Avalon1984-Chicken, horses, pigs, oh my!

[Denim Deb]

Well, get out there and start weeding!

 

[Avalon1984]

Well, get out there and start weeding!

Hubbys job. Not sure if it is even worth to get a hose out there and treat with weed be gone, might just go ahead and brun everything down. Still have to get a hose out there though

 

[Avalon1984]

So I decided to sell my bees wax. I found the rest of an old block I had bought and will use that to put on my foundation, since it is so sad and white. I think my yellow wax would be much better served when used in crafts and to make beautiful candles. It can be found in the buy/sell/trade part of this forum.

Today I hauled my first load of scrap metal. We had picked up an old tub (1 of 3) as livestock waterers but they were heavier than we expected and it just didn't make sense to try and use it, so I brought it to the dump and made $62 I will bring one more of those 3 tubs to the dump, hubby wants the last and heaviest one as a planter since it is an antique with an actual base. I could have made so much money off that thing since it's cast iron, but...it is marriage, you give and take

So that was it for now. Still trying to attract a 3rd bee hive to give me a good start to the year. We'll see what happens.

 

[Denim Deb]

Good for you! I had a bunch of stuff for scrap, but hubby didn't want to be bothered w/it. So, we gave it to some woman who was out of work. Now, he's changed his mind. And, I had an old, cast iron wood stove!

 

[Avalon1984]

Good for you! I had a bunch of stuff for scrap, but hubby didn't want to be bothered w/it. So, we gave it to some woman who was out of work. Now, he's changed his mind. And, I had an old, cast iron wood stove!

Arrrg...isn't that just the worst? At least he gave it to somebody in need.

Me go and plant a garden now

 

[Icu4dzs]

So I decided to sell my bees wax. I found the rest of an old block I had bought and will use that to put on my foundation, since it is so sad and white. I think my yellow wax would be much better served when used in crafts and to make beautiful candles. It can be found in the buy/sell/trade part of this forum.

Today I hauled my first load of scrap metal. We had picked up an old tub (1 of 3) as livestock waterers but they were heavier than we expected and it just didn't make sense to try and use it, so I brought it to the dump and made $62 I will bring one more of those 3 tubs to the dump, hubby wants the last and heaviest one as a planter since it is an antique with an actual base. I could have made so much money off that thing since it's cast iron, but...it is marriage, you give and take

So that was it for now. Still trying to attract a 3rd bee hive to give me a good start to the year. We'll see what happens.

Please tell me about how to make a bait hive. I'm very concerned that I have all these beehives now that are empty. There's a lot of them have a good deal of wax and I really don't know how to get the Wax off of the foundations so I need a little bit of help here.
Some of the wax is bright yellow and I think there's honey inside some of it but I don't really have that much experience with bees. this is my first time and I'm trying to learn as much as I can.
I put the busy hive out in the yard again yesterday morning at about 5 o'clock while it was still almost dark. That seems to of been a good idea.
I really want you to tell me how to make a bait hive though!
Saepe Expertus, Semper Fidelis, Fratres Aeterni
Trim sends
//BT//

 

[Avalon1984]

So I decided to sell my bees wax. I found the rest of an old block I had bought and will use that to put on my foundation, since it is so sad and white. I think my yellow wax would be much better served when used in crafts and to make beautiful candles. It can be found in the buy/sell/trade part of this forum.

Today I hauled my first load of scrap metal. We had picked up an old tub (1 of 3) as livestock waterers but they were heavier than we expected and it just didn't make sense to try and use it, so I brought it to the dump and made $62 I will bring one more of those 3 tubs to the dump, hubby wants the last and heaviest one as a planter since it is an antique with an actual base. I could have made so much money off that thing since it's cast iron, but...it is marriage, you give and take

So that was it for now. Still trying to attract a 3rd bee hive to give me a good start to the year. We'll see what happens.

Please tell me about how to make a bait hive. I'm very concerned that I have all these beehives now that are empty. There's a lot of them have a good deal of wax and I really don't know how to get the Wax off of the foundations so I need a little bit of help here.
Some of the wax is bright yellow and I think there's honey inside some of it but I don't really have that much experience with bees. this is my first time and I'm trying to learn as much as I can.
I put the busy hive out in the yard again yesterday morning at about 5 o'clock while it was still almost dark. That seems to of been a good idea.
I really want you to tell me how to make a bait hive though!
Saepe Expertus, Semper Fidelis, Fratres Aeterni
Trim sends
//BT//

Hey Trim,

The only thing I did for a bait hive was to use the left over frames that I had cleaned of honey and wax (and when I say cleaning I mean I just used the hive tool and scraped it all out), I set that all up as if it were an active hive (bottom board, entrance reducer on small, put cover on the box, etc.) and I dropped a cotton ball with a drip of lemon grass oil in the bottom. Soon bees came by to rob what was left of the honey and they must have liked it in there and called their family over. To my defense I set up another bait hive and I havent had any luck attracting anything else yet. Can you give me a quick overview on how many hives you have, how they are set up, etc.? Maybe we can figure out a game plan that works for your area. Our farm is right next to a blueberry farmer so for me it is much easier to trap bees than for somebody out in the woods, for example. This is only my 2nd year of doing this also so we can learn together

 

[Avalon1984]

Whew,

Almost done with this week. I did so much, but it doesnt feel like much has gotten accomplished. I am helping breed the last mare, then it is a waiting game again. The first mares can be foal-checked the 2nd or 3rd of June, so hopefully out of that batch of 3, at least one or two took. That would save me a lot of headache. Then Katie is hanging behind, we bred her yesterday and she should ovulate sometime today or tonight, so well try and breed her again today. It will be a scorching 90 degrees so it wont be fun but it has to get done. The farm has been so quiet with only 2 out of 6 horses. This is my first time sending the mares off and not bringing them back for the 2 weeks it takes after breeding until we can ultrasound for a foal. I figured the stress of bringing them back, then having to ship them back to the breeder if they are still open might be too much on them- and on us. Of course I fret terribly, because my treasured little investments are sitting at somebody elses barn and I need to rely on them to do the proper care. That is always a scary thing to think about.

I put in my garden on Tuesday. It is the biggest one I have ever done (and it really isnt big at all). Therell be carrots, potatoes, cauliflower, some corn, cucumbers, onions, garlic, parsley, lettuce, kohlrabi and water melon. I have pumpkins on a separate mound so we can have our annual pumpkin harvest. People that get manure from us always love to stop by and see how well the pumpkins grow on our manure. I ought to really start charging for our poop  Well see how everything turns out.

I was going to check the bees this weekend but the temps are so high, I think I will wait a few more days. I opened the entrance reducer to the big setting on both of them so that the workers can come in and out with ease. My new bait hive has not attracted anything yet which isnt surprising considering the bees have many acres of blueberries next door so why fly to another hive when the blue berries are so close.

I will once again make an attempt to process 5 roosters. There is no need in keeping them and feeding them so before I go full time again next week, I want to cut down on fat that makes my chores take longer or that costs me money with nothing in return. Soon the 14hr days will be back. It will be hard, especially with their weird vacation policy of not getting any vacation in the first year (sounds like cruel and inhumane treatment to me) but at least its a company that wont go bankrupt anytime soon and I need that paycheck to pay for a new barn and horse trailer. That is the one thing I really miss from Germany, the 8 weeks of vacation, and that is when you just start out, it goes up from there. Then you can actually try and have a life outside of work.

I will attempt to make some mead in the next few weeks from the honey that I harvested that wasnt top quality. Well see how that turns out. Enjoy your Memorial Day weekend yalls!

 

[Icu4dzs]

So I decided to sell my bees wax. I found the rest of an old block I had bought and will use that to put on my foundation, since it is so sad and white. I think my yellow wax would be much better served when used in crafts and to make beautiful candles. It can be found in the buy/sell/trade part of this forum.

Today I hauled my first load of scrap metal. We had picked up an old tub (1 of 3) as livestock waterers but they were heavier than we expected and it just didn't make sense to try and use it, so I brought it to the dump and made $62 I will bring one more of those 3 tubs to the dump, hubby wants the last and heaviest one as a planter since it is an antique with an actual base. I could have made so much money off that thing since it's cast iron, but...it is marriage, you give and take

So that was it for now. Still trying to attract a 3rd bee hive to give me a good start to the year. We'll see what happens.

Please tell me about how to make a bait hive. I'm very concerned that I have all these beehives now that are empty. There's a lot of them have a good deal of wax and I really don't know how to get the Wax off of the foundations so I need a little bit of help here.
Some of the wax is bright yellow and I think there's honey inside some of it but I don't really have that much experience with bees. this is my first time and I'm trying to learn as much as I can.
I put the busy hive out in the yard again yesterday morning at about 5 o'clock while it was still almost dark. That seems to of been a good idea.
I really want you to tell me how to make a bait hive though!
Saepe Expertus, Semper Fidelis, Fratres Aeterni
Trim sends
//BT//

Hey Trim,

The only thing I did for a bait hive was to use the left over frames that I had cleaned of honey and wax (and when I say cleaning I mean I just used the hive tool and scraped it all out), I set that all up as if it were an active hive (bottom board, entrance reducer on small, put cover on the box, etc.) and I dropped a cotton ball with a drip of lemon grass oil in the bottom. Soon bees came by to rob what was left of the honey and they must have liked it in there and called their family over. To my defense I set up another bait hive and I havent had any luck attracting anything else yet. Can you give me a quick overview on how many hives you have, how they are set up, etc.? Maybe we can figure out a game plan that works for your area. Our farm is right next to a blueberry farmer so for me it is much easier to trap bees than for somebody out in the woods, for example. This is only my 2nd year of doing this also so we can learn together

I started with three hives. Two died. I got a fourth from a fellow who was a long time professional beek (1700+ hives) and that one died too. When I opened the one hive that died it saw a lot of white fungus looking stuff. The other one just had a lot of wax and still had some honey. Maybe I should be putting that hive back out with the frames that have honey in them.
Something interesting though. The old guy whose hive I got had brought me some frames with wax and honey on them and that was put in the hives that died. Do you think that he had a disease in those frames?
I'll get some lemon grass oil and put it in there and see what happens.
Thanks for the tips. I'll let you know how that goes.
Trim sends
//BT//

 

[Avalon1984]

Please tell me about how to make a bait hive. I'm very concerned that I have all these beehives now that are empty. There's a lot of them have a good deal of wax and I really don't know how to get the Wax off of the foundations so I need a little bit of help here.
Some of the wax is bright yellow and I think there's honey inside some of it but I don't really have that much experience with bees. this is my first time and I'm trying to learn as much as I can.
I put the busy hive out in the yard again yesterday morning at about 5 o'clock while it was still almost dark. That seems to of been a good idea.
I really want you to tell me how to make a bait hive though!
Saepe Expertus, Semper Fidelis, Fratres Aeterni
Trim sends
//BT//

Hey Trim,

The only thing I did for a bait hive was to use the left over frames that I had cleaned of honey and wax (and when I say cleaning I mean I just used the hive tool and scraped it all out), I set that all up as if it were an active hive (bottom board, entrance reducer on small, put cover on the box, etc.) and I dropped a cotton ball with a drip of lemon grass oil in the bottom. Soon bees came by to rob what was left of the honey and they must have liked it in there and called their family over. To my defense I set up another bait hive and I havent had any luck attracting anything else yet. Can you give me a quick overview on how many hives you have, how they are set up, etc.? Maybe we can figure out a game plan that works for your area. Our farm is right next to a blueberry farmer so for me it is much easier to trap bees than for somebody out in the woods, for example. This is only my 2nd year of doing this also so we can learn together

I started with three hives. Two died. I got a fourth from a fellow who was a long time professional beek (1700+ hives) and that one died too. When I opened the one hive that died it saw a lot of white fungus looking stuff. The other one just had a lot of wax and still had some honey. Maybe I should be putting that hive back out with the frames that have honey in them.
Something interesting though. The old guy whose hive I got had brought me some frames with wax and honey on them and that was put in the hives that died. Do you think that he had a disease in those frames?
I'll get some lemon grass oil and put it in there and see what happens.
Thanks for the tips. I'll let you know how that goes.
Trim sends
//BT//

Hey Trim,

Whoa, yeah hold it right there. You may have some disease that travelled with the frames/hives you aquired. On another note, the mold may have developed due to condensation. Either way, before trying to attract anything, go ahead and disinfect all of the empty hives. Clean out the wax and honey (do you have wax foundation or plastic?) and take the entire hive apart. Depending on what type of foundation you have, this method may work for you: http://www.ehow.com/how_7463963_disinfect-beehives.html

You can probably at least render the wax in lieu of just throwing it away. You could also use the leftover honey and try yourself on making mead. The healthy hive I would put in a separate place away from anything that may be infected. Have you got a feeder attached to them yet? How is the state of blossoms around you?

I would go ahead and clean all your empty hives, disinfect them, reassemple one to use as a bait hive and put the other stuff in a clean, dry and cool enviroment for storage. Have you noticed signs of bugs anywhere? Also, I wonder if the colony with little wax and honey left may have starved. Either way, spoil the colony you have left rotten, and if they grow well you may be able to do a split late summer and have at least 2 hives to go into the winter (in case of a worst case scenario and you can't attract any bees). Either way, you should ensure that both hives get fed to overcome the split.

It may be hard to come by in your area but an investment into new hive bodies fresh from the factory may be your best way to go. I am all for reusing but some things can just spread too many diseases so I would never buy used hive bodies, chicken feeders/waterers or horse blankets. I am kind of funny that way.

Again, use my advise as caution, I myself am merely a kamikazi beekeeper as well and lost my first bees. We'll see how the next winter will treat them and I so expect it to be a bad one, making up for the mild one we had this year.