Funny Hunny?!?

Honey is a commodity product which is produced and shipped all over the world in bulk. This can make the honey you buy cheap. There is one problem though. You don't know if you are getting honey or funny hunny. Funny hunny is honey that has been adulterated with corn syrup or other sweeteners.

The easiest way to make sure you get pure honey is to know your beekeeper. That's me! My family is proud to bring you 100% pure honey made by Kansas bees.

You can read more about funny hunny in this article http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_food_and_farm_bogus_honey

Honey Extracting

Fall is here and the harvest begins. Below is an quick look at my 18 frame radial extractor at work.

A view of the apiary

Brood Is Here

The girls are capping brood. It won't be too much longer before the hives start exploding with bees. I can't wait.

Spring is Here

It's time to get down to beesiness. I checked the hives this week and things are looking good. We came out ok even though it was a hard winter. It's time to feed, feed, and feed some more.  Feeding a 1:1 sugar to water syrup will stimulate brood rearing. This is an important step to gearing up the hives for the spring nectar flow.

Bee Candy Frame

I'm trying a bee candy frame. I took a new frame with plastic foundation. I added some wire to the outside of the frame to help hold the candy. I poured the candy onto the frame while it was still very hot. The candy firmed up nicely. I'll let you know how it worked out in a future post.

Bee Candy

I made bee candy last night I use a 4 parts sugar to 1 part water with 1 tsp apple cider vinegar. The secret to making the candy is boiling the mixture with the lid on and cooling it to around 200 degrees. I only had one hive that needed that needed the candy at this point. The hive is by far the weakest hive. I hope they make it.

Contruction Continues

The weather has warmed up enough to work in the garage again. I was able to complete 4 more deep hive bodies today. I also placed an order for 66 frames this weekend. 66 is a really strange number. There is a method to my madness though. 66 frames is the exact number at which the shipping cost per frame is the lowest. The cost of shipping goes up the when you order more or less than 66. I end up saving a quarter per frame when I order 66 rather than 100 frames.

Snow Covered Hives

It's been snowing off and on for the past few weeks.  It's finally let up enough to go out and check the hives.  I brushed off the snow and gave my hives a listen.  100% of the hives are still buzzing at this point. 

Making Progress in Winter

I continue to work on making bee hives for the spring.  I made life a little easier on myself this week.  I visited the local metal shop.  They were able to cut me galvanized tin for my outer covers.  The cost ended up less than $5.00 a top!!!