Archive for January, 2013

Bees in Rockland County, NY 2013

Tuesday, January 8th, 2013

I ordered three packages from the guy upstate who is coming up Rt. 95 with a truckload of bees. He’ll be dropping off bees here on the way.

Adam at AZApiaries used to come to the West Nyack Mall, but this year he said he’d be stopping across the river in Westchester. That’s a hike for me and I’d have to pay an expensive toll and some expensive gas to get the bees, so I have decided to try an alternative.

Jorik Phillips at http://www.hudsonvalleybeesupply.com will be stopping by, either at my house or at the mall during the last week in March (perhaps early April if the weather is bad). He has another run scheduled for the end of April.

“Their bees are genetically diverse and are bred for honey production, hardiness and temperament. They carry the best traits of Italian, Carniolan and their local stock. The queens and bees come from the same apiary so you can expect them to have the same southern drawl.”

I think that this is a nice alternative to the Italian bees that produce lots of honey while the nectar flows and then starve to death in the fall, no matter how much you feed them.

Thinking About the New Year

Tuesday, January 8th, 2013

I was out over the weekend looking in on my bees. I expected them to be dead, but I was surprised to see that they are still chugging along. The fondant that I put on the top of all  the hives is about half gone. It is hard as a rock, but they are nibbling away at it. I will move some fondant from the hive that died over to the other hives this weekend. I may put water on it to soften it somewhat before I feed the surviving hives.

I have to make a decision about new hives this spring. I have found someone who is buying a truckload of packages in North Carolina and is willing to stop by my house to drop off a couple for me on his way back. These are mixed bees, which I have decided might be better than the pure Italians that I have been getting.

There are other places within a couple of hours drive who are selling nucs, so I may buy some of these. All of these are mixed types – some Russian, some Carniolans, feral bees, and even some Buckfast.

My reasoning is that if I buy a variety of bees of different breeds that I might get lucky.

The guy that I bought queens from down in New Jersey had nucs last year, so I am going to phone him and see what I can get. The advantage is that this only about 15 miles drive and with the price of gas it makes his hives a bargain. He has recently divorced so I am also hoping that he may be wanting to get rid of some hives that I can pick up now.

My brother may have a bunch of nucs for $50 that he can get from a guy who does swarm captures.

I will also place some swarm traps on a few rooftops (one at my mother’s house and possible one in the village of Nyack).

My target is to have 8 hives so I would need 5 or 6 hives, depending on how my three make it through the winter. The hive that was smashed during Sandy, does not appear to have much population, so I am a little worried about her.

That would be $600 to $700 worth of bees. That would require that I sell about 150 bottles of honey. I am not sure that these bees will produce honey the way the pure Italians did. They are all of them “Survivor” bees of mixed types.

My fear is that one of these diverse hives will be sick with “foul brood” or infested with small hive beetle or varroa. This could wipe out my investment in a very short time.

Should I Continue with the Bees?

Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013

I was out looking at the bees over the weekend and it I don’t think it looks good. One hive has a few dead bees at the entrance and, when I pulled off the top, I saw a small ball of live bees, but I don’t think they will make it.

On all three remaining hives, the fondant is about half gone. That means they are eating the sugar, but I am not sure if it is enough to make it.

The weather has turned really cold today. It was under 20° when I woke up this morning and it won’t go above freezing all day. There are two months of deep cold left before I can start Spring feeding. I put on top feeders with sugar syrup during the first good thaw in late February or Early March. The three hives will have to survive until then on their honey stores and the rock hard fondant that’s left. I might try some more fondant if they get near the end of the current batch. (about 6 lb. per hive).

The question now is whether or not to buy bees in the spring to get back up to 6 or 7 hives. It will cost me, perhaps $850, for 7 hives, if the ones I have die. AZ Apiaries is not stopping by the West Nyack Mall with bees this year. I will be paying at least $110 per package for bees from unknown sources.

My brother Ward thinks he can get nucs from a guy near him for $50 each. These are unmanaged hives from swarms captured last summer. They are mixed breeds, but are survivors. They may have heavy varroa mite loads. There are a dozen of these available, so I am asking Ward to try to reserve three. I don’t know if he will come through.

There is a place an hour or so north of us selling nucs for $135 each. These are mixed race survivor bees, but he claims to not treat his bees, so they may have varroa, also. $135 is expensive, at least for me. It would take about 25 pounds of honey to make this back. There is also a place about an hour south that is selling nucs for $125. They have $100 3# packages from North Carolina.

I figure that I have about two weeks to make my mind up. The bees go fast.