Beekeeping

Think I am good at eating the honey,

Not the workings of it,

Gave it a bash.

Goody

You did good, goody. Its actually a bit easier when you see it in action. My rambling and poor photos would confuse most people.

I have problems putting what is going on in my head to paper ,

But I give it a dam good shot,

I have Dyslexia ,

But I love to learn,

More of a visual learner tho,

But in saying that, I have learned a lot about Bee's,

Thank you Les

Goody

Well I reckon youve done well. You are a good visual learner and look hard for clues. If you are ever in my neck of the woods, message me and I can get you actually looking into a hive. (And the same goes for all PA members who are interested) Its a lot of fun and in reality, is a great way of learning. The old saying seeing is believing rings true with this hobby. Many of the bits of information fall into place when you see the bees in action.

Cheers

Les

Thank you Les,

I would like that a lot,

Maybe even get some honey from your bee's,

Would like to visit Tahradj one day too,

So could easily visit you both,

Goody

You are welcome any time Goody.

Cheers

Les

Might get around to a meetup soon.
Up at Moruya or Batemans Bay.
Not so far for you to come Goody.
Actually, Even Oallen Ford could be a suggestion.

goody2shoes said:

Thank you Les,

I would like that a lot,

Maybe even get some honey from your bee's,

Would like to visit Tahradj one day too,

So could easily visit you both,

Goody

Click to expand...

Now you are talking Doug. Good idea. Havent been to Oallen for a while. Itd be good to throw some flour gold over the front of a pan...... Count me in. Heading down your way for a holiday to get away from the stress of retirement. After that there is nothing on my plate until Christmas dinner.

One last report before I head off next week. Bee numbers are starting to climb again in the hives that swarmed. New queens are laying and the honey is starting to come in. Will be extracting again in about 10 days. The girls have been working their rings off bringing in the iron bark nectar. This next extraction will take a bit of work as there is a reasonable quantity of honey in the frames. I reckon the honey flow is just at its peak and will start to taper soon. The binoculars will be out soon checking on bud development on a few other species of eucalypts. Hopefully there will be enough flowering over summer to allow the bees to fill the hives once more before autumn arrives. This year the spotted gum will flower through the autumn and winter. It wont be a big flow but it will keep the bees working through the colder months. Next spring will be a problem year for swarming as the hives will come into spring quite strong. Thats another story.

Today I harvested the test rounds that I was experimenting with. Im quite happy with the result but unfortunately the hive that I used for the test swarmed and bee numbers therefore dropped. Comb honey needs to be made quickly. You need a good honey flow and a strong hive to get the combs built and filled quickly. Some of the rounds were a little on the skinny side but in general I was pleased with the outcome.

Most of the frames had comb from top to bottom and the rounds will full of capped honey. The individual rounds popped out quite easily and ended up looking the part. Propolis was placed around the edge of the rounds to fill in the gaps between the rounds and the frame. Will see how that cleans up tomorrow.

Cant wait to try a bit on a biscuit with some cheese and a glass of mead that a mate dropped in this arvo. The rounds will be frozen for a day or so just in case there is a wax moth egg or a beetle buried somewhere in the comb. Will catch you guys in a week or so.

Cheers

Les

Was busy this weekend making candles.

Hi Hard Luck,

I really like those candles in the mason jars. They look flash. Ill show my coach your masterpieces. I reckon she might get into this caper. Could you do us a favour? Next time you make up a batch of candles, would you take a bunch of pics and post the whole process. I reckon youve got it nailed. Would love to know your tricks of the trade.

To change track slightly. I pruned my lavender about a week ago. My wife dried it and then pulverised it. She wants to infuse it in olive oil. Could she then use some of the oil in a lip balm? Just a thought at this stage. Could be interesting if it works. And finally, one last question. Where do you buy your lip balm containers and the mason jars? Its good to value add to your wax rather than just selling it. Rang Pender Beekeeping yesterday. They are now paying $17.60 per kg for clean wax.

Cheers

Les

Hi Lesgold
i believe the candle making suppliers are charging about $30.00 a kilo for bees wax
beeswax makes beautiful pillar candles that burn a long time
Pagan P

Hi Pagan.

I think $30 per kg would be about the right price. When the clean wax is purchased from a beekeeper, it still has to be processed to remove impurities and then cast into blocks. Obviously everyone in the food chain still needs to make a dollar. The cheapest way to purchase wax would be to buy it directly from the apiarist and filter and clean it yourself. I reckon you should be able to get it for about $20 per kg for good, clean cappings wax and even cheaper for dirty or brown coloured wax.

Cheers

Les

Hi Folks.

Forgot about one job that had to be completed before heading off for a week. About a month ago I made up a four frame nuc. A Couple of frames of sealed brood (with bees attached), a frame with pollen and honey (again with bees attached) and a frame with some unsealed brood were added to a nuc box. One of the frames had a couple of sealed queen cells that were close to hatching. Some extra nurse bees were also shaken in. It was time to place this nuc into a ten frame box as the new queen had layed out all four frames and the colony was ready to expand. The process was quite simple. The nuc was lightly smoked and moved about half a meter. The new box replaced the nuc in its old spot.

Within thirty seconds bees were coming from everywhere to land on the spot from which they left. (Where the nuc box was located) While this was happening, frames from the nuc were placed into the new hive one at a time.

You can see from the image that the new queen has been quite busy. The bees returning from the field will now enter the new hive as the pheromone smell from the queen now exists on the frames being transferred. The frames are positioned in the centre of the new hive with undrawn foundation frames filling the gaps on the outside. Eventually, all the bees except for a few stragglers are moved.
A quick check to see that the queen is not one of the remaining few and the nuc is inverted and given a thump on the ground to dislodge those that stayed behind. The new hive is closed and the job is done.

It only takes a couple of minutes to perform this task and the colony now has the opportunity to draw more comb and expand quickly as the sealed brood hatches. Catch you in a week or so.

Cheers

Les

Lesgold said:

Hi Hard Luck,

I really like those candles in the mason jars. They look flash. Ill show my coach your masterpieces. I reckon she might get into this caper. Could you do us a favour? Next time you make up a batch of candles, would you take a bunch of pics and post the whole process. I reckon youve got it nailed. Would love to know your tricks of the trade.

To change track slightly. I pruned my lavender about a week ago. My wife dried it and then pulverised it. She wants to infuse it in olive oil. Could she then use some of the oil in a lip balm? Just a thought at this stage. Could be interesting if it works. And finally, one last question. Where do you buy your lip balm containers and the mason jars? Its good to value add to your wax rather than just selling it. Rang Pender Beekeeping yesterday. They are now paying $17.60 per kg for clean wax.

Cheers

Les

Click to expand...

Hi Les,
nothing much to making the candles. Just make sure you use a heat resistant jar. I was initially looking at some really fancy mosaic jars but then realised that the may crack with the heat so I ditched them. All you need is a double boiler to melt the wax in with the right wick for the container size you want to use.
As for the lip balm I really cannot comment as it is considered a "cosmetic product" and there are a whole bunch of rules and regulations around that crap.
but...the nurses love it for heel and body balm.
I get my containers from Plasdene. Probably a few more out there that sell this sort of stuff, but I'm happy with them.

PM me if you want.

Thanks Hard Luck.

Ill look at Plasdene and Cospak for possibilities. Looks like a bit more research is required before candle making is attempted.

Cheers

Les

hi folks eroma in the eastern states for jars etc and aussie candle supplies if in WA last order from out west took 4 days to deliver bloody good . order from the eastern states took a week Mods hope this doesnt break any rule please delete if does . Lots of info on both sites
Pagan P

Had a look today Pagan. Thanks for that. Finding more ways to spend money. Lol. Hi Tathradj. Down at Tura for the week. Someone has a few hives close to where we a staying. The smell of honey is unbelievable.

Hahaha - does that make it a buzzman's holiday Les? :lol:

Will track you down on the Weekend Les.

Just found this swarm in a tree in the neighbours front yard.Any ideas as to what we should do about it.