Author Topic: Alaska Bee Keeping (Read 108676 times)

RAST · « **Reply #380 on:** April 17, 2021, 08:22:07 am »

That's great!

Bakersdozen · « **Reply #381 on:** April 17, 2021, 08:29:16 am »

That's fantastic. It seems you have figured out how to over winter your colonies. How are their food stores? Did they eat everything?

yukonjeff · « **Reply #382 on:** April 17, 2021, 01:13:59 pm »

Thanks folks. Good to see my bees fly again.

BD they had parts of the giant sugar brick, and all still had some weight to them. One was rather heavy yet, must of had 30 lbs yet.

The double deep had partial frames of honey in almost all the ten frames in the lower deep. I took it and put them back as single deep. I fed them last fall until the bucket froze in November. I was not going to let them starve again .

yukonjeff · « **Reply #383 on:** April 18, 2021, 03:35:29 am »

Got into them and took off the sugar brick and shim and put on a jar of syrup. Temp was 32 f

First time I had this happen.

This is the weakest one. I hope its queen right.

All had partial frames of honey left over. This one had three like this. All frozen still.

RAST · « **Reply #384 on:** April 18, 2021, 08:08:35 am »

Would the new burr comb with drone cells in the weak one have been built this year from the sugar?

yukonjeff · « **Reply #385 on:** April 18, 2021, 01:03:00 pm »

I was wondering that myself. I didnt put on the shim until after I was done feeding last fall so they must of. I think its its worker comb. I checked but no eggs in it.

The15thMember · « **Reply #386 on:** April 18, 2021, 04:57:19 pm »

One of my colonies built comb in their feeder space this year too. Thankfully they hadn't filled it with honey yet, so it was an easy fix. That is the largest sugar brick I have ever seen!

yukonjeff · « **Reply #387 on:** April 18, 2021, 11:05:12 pm »

I had all four hives starve last year and my boxes iced up so they could not be opened to add any more sugar. So after that I could not find a pan big enough for the brick I wanted to put on. So this cake pan had to do

I attribute the success of these hives to make it through a long Alaskan winter, to the size of that brick.

PS it also absorbed moisture, so win win.

Zweefer · « **Reply #388 on:** April 20, 2021, 12:24:30 pm »

Well, Congrats on the success! How long is the season up there again?

yukonjeff · « **Reply #389 on:** April 21, 2021, 12:18:53 am »

Thanks

Alaska gets packages shipped in from Cali starting April 12 this year. Right now we still have snow on the ground here but the cat willow are about to pop any day, we are getting up into the low 40s f still 20s at night.

I live near the tundra so the blueberry and cranberry flowers they work first. Then some dandelion's here, invasive I think.

Then the Cow parsnip bloom they work those until the fireweed in mid July. Thats our main flow. Ends in mid/ late August. And that's it.

Bakersdozen · « **Reply #390 on:** April 21, 2021, 10:03:17 am »

Quote from: yukonjeff on April 21, 2021, 12:18:53 am

Then some dandelion's here, invasive I think.

I believe the common dandelion we see down here in the lower 48 originates from Eurasia. There is a variety of dandelion that is native to North America. Dandelions are a member of the aster family.

yukonjeff · « **Reply #391 on:** April 21, 2021, 03:27:59 pm »

Thanks I didn't know that.

Here we get dandelion's that are knee high sometimes, I believe due to our long Alaska days. My colony's are never built up enough that early to get a crop of our spring honey. We do have a variety of wild flowers including Aster. Our aster blooms in mid summer, not a lot of it. I see some plants that look like Goldenrod blooming mid summer too. Its Cool here in the summer maybe that's why not in the fall like down there. The hills here will be blue in June with Iris. My bees bring in loads of pollen from it, and with all the alder and willow the pollen never ends.

We only have cottonwood trees and a few stunted spruce here. Everything else is willow bushes and alder bushes. And lots of them.

I notice a sticky substance on the Cottonwood buds in the spring, I always wondered if my bees use any of it. Have not been able to confirm it.

Bakersdozen · « **Reply #392 on:** April 22, 2021, 09:39:20 am »

There is over 100 different species of Goldenrod and some of those species can be found in every state of the U.S. and every territory in Canada. So, you probably are seeing Goldenrod. Again, Goldenrod is a member of the Aster family.
The University of Minnesota Bee Lab did research on propolis collection by honey bees. They found that the propolis with the most beneficial medicinal properties came from cottonwood. Honey bees will collect propolis from many, many sources including poison ivy.
With dandelion's that come up to the knees, you could make a salad!

yukonjeff · « **Reply #393 on:** April 24, 2021, 02:00:41 am »

You know I ordered goldenrod honey off ebay and I thought it was the best tasting honey I ever had. I would love a bucket of it. This fireweed honey is real good too.

So that must be where they get their propolis then from the cottonwood. I tried a bite once and it stuck to my teeth. lol

As far as dandelions, I eat a lot of wild greens here in the summer, but I never did eat dandelions just a few leaves before. I might be missing out.

yukonjeff · « **Reply #394 on:** April 24, 2021, 02:09:53 am »

Well my suspicion was correct, this smaller hive is queenless. I went through it several times looking with no avail. She was marked. It Sounded queenless too.

I then looked though the pile of dead bees I scraped off the bottom board the other day and found this. Not sure if I rolled her on the last inspection in the fall. She was a good queen very gentle bees. Hated to lose her.

Since the bees are six months old, I gave a frame a bees each to the other colonies instead of order a queen. I did order a Mike Palmer queen last winter if I get it I will make a split later when it comes. Or try to make a queen here this summer.

Zweefer · « **Reply #395 on:** April 26, 2021, 04:49:10 pm »

Looks great! Thanks for keeping us updated, and good luck!

LazyBkpr · « **Reply #396 on:** April 26, 2021, 06:47:15 pm »

Sounds like you are making excellent headway in the HOW TO in Alaska with your bees. Well done! My son gets married here at my house on July third. we party till the morning of the fifth.. then... wifey has us set up to leave for Alaska. Somewhere in the Alaskan range, inland from Fairbanks for a fishing trip.... the trip is going to suck, but once i get there it might be hard to leave.

yukonjeff · « **Reply #397 on:** April 27, 2021, 01:20:41 am »

Thanks. Its a steep leaning curve to keeping bees so far north. I will keep working on it.

You will love Alaska. You wont see the stars until you get back, its light all night then. Good luck fishing Must be going for grayling ?
The fishing is better around Anchorage or Homer area for salmon, trout, halibut. You have to hit the run timing right for salmon.

Enjoy your trip.
Once upon a time I was from Dubuque

LazyBkpr · « **Reply #398 on:** April 28, 2021, 01:24:41 am »

Really? You ever ride that straight up and down train thing?

Zweefer · « **Reply #399 on:** April 29, 2021, 04:06:54 am »

Quote from: LazyBkpr on April 28, 2021, 01:24:41 am

Really? You ever ride that straight up and down train thing?

You mean the Fenelon Place Elevator?

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