Precipitation Data - Cincinnati Area

At the beekeepers meeting last night we discussed the dearth and how it was effecting the local beekeepers. I decided to do a little research and come up with some monthly data on the local area and what the actual precipitation was. Here is a chart of the results:


For data on your area, visit NOAA's Website.

Northern Kentucky Beekeepers Meeting

Last night the Northern Kentucky Beekeepers Association had its November meeting. I've been looking forward to getting together with my fellow beekeepers and having a chance to compare notes and discuss a few ideas for the club.

We decided to spend a little money and purchase a couple books for two local libraries here in the area. 'Beekeeping for Dummies' and 'The Beekeepers Handbook', both excellent books for beginners were selected and we'll be buying two copies of each for the local community.



One set will go to the Boone County Library and the other to Campbell County Library.

We also had a few new beekeepers visit the club, one from Ohio and one from West Virginia. They both brought some interesting ideas about their clubs as well as lobbying activities in West Virginia where the state subsadizes beekeeping costs. Interesting...

I also got ahold of a homemade frame display case. I'll be attempting to make one of these this winter.

Goodbye to 2008 Beekeeping Season

Date: October 28, 2008
Time: 2:00 PM
Temp: 47'
Weather: Cold, Dry, and Windy

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye...the 2008 beekeeping season is done. Today I closed up the hives and did a final check in the bees. Nothing much to report as the temperature was only in the 40's. I didn't even use a veil. Although I nailed in the mouse guards, I would recommend screwing them in. I was only challenged by a bee or two which promptly went back inside after not finding me too interesting. There was plenty of activity inside the hives and they seem like they have plenty of honey stored up for the upcoming winter.

I removed the top feeders, added the mouse guards, tilted the hives forward with a few pieces of scrap wood, spaced the top cover for ventilation, and closed up the screened bottom board.

Thanks to all of you who have written me e-mail or have simply checked out the website. I have some very cool ideas for next year and promise to keep the website interesting and informative in the months to come.

In the mean time, I'll be attending and working to build up our local beekeeping club and look forward to meeting all of the local beekeepers who have contacted me.

First Frost

Here in Northern Kentucky the weather has definitely turned towards winter.  The leaves have been changing, the grass has stopped growing, and while deer hunting near my hives last week, I noticed minimal activity coming from the hives.  The temperatures here have been in the 60'-40's range, but tonight is expected to be the first frost of the season.

Tomorrow, I'll head out to the hives for one last seasonal visit.  I need to remove the top feeders, tilt the hives a little more, install mouse guards, remove the ApiGaurd, and say good bye to the 2008 beekeeping season. 

Visits from Around the World

I'm amazed at the number of people from all over the world who have visited my website.  To date, visitors from six continents have visited.  

Thanks to all of you who have sent me e-mails and continue t0 make my website interesting.

Cleaning up and a Bee Battlefield

Date: October 3, 2008

Time: 2:00 PM

Temp: 67'

Weather: Cool and Dry

This afternoon I went to the hives to install the second round of Apigaurd treatment in both hives. Apigaurd is used to kill off the Varroa mites that have infested my hives. I picked up a few leaves of tobacco from the field and added it to my smoker...mmmmm good. It's said that tobacco smoke is also good for treating Varroa. Both Genesis and Exodus were pretty quite. I checked the weight of both hives and both seem to have a good amount stored up for the winter. I'm terrible as estimating weight, so I'll just say 50lbs? Here's a video of Exodus. (Notice how slow the bees were moving)

I removed the empty supers that were on top of each hive and fed the bees a winter syrup mixture. The recipe is 2.5 qts water and 10 lbs of sugar. Each hive got about 1.5 gallons.

Bee Battlefield

On top of Exodus, underneath the empty super that the bees had been cleaning up, I found dozens of dead bees, cut in half. Strange...I suppose they were battling robbing yellow jackets.

I also saw a field mouse in the area of my hives. So, sometime very soon I'll be installing the mouse guards on each hive.

"You are an adequate beekeeper"

I took an online beekeeping test.  I scored 29/50.  The result is the title of this post.  I suppose that that's not too bad because the questions were pretty difficult.  

Here's the link:  Online Beekeeping Test

Let me know how you did...

Wooly Worms

This post is a little off topic, but does relate to an earlier post.  The land owners grow tobacco on the land where my hives are.  Here in Kentucky, tobacco is a still popular crop to grow.  

The landowner needed some help getting the cut tobacco off the ground and up into the barns.  Having never done it before and wanting to learn more about it, I volunteered to help.  Needless to say, it was a lot of work and I can definitely say that I don't think I want to grow tobacco in the future.  It was however fun to be out there with a few guys doing some manual labor in the sun.  

Now, for the interesting part.  While picking up this tobacco, we counted the number of Wooly Worms and analyzed the results.  The saying goes that an all black Wooly Worm means a cold winter and a black and brown one means a mild winter.  The count was 8-1 for a COLD WINTER.

Newspaper Article

Today the Boone County Recorder, a local newspaper, published an article about me.

Here's a link to the article: 'Beekeeper Blogs Progress'

Paying the Rent

Early this morning I paid the rent for my hives.  Actually, no money traded hands, instead I took both landowners (father and son) a big jar of honey.  No fancy labels, no special bottles, just about 4 lbs of honey for allowing me to keep my hives on their property.  Both were very appreciative.

I also took the empty supers and wax cappings over to the hives to let the bees clean them off.  Since I'm treating each hive with Apigaurd, I put the supers on top of the hives.  Immediately, several yellow jackets came over and started eating the honey left on each super.  My bees were barely waking up and only a few were flying.  Hopefully, they'll clean the wax and supers out within a few days.

The weather here continues to be in the mid 80'-mid 50's with no rain.  Beautiful, but a little dry.