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Year Round Beekeeping & Managing Colonies
Presented by
Ray Civitts
Mountain Sweet Honey CompanyToccoa, GA
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North Georgia - 3 temperate zones- Up to 3 weeks difference
- Southern most to the mountain area
Today we will look at a month-to-month tasks
Seasonal Hive Management
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Placement of your hive- Wind break
- Sun light on your hives
- Document what you are seeing and follow-up- Good documentation will help you learn!
- Drainage (elevate the back of your hive by 1 degree)o Water inside the hiveo Reduce moisture
- Water sources
- Ventilation- Reduces mold- Honey
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Late February – Action ItemsFlora begin to bloom (Maple Tree blooms)
More bees flying in and out of the hive!
Warm days of 55 degrees or higher - Quick hive inspection- Don’t want to chill the hive on cold days
Keep feeding sugar water- When do you stop feeding?
- Nectar flow- Slow usage- Winter super is full
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March – Action ItemsHive management is very important
- Identify weak hives for re-queening- Why is this so hard to do?
- Pollen is coming in the hive- May have to add a super due to bee space
- Helps reduce swarming- Start building frames for supers- Identify which hives do not need sugar water
- Winter honey super
Small hive beetles should be very minimal- Keep on top of it!
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April in your hive
Brood production should be going strong!- Pollen is what keeps the queen laying.- Queen is well mated
- Eggs- Larva- Capped brood
- Low brood production could mean your queen is failing you must consider re-queening
- Possibly not properly mated
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April – July management of your hiveBrood production
Bee space – Keep your bee space adequate- Too tight and you will promote swarming
- Too much space will allow competing insects into the hive.
Rule of thumb- 80% of frames are utilized (brood or honey)- Full super of bees- Signs - Inner cover has many bees between inner cover and top cover.
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30% bee space in the hive
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May – Action ItemsContinue weekly hive inspections
Most important - watch “bee space” in hive - Add supers as needed.
- Look for queen cells to eliminate swarming- Swarming will cost you in the following ways:
I. Loss of honey productionII. Loss of bee population
- Watch for failing queens
- Last chance to add hives
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Successful Wintering begins in July?- A good defense is a good offense!- Strong hive population
Get into your hives weekly! (March to late August)- Check brood production of the queen- Queen Cells- Small hive beetles ***- Wax moths- Standing water- Bee population- Hive condition- Water source- Weed control
June – July hive management
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July - August – Action Items
Bees cool the hive by using water - You will hear the bees use their wings to cool the hive- Congregating on the outside of the hive – check bee-space- Bees will go back into the hive an hour after sunset
Nectar flow decreases Check for mites (mite treatment plan after nectar flow)Screen bottom boards (Clean)
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Sept. – October in your hive
Hive begins to transition over to winter bees.
Summer Bees will begin to be replaced- Winter Bees begin to emerge- Winter Bees are slightly bigger
Sugar water feeding
Repair hives
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November – Action ItemsHives are now slowing down (Population, low exterior activity)
Smaller bee population (may have to take off a super)
Winter bees are now more common
Brood production is decreasing
Hive beetles are on the offensive
Golden Rod is the last pollen source
Sugar water feeding
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December – Action ItemsReduce hive opening down to 1 inch opening
• Allows the hive to keep more heat
Begin monthly inspections on days above 55 degrees• Hive population• Hive condition• Brood condition
Softball size brood pattern
Weekly – Walk your bee yard• Hive activity• Sugar water usage
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December – Action Items
Determine a game plan for your hobby for the spring- Cut comb honey
New bee yard for better honey production- Sourwood, Tupelo, etc..
What will you offer this year (Wax candles, honey jar sizes, etc)
Feed your bees!
Order your bees in December for best Ship and pickup dates.
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Winter – Action Items
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Winter – Action Items
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January in your hive
Make sure your bees can have honey during the winter!
- Leaving a medium super for your bees to consume- Pull empty super- Heat efficiency of the hive
- First year hives?- Option is to feed sugar water for the winter at a 2 to 1 ratio
- Limited honey for your first year to store up.- If you take all the honey
- Be prepared to feed sugar water for the next 8 months.
** Quick calculation is approx. 37 lbs. per hive for a first year hive.
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Winter season in your hive
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January – February Starvation
Large winter colony- Large colonies eat through their winter honey stores - Must monitor honey stores of the hive.- Pickup the rear of the hive to feel the weight- #1 reason for bee loss during the winter.
Late Winter Starvation- Feed sugar water- Pollen patties- Take honey frames from other hives.
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Question & Answer Session
What questions do you have?
Visit our website at: MountainSweetHoney.com
Beekeeper News: Weekly Blog – Beginning Beekeeper toSideliners - Slides will be posted under this page.
“Like” us on Facebook: Mountain Sweet Honey Co.
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Harvesting Honey
Presented by Ray Civitts
Mountain Sweet Honey CompanyToccoa, GA
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When does honey season begin?Traditionally “honey season” begins in April
- There must be a nectar flow- The bees will be extremely active
* Different flora has daily release of nectar* Bees get extremely active (not swarming)
- Bees will store the honey in the honey super- Capped & Uncapped looks like this
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Uncapped Honey?Uncapped honey consists
- Higher moisture- The hive warmth will reduce the moisture down to 20%
Caution! Don’t harvest uncapped honey - Due to moisture and natural sugars your honey will
ferment and you will have to make meade or throw out the honey.
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When is it time to harvest?
Normal Wildflower honey season ends by the second week of July- The bees sense a nectar is very limited- Want to protect their food stores
Why is it important to get the honey in a timely way?- Bees will start to eat into the capped honey
Inspect your supers- Look for fully capped frames of honey- It may take an extra week for the honey to be fully capped
What tools will you need?- Wheelbarrow to carry your supers- 8 frame super = 65 lbs- 10 frame super = 80 lbs+
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What next?
Extra frames to replace the frames you just took to harvest- Extra super – frames
If Sourwood is present you will have more nectar = more honey- mid July to mid August (dependent on elevation)
Club Extractor available- See Virginia Webb
Now it is time to brush the bees off the frames- Gentle motion- Cover super with a towel to keep the bees off the frames
Take the frames to a garage or kitchen to process
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Processing Honey
Several methods of processing1. Crush the comb2. Use a cold knife3. Use a hot knife
Crushing the comb - Cut the comb out of the frame and simply crush the comb
- Honey will flow out from the wax comb.- A good reference would be Linda Tillman’s website to see
this in action.- Need a grate from a grill works good.
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Cold or Hot Knifes
A cold knife is exactly what it is called.- A serrated knife that is non-heated- Many have warm water to dip the blade into
- This keeps the blade warm
A hot knife can be a fixed temperature or variable heat- Melts the wax comb to release the honey
Once uncapped, the honey will begin to flow- Normally want room temperature above 85 degrees - Honey naturally flows better in warmer temps.
- Cooler temps are harder to extract
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Bottling
Most beekeepers their first year will only need to borrow the association extractor.
Most honey is sold in Pints and Quarts in this area.- Honey Bears- Honey Angels- Muth jars
Make sure your containers are clean
Honey is pure and lasts forever
Honey that has higher sugars will crystalize at some point- Simply place the jar in some warm water to eliminate the
crystals in the jar.
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