Packing bees down for Winter 30/04/2012
The season is drawing to a close, and my hives are in excellent condition. The bees have ejected the poor drones now as they go into survival mode for the winter. There are a few things I can do as a beekeeper to help them survive.  1. Make sure they have enough honey stores to see them through the winter. How much do they need? That’s a difficult question to answer because there are so many variables to factor in. As a general rule of thumb, the equivalent of 1 deep super FULL of honey will suffice in most locales and situations. Where I am leave a about 4 frames because its quite warm in winter here by comparison (Ie frost be no snow). If in doubt leave more that you would like as there’s no such thing as too much. If your bees don’t have enough? Fall feeding requires much thicker syrup than for spring feeding. I make syrup with at least a 2 to 1 ratio of sugar to water. Only as a last resort, bees don't really get that much nutrition from sugar water. Dry sugar also works well in winter. (i prefer this option that way i never extract "sugarhoney" with my honey)  2. Keep the mice out Reduced the size of the entrance for 2 reasons: to restrict the cold air flowing into the hive, and to discourage mice from entering the hive. Mice just love to make beehives their winter home. During warm weather, of course, bees won’t allow a mouse to enter the hive. But when the bees are clustered during cold weather, they can’t do anything to prevent a mouse from entering. If a bee leaves the cluster, it dies. So during cold spells, a mouse can have a high old time building a nest and chowing down on honey and wax. When the bees break cluster, they can chase the mouse out – or even make it pay the ultimate price for its boldness. But the damage is done.  3. Airtight is NOT all right! As long as they have sufficient stores, bees are able to survive incredibly cold temperatures. But what’s much more harmful to the bees is a buildup of moisture and carbon dioxide inside the hive. If the hive is tightly sealed, then the heat and moisture generated by the cluster rises to the top of the hive and cannot escape. The moisture then condenses on the cold top cover and rains back down upon the bees in their cluster. In a tightly sealed hive, carbon dioxide can also build up to unhealthy levels. So it’s important to have an outlet at the top for the warm moist air. Though it may seem counter intuitive, it’s not beneficial to trap that air inside the hive. I put one vent in all my hives lid and build an overhang to prevent rain entry and leave it open all year providing an outlet for the moist air, If you live in an area with lots of snowfall, you should provide an upper ventilation source large enough for the bees to use as an alternate entrance in case the bottom entrance becomes clogged with snow.  4. Pack them down into two boxes (unless you need more honey stores) This means they have less space to heat and will use less honey over the winter to stay warm. Which also means they will come out of the winter much stronger. Be sure to leave a few empty frames up the top (when its warm winter they make honey still). Remove the queen excluder (she might get stuck in the bottom,box and die otherwise) and shake the bees down into two boxes. place a vinyl mat across the top frames this will help keep the warm air in the cluster and prevent burr comb on the lid. This will help a healthy colony. There are no assurances, of course, but odds are good that they’ll survive the winter and be ready for a productive season next year. 3 Comments Mel's Hawaiian Mango Salsa 22/03/2012
 A refreshing change from tomato based salsas. For a great flavor combination try this with mesquite grilled foods especially shrimp/prawns/chicken etc. Ingredients:
Drying Chillies to Preserve Them 14/03/2012
 Home chilli growers are often faced with a dilemma of surplus peppers – more than they can eat or give away. Drying chillies is a traditional method of preservation, and so long as they are stored properly, whole dried chillies can be kept for a year or more without losing any of their fiery flavor. Not all chillies are suitable for drying. Green chillies are better frozen or pickled (or made into a sauce), although if they are close to ripening when you begin the drying process, they may ripen during drying. The longer the time since the chilli pod has reached its full size, the more likely that it will ripen during drying, so keep a close eye on the progress of each chilli. Thick-walled peppers, such as jalapenos or hot cherry peppers, are also not suitable for drying. There is a good chance they will spoil before the pod has dried out, and even when drying is sped up using an oven or dehydrator, they become dense, wrinkled, inflexible and very dark in color. On the other hand, some chilli varieties lend themselves so well to drying that they may do so while still in the vegetable crisper in your fridge! These varieties include cayenne, tabasco, and birds’ eye chillies. There are various methods for drying chillies, depending on how much effort you want to put in and what equipment you have on hand. The easiest way of drying chillies is to uproot the whole plant – preferably just before the first frost arrives to ensure you’ve had the maximum harvest – and hang it upside down somewhere dry. This is quite messy as leaves, dirt, dead insects, and other detritus will fall off the plant. If you hang them in the house, put a container underneath to catch the bits and spare the wrath of your significant other. Alternatively, the garage is a good place to hang chili plants, so that the mess can be simply swept outside when you’ve finished. If you wish to put in more effort – and for a greater decorative effect – you can pick the ripe (and almost ripe) chillies off the plant and tie them together to form a ristra. After picking, give the chillies a wash in cold, clean water and lay them out (covered by a tea towel) on a surface to dry overnight. With a piece of cooks’ string (ie cotton, not synthetic) around 1 meter long, tie the chillies in threes by holding the stalks together, looping the string around, and tying a tight knot. Continue along the string, leaving 20cm or more at one end to hang the ristra up. Hang your ristra of chillies somewhere dry and out of direct sunlight, as sunlight will make the color of dried chillies fade in time. It’s a good idea to store the chillies in an airtight container once they’ve dried if there are more chillies than you’d use in a few months, as a ristra left hanging gathers dust. If you don’t want to wait for the chillies to dry naturally, the drying process can be sped up by drying them in an oven or dehydrator. The oven should be set on low – around 50°C (122°F) – and preferably fan-assisted. For dehydrators, follow the instructions, but generally the temperature should be set around the same as an oven (50°C). Depending on the size and thickness of the chillies, an oven or dehydrator is likely to take at least five or six hours to dry the peppers sufficiently. When are the Chillies Dry Enough to Store? Whichever method you use to dry your chillies, they are dry enough to store when they feel leathery with no moisture – there is no need to carry on drying until they are brittle unless you want to grind them to make chilli flakes or powder. Once dry, store the chillies in an airtight jar or a ziplock plastic bag, and keep them somewhere dry and out of direct sun. They will last for at least a year – probably several – if stored in this way. Capsicums and Chillies are warm-season vegetables ideally suited to growing in the bright light of Summer. To keep your pepper plants healthy, down to a manageable size, and producing pepper fruits over a long season regular pruning is required. Otherwise they tend to become lopsided or unmanageable. Sharp, clean, small household scissors / secateurs are the only tool you will need to accomplish the task  Trim young pepper plants for the first time when they reach four to five weeks old and 4 to 6 inches in height. Count the first five full-size lateral leaf stems up from the bottom and lop off any of the main stem and leaves above that point. Prune back established and pepper-bearing plants as needed to keep them from becoming lopsided or bearing too many fruit on a branch unable to support the weight. Trim off any dead or discolored leaves or stems immediately when you see them. Inspect the pepper plants every week. Look up from the underside of the plant, as dead leaves can hide here. Remove them as well. These steps will ensure a long productive Chilli / Capsicum season. End of Summer Swarm 12/02/2012
 A strange thing happened yesterday, I was wandering round the garden when I heard the familiar sound of a bee swarm. They had formed a cluster on a lemon verbena bush/tree. I have maintained very strong colonies this year but I found this perplexing as its nearly autumn here. I collected the bees without a problem (swarms on trees/ branches are so easy), they plopped in the box and immediately began to fan, indicating that the queen was in the box. So I put the lid on and walked away. About an hour later I noticed that there was plenty of bees still on the branch, when I inspected the nuc box (small hive) I found the bees had balled (bundled the queen and superheated her) and killed the queen. They were still clustered around her in a ball on the bottom of the box. Not sure what happened there. Natures like that sometime. Zucchini Slice 18/01/2012
 Inevitably each year the is a glut of Zucchini to be dealt with, no matter how many you use there is always more. Ingredients
        Another Swarm - Another New Queen... 19/12/2011
 A cut out call this week, resulted in 8 frames of brood one fine queen an a whole heap of mixed bag honeybees with excellent temperament. Most of the hive looks like Italians, but there is a scattering of black carnelians in the hive as well. I didn't even used the suit for the last part of the cut out. They were pretty chilled out. In stark contrast to the last cut out which was just nasty.       Quail Eggs W/Smoked Salmon Breakfast 17/12/2011
 Our friends breed quail for the local restaurants, So when they have a surplus of eggs, we do a trade. My favorite way to have quail eggs is poached or fried with toast. This mornings breakfast consisted of: 4 Quail Eggs, 2 Pieces of spelt toast Thinly sliced zucchini (grilled) 1/2 red Spanish onion (grilled) 5 black cherry tomatoes cut in half (grilled) A big chunk of smoked salmon and a lash of extra virgin olive oil Preparation Time: 2min Cooking Time: 5 min        It is estimated that bees fly 530,000 Kilometers (km), roughly 41 times around the earth, to yield one kilogram (kg) of beeswax. So this 2kg block represents around 1,060,000 bee km's 82 trips around the earths diameter (12,756km). Kind of puts things into perspective. Honey bees use the beeswax to build honeycomb cells in which their young are raised and honey and pollen are stored. For the wax-making bees to secrete wax, the ambient temperature in the hive has to be 33 to 36 °C (91 to 97 °F). To produce their wax, bees must consume about eight times as much honey by mass. Pickled Beetroot and Red Cabbage 12/12/2011
 Preparation time: 20-30 minutes Ingredients 3 large beetroot 1/4 red cabbage ¾ cup water 1½ cups white vinegar (I use vinegar left over from preserved jalapenos for some kick!) ¾ cup sugar ½ teaspoon peppercorns 2 cloves ½ teaspoon mustard seeds ½ cinnamon stick ¼ teaspoon salt Method
Recipe notes: Keeps well in fridge for 6 months. | The-ecohouseOur project was to create a modern seven star energy efficient house with a very high thermal mass that would create a very small carbon footprint, without sacrificing lifestyle or the comfort expected from a high quality modern home. Along the way the blog turned into a place to share about the house, building, beekeeping, gardening, cooking and other cool things. If you like our work consider a donation
   Stay Connected
Most Popular Articles Pickled Jalapeno Recipe Raw Key Lime Pie Recipe Beehause and Hive Records Honeybee Identification Zucchini Slice Small Hive Beetles Bee Hive Plans Red Corn Blue Corn CategoriesAll ArchivesApril 2012 |
RSS Feed