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A Beekeeper's Diary
This is a diary of
activities in our commercial beekeeping operation at
Swalwell in
Central Alberta,
Canada, and observations on the business of commercial beekeeping. I've retired, and we've
now
reduced to thirty or so hives, but be sure to visit the logs from previous
years.
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May 10th to 30th, 2005
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Left panel on?
Yes
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No
You don't get anything clean without
getting something else dirty
-- Cecil Baxter --
These hives have received thirds, and the wrap is pulled up.
The extra warmth really helps at this early date.
The upper entrance hole, which is in the same spot in every brood box we own,
matches the wrap, and the bees immediately start using the top box.
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Tuesday 10 May 2005
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All men are frauds. The only difference between them is that some
admit it.
I myself deny it. -- H. L. Mencken
I worked with Medhat a bit on setting up the ingredients for the patties he will be using for his nutrition experiments. Although most beekeepers like to put patties on early, Medhat did his test this late last year and was able to see definite benefits. In my experience, we should be supplying the bees with all the patties they can eat until June, at least. I fed and they are gone. I replaced them with three more. I am lazy and did not get back in good time, or I would now be feeding the strong hives their 7th, 8th, and 9th! Some of my friends are not feeding their bees patties this year to save money and because they think they have enough bees. Turns out, though that there are some late losses, and those extra bees could have been quite handy for boosting.
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Read This! I had a simple method to equalize without opening hives. What I used to do was find a weak yard and an overly strong yard. At mid-day on a nice day during a flow, I'd drive the weak hives to the strong yard, move the overly strong hives across the yard to a separate spot, then place the weak hives in their place. The field bees would return to the weaker hives, and then, after a few hours or the next day, I would move the strong hives to where the weak yard had been. A week later, both yards would be about equal. |
We're working on roofing plans. Went to Calgary to consult on materials, but the trip was a waste of time.
Tuesday: Cloudy with sunny periods. Wind northeast 20 km/h. High 14. Wednesday: Sunny. Low minus 5. High plus 12. Thursday: Sunny. Low 1. High 12. Friday: Sunny. Low 5. High 18.
Wednesday 11 May 2005
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Paradise is exactly like where you are right now... only much, much better -- Laurie Anderson
First thing, I had some work to do with Medhat and mike, arranging the manufacture of patties for Medhat's experiments. That took an hour or two.
My notebook computer problems continue. I managed to learn that my factory warranty is good until the 15th of this month (I guess I must have registered it -- that's why I can't find the card), however, and that I do not have to rely on American Express Platinum card's Buyer Protection, which extends the warranty an extra year.
Before I realized that I was still on warranty, I had been thinking I'd just try to recover the disc, but, when I called the repair depot, they suggested that there might be more to it than the drive. I had been aware of that possibility, and had wondered about the IDE, since I has some trouble with Knoppix 3.8 run on the optical drive.
During my getting to grips with the problem phase, I tried the GRC newsgroups.
I planned to go to Calgary to take the computer in, but spent a few more hours than expected siphoning the data off the machine. I had been tinkering for days trying to find the network, and was reconciled to using my 1 GB Data Traveler, but had found it very slow and balky. I made one last try, and Knoppix suddenly connected to the network! I copied off the most important files, and found that about five (of lower importance, thankfully) were corrupt and had to be skipped. Otherwise the job went amazingly well. The machine is now ready to go for repair, but it is late in the day. Tomorrow.
I have five more hives to work on. They are mostly styro, and as one can see from the pictures above, the styro are far behind the wood hives. I really must write some commentary for the pictures.
Today: Sunny. Wind southeast 20 km/h. High 19. UV index 6 or high. Tonight: Clear. Wind south 20 km/h. Low 2. Thursday: Sunny. High 22. Friday: Sunny. Low 6. High 19. Saturday: Sunny. Low 7. High 23. Sunday: A mix of sun and cloud. Low 11. High 22.
Thursday 12 May 2005
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The more I study religions the more I am convinced that man
never worshipped anything but himself -- Sir Richard Francis Burton
Still working on the roof plans, we went to Calgary and looked at supplies again. While there, I dropped off the Toshiba at a repair depot. They confirmed that the drive is shot and ordered another for Monday.
Today: Sunny. High 23. UV index 6 or high. Tonight: Clear. Low 4. Friday: Sunny. High 23. Saturday: Sunny. Low 6. High 23. Sunday: Sunny. Low 8. High 22. Monday: Sunny. Low 10. High 19.
Friday 13 May 2005
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Experience is that marvelous
thing that enables you to recognize a mistake when
you make it again. -- Franklin P. Jones
We went down to check our geocache and confirm the co-ordinates. GPSs can have a bit of error, and averaging several readings on different days can result in higher accuracy. When I checked the web page, on returning, I see that three parties have now visited it.
We worked on finalizing the roof project plans, then I changed the oil in the 4X4 and went out to finish the bees. For some reason, the ones in Styrofoam have not done as well as the ones in wood that have our winter wraps on them. Interestingly, we did not lose one of the hives with high varroa counts.
I put on more pollen patties and finished putting on thirds. I should be splitting about now, and I see that there is brood in the thirds I added last week. There is a problem, though in that I plan to go away for a week or so later this week.
Today: A mix of sun and cloud. High 18. UV index 6 or high. Tonight: Cloudy periods. Low 3.
Saturday 14 May 2005
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Men, it has been well said, think
in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in
herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.
-- Charles Mackay
--
Today: Sunny with cloudy periods. 40 percent chance of showers this afternoon with the risk of a thunderstorm. Wind southeast 20 km/h. High 25. UV index 6 or high. Tonight: Cloudy periods. 40 percent chance of showers early this evening with the risk of a thunderstorm. Clearing this evening. Wind south 20 km/h. Low 9.
Sunday 15 May 2005
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Imagination is the one weapon in the war against
reality.
-- Jules de Gaultier --
Sunday: Sunny. Wind becoming south 20 km/h in the afternoon. High 27.
Monday 16 May 2005
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Hollywood is a place where they'll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss and
fifty cents for your soul. -- Marilyn Monroe --
Monday: Cloudy with 60 percent chance of showers. Low 11. High 20.Tonight: Cloudy. 30 percent chance of showers overnight. Low 13.
Tuesday 17 May 2005
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Hegel was right when he said that we learn
from history that man can never
learn anything from history. -- George Bernard Shaw
Tuesday: Cloudy. 30 percent chance of showers in the evening. Wind south 20 km/h becoming west 20 late in the morning. High 23. UV index 4 or moderate.
Wednesday 18 May 2005
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Computers make it easier to do a lot of
things,
but most of the things they make it easier to do don't need to be done.
-- Andy Rooney
Today: Sunny with cloudy periods. High 20. UV index 6 or high. Tonight: Cloudy periods with 30 percent chance of showers this evening. Clear overnight. Risk of a thunderstorm. Wind becoming southwest 20 km/h near midnight. Low 7. Thursday: Sunny. High 22. Friday: Sunny. Low 7. High 21. Saturday: A mix of sun and cloud. Low 7. High 17. Sunday: Sunny. Low 6. High 21.
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