Beekeepers of Santa Rosa County, Milton, Florida

03/01/2025

09/05/2024

Circa. 1884 ~ Harvesting Honey by the Heath Apiarists.

It is a well-known fact in Germany, that the Heath apiarists have a special kind of bee, which is different in many respects from the common German bee and is familiarly known to German bee-keepers by the name of 'Heath-bee ' (Heidbiene). Von Berlepsch, Dathe and other eminent bee-masters, consider it an improved bee.

Of course, the heath-bee a descendant from the common German bee, but it has been reared for many centuries in the same way as the English cattle-breeders rear their famous stock, that is, by selection for special purposes. This circumstance will prove that the Heath apiarists have attained a lofty eminence in bee-keeping, inasmuch as they have been successful in rearing a bee which is so suitable in every way to their requirements. The Heath-bee is, in its outward appearance, very similar to the common German bee; but is distinguished from the latter by being a swarm bee, that is, a bee which is prone to swarm, and casts off three or more swarms. The common German bee will give some years one or two swarms or none at all but will never swarm if its combs do not reach nearly the bottom board of its hive. A first or second swarm will seldom give another swarm in the same year, and a young queen never leads off a swarm in the year of her birth. A colony with such a queen will never build drone-comb in that year. It is otherwise with the Heath-bee. It will swarm unconditionally, even if the combs fill only half the hive. First and second swarms will cast other swarms. A young queen will lead off a swarm in the year of her birth, and her colony will build drone-comb soon after hiving. The Heath-bee will go on breeding to the end of September.

It may be asked, how is it possible to make bee-keeping profitable with such a bee? The Heath apiarists are able to do so. Their hives and management and their pasturage make bee-keeping a success. The swarming fever they control at the right time, and the drone-comb they cut out in the beginning.

There is no doubt that the Heath-bee is a most active bee. He breeds from early spring to the fall, and brood-rearing is the nerrus rerum of all activity in a colony of bees.

Our next will give information respecting the hives in use In the Heath apiarists. C. J. H. Gravenhorst, Brunswick, Germany.

*The above spirited engraving has been reduced from a sketch by G, Arnould, which appeared in Das Buch fur Alle. (Hermann Schonlein, Stuttgart, 1877.)

Source:
The British Bee Journal, February 15, 1884 Page 67
https://ia601301.us.archive.org/29/items/britishbeejourna1884lond/britishbeejourna1884lond.pdf

07/19/2024

Here is an opportunity for beginner beekeepers to learn about beekeeping. Call to sign up.

06/03/2024

A break-action weapon, the Pi***la Concabicato features three barrels, complimented by a very high capacity 18-shot cylinder, which is reloaded via two-piece moon clip-type loading devices.
They sandwich the 18 rounds between a holding plate and a firing access plate, through which the firing pins strike the cartridges.

The weapon has five operational settings, and the selector allows the shooter to choose which firing pin and barrel would be used to fire the gun.

It also has the option to fire from all three barrels at once with one pull of the trigger. It also features a mechanical safety that prevents the hammer from hitting any of the firing pins.

More weird guns 👇

https://militaryhistoria.com/supersized-training-weapons/

05/19/2024

Honeybees are so amazing!..

: With its 94,000 colonies, Idaho honey bees produced over 2.9 million pounds of honey in 2023, an 8% increase over 2022, to round out the top 10 honey-producing states. 🍯 This state is also known for producing the unique Snowberry varietal that is said to taste of butterscotch.

03/16/2024

Watching Growing a Greener World.. Really interesting program about solidarity Bees.. they are better pollinators than the honeybees! They are very beneficial, almost stingless, less venom than a mosquito bite.. I’ve never taken the time to consider raising solitary Bees.. check them out…. No fear when keeping the solitary bees!…

09/24/2023

This picture below is from a display at the First City Bee Company on Palafox in Pensacola.
Sent in by Melissa Kalis

09/17/2023

Our club meeting is just a few days away. Hope you will be there. Thursday, 21 Sept. at the Santa Rosa County Extension building in Milton, 7 pm.

06/28/2023

Our Bee of the Month for June is the Morning Glory Turrent Bee (Melitoma taurea) – Just as April showers bring May flowers, morning glory blooms bring the Morning Glory Turrent Bee. Found from Kansas to Virginia and south into Florida, M. taurea can be spotted foraging on morning glory flowers from June to September.

Like the majority of bees, M. taurea nests in the ground and provisions its young with a pollen ball. It is also an example of a specialist bee that collects pollen from flowers in the Ipomea genus, commonly known as morning glory. Although a specialist, M. taurea will still forage on a variety of species of morning glory, including non-native ones.

One of the most interesting things about the relationship between native bees and native wildflowers is that because they share so much evolutionary history together, native bees are often more efficient pollinators of native wildflowers than introduced species such as the honey bee!

Keep an eye out if you spot morning glory flowers; hopefully you’ll get the chance to observe Melitoma taurea foraging this spring and summer.



Author: Anthony Cuminale
Image: USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab
Collaborators: Collaborators: Alabama Power, Southern Company, Electric Power Research Institute, USDA ARS

06/25/2023

Our action for June is Drawing Out Foundation in the Brood Nest! Some of a colony’s most important activities occur in (or on) the wax honeycomb. The hexagonal cells are used for food storage and brood rearing, and the comb surface is the “dance floor” for bees’ famous communication about food resources.

Drawn out frames – frames that are ready to be packed with eggs, nectar and pollen – are often a limiting resource for beekeepers. Having sufficient drawn comb gives colonies room to expand in population and store food for dearth periods. Fresh drawn comb is also needed for the “good management practice” of rotating out old comb from the hive regularly as it accumulates impurities.

As a beekeeper (impatient or not) you may have thought “it takes the bees FOREVER to draw out a single frame!” Or maybe you were amazed by how FAST they’ve drawn out a frame. To understand why these rates can vary, we should take a closer look at beeswax and what goes into making it.

What is beeswax?
It is a product made from carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. These three elements come from the carbohydrates (sugars) in the nectar our bees collect and are rearranged in the bees’ bodies to form long carbon chains of fatty acids and other waxy compounds. This also explains why beeswax is lipophilic and absorbs specific fat-soluble substances including certain miticides and pesticides (an important reason to rotate out old comb). So basically, beeswax is sugar/nectar/honey converted into a solid through several organic processes.

Who produces beeswax?
Worker bees perform specific tasks in a colony depending on their age. Therefore, it’s probably no surprise that wax is mainly produced by a specific age cohort of bees: those aged 10 – 16 days.

How is beeswax produced? Worker bees have four pairs of specialized wax glands on the ventral (“belly”) side of their abdomen. These glands convert the nectar into liquid wax, which solidifies as soon as it comes into contact with air. When bees secrete the wax, you’ll see little wax flakes hanging from their abdomen. With their legs, bees will move the flakes to their mouths to chew and soften the wax for subsequent comb building.

How do you know whether your colony is ready to draw out honeycomb?
If they are adding wax to frames of foundation in the colony, that is a sure sign. However, if all the combs are already drawn, one indication that they would draw out foundation if they had some, is fresh white burr comb under the lid or flecks of white wax on the top bars.

What does a colony need to draw out comb?
Remember, the bees need a good supply of carbohydrates and an ample population of young bees to draw out comb. Bees are more likely to produce wax during a nectar flow. The Southeast has solid spring nectar flows, but these can be supplemented by feeding sugar syrup for earlier and more robust comb drawing. Supplemental feeding is especially important for newly established packages starting out on foundation. Strong colonies will have more bees of the right age, and tend to bring in more nectar on a given nectar flow. Strong colonies will therefore be your best performers in drawing out comb!

Is there anything else I can do to accelerate comb drawing?
A technique to promote comb drawing is referred to as “opening the brood nest”, where foundation frames are interspersed with brood frames. To “open the brood nest” remove a honey frame from the upper brood chamber and make a space in the middle of the box. Now you can slide an empty foundation frame into the center of the brood nest, in between two brood frames. This puts the foundation frame in the hive’s warm center of activity, and if the colony is ready to draw comb, they will soon start to build wax cells on the sheet of foundation.

How do I integrate “opening the brood nest” with other management actions?
Use some discretion in applying this technique early in the season and in smaller colonies: The extra foundation frame divides the brood nest and can lead to brood chilling during cold nights. Depending on the colony strength you can add two or more foundation frames as long as they all are surrounded by brood frames.

You can temporarily stage new foundation frames at the edge positions of a brood chamber and move them into the center of the brood nest once the colonies show signs that they are ready to draw comb.

“Opening the brood nest” can be used in combination with swarm control and increase practices. For example, if you are stealing brood frames from colonies to make nucs, you can replace these with foundation frames.

White arrows denote where empty frames were interspersed with brood frames to promote drawing out foundation.

Project Cooperators: Alabama Farmer’s Federation, USDA NIFA CPPM.
Text and video: Selina Bruckner, Dan Aurell, Geoff Williams. Images: Dan Aurell, Geoff Williams