October

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OCTOBER - THE FLOWERS ARE GONE FOR THIS YEAR

So much of what you do with the bees makes little or no difference at the time it's done. A few months later it's likely to be the difference between a healthy hive and a dead out. Bees are a lot like cattle - you must ensure their food supply, doctor them, protect them from their predators and provide shelter as needed. But, we don't have to brand them! (although we do brand the equipment)

In October, every hive is checked to ensure it has what it's going to need to survive the coming winter. It must be queen right, have enough bees, enough food (honey) and be free of disease or parasitic mites that could take it down over the winter.

Assuming it's all good to this point, the hive is reversed which is what's going on in the photo (Fig 1). The shallow has been on top of the deep box all summer and it's full of honey. It will become the bees' food chamber for the winter. The deep box with its larger comb area is placed on top for the winter to encourage mid winter brood rearing.
1. Checking and reversing hives.

FALL BEE POPULATION

The hive reaches peak population in the summer during the honey flow. In the fall of the year it contracts to a minimum neuceulas in order to survive the winter on the available food. As winter approaches the drones (male bees) who can contribute nothing to the winter survival of the hive are expelled. Many of the older field bees are likewise kicked out as they have served their purpose through the honey flow and are not likely to live through the winter anyway.

In order to have adequate bee population in the early spring, it is necessary to stimulate the queen to produce brood and hence young bees this time of the year. Bees hatched in October and early November are the best insurance for the necessary hive population in the spring.

Since there is little or no natural pollen or nectar available this time of year, we place a pollen substitute in the hive to encourage fall brood rearing. Shown in the photo (Fig 2) it is made with a mixture of sugar syrup and a commercially available pollen substitute. The mixture is made in a large commercial mixer and poured into molds where it somewhat hardens in a day or two. It is then cut into cakes and placed between the boxes when the hive is reversed.

Once the hive has been checked, given the pollen substitute and reversed, it is ready to close as shown in the photo (Fig 3).

 

 
2. Pollen substitute to encourage brood rearing.
3. Hive after reversing - ready to close.

ENTRANCE REDUCER

Closing down the entrance this time of year helps the bees keep the hive warm during the cold nights and discourages robbing during the day when they are flying.

Bees get somewhat predatory toward their neighbors this time of year when there are no flowers to forage on. A strong hive can mount an attack on a weaker one and rob it out if it weren't for the entrance reducer limiting the robber bees access.
4. Wedged entrance reducer.
5. Entrance closed down for winter..
HOW BEES WAX IS RENDERED

BEES WAX COMB - NO FOUNDATION

Without frames or foundation used by beekeepers, bees make perfect six sided wax comb like that in the photo (Fig 6). This naturally built piece of comb was removed from a hive which had one of the frames inadvertently left out providing an open space which the bees quickly took advantage of to build this comb the way they have for thousands of years.

It is truly amazing how this little insect can be equipped with the knowledge to construct such a geometrically efficient structure. The design is so good that man has copied it for for use in aircraft structures and for other applications.

After constructing the comb, the bees then use it for both reproduction and food storage.
6. Bees wax comb.
7. Capped frame of honey.
8. Empty (extracted) comb.
9. Wax spinner.

BEES WAX COMB - ON FOUNDATION

As previously discussed (May) the difference here is that we provide the bees a nice rectangular wooden frame to build their comb in which makes it removable from the hive and reusable for honey production year after year. The photo on the left (Fig 7) shows a capped frame of honey ready to be extracted, a process that involves cutting off the wax capping and removing the honey (see August). The center photo (Fig 8) shows the empty comb that is left somewhat tattered from the extracting process.

The wax cappings are a byproduct of extracting the honey and since the extracting is all done for the year, its time to render the wax. During the extracting process, wax cappings are collected from the uncapper in a basket along with a certain amount of honey that sticks to them. The basket is then emptied into the wax spinner (Fig 9) where the wax and the honey is separated by centrifugal force. The inside cylinder in the wax spinner is made of expanded metal lined with screen wire and as it spins inside the fixed housing the liquid honey is forced out while the wax remains inside on the screen.

RAW CAPPINGS WAX

Wax removed from the screen in the wax spinner is fairly dry of honey, but still has enough on it to be slightly sticky. In addition to the honey, the raw wax contains other objectionable material which must be removed before the wax can be used for other purposes.

Rendering is the process of melting these cappings and removing the impurities to leave the clean, pure bees wax. In our operation, we render and use almost all the wax produced. Pure bees wax is superb for making candles because it burns clean with no soot or smoke. Also, because the bees make the wax from honey, it produces a sweet pleasant natural aroma in candles.

Bees wax is also used extensively in skin care products because of its non greasy moisturizing properties.

10. Raw wax cappings.
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