Pollen! Part 2

Today was a spectacular bee day. The girls were flying like it was the middle of summer - busy as, well bees. I popped out just to get my fix of watching them and I was rewarded with loads of beautiful bees.

I am really quite shameless. I love my bees and I just like to go and watch them. If I had an observation hive, where I could watch them inside, I would never leave.

Check out the photo. The bee on the left has been visiting a skunk cabbage and the other bee has been either to pussy willow or maybe an early maple. The skunk cabbage visiting bees had pollen on their backs and a few had pollen on their butts. I tried so hard to get a picture but the bees were just too busy to slow down for a photo op!

After hearing so many other beekeepers share stories of heavy bee losses this winter, I just want to go an hug each and every bee!

Catch the buzz!

Pollen!

I took a quick look at the girls today - just a howdy-do. I didn't open the hives because it is still pretty chilly - only about 40'. I wasn't expecting much in the way of activity.

Joy and Sun's hives were quiet, snuggling in the chill.

Ruby's hive on the other hand were out and had been gathering pollen! I am going to guess pussy willow pollen. When a bee gets pollen from skunk cabbage, they get pollen on their backs - it is pretty cool. Check out pictures from last year. These bees only had pollen in their pollen baskets.

Whoo, hoo - this means we have babies!

Hive Update

I went to a monthly beekeepers meeting on Saturday and have been in a stew ever since. The number of people reporting dead hives from this spring was quite high. It had been a while since I had checked the girls, so I've been worried.

I have spent a ton of time fretting about the girls starving and trying to make good bee candy. Bee candy is not made out of bees, but is a sugar/corn syrup mixture that you boil and stir like crazy to make in to a hard candy.

Well that is what is supposed to be anyway. Mine last two batches I just didn't agitate quite enough so it became an oozy mess at room temperature. Sigh.

Yesterday I decide to stop spending time fretting and spend that energy actually feeding the bees. It was a bit chilly to be mucking about in the hives too much, but I was so done worrying.

So finally here is the report:

The hives are FINE.

I did take a picture of some of the bees, but I realized that this time of year the hives look terrible. They so need to be painted and the winter crud scraped off. So I am not showing you my winter crud right now.

Ruby's hive is the only one that had eaten the sugar I put on in February, so they were the only ones who got sugar. Joy and Sun's girls have only eaten about 20% of the sugar. I gave all three hives a pollen patty. Pollen patties are just squished up pollen and contain a lot protein the bees use to feed babies. I don't normally give pollen, but after a look around the area this weekend, I found two, yes TWO skunk cabbage flowers and that was it. Normally at this time of year, I can't count the flowers. Pussy willows and maples are sporting swollen buds, so spring is coming.

Really. I promise.

Bee School

I love Bee School - I took beekeeper school for the first time four years ago. It seems like yesterday. I love talking with others about their hives or the hives they want, learning about new methods, and my favorite class is about the pollen and nectar sources in the area. Guess I am a sucker for pretty pictures of flowers.

Since I am no longer considered a new beekeeper, I help out. With about 200 people at the class, many hands are needed to get the registration moving smoothly.

If you want to join in the fun, it is not too late to start. The information is here.

Beeschool is also a sure sign of spring. And I can't wait for a real taste of spring!

We have a WINNER

I have contacted the winner, Audra and will be sending her package out this week.

Thanks to everyone who started following Blue Hive Journals and as always, thanks to those who have been with me since the beginning!

~Me and the "girls"

Winter Blues

The temperature today is supposed to be around 40' today and I am going to go out and look at the hives. Yep, just look at them. A few brave souls might fly around, but mostly the bees will stay in. I am getting cabin fever right about now and want to get my hands in the hives and get my garden started, but there is still about 12 inches of snow covering the garden and the bees are staying in.

I will have to assuage my longing for spring with a few bee magazines and some seed catalogs. Sigh.

A Honey of a Lip Balm Tutorial and GIVEAWAY

When I started keeping bees I expected I’d have gobs of bees wax and make gorgeous long taper candles for everyone that first Christmas. Wow was I wrong. I might have had enough wax to make half a dozen votives.

Quickly I realized that there were other luscious gifts the bees and I could make to show gratitude to my family for their supporting my new hobby of beekeeping. I started making hand cream my first year and last year, I began making lip balm.

Lip balm is super easy and makes a welcome gift for everyone on your list. I have tried many different recipes and I really like this one for how consistently it comes out and how well it protects my lips.

You will need:

6 Tbls. Grated Beeswax - it ends up being less than half an ounce grated or pelleted

10 Tbls. Carrier oil - I use grape seed oil, sweet almond oil, sunflower or any light flavored oil

2 tsp. Honey - I recommend using a light local honey

Glass jar and small pot

Eye dropper/ pipette

6 - 8 Containers/tubes 0.15 ml - have more on hand than you think you will need! I have two sources I love here for small orders (with no minimum order!) and here for larger orders.

Here are my ingredients: honey, grape seed oil, and grated beeswax.

I just use a regular grater to grate my wax. It is a pain to get clean afterward, so I dedicate one I got at a yard sale to just wax. If you can't do that, I recommend popping it in the freezer afterward and using a brush to clean under cool water. Hot water just makes the wax sticky.

Put the wax and oil into the super clean glass jar then put the jar in the pot with water. Heat on low until the shreds or pellets melt. This will take a few moments but don't hurry it.

Once the wax is melted, add the honey and stir like a crazy. Leave the jar in the hot water until the honey is well mixed in. This can take a few moments if your honey is crystallized, but keep stirring. I just use my dropper to mix.

Once everything is smoothly melted, you can add an essential flavoring oil if you like - just a few drops. I prefer mine with just the smell of the wax, but I have a colleague who uses peppermint, orange, lemon and ginger flavorings. Ginger is amazing.

Fill the tubes or pots until they have a nice bubble on the top. These aren't my prettiest filling but I was trying to take a picture at the same time! Don't try filling the tubes by pouring from the jar - take my word for it, it makes a mess.

If your lip balm starts to get hard to work with, just put it back in the pot and remelt it a bit. I use a plastic pipette and just squeeze out the lip balm if it cools too much.

Once it cools, put the caps on and label it. I use regular white address labels and cut off the end that hangs over. You can personalized them easily. If you have translucent tubes, use clear labels.

Now for a GIVEAWAY of a Lip Balm Kit!

1 oz of bees wax, 6 lip balm tubes, 1 pipette and 4 oz honey bear

There are two ways to enter, you can comment on THIS post with at least one way that you are going to help honeybees this year (check the right column of my blog for ideas)

OR

become a follower of this blog. Just put in the comments on THIS post that you became a follower.

Drawing will be by random number generator and closes February 28, 2011.

~Enjoy