Volume 4 -------------------- January 26, 2013 --------------------Number 1
Why Did You Bees Die?
by David Burns, EAS certified Master Beekeeper
We are offering beginners, advance and queen rearing classes. Click here for more information. During our
classes we teach the 4 methods to combat varroa mites without the use of chemicals. You'll learn important
management skills that will make you a better beekeeper.
The truth is that many hives die due to poorly trained beekeepers. So many beekeeping mistakes can easily be
avoided.
Let me give a couple of avoidable bee losses.
1. Winter Losses can be minimized with the right queen, varroa reduction and strong colonies with sufficient pollen
and honey resources. So often a colony dies because the beekeeper did not monitor the health of the queen and she
either did not lay well, died and was not replaced or the queen was replaced too late in the year to build up the needed
overwinter population. Or, a colony can die because the beekeeper failed to reduce the mite population. A colony that
has been paratized by varroa mites will not do well during the cold months of winter. Every beekeeper should know
how to implement our 4 IPM approaches to reduce mites. Bees dying from mites is avoidable.
2. Winter feeding can be the lifesaving factor in getting your hive through the winter. Since winter is cold, traditional
entrance feeders and top feeders will freeze. That's why we invented the Winter-Bee-Kind. This is a piece of equipment
that is placed on top of the cluster, providing top insulation to reduce excessive condensation, and provides sugar, pollen
and honey-b-healthy as well as an upper vent. Bees dying from starvation is avoidable.
3. Keep colonies healthy all year. Regular inspections will help the beekeeper take the necessary steps to strengthen a
hive. Sometimes maybe the hive just needs fed for a week or a pollen patty. Maybe the colony is too crowded and
needs frames managed to reduce a potential swarm. Maybe the queen needs replaced so that the colony can grow and
build up. Strong colonies fight off most problems. Bees dying from poor management is avoidable.
Remember, not all colony deaths are preventable. Sometimes it is beyond our control. Bees are in the animal kingdom
and they die from viruses, diseases and environmental issues that we have little control over. We have to do our part,
though, to eliminate as many potential threats to our honey bees. To read more on this click here.
We'd love to hear from you and hopefully, if you are not a beekeeper, we have peaked your interest in beekeeping.
Feel free to contact us at:
Long Lane Honey Bee Farms
14556 N 1020 E. Rd
Fairmount, IL 61841
217.427.2678
Join us Saturday March 9th for Our Basic Beekeeping Class!
Mark your calendars and join us on March 9th, 2012 for our Basic Beekeeper's Workshop in our new beekeeping Education Center at our
honey bee farm near Fairmount, Illinois in central Illinois from 9am-3pm. This class is filling up fast, but we still have openings. This is for people
who do not know anything at all about bees but want to start and for those who have kept bees for a year or two but want to be trained by a
certified master beekeeper.Click here for more information on our classes.
Ask your friends to sign up for this newsletter FREE at http://www.honeybeesonline.com/ez.html
To view our previous newsletters, click here.
BEE SMART is free and comes right to your email inbox. Produced by Long Lane Honey Bee Farms and is written by EAS
certified master beekeeper, David Burns
Long Lane Honey Bee Farms is located in Central Illinois and sells nucs, packages, queens, and hive equipment.
www.honeybeesonline.com Contact us at: 217-427-2678
INFORMATION HIGHLIGHTS
Cool Honey Bee Trivia. Read more...
Commonly Asked Beekeeping Questions. Read more...
Drift Watch Helps Protect Honey Bees From Harmful Chemical Spraying. Read more...
Interested In Getting Into Beekeeping? Find Out How To Become A Beekeeper
How Do Bees Make Honey? Read more...
Wondering About Top Bar Hives? Join master beekeeper David Burns' Video as he walks you through a top bar hive buzzing with bees.
PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT--WINTER-BEE-KIND TOP BOARD
Our WINTER-BEE-KIND BOARD insulates the top, provides upper ventilation and
comes with 5 lbs. of candy and pollen already poured out onto the underside for the bees to eat
should they need it during the winter. Our WINTER-BEE-KIND BOARD insulates, ventilates
and feeds (Sugar & Protein) your bees as a single one piece item.
Just install it above your bees and put on the top cover and you're set! We've named it
'WINTER-BEE-KIND.' The candy portion faces down toward the cluster and the insulation
faces up.
We use a special piece of insulation that is backed with a thin piece of metal to help reduce
condensation in the hive. It almost looks like a mirror. And it has a notch in the front
to provide an upper entrance as well as a place to help excess condensation to escape.
Do not delay. This can be placed on your hives any time, even when it's cold. You can install it
quickly so that the cold does not hurt the bees.. The WINTER-BEE-KIND also comes with our
recipe on how we make our candy so that you can refill your candy section when needed, usually
about once a month, depending on how much honey is in the hive. Comes in both 5, 8 and 10 frame.
CLICK HERE FOR 10 Frame Winter-Bee-Kind to place your order or call us at 217-427-2678
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Ask your friends to sign up for this newsletter FREE
at http://www.honeybeesonline.com/ez.html
BEE SMART is free and comes right to your email inbox. We'll be relying on you telling your friends about BEE SMART and passing it along to others.
..................................................................................................................
Bee Smart is a publication of
Long Lane Honey Bee Farms
14556 N 1020 E Rd
Fairmount, IL 61841
(217) 427-2678
www.honeybeesonline.com
Long Lane Honey Bee Farms is here to serve the beekeeping community with beekeeping equipment, 3 lb packages, nucs, queens and more.
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Check out our FREE online Beekeeping Lessons