kid he had a saying that I can hear in my mind as if he was still with us. When we were in desperate need of rain he would say that it was, “drier than a popcorn fart”.  To this day I have no idea what that is supposed to mean. I looked it up on the urban dictionary and still I’m a little confused. I will go with definition 3.

 popcorn fart – something that is very dry.
a peice of bread without butter or water can be drier than a popcorn fart.

So basically it just means it’s really really dry?  I still don’t understand the reference to flatulence.

USGS National Streamflow Data.  Note all of the RED, the Explanation = LOW.

There are several tools I use to keep track of precipitation in my area. It is helpful in gardening and beekeeping alike. This first tool is something I used to use a lot back when I had time to go fishing in many of the creeks and rivers close to my home.   Today I will cover the USGS Current Water Data for Indiana – Statewide Streamflow Table. Pick your state by going to USGS Current Water Data for the Nation. Whether you know it or not USGS keeps tabs on stream flow all across the nation. Odds are many of the streams around you are monitored. Continue reading →

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A return to Friday posts

Posted on July 6, 2012 by Jason

Due to a mention from BeverlyBees last week I suspect that some new people may visit this site.  Before I become known as the “cruel guy that doesn’t feed his bees”, I want to make some declarations and explain WHY I conduct my operation in this way.

There was a time that I did feed.  When I started beekeeping I read a lot of what everyone does, American Bee Journal, Bee Culture along with several books on the subject.  I took the same message from all of them, whether that was their objective or not.  They instructed me as the backyard beekeeper in the same methods used by large beekeepers.  One of the things common in large beekeeping operations is feeding.  In fact it is common in both of those journals to see readers being instructed to feed their bees when any of a number of problems arise.  I read and re-read them each month, sometime writhing as I do so. Continue reading →

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Right under my nose.

Posted on July 5, 2012 by Jason

Last Friday we got some rain finally.  Not much, but we will take anything we can get at this point.  I was pretty sure it would cause at least a limited amount of swarming activity.  Well, I was right, but things didn’t work out quite like I had hoped.

There is the trap at the base of the tree. I am squatting on a pile of agricultural lime about 10-12 feet off the ground.

I was weeding around our back garden on Tuesday.  There is a trap nearby.  Upon approaching the trap I heard a familiar buzzing.  It sounded like the tone that a new swarm makes upon settling in on a new home.  I thought I was in luck.  I wasn’t, but swarming had occurred.  Continue reading →

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Extra entrances

Posted on July 3, 2012 by Jason

I had a comment after one of my posts about the holes drilled in some of the deep boxes.  When I initially got into beekeeping I purchased a lot of used equipment from a local guy.  Most of his deep boxes had a 1 inch hole drilled in the front.  They were just used the way they were, after a fresh coat of paint.  Drilling holes into perfectly good boxes doesn’t make a lot of sense, but I have noticed that the bees seem to like them.  What the girls want they most generally will get around here.  The video shows the activity that goes on around these holes.

Continue reading →

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Melting Wax

Posted on July 2, 2012 by Jason

Not much has been happening around here lately at least on MY part. The Bees have been working, but I haven’t had any occupied traps for three or four weeks. Almost all of the hives are currently either building up or filling honey supers. Other activities such as weeding the garden, canning, messing with the chickens, and organizing my junk have been keeping me busy.

The beginnings of my box-of-wax.

One thing I have been up to is melting wax. Several weeks ago I bought 20 used deep supers. All of the boxes had 8-10  frames with old comb in them. I’m not going to use any of the comb in hives since I know nothing about where it came from. I decided to melt it down just to see how much of it I could scrounge up.

The wax keeps piling up in the box and I still have a lot of frames to go. Holly has been wanting to experiment with candle making. It is amazing (to me at least) that in the morning I can load the melter up and in the afternoon I have a pan with wax in it. Continue reading →

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Easy Peasy Queen Rearing

Posted on June 26, 2012 by Jason

The box that houses the firehouse bees and their new queen.

If you recall earlier this summer there was a group of bees at a local firehouse I had been contacted about removing. (See Firehouse Bees). As time went on it became apparent that getting queen out of that wall was going to be harder than anticipated. I removed 3 or so pounds of bees, but the queen remained in the wall. The rest of that story is for a later post.

I was wondering aloud what my next step would be when Sam from SamsWildBees commented following one of my posts, “Well If they do not have a queen then with your addition of a frame of eggs they will make one, easy peasy.” Continue reading →

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Trap #25 becomes 1211

Posted on June 25, 2012 by Jason

1211 – This hive was painted by the hive host. White is going to take some getting used to.

Previously I had written about Trap #25 having no eggs or larvae in it (see Queenless Trap).  I had close to a 100 mile round trip in trap retrieval, that queen needed to be there.

Anita from Beverly Bees optimistically left a comment that perhaps it was a virgin swarm.  I was hoping for the best since hiving them on 6/15.  Last Saturday (6/23) I returned to see what was going on.  Pollen was entering the hive so I began to get excited.  There are no in-hive pics, but rest assured, there was brood in “them there combs”.  The hive was labeled 1211 – the 11th hive added in 2012. Continue reading →

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Back to square 1

Posted on June 22, 2012 by Jason

Picture of what I thought was going to be my new mobo and CPU…. 🙁

This is not really a bee matter.  Just wanted to keep you posted as to why more material is not being generated.

After having the new CPU and motherboard for a week, many hours on the phone with tech support, and the purchase and installation of an updated BIOS chip, defeat has been declared.  I have arrived at the conclusion that something is wrong most probably with the motherboard. Continue reading →

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