New Private Lessons With David & Only A Few Hours Left

We are David and Sheri Burns from Long Lane Honey Bee Farms and Honeybeesonline.com. 

I just wanted to send you this friendly reminder before you miss out on the Black Friday/Cyber Monday offer because it's ending at 10:00 am tomorrow morning.

• It's one of the best offers I've ever put together.
• It's everything you need to fully grasps all aspects of beekeeping.
• I want this to help you have the best beekeeping year ever.
• You've got all winter to soak up the best of my 6 courses.

We have no plans to offer this deep of a discount on our classes until maybe next year's Black Friday sale, so take advantage of offer.

You can purchase this course for yourself or give this bundle as a gift for someone special.

Click here now!

Hope you don't get this too late. Hurry!

David has traveled around the country to train one on one with various instructors in his sport. Now, you can train one on one with David. It's a private class, private beekeeping lessons tailored to your specific needs. You can choose from 30 minutes to 4 hours. Even if you live far away, plan to visit David the next time you want to take a trip. These private lessons make great gifts! Choose your time below: 30 Minute Private Lesson - Click Here 60 Minute Private Lesson - Click Here 90 Minute Private Lesson - Click Here 2 Hour Private Lesson - Click Here 3 Hour Private Lesson - Click Here 4 Hour Private Lesson - Click Here Once you make your selection you can call into the office or leave notes in your order as to what specific needs you'd like David to teach you on. When you call in David will work out an agreeable time and date. It can be in the winter months to prepare you for spring! Also, you are welcome to bring a friend or spouse or others at no additional cost (limit 3 others).  Learn More Since 1994 I've Gathered A Ton Of Beekeeping Resources To Share With You I've spent years experimenting with hives, and reading and researching all areas of beekeeping. I want to share some things with you. Please check these articles out: How To Harvest More Honey. Usually beekeepers are disappointed with the amount of honey their colony produced. There are some essential tools beekeepers can use to increase their honey harvest...Read More Winter Candy Boards. Winter candy boards can greatly increase your hives' chances of surviving the winter by keeping them from starving out. I've answered 14 common questions asked about candy boards...Read More Is It Difficult To Find Your Queen? Did you have trouble finding your queen last year? You would think out of 50,000 bees you could find one that's a little bigger. Where does she hide? Finding your queen can increase your success rate. I'll give you ways to make it easier to find your queen...Read More Read My Answer To The Top 19 Questions I Get Asked By Beekeepers...Read More Thanks For Being Our Friends Sheri and I are so thankful for all those we have assisted in some way discovery beekeeping. Learn more about our personal life and our journey in beekeeping...Read More

Packages Of Bees Online!

Happy New Years! We are David and Sheri Burns from Long Lane Honey Bee Farms and honeybeesonline.com. It's finally here, January 1st, 2018. Our Packages of bees go on sale at the first minute of the new year. We expect our packages to sell our very fast this year, so if you need a package for 2018, be sure and order yours as soon as possible. 

Click here to see if the packages are online yet. They may go online an hour or so before midnight. 

We Encourage You To Watch Our Video For Installing Packages:

Installing A Package Don't wait until spring to order your hive. It's much better to order your equipment before the spring rush. Now is a perfect time to make your choices and secure what you need. Freedom Kit with bees is our kit for the serious beekeeper...Read more How Many Hives Should You Start With?  The average backyard hobbyist should always start with 2 or more. Why? With two hives, you can compare...Read More How Close To The House Can I Put My Hives? This and 18 other questions are answered here...Read more Our Winter Bee Kinds Can Make A Huge Difference Don't delay ordering your Winter-Bee-Kind. Now that it is cold, make sure your bees have adequate food for winter by placing our Winter Bee Kind on your hive if for no other reason than insurance that they won't starve! Available for 10 frame, and 8 frame hives. Be Prepared Now that it's time to secure your packages for 2018, be sure you know all you need to know about beekeeping. Sign up for one of our classes or sign up for our mentorship program. Click below: Beekeeping Classes       Beekeeping Mentorship

I'm glad you are keeping bees or thinking about it. Thank you for supporting our family business for all your beekeeping needs.

Sincerely,

David and Sheri Burns
Long Lane Honey Bee Farms

217-427-2678

www.honeybeesonline.com

New 2018 Hours:

Monday 10am - 6pm 

Tuesday 10am - 3pm

Wednesday 10am - 6pm

Thursday 10am - 3pm

Friday 9am - Noon

Saturday - Our store is also open on days when we have Saturday classes

Feed Bees Liquid In The Spring www.honeybeesonline.com 217-427-2678

Hello from Long Lane Honey Bee Farms in central Illinois. We are David and Sheri Burns with another lesson in beekeeping. It is important to start feeding bees liquid as soon as possible. I watch the temperatures and in this lesson I will show you how I have calculated the way to feed bees liquid sugar water as soon as possible.

Once again it is MYSTERY PHOTO time!  It’s going to be a little more difficult this time, so put on your thinking caps.

We have posted the MYSTERY PHOTO on our main website at: www.honeybeesonline.com

The winner will receive a nice pair of ventilated beekeeping gloves. Here are the questions that must be answered:

1. What is this a picture of?
2. What is its purpose?
3. What is the scientific name?

Answers must be submitted on our Facebook page under the section where the black photo to the left appears on our Facebook page. The actual photo is only on our front page of our website, www.honeybeesonline.com

Good luck, and study hard.

I Put Together My Dream Hive

I put together my dream hive, a hive that comes with extra things that can help the colony along.  I have only built a limited number of these, but here is what it is. Our typical completely assembled and painted bee hive with wooden frames and foundation. But it also comes with 1) 2 Green Drone Comb for mite control (and information on how to use them for varroa control) 2) 4 beetle blaster traps to trap small hive beetles, 3) I have painted on extra wax on all 30 frames and 4) I have scored the inside of the hive to help encourage the bees to add propolis inside on the walls of the hive which has been shown to improve colony health.

Certainly you can buy the green drone comb and beetle blasters and add them to our Completely Assembled and Painted Hive, but my dream hive has the extra wax that I’ve coated on my frames and the scored inside walls. This takes time and is why we only can sell a limited number of my dream hive.

You can do these things yourself and save a buck if you have the time and wax. Remember our Completely Assembled and Painted hives comes ready to go and shipping is included for $279.

We had another Basic Beekeeping Class last Saturday it was awesome. The students were so good and ask detailed questions and were very engaged. It was a nice day, but the threat of snow was looming over us for the evening. The storm held off until Sunday, but this is what it looked like one day after the class. Close one! We have another basic beekeeping class this Saturday 9am –3pm  with 2 openings still available. See a list of our classes for the year.

 

Now For Today’s Lesson

I want to get liquid sugar in my colonies as soon as possible to help clear their guts and to stimulate early spring build up of more brood. The earlier I can get my colonies strong in numbers the sooner I can split and make more hives, more nucs and queens in the spring. I’ve been watching the forecast and here in Illinois we are going to have several days where temperatures will rise above 50 degrees (f).  Here’s the temperature forecast for me:

Fri      High 26   Low  22
Sat     High 40   Low  24
Sun    High 41   Low  26
Mon   High 44   Low  28
Tue    High 52   Low  33
Wed  High 58   Low  38
Thu   High 48   Low  31
Fri      High 44   Low  32

So, after evaluating the temperatures, I plan to take off my winter wraps mid morning on Saturday so the sun can help warm the hives. Otherwise my wrap will work against the colony and prevent the warm sun from warming the hive. Insulation works both ways. On a cold day it can keep the cold out, but on a warm day, it can keep the warm out too.

Then,  I will take off my Winter-Bee-Kinds at noon on Monday and place on my Burns Bees Feeding System. I will feed my bees 1:1 sugar water and our patties. They probably will not fly much on Monday, but that’s fine because they will fly on Tuesday as highs will be in the low 50s. This will provide the needed cleansing flights after eating the patties and liquid sugar. I will stop feeding them this way on Wednesday until I can evaluate the forecast at that time. If it stays below 45 I will keep my Winter-Bee-Kinds on. But if it warms up I’ll keep feeding them with my feeding system. Again, my rule of thumb is the 50 degree (f) mark.

My strategy has a dual purpose. First, I want to feed my bees to stimulate early brood expansion. Secondly, I want to reduce the potential of the microsporidian, Nosema, by having the bees eat and take cleansing flights.

I realize this information varies depending on the temperatures where you live. My main trigger is sunny days above 50 degrees (f). I can feed my bees a day or two prior to a flight day. However, when I see that temperatures may drop to where bees cannot fly, I’ll stop feeding them a day or two prior to the cold snap. I don’t want to fill up the bees with sugar water and have the cold weather pin them in the hive for two weeks.I will not wrap my hives again unless lows drop below 10 degrees (f).

It is amazing what this approach will do to help strengthen the colony late in the winter. I will NOT remove any frames. It is still not warm enough to remove frames.

Now, let me give you a secret tip. It’s a little risky, so apply at your own risk. My bees will be used to going in and out of their Winter-Bee-Kind ventilation slot at the top of the hive. When I remove it and place on the Burns Feeding System, they will be forced to go in and out of the bottom opening as they do throughout the year. However, I will cut a slot in my Feeding System at the same location where the WBK slot was located. This will allow the bees to eat and fly without having to travel up and down so much. Why is this risky? In a warmer environment and where hives are not equal or not equally being fed, a starving colony might smell the slot on the Feeding System and rob out the hive with the upper opening, especially if you put Honey-Bee-Healthy in the sugar water. The smell could attract other colonies running low on food. I have never had this happen, but I want to warn that it could happen.

I can get by with doing this because I equally feed my colonies at the same time, thus reducing the need for them to go out and rob other hives. I could have feral hives in the area that might scout out the feeding slot, but I’ll keep an eye on it. If you want to play it safe, you should not worry about cutting a slot and make sure the Burns Bees Feeding System is sealed at the top, and your colony will soon use their lower entrance after removing the Winter-Bee-Kind.  This usually takes a couple of days for all the bees to orientate to the lower entrance.I will add additional pollen powder to my patties to help stimulate brood build up.

Thanks for joining us for another beekeeping lesson. Check out our website for all your beekeeping needs.  We have hive kits with bees still available.

David and Sheri Burns

Long Lane Honey Bee Farms
217-427-2678
www.honeybeesonline.com

LESSON 61: WHICH IS BEST: A NUC OR PACKAGE?

THIS POSTED in 2009:

Hello from Long Lane Honey Bee Farms, and welcome to today's lesson in Beekeeping, as we look at the best way to start up a hive, whether it be package bees, a nuc or buying an existing hive. Don't know what a nuc is? Then read on. Today's Blog/Lesson will be a lot of fun. I'll show you some questions from the master beekeeper test and you can see how well you would have done. Plus, information on our upcoming class and photos from the EAS meeting in Ellicottville, NY.

Before we get into today's lesson, let me say that so many people have signed up to receive these lessons directly as Emails. It's free, and you can unsubscribe any time. Use the link below to add your email so that every time we create a new lesson, you'll be sure to receive it right into your INBOX!


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You can easily unsubscribe at any time and it's free. Since these lessons are free, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that it does take money and time to put each lesson together. We receive alot of "thank you" emails and phone calls, telling us that these lessons have helped beekeepers greatly.
We welcome your donations toward producing more free lessons. You can send your donation to: Long Lane Honey Bee Farms, C/O Free Lessons, 14556 N. 1020 E. Rd, Fairmount, IL 61841
And don't forget to sign up for our classes we are offering in a few weeks. We still have a few openings. You can register online at: www.honeybeesonline.com/classes.html On this link, we have maps and directions.

I made it home from a week in Ellicottville, New York attending the Eastern Apicultural Society (EAS). Wow! What a jammed packed week of super lectures, demonstrations and new and helpful information on beekeeping.
Being able to attend workshops of the most well known entomologists in the country was very informative. Almost all of the speakers were more than approachable throughout the week, and needless to say, I picked a few brains. I was really impressed with the Holiday Valley Resort. It's really designed for golfers and skiers, but it quickly became home for over 400 beekeepers.
Here's Dave Tarpy giving an outdoor class on queen rearing and grafting. Dave is extremely intelligent and has an effective way to translate his knowledge down to the average beekeeper.
As I told you in my last communique, I've started my journey on becoming a master beekeeper. I studied long and hard and did the best I could. This master beekeepers certification used to be associated through Dr. Morse with Cornell University, but was taken over in 1981 by the Eastern Apiculture Society under the direction of Dr. Clarence Collison.
It is a very vigorous and thorough program. I tested in all four areas hoping to pass at least one my first year, and did better. I passed two! And only missed the third one by 6 points. This will give me 51 weeks to study up and try to pass the other two sections next year. (These are various pictures taken from the convention).

Let me give you a few questions from the written test to give you an example: "The retinue of attendants that form around a queen first occurs: (Multiple choice answer)
a) within the first 24 hours after a virgin queen emerges from her mating flight.
b) when the queen begins to lay eggs.
c) after the queen begins to lay eggs.
d) just before the queen is ready to take a mating flight.
e) when the queen is 3 weeks old


The answer is: D

"Individual cells and tissues within the honey bee receive oxygen directly from the:
a) Blood
b) Air Sacs
c) Tracheae
d) Spiracles
e) TracheolesThe answer is: E

"The ovaries of worker honey bees have _______ovarioles.
a) 51-100
b) 2-12
c) 100-129
d) 28-50
e) 130-180
The answer is: BHere's a picture of Gary Reuter who works with Marla Spivak on the Minnesota Hygienic Queen. Gary is a swell guy and always a lot of fun.
Here are a few of the True or False questions from the master beekeeper test. See how you might do:

Queens infected with nosema disease cease egg-laying and die within a few weeks of infection?
The answer is: TRUE

The principle component of the alarm pheromone associated with the mandibles is isopentyl acetate.
The answer is: FALSE (the correct answer is 2-heptanone)

The commercial production of apples requires cross-varietal pollination.
The answer is: TRUESacbrood infected larvae are unable to molt from the larval to the pupal stage.
The answer is: TRUE
One essay question asked to give a detailed explanation of how to use the "Demaree Technique."
The lab testing contained tables set up with various medicines, real infected frames of various diseases and tables with beekeeping equipment. The microscopes were set up with various pests in which we had to identify pests such as a male mite versus a female mite. So as you can see, it is a pretty thorough test.
I have the highest respect for EAS. I believe it is one of the best beekeeping organizations that I know of, and I would highly recommend that all beekeepers attend the EAS. LESSON 60: WHICH IS BEST? A NUC OR A PACKAGE OF BEES?
People are already calling us trying to reserve package bees. This year, everyone sold out faster than normal and left many beekeepers disappointed that they did not secure their orders earlier in the year. It happens every year. So let me give a brief run down on the proper way to make sure you purchase bees in time for a great spring.
There are three options: Packages, nucs or to purchase an existing live hive. Now, let me give you the pros and cons.
A) A Live Hive. This is probably the most difficult to purchase. Very few beekeepers want to sell a good, live hive. For example, one hive can earn me around $500 per year in producing nucs, queens and honey. So why would I want to sell it for half that price? So when a beekeeper wants to sell, the big question to ask is why? If the answer is understandable, like maybe the beekeeper is moving or has become allergic to bees or passed away, then that may be a good deal. However, when you purchase a live hive, you are also purchasing all the existing problems such as small hive beetles, tracheal mite, varroa mites, wax moths or diseases such as nosema, American Foul Brood or European Foul Brood or deformed wing virus, just to name a few.
Never purchase a live hive until it has been thoroughly inspected by a state apiary inspector and given a clean bill of health. This might be a good approach, but you have to find a beekeeper willing to sell a hive, and then make sure it is a clean hive. Remember, American Foul Brood can live on equipment for up to 80 years! Never buy used equipment if you are a new beekeeper!
B) Packages. Packages have been the way beekeepers in the North have received bees from the South for over 100 years. Southern beekeepers shake bees out of their hives and into screened cages. Sometimes it may take shaking bees out of three different hives to equal three pounds. Then, a new queen, in a separate cage, is placed in among the bees along with a can of either hard candy or sugar syrup. But there are some concerns. Let me list a few:--Will the queen be healthy and properly mated.
--Since they are from the south, could there be a chance of Africanized genetics, making a
more aggressive hive?
--Shipping stresses, such as too much time in the package and excessive temperatures can weaken both
the bees and the queen.
--Some packages/queen cages are medicated with chemicals that has been shown to effect
both the reproductive ability of drones and queens.
So, while this is the "industry standard" and has been for a century, it is not risk free or fail safe.
C) NUC. What is a NUC? A nuc is a short expression referring to the nucleus of a live hive. The nucleus, or nuc, usually contains four or five frames from a complete hive. Those frame include brood in various stages and frames mixed with honey, pollen and brood. The queen has already been accepted and is the mother of all the bees including the brood in the frames. Below are two lists, the first will be the advantages of a nuc, and the last will be the disadvantages.
Advantages of a nuc:--The frames are from a proven, successful existing hive.
--The queen is released and has been laying among the frames for some time.
--You receive the existing frames of comb, honey, pollen and brood. You do not have to
wait for the bees to draw comb.
--Since nucs are picked up, there are no shipping stresses.
--It is easy to transfer the frames into your own equipment.
Disadvantages of a nuc:
--Are not usually available until June.
--You receive comb from another beekeeper that could contain pests or diseases.
--More expensive.


In conclusion, any of the three above options can work and work quite well. If you work through the pros and cons, then you can see which options is best for you. I'm not afraid of starting with a nuc or a package. But, I would be very nervous about buying someone else's live hive. I probably like the idea of packages better, because I can get a two month head start. Some say that time wise, a June nuc will be as far along as an April package in June. But that is not entirely true. An April package will be weeks ahead of a nuc by the same time in June.

In my opinion, there are as many chances to be taken by buying nucs as there are packages. Nuc providers are not above small hive beetles, mites or diseases. When we sold our nucs this year, they were inspected frame by frame by our state inspector. They passed with no problems. But state inspectors do not inspect for Nosema or Tracheal mites. So I'd say the playing field is pretty even as to which is better, a nuc or a package.

That's it for today's lesson and I hope you've enjoyed our time together. Our next lesson will be about how you should manage your hives now that summer is heading into fall. We'll talk about combining weak hives with strong ones, and how to treat for mites and how to feed hives that are low in stored honey for the winter.

Today I received many calls from folks thanking me for these informative lessons, and we do enjoy sharing our knowledge with you. We also want to thank you for your business. We realize you could purchase your beekeeping supplies from the "big-boys" so we appreciate you supporting a hard working family business.


Here's our contact info:
PHONE: 217-427-2678
EMAIL: david@honeybeesonline.com
WEBSITE: http://www.honeybeesonline.com/

Until next time remember to BEE-Have yourself!

David & Sheri Burns
Long Lane Honey Bee Farm
Fairmount, Illinois (Central Illinois)