When To Add Your Supers
Is it too early to add honey supers? The recent early warm up has all of us confused and probably our bees. If it doesn't turn extremely cold again all will work out. Fingers are crossed. So does this mean we should add our honey supers earlier?
Scenario One: It stays warm, we add supers and our colonies gather up the early spring harvest of nectar. Great!
Scenario Two: It doesn't stay warm, we add supers and the colony moves up into the empty supers for food and nothing is there. You might consider feeding them, but this means your sugar water will be added to your honey supers where you'd rather have real honey not sugar water. Not Great!
My rule of thumb is not to add supers until dandelions are blooming everywhere. You might see a limited number of early ones, but once my yard is full I add my supers to my overwintered colonies. If you need honey supers, click here.
AMISH BUILT HIVES
Many years ago when we first started beekeeping (24 years now) we called a beekeeping supply company and admitted on the phone that we didn't know what to buy. The response we got was, well, less than stellar: "when you figure it out, call us back". We decided that our customers would never be left to "figure it out".
After seeing what's out there on the market, most of our customers come to us looking for quality, well made American hives.
MAKE THE INVESTMENT AND TAKE A CLASS
We have other dates and classes available. See a list of all of our classes here. Our training center is located in central Illinois between Champaign and Danville, Illinois, 5 miles south of I-74. Come see us!
Since My Bees Are Bringing In Pollen Do I Need To Feed?
It's good to see bees bringing in pollen from trees in late winter. But depending on where you live it may be short lived. Many trees such as maples and oaks will produce pollen in late winter only to be short lived when another blast of cold weather moves in. If you are in the south and there are many other sources of nectar and pollen then winter is almost over for you. But if you are in the north and there are no dandelions or other significant nectar sources you will likely need to feed your bees for the next few weeks and even longer if the weather turns cold.
We suggest removing the Winter-Bee-Kind and begin using our Burns Bees Feeding System. Take a look at our suggestion for feeding your bees in late winter and early spring by watching my video below:
A DAY IN THE APIARY WITH DAVID
One of our most popular classes is A Day In The Apiary With David. Come and spend a few hours in a hive with David, EAS Certified Master Beekeeper. You'll learn how to find the queen, how to mark your queen, how to evaluate brood and your queen's health. You'll also learn how to inspect a colony and how to identify pests and diseases. Learn how to know what's healthy and what's not. We have two dates available. Click on the dates below for more information. Isn't it time you step up and learn to really know your hive?
Will Adding A Honey Super Prevent Swarming?
No. Bees swarm when they are congested in their brood nest area and this is what triggers a swarm. DO NOT make the mistake of thinking a honey super will give them room not to swarm. I'm a Certified Master Beekeeper and I see beekeepers constantly making big mistakes that often cost them their hives. Knowing what to do and when is the tricky part of beekeeping. You need a beekeeping mentor. I want to help navigate you through the challenges of spring. I have a special mentorship program called BeeTeam6 where you can call, email or text me your concerns or questions about your bees. Plus you receive a weekly tip and a weekly instructional beekeeping video.
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Wednesday, March 1, 2017
It Is Warm, But Is It Too Early To Add Honey Supers?
Saturday, February 4, 2017
Hello Friend! You are reading this either because you are a beekeeper or you are interested in beekeeping. Hi, we are David and Sheri Burns from Long Lane Honey Bee Farms and Honeybeesonline.com. We are located in East Central-Illinois. Customers drive from many hours a way to purchase hive kits and bees. Why not save some shipping cost and drive over this week and pick up your Freedom Kit. Includes two hives and two packages of bees and mated queens and the equipment you need to get started. You can pick up your hives and equipment this week and then pick up your bees in the spring. Come on by and meet some nice folks who know about bees. We are opened an additional day, the first Sunday of each month. We are open this Sunday Feb. 5th noon-5pm.
Sign up for one of our upcoming beekeeping classes. Click here for the full schedule. We also teach beekeeping classes at Heartland Community College in Bloomington, Illinois and at the Danville Area Community College in Danville, Illinois.
We've created two new videos, one for beekeepers who are wondering how to feed bees in the winter and one for prospective beekeepers who are staring this spring:
| How To Put A Hive Together In 60 Seconds |
| Feeding Bees In The Winter |
Normally, treating for varroa mites during the winter is not practical. It is true that oxalic acid and powdered sugar works better on broodless colonies. However, I would never recommend disturbing a colony during the winter by administering some sort of treatment. A better approach is to keep mite levels below 3% all year so as they enter winter they are healthy and do not need treated.
COME BY AND SEE US
We are located in East-Central Illinois between Danville, IL and Champaign/Urbana, Il, about 5 miles south of I-74 exit 206.
HOURS
Mon 10am - 6pm
Tue 10am - 3pm
Wed 10am - 6pm
Thu 10am - 3pm
Fri 9am - Noon
1st Sunday of Each Month Noon-5pm
You Can Still Wrap Your Hive Even In The Middle Of Winter
Even though I filmed this video in late summer, you can still wrap your hive in the winter.
What If You Could Call, Email Or Text A Certified Master Beekeeper To Help You With Your Hive?
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Knowing when and what to do is the tricky part of beekeeping. Let me be your mentor. I have a special mentorship program called BeeTeam6 where you can call, email or text me concerns or questions they are having about your bees. Plus you receive a weekly tip and a weekly instructional beekeeping video. Even if you are not keeping bees until spring, this is perfect to help you gain the education you need before your bees arrive.
I'm glad you are keeping bees or thinking about it. Thank you for supporting our family business for all your beekeeping needs. Let us help you make a good decision on equipment such as our Freedom Kit, which is one of our very popular kits to get started in beekeeping. Click here to learn more about our start up kits.
Here are a few important articles to help you prepare for spring:
Help your bees make it through winter by making a few changes now...read more
Let me tell you how to test for varroa mites on your bees...read more
Get ready to make some spring splits...read more
Are you installing a package of bees this spring? Do it the right way...read more
Sincerely,
David and Sheri Burns
Long Lane Honey Bee Farms217-427-2678
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Monday, January 23, 2017
The Greatest Chance Of Your Bees Dying Is The Next 90 Days
A very common and wrong approach to beekeeping goes something like this: A well intended individual looking for a new hobby decides to try beekeeping. They watch a few YouTube videos and run out to their local farm store and grab some equipment and bees, dump them into a hive hoping for everything to go well. If their bees do not die by fall, they die during the first winter. If not the first winter, the second winter due to mismanagement by the new beekeeper. The sad thing is they don't know what they did wrong which means they will repeat their same mistakes next season.
This scenario is very common but very sad because many of the colonies that perish during the winter die under the "care" of the untrained beekeeper. You're probably thinking, "How does he know who I am?" It's because for over 10 years I have watched this happen to beekeepers over and over again. There are two ways to improve your beekeeping results: 1) Take a class and 2) Do what is taught in class. I'm not just trying to get you to fill up our classes. Our classes always max out. I'm trying to motivate you to take a class so you can learn to be a successful beekeeper and enjoy a lifetime of learning. Can't take a class? Let me be your personal mentor. Click here for more mentorship information.
Getting frustrated or feeling depressed or sad is a normal and understandable response when you discover your bees are dead. I remember losing my first hive. I couldn't believe that my bees would die...Read more
The bee season has began with a phenomenal start. We sold out of individual packages again in 17 days. We still have packages available which come in kits. So if you are new to beekeeping, you can always purchase a hive kit with bees and come join us for a class.
The Greatest Chance Of Your Bees Dying Is In The Next 90 Days
Here in Illinois we've had a weird winter so far. We've had some very cold weather followed by warm weather followed by cold weather and the cycle goes on. My poor bees must be totally confused.
The ideal outside temperature for bees in the winter is around 40 degrees (f). Why? Because they are consuming very little food to produce energy to stay warm at this temperature. At colder temperatures the colony must consume more honey and pollen to operate their muscles to generate heat. On warmer days, like we had here on Saturday, bees become very active and take flight. This requires an enormous amount of food consumption for bees to break cluster and fly outside the hive. Now it is cold again. But on the warmer days the bees consumed more of their winter stores than if it had stayed cold. So now I'm having to monitor my Winter-Bee-Kinds on my hives more closely, about once a week.
Each day we gain a small amount of daylight. This too causes the queen to slowly begin laying more brood which requires more food. We've received several inches of rain this winter, not snow. This means that on those foggy and rainy days moisture in the hive likely increased as well which is never a good thing in the winter for bees. These factors combined means that the next 90 days are very critical, and that bees must be well fed with both sugar and pollen.
I checked on the bees here at our training center and they are all doing exceptionally well. Each one has one of our Winter-Bee-Kinds, providing protein and carbohydrates as well as providing insulation/ventilation to prevent excess moisture build up in the hive.
PLEASE DO NOT open up your hives in the winter to move frames around if the temperature is below 60-65 degrees (f). It's fine to open the lid quickly and change a Winter-Bee-Kind in any temperature because it takes less than 30 seconds and you are not moving frames. But I no longer open up and move frames around until winter is over no matter how warm it is. If you have prepared your bees properly for winter they should not require any frame manipulation during the winter months. Be patient for spring.
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This Freedom Kit is our most popular kit. Can be purchased with or without bees. To view all of our kits,
INDIVIDUAL PACKAGE BEES are sold out. We still have packages available with our hive kits such as the Freedom Kit above.
Are You Ready For Spring? Do You Know What To Do With Your Hives To Prevent Swarming Or To Make Splits?
We are offering two spring management classes and they are close to being sold out. Will you make the mistake of rotating your two deeps at the wrong time? Should you treat for mites in the spring? How soon should you try and capture the spring honey flow? Is your hive strong enough to make a split or will both the split and your hive collapse? What is the best time and way to split hives? How soon should you worry about mites?
Here are the dates and times:
David and Sheri Burns
Long Lane Honey Bee Farms
www.honeybeesonline.com
217-427-2678
Long Lane Honey Bee Farms
www.honeybeesonline.com
217-427-2678
Tuesday, January 10, 2017
Discovery: New Bacterium May Be Killing Bees In The Winter
Hello, we are David and Sheri Burns at Long Lane Honey Bee Farms/www.honeybeesonline.com
Serratia marcescens strain sicaria: Killing Bees In Winter?
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I worked hard to become an EAS Certified Master Beekeeper so that I can better equip beekeepers on how to do it right. A good master beekeeper is constantly studying new discoveries and reports on honey bees.
Beekeeping is no longer hands-off. You cannot just throw bees in a hive and wait a few months and harvest gallons of honey.
Beekeeping is more challenging now than it ever has bee. A new bacterium called,
Serratia marcescens strain sicaria, more simply named sicaria, which means assassin, and Ss1 for short. This bacterium has been found in bees that die in the winter, and in varroa mites. The dying bees seem to drift away from the winter cluster before dying. It still deserves much more research. This should emphasis how important it is to take a beekeeping class. It sounds like keeping mite levels low all year could reduce this bacterium during the winter. Learning how to keep mite levels below 3% all year is essential for the well being of bees.
Beekeeping For Beginners Feb 18th 1pm-6pm (Only a couple of spots still open)
Beekeeping For Beginners Feb 25th 1pm-6pm
Spring Management March 4th 9am-1pm
A Day In The Apiary With David May 27th 8:30am-11am
Learn To Raise Your Own Queens June 23rd 9am-3pm
See additional classes we are offering for 2017 by clicking here.
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Tuesday, January 3, 2017
Watch Bees Eating In The Winter
Happy New Year! It's 2017. Hello from David and Sheri Burns and honeybeesonline.com
Here at Long Lane Honey Bee Farms we are gearing up for the 2017 beekeeping season and we hope you are as optimistic and excited as we are. Some of you are brand new to the idea of beekeeping. Good for you. Our ecosystem could stand a boost in honey bees. We need our honey bees to pollinate all the food that is good for us, like fruits and vegetables. We know you have lots of options when ordering hives and bees. We hope you'll choose us. Choosing a small, family business is important. It's not always about saving shipping cost or buying sale items. It's about purchasing hives made here in America, right here in Illinois by hard working family. We hope you'll honor our business. Thank you.
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PACKAGE BEES are available online now. They always sell out fast so CLICK HERE to order now.
Your Hives Are Hungry Even In The Winter: We are just barely into winter and your bees are hungry. With several more months of bitter winter left, colonies need a lot of protein (pollen) and carbohydrates (honey) in the winter. We hear so many horror stories of how hives did not have adequate food stored up for winter back in September. Some hives are beginning to perish now from starvation.
Feed your bees in the winter. Watch our video below showing one of our Winter-Bee-Kind boards at work, reducing excess moisture in the hive, feeding bees and allowing an upper entrance.
| Winter Bee Kind At Work |
Click here to order your Winter-Bee-Kind now. These will only be available a couple more weeks.
Without Taking A Class You Are Taking A Big Risk
It's never too late to learn something new. Beekeeping is more challenging now than ever before. Arm yourself with the knowledge and education you need to give your bees the best chance of making it. Take one of our classes, taught by EAS Certified Master Beekeeper, David Burns.
Beekeeping For Beginners Feb 18th 1pm-6pm
Beekeeping For Beginners Feb 25th 1pm-6pm
Spring Management March 4th 9am-1pm
A Day In The Apiary With David May 27th 8:30am-11am
Learn To Raise Your Own Queens June 23rd 9am-3pm
2017 Beekeeping Institute
The Bee Institute is taught over two days covering in depth teachings on honey bee anatomy, understanding the colony, specialized beekeeping equipment, package bees verses nucs, how and when to feed bees, pests and diseases, best seasonal management practices for each season, how to raise and sell queens, swarm prevention, making splits, field work, mite tests, how bees communicate via pheromones, bee stings and reactions and more. You'll learn how to find your queen, how to mark her, and how to perform a thorough hive inspection, how and when to best add supers for maximum honey production, understanding the waggle dance, catching swarms and removing bees from structures, hive placement, how to work bees with minimal protection, how to move a hive to a new location, robbing and how to prevent it, reversing hive bodies in the spring, what to do about laying workers, royal jelly, characteristics of the different types of honey bees, how to keep bees in the city and much, much more. Sign up now. It fills up fast.
Order Your Bee Hives And Other Equipment From Us
Several customers dropped in last week and purchased our Freedom Kit. Before you run out to a big box store, why not purchase your beekeeping equipment from us? We are experts in the field. Get started on the right foot. Thank you for supporting our family business for all your beekeeping needs. We do it all. We will educate you through a class, provide the bees and yearly queens and supply you with the hives and equipment you need to be successful. Here's our most popular Hive Kits:
Our Freedom Kit has been a top choice for new beginners. Painted and assembled our hives are made here in Illinois under David's watchful eye. Starting with 2 hives is always a better idea. You can purchase it with or without bees. And comes with the equipment you need to keep bees.
2 Hives gives you the advantage to move resources around to keep both hives going strong. Lose a queen? Just move a frame of eggs from the other hive. In a good year you can harvest twice the honey! For more info on our Freedom Kit follow these links:
Freedom Kit With Bees (Bees Are Picked Up Here In Spring)
Have a great day!
David and Sheri Burns
David and Sheri Burns
www.honeybeesonline.com
Tu-Thu 10-4pm
217-427-2678
217-427-2678
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