Apologies about the lack of bee content in these pages lately.  I'm off for the winter.  I'll add ideas as I deal with them, but for now, I'm on vacation.   Nonetheless, Here is a reply to a note I got a while ago.  I reckon the answers are of general interest.

> Hello. I have enjoyed reading your diary.

Glad to hear you enjoy it and find it useful.

> With your palletized operation I am surprised to find what seems  to be a standard hive top that telescopes down on all four sides. Am  I seeing the pictures wrong?

Nope. That's what they are. We found that they keep the bees drier in springtime.

> Have you seen any of the plastic pallets? These look like the way to go. Any comments?

I did see a plastic grocery pallet, once, but am not sure if we saw the same thing.

> If I ever came to Canada do you offer tours in exchange for free labor? I have 2 years experience on my own and 2 days experience with a commercial man around here.

Well, we are retiring, so we'd have to see. Generally I turn down free labour since I can't afford what it costs, but I decide each case on its own merits.

> You post lots of links, have you seen Garden Web? http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/bees/

The site looks pretty good for the beginner/hobbyist.

> How did you get into beekeeping?

Nothing else to do. I started up, and grew.  I am just now getting around to quitting. some thirty+ years later.

> It seems some of your hives have frame spacers on the frame rests. Do you use these on all your hives?

Some have some don't. It's a bit of a nuisance, but we live with it.

> As a windsurfer (you not me) have you ever been to "Canadian Hole" on the Outer Banks of NC? It is supposed to be one of the best spots around. If you ever come this way for it, my wife and I are 3 hours from there, could give you a bed.

Thanks for the offer. I've been nearby (in January) at the ABF meeting several years back, but never sailed there. My cousin and his boys have, though.

> Do you drink your own mead anymore?

I seem to have gotten sensitive to it, and I have cut back on drinking, generally.  (The last few weeks are an exception to that though).

> Do you have links that describe your honey house layout?

Nope, but in July, I've shown pictures of the upstairs, and in fall some of the downstairs.  No layout, though.  Not yet, anyhow.

> I am planning a metal building/shop that could start as large as 40 x 60 and I trying to think about layout for a decent sized operation.

State and other governments in various countries offer drawings and recommendations. I can't remember which ones, but ask on sci.agriculture.beekeeping or BEE-L where to get some. These plans are usually free, AFAIK.

> Initially I think I would start with adding used equipment a piece at a time or perhaps something like the Cowen 28 frame system that is nice and compact. I have toured some nice places of some large people with thousands of hives and these have helped to shape my ideas, I'd like to see how you do things. How much space have you had dedicated to beekeeping?

Not much. We use 45 x 45' north end of our school building, plus some of the basement there. That is one reason I am quitting. I'm too old to build a new facility and also too old to put up with what I have been using.

> One of the comments from a beekeeper I heard was that if he was starting over he would go ahead and set up some kind of a wax processing system. How is your wax handled and what do you do with it?

Earlier this fall or winter, I described the Fager press I got this year, and, this year we also ran some drums of tank skimmings through a neighbour's Spinfloat, but mostly we have sent them for rendering.

 

The custom renderer salvages and buys both the wax and honey and this approach has been cheaper than doing the work myself.  The honey is darkened somewhat, though.

> 5/4/2 diary page has a picture with what looks like the middle of the top bar cut out. What is this?

A frame feeder, made of wood and Masonite.

> Some of your pictures show stacks upon stacks of barrels in your yard. Are these strictly for feeding or do you barrel honey in them also?

The silver ones are honey drums. The others are for miscellaneous jobs and open feeding.

> Do you use liner bags for the honey in drums?

Nope. They are a good idea that turns out in practice to be a very bad idea.  If water gets between the liner and the drum, the result is disgusting.  It is also impossible to keep any junk that is between the liner and the drum out of the honey on a reliable basis.  There are always tears and other accidents.  Moreover, honey is lost in the bags.  Good drums are cheap, and in today's world, anything that should not be in honey must be kept out, and away from honey.

> Does anybody test honey for drug residues? Do you test yours?

Our co-op tests regularly, and thoroughly.

> Would beekeepers pay for such a thing or would anonymity be important?  I think of such things as one who got a degree in Chemistry.

Beekeepers can and do pay for testing.  I saw something recently where a well-respected California beekeeper was recommending that all beekeepers do so.   Anonymity?  I doubt you would get any business unless you guaranteed absolute discretion.

Allen's

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I've been analyzing my problem with writing for magazine publication and concluded that I can, and do love to write, but only as long as I write what I like, when I like.  When I am given an assignment, the fun turns into hard work.  When  confronted with an assignment or deadline, sometimes I'm not inspired, and sometimes I don't really know what I need to know to write a really good piece.  Failing facts, sometimes I don't even have an opinion that is entertaining.  My thoughts are half-formed and I have to strain to write and I dislike what I have done when I am finished.  Very unsatisfying. 

Magazine pay is okay.  Actually, the pay is great -- if I can dash off an article and it arises spontaneously.  The pay is lousy, however, if I have to struggle to write the article, and feel vaguely uncomfortable with the finished work it when it is done.  In such cases, it takes three times as long and the work is much less pleasant.  I much prefer to write when I am inspired, and I think I know what I'm talking about.

It's thrill when a magazine wants your work.  I've written published articles off and on for thirty years and it always gives me a buzz.  Just the same, I'd rather not write, than write something that does not give me pride.  I had to learn that the hard way, though, now that I am thinking of getting serious about being a pro -- after all, I just did six monthly articles in a row.  That's no longer just fooling around.

Going in, I guess I knew what I am finding out now , but I just had to prove it to myself.  I had see how it feels. After all, I'd love to make some retirement beer money writing.  Actually, I'm sure I will -- I've had lots of offers --  but I have to test the bars on my cage, and learn about myself too.  One thing I've long known -- and pondered often -- about professional musicians, the kind that we hear on the radio: they are professionals first and musicians second.  Many, many people can play music just as well as them, but few can handle the ups and downs, the abuse, the adulation, the repetition, and the travel over the long haul. 

Making the choice to do anything professionally is a commitment.  Being a true professional means putting aside personal feelings and getting the job done regardless of feelings and personal discomfort.  Many very talented people choose to keep writing, music, baseball, beekeeping -- or whatever -- as a hobby or avocation, rather than making it into a vocation. 

In my life, I've changed many hobbies into businesses.  Should I be doing that to my writing?

Allen's Links of the Day

...We had 60+++ temps yesterday. I shot my limit of pheasants but it was too warm for our dog with this high of temp. Bees are already stating to sit on brood. My cousin has a sawmill in town & the bees were going nuts with the fresh sweet pine saw dust he was making. Looks like we have had little or no winter loss at this point. Should be 60 again today.

Talked to a good many of my farming cousins & high school friends & all agree that a black Christmas usually spells water trouble for the next crop year. You can not begin to believe all the CRP ground in the county that has been re enrolled in the program. Some has been 100% inter-seeded with clover/alfalfa.

Time to get a shave & head to church. What's new up north?????

We've been around freezing here and got some snow last night -- 2 inches, maybe. The ground is dry, and the pond is almost empty, but we never know what to expect. We count on the rains coming when we need them and so, even if it starts dry, things can change in a day. 

Farming is very much like religion. We act on faith, often in absence of any evidence that our acts will be rewarded.

For number of hives operated, some count up the amount of equipment on hand, then figure how many hives it would make at five standard boxes per hive, regardless of whether there are bees in the boxes or not.  Some take the same box count and reckon how many hives they would have, figuring on four or maybe six boxes per hive.  Some just count the live hives in spring, some count after splitting, and others just count the number going into winter.  Others yet go by the number of hives that are actually supered for a honey flow, and others by how many fill those supers.  Pollinators may go by the maximum number of hives that they can put on pollination.  These could be single brood hives with only a super or two and the limiting factor here may be floors and lids.  A queen producer may count all the mating nucs as well as the large hives, and a nuc producer may count the total number of units at the peak season -- large and small -- or count only the large hives.

Who's asking -- and why -- may have a drastic effect on the answer.  If it is the tax man, a land owner or an estranged spouse, the beekeeper may chose a very conservative number.  If it is a few beekeepers sitting in a bar late in the evening, a far more liberal -- even imaginative -- estimate may be considered appropriate.

To add to the confusion, often a beekeeper will very honestly use one number for one purpose, and, several minutes later, a completely different count for another purpose.

When calculating the yield, the amount of honey extracted should be fairly obvious, but unless it is all put into drums, the drums weighed and lined up in one place and time for counting, higher mathematics may be necessary, and some uncertainty can creep in.   Where the honey is placed in pails and sold or given away as the season progresses, the opportunity for counting the same honey several times arises.  Some beekeepers count it once when on the hive, again when extracted and again when placed into buckets. 

Thus we can see there can be some amazing elasticity in beekeepers' honest estimates.  Even if the exact amount of honey extracted and packed is logged and computed correctly -- and often it is, especially by commercial beekeepers -- there is always the amount that is left for feed or not extracted due to granulation, or left in cappings and a possibility of stretching the numbers in any useful direction.

If the amount produced is open to interpretation or even (gasp!) manipulation, and the number of hives cannot be ascertained in any consistent and objective way, how then can we compare yields reported by beekeepers?  After all, yield is calculated by dividing the production by the hive count.

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