pH Balance In Honey And What We Feed Bees | Packages Of Bees Available For Purchase www.honeybeesonline.com 217-427-2678

In today’s beekeeping lesson we’ll be taking a look into pH. What is the pH balance of honey and how does that compare to vinegar, water, milk, coffee and other things in my kitchen. Is it important to raise the pH balance in what we feed our bees? Read on!

Hello, are David and Sheri Burns and here at Long Lane Honey Bee Farms, we are a family business working hard to help more people discover and enjoy keeping honey bees. We manufacture beehives and sell everything related to beekeeping. Our hives are built according to our specific required specs right here in central Illinois.

It’s fall and if you are new to beekeeping you are just in time to get started keeping bees in the spring of 2015. We have 3 lb packages for sale now. Bees are so precious and essential to nature. We are excited to offer packages again this year. They will sell out fast. Last year we sold out within 45 days after going online. Click here to order your packages of bees. Packages include 3lbs, about 10,000 bees and one mated queen.

Now is the time to order your hives and we always appreciate your hive orders. Purchase your hives (woodenware) now, and you’ll receive them within a few weeks. Order your bees now to be picked up in the spring.

Remember when we were young and we’d take catalogs from major department stores and circle everything we wanted for Christmas? Only 36 days until Christmas. We have two special hive kits with bees that would make a great Christmas gift for that special someone in your life. These starter hives are affordable, includes bees and there is no shipping charge. One comes with startup equipment like a smoker, bee brush, frame hanger, frame grip, smoker fuel and a hive tool. The other does not come with equipment for those who already have equipment but are adding more hives. Click on the image below for more information.

Join us tomorrow, Wednesday November 19th at 10 a.m. for another live episode of HiveTalk. We’ll be  talking about   feral colonies trap-outs and cut-outs. These are terms referring to trapping and cutting bee hives from structures. We’ll also talk about how to establish them into hives and related subjects like principles of the bee vac, mistakes to avoid, laws and regulations. Here’s how to join us:

We promise to make this educational and fun. You can make Hive Talk more interesting by calling in and asking questions live, or by logging in on your computer and texting us your question. Here’s how:

The number to call is:

1-724-444-7444.

When you call in you'll be asked to enter our SHOW ID which is: 129777 followed by the # sign. Then the automated system will ask you for your Pin number which is 1 followed by the # sign. At that point, you'll be on the show with us so you can ask your questions. So you don’t have to worry about keeping your kids or dogs quite. You will be muted unless you press * 8 on your phone and that will allow us to unmute you so you can ask your question. Call in around 10 minutes prior to broadcast, at 9:50 a.m. central time.  If you want to just listen from your computer, go to: http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/129777

Set your alarm and your smart phones. Nov 19th, Wednesday at 10 a.m. central time.

LESSON 166: pH In Honey And What We Feed Bees

pH stands for the power of hydrogen. When you write it, the “p” is lower case and since hydrogen is an element, it is capitalized. Water has a pH of 7. Anything 7 and above is considered an alkaline and anything below 7 is consider to be acidic.

So I grabbed my pH meter and tested different things in my kitchen this morning. Remember, the lower the number the more acidic. I snapped some pictures below so you can see for yourself.

       

It’s hard to see, but there is a decimal point after the first number. So Coffee is 5.66. My ginger ale is a special kind that I buy that has real, fresh ginger so it is really tart and burns your throat when you swallow. Honey is close to that same pH level. Haven’t you noticed that honey does sometimes make your throat burn just a little. It’s because honey is acidic. That is what aids in preventing bacterial growth. Water is considered having no acidic trace and is around 7 pH. The higher the number the more alkaline. 

I discovered that by adding sugar to water, it actually raised the alkalinity by.09 elevating it further away from the level found in bees’ natural food, honey.  If bees eat honey at a pH of 3.52, then is it possible to increase the acidic content in sugar water to nearly match honey and still be healthy for bees?  I found a great study about this and how adding vitamin C to sugar water increased winter survival by 33%. I explain this today in more detail on my main website at: www.honeybeesonline.com where I’ll show you how I increased the pH in sugar water. Be sure and read my entire article there on my website.

Thanks for joining us for another lesson in beekeeping. See you next time,

David and Sheri Burns
Long Lane Honey Bee Farms
www.honeybeesonline.com
217-427-2678

Beekeeping In 2015: What To Expect For Bees in 2015 www.honeybeesonline.com 217-427-2678 LESSON 165

Hello fellow beekeepers and prospective beekeepers! We are David and Sheri Burns and we are excited to share what’s happening with Long Lane Honey Bee Farms and with honey bees in general. Be sure and visit our main website where you can take a beekeeping quiz, reading about swarming, varroa mite control, small hive beetles, how to extract honey and more. http://www.honeybeesonline.com

Today’s lesson will touch on the subject of what to expect in beekeeping in the upcoming 2015 beekeeping season. Before we begin, let me tell you what we’ve been up to lately.

We are wrapping up our beekeeping classes for this year and they were so much fun. We met new beekeepers from all over the US. We had our last beginners class for this year last weekend. We trained prospective beekeepers from Illinois, Tennessee, Missouri, New York, Iowa and Kentucky. We taught over 30 classes this year with our newest class addition, “How To Get Your Bees Through The Winter” which we had to offer three times due to increased interest.

I spent two weekends in a row in Arkansas this month. I spoke at the Arkansas state association meeting and I learned a lot from Dr. Jeff Harris and Audrey Sheridan from Mississippi State University. Also in this photo, allow me to introduce my good friend, Jon Zawislak. Jon and I have studied bees together since 2009. Jon is a fellow EAS certified master beekeeper and is the apiculture instructor with the Entomology Department, University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture in Little Rock, Arkansas. Jon has taught several of our classes and speaks at our Beekeeping Institute that we hold each year. We are excited about this year’s beekeeping institute in June. Registration is filling up fast. Click here for more information.

Jon and I also produce Hive Talk, an internet radio/podcast program about honey bees. In our last episode we tackled some tough topics about bees, that most people would avoid. But we waded in and had a good time. You can listen to our past episodes on iTunes: http://www.honeybeesonline.com/servlet/Detail?no=316 or Google “Hive Talk”.

Join us on Wednesday November 19th at 10 a.m. for another live episode of HiveTalk. We’ll be  talking about  feral colonies trap-outs and cut-outs. These are terms referring to trapping and cutting bee hives from structures.  We’ll also talk about how to establish them into hives and related subjects like principles of the bee vac, mistakes to avoid, laws and regulations. Here’s how to join us:

We promise to make this educational and fun. You can make Hive Talk more interesting by calling in and asking questions live, or by logging in on your computer and texting us your question. Here’s how:

The number to call is:

1-724-444-7444.

When you call in you'll be asked to enter our SHOW ID which is: 129777 followed by the # sign. Then the automated system will ask you for your Pin number which is 1 followed by the # sign. At that point, you'll be on the show with us so you can ask your questions. So you don’t have to worry about keeping your kids or dogs quite. You will be muted unless you press * 8 on your phone and that will allow us to unmute you so you can ask your question. Call in around 10 minutes prior to broadcast, at 9:50 a.m. central time.  If you want to just listen from your computer, go to: http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/129777

Set your alarm and your smart phones. Nov 19th, Wednesday at 10 a.m. central time.

Jon and I wrote an article for the American Bee Journal and we published a booklet on queen rearing and we continue to hear positive responses on it. It’s entitled, “Raising Quality Queen Bees.” You can download the .pdf at: http://www.uaex.edu/publications/pdf/mp518.pdf  It was published by the University of Arkansas, Division of Agricultural, Research and Extension. Queen rearing is either made complicated, or not detailed enough so we went to work to produce an easy to follow guide to raise queens. Check it out.

We are spending every spare minute making our Winter-Bee-Kind candy boards. The weather finally turned cold enough for us to ship them out.  A customer from Chicago has used our Winter-Bee-Kinds on her hives for 2 years and has never lost a hive. She bought 5 more and brought her empty ones to be refilled. We hear more and more of these stories. Remember though, no matter how much good nutrition bees have during the winter, if the varroa mites are spreading viruses, the hive can still perish during the winter.

Our new Burns Bees Feeding System was very well received, so much so that we were overwhelmed with orders and had to take them temporarily offline. Now we have an Amish business near us making them for us so we have placed them back online.

LESSON 165: What To Expect For The 2015 Beekeeping Year.

I believe we are faced with some good problems. First, packages, nucs and queens will, once again, be in big demand. Last year beekeepers around the country saw how difficult it was to find bees. It wasn’t impossible, but it took a bit more effort, especially new beginners.  This may very well be the case for 2015. Already one large supplier of packages is sold out.

Secondly, I am hopeful that with the increase in beekeeping conferences, workshops and classes that we’ll start to see healthier bees. Beekeeping can no longer be viewed as hands off. Beekeepers must be well informed to overcome the challenges facing honey bees.

Thirdly, science will continue to reveal more and more insights into how to keep healthier hives. Research and studies are exciting and show a promising future for honey bees. These are days where information and studies are coming out so fast that unless you are connected to this information, you’ll get left behind. Like, did you know, now we are changing the way we understand royal jelly influencing queen development.

Fourthly, the President, Governors, cities and states are starting to protect honey bees. The general public is now awake when it comes to the importance of the honey bee. Therefore, 2015 I believe will be a very promising year for honey bees.

Lastly, beekeeping has been elevated to rock start status. When you tell people you are a beekeeper a very common response after the fascination is, “I’ve always wanted to do that.” That when we say, “come on” and encourage others to start keeping bees.  Why not encourage more of your friends and family to keep bees. Do it for the pollination.  Do it for the bees. Do it for the enjoyment.

We impacted thousands of new beekeepers over the last 10 years and we are passionate about continue our efforts to energize the beekeeping hobby. If you are wondering how to energize your family, friends or your bee club or association then check out our list of resources below:

Nov – March Buy Equipment & Bees. Get the word out to order things early. The later you wait, the more likely you’ll miss out on availability or speedy deliveries. We have kits available now that includes packages of bees. Click here.

Jan – Apr Study. We’ll be posting our 2015 classes soon, so keep an eye out and be sure to take a class. Our classes are thorough and complete.

Apr – May Install package or nuc and monitor growth.

May– June continue to provide extra room for growth.

June – Aug provide enough supers.

Aug – Sept remove honey.

Sept – Oct prepare for winter.

Remember, we exist because of the loyalty of our customers who purchase beekeeping equipment from us. Our hives are made right here in central Illinois. For example our Winter-Bee-Kinds are made from wood purchased at a local lumber yard, and our foam insulation is made 45 miles from us in Charleston, Illinois. We appreciate your support of these US made items. Click on the items below to place an order today, and we thank you. Christmas is coming and we know beekeeping will really surprise them!

Two Complete Hives. It’s always better to start with two hives.

Winter-Bee-Kind

 

 

 

 

Once Complete Hive

Equipment Kit

Burns Bees Feeding System

-10 Frame Feeding System

- 8 Frame Feeding System

Thanks for joining us, and visit us online at: www.honeybeesonline.com or call us Mon – Thur 10-4 central time and Fri- 10 – Noon. 217-427-2678. If you call and cannot get through, please be patient as this indicates we are helping other beekeepers. Just keeping calling back during our regular hours.

Visit our main website where you can take a beekeeping quiz, reading about swarming, varroa mite control, small hive beetles, how to extract honey and more. http://www.honeybeesonline.com