The Anxiety of Winter

Posted on December 6, 2012 by Jason

The bees of 1205. These two are quite dark, but there is a high variation in coloration amongst the sisters of this hive.

There hasn’t been much activity on the blog the last several weeks. I have been readying for winter, but still have been checking bee related things regularly. Though it is not quite officially winter yet the winter anxiety has begun for me.  My favorite winter pass-time is worrying and waiting.

There has been much less activity out of the hives. Two weeks ago I was off of work for the first week of deer season here in Indiana. There are hives on the hunting property. This is the FIRST year I’ve heard bees flying while sitting in a tree stand. I don’t know exactly what they were looking for in the woods, but I heard the distinctive frequency of several workers buzzing around me on many occasions. I did find dandelions blooming in several locations early in November, but I did not see any in this woods. Continue reading →

Posted in Hive Reports, Posts, What's going on.. | Tagged , , , | 20 Comments

Moving Bees

Posted on November 16, 2012 by Jason

The 4 hives loaded in the back of the truck ready to move.

Time has really flown this fall and I have missed the opportunity to tell you about some of the goings on around here.  One of the stories that fell through the cracks was the moving of 4 hives a little over a month ago.  They were moved as the first part of an experiment that will be conducted next spring.  I am going to attempt to make several splits next year to see if it can improve my genetics. Continue reading →

Posted in Experiments, Feral Bees, Hive Reports, Posts, What's going on.. | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Friday night fun

Posted on November 12, 2012 by Jason

Ready for labels.

Things have been busy here as per normal.  We are shifting gears from our end of summer routines to the preparation for winter.  As stated previously we are preparing for deer season.  It is a family affair that’s more involved than just putting up a couple deer stands.  One of the preparations is the readying of the utility room for meat processing.  Last Friday night found us bottling the remaining buckets of honey to free up space for for this task. Continue reading →

Posted in Experiments, Honey, Posts | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The Farm-Fox Experiment and Bees

Posted on November 2, 2012 by Jason

Silver Fox displaying “wild” phenotype – appearance.

As promised last week in the post Are Bees Wild or Domestic I am going to discuss an experiment that suggests a link between behavioral genetics and development.  This experiment was done with foxes bred for tamability.  In an attempt to discover how wild animals were transformed into the many domesticated forms known today.

 

Belyaev with some of his foxes.

For years it had been debated.  How did animals become domesticated?  For instance did humans chose to domesticate wolves or did wolves chose to be domesticated by us culminating in the dog? Another stumbling block in the idea of domestication was that some believed that the road to domestication for say dogs, was based on size, and reproductive traits, others believed differently.  Dmitry Belyaev was a Russian scientist who believe that domestication came from selective breeding based primarily on behavior; specifically, the behavior of being tame.  He theorized that selecting animals for behavior may lead to other far reaching unintended changes in the animal’s development.

Note the difference in appearance of this tame fox.

Continue reading →

Posted in Posts, Rants | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

How to Light a Smoker – Post #100

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Jason

Recently I did a post with a short video on how to select free smoker fuel in the woods.  Later that day I was working in the garage and thought to myself, “you might as well show people how well punky wood and works”.  So I set the (NEW) tripod up and loaded the smoker.

One thing to remember.  This was done in a garage as a demonstration only.  I don’t recommend lighting one of these things inside.  It was several hours before it aired out enough to work in there again.  The wind was blowing outside and there was too much noise on the camera microphone.  There was also a fire extinguisher present.

It was not luck that this lit on the first try.  If I can get out of the wind, it lights the first try every time.  If you have any questions feel free to leave them in the comments section.

Continue reading →

Posted in HowTo, Posts | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Records Revisited Post 5 of 5 (last one I promise)

Posted on October 30, 2012 by Jason

The login screen to GNotes as seen on your web browser.

I have pretty much exhausted this subject, but I must see it through to the end.  If you are coming in at the end feel free to visit Posts 1, 2, 3, and 4.  I have been discussing the use of a smart phone application GNotes as a tool to help with beekeeping records.  It is now time to give a couple Pros and Cons to using GNotes.

Continue reading →

Posted in Hive Reports, HowTo, Posts | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Deer Stands and Smoker Fuel

Posted on October 29, 2012 by Jason

I love the woods in the fall.

What in the heck would these two subjects have in common?  I have stated repeatedly that beekeeping has crept its way into almost every aspect of my life.  Last week on what will likely be one of the last nice 70 degree days of the year I put up some deer stands.  Deer account for all of the red meat consumed in our household so hunting them is a big part of every fall.  This year walking of the woods is providing an extra benefit.  While out and about I happened to take note of a lot of perfectly accessible FREE smoker fuel all over the ground. Continue reading →

Posted in HowTo, Posts, What's going on.. | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Are Bees Wild or Domestic?

Posted on October 26, 2012 by Jason

Good brood pattern for a feral queen.

I have been pondering the question whether to classify bees as wild or domestic creatures or if it even matters.  To most people I suppose it doesn’t matter, but with my background in biology and chemistry I am not comfortable with something being unclassified. In doing some research for this post I have  seen both sides defended vehemently and been amazed and  intrigued by the logic behind those answers.

The reason this is weighing on my mind has to do with determining a course of action when performing selection in my apiary.  I am struggling with a common practice in beekeeping.  The practice of replacing the queen in a colony that has been identified as too aggressive or HOT.  I am also perplexed at the lack of any standard for making such a determination.  Just to be clear to all readers:  I am not speaking about Africanized Bee levels of aggression.  This post is regarding European Honey bees only.  I don’t have Africanized bees in my area and have no experience with them. Continue reading →

Posted in Cutouts, Posts, Rants | Tagged , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Records Revisited Post 4 of ??

Posted on October 24, 2012 by Jason

Realizing that I have now made it to 4 posts on this topic I hope I haven’t lost every single reader I ever had.  I will finish what I started though, because I do feel strongly about keeping good records, and am excited about any tools that can help making it easier.

The login screen to GNotes as seen on your web browser.

 

In this post I am going to show some of the web front end of the GNotes application and show how I utilize it.  As I stated earlier the first thing you need to do after setting up your account is to login.

 

Folder with sorting method highlighted.

Once you are logged in you will be taken to a screen that shows folders on the left side of the screen and specific entries over the rest of the screen.  Each of the folders can be selected and then the specific note can be opened by clicking on it.  Notes can be organized by Created Time or Modified Time.  I prefer to use Modified Time as it places the most recent modifications at the top.  As time passes it becomes apparent which hives have been visited and which ones are in need of some observation time. Continue reading →

Posted in Hive Reports, HowTo, Posts | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Records Revisited Post 3 of ??

Posted on October 22, 2012 by Jason

This is part 3 in a series of posts about GNotes, an application I have recently began using to assist with the keeping of records of the bee operation.

Taking notes:

Taking notes via voice recognition.

If you have been texting on your phone for a long time it is possible that you may just want to manually enter your observations.  I am not good at thumb typing so I am grateful it is not the only way to make entries with GNotes.  As long as I am in an area that has 3G or 4G  wireless coverage, notes can be dictated to the phone and they are converted to text.  This is perfect for my style of hive inspection.  I will admit that voice recognition is not always perfect, but I don’t think this is the fault of the application.  Words like propolis are not common and recognition of such speciality words can be poor.  Also some words such as “hive” and “five” tend to get confused.  It may have something to do with me not speaking clearly enough.  As I work with it I am learning to speak in a fashion that is making recognition is increase. Continue reading →

Posted in Hive Reports, HowTo, Posts | Tagged , , | Leave a comment