Beehives to Loan

Follow us here on our journey into the Beehives to Loan program.  Our daily journal and scheduled tasks will be posted here in chronological order.

Monday, March 6, 2023:

A visit to Wal-Mart first thing to stock up on more sugar.  Purchased about 500 pounds ($375.00) this time.  I keep stocking up for now.  I cannot find any good wholesale sources in NM for sugar.  I was going to set up an account with Sysco, but even buying at 2500 pounds per pallet was going to be 15% more than Wal-Mart.  We have been storing 5 gallon bucks with water in them for several years.  We are emptying the buckets around our fruit trees so that they are available sunday for syrup making.  3 years ago we purchased a pallet of buckets out of Phoenix.  I wanted the best lid I could get.  I did not realize the M4 lid was one that you could not remove.  It did have a pour spout to get the honey out.  We are going to use these since I have about 100 of them.

In searching for pollen substitutes I came across a very good External Scientific Report:  "Pollen Supplements and substitutes in the EU feed market: a product/market survey for bees and other animal species" by Walter Haefeker.  Click here to read.

Sunday, March 5, 2023:

Friday we confirmed with our truck driver and the beekeeper in almonds in CA that we will  load bees either Tuesday or Wednesday evening March 14/15 to bring the 408 hives back to NM.  We expect them to arrive that Wednesday. It is about a 900 mile trip. 

We posted to our website the following paper "Colony Growth and Seasonal Management of Honey Bees" from MSU.  Back in February of this year I remembered reading about using a ratio of 33% sugar to water for stimulative feeding of honeybees.  In the article it said at that ratio that the feeding will help to cure and prevent certain diseases in bees in addition to Stimulative feeding; building comb; queen cell construction; stimulate brood rearing and foraging.  Here is the link: click here.  Look at table 1 for syrup formulas. We will be feeding the hives on March 15, 2023 with this ration when they arrive out of almonds.  Since we have 475 hives to feed we will use 5 gallon buckets with 1/16" holes drilled in them, inverted and elevated 16" off the ground. We estimate we will need 500 gallons of feed per week until a nectar flow begins.  Whenever bees come off of a nectar flow such as almonds, apples and other spring blossoms and the bees have a lack of food it will trigger swarming and a reduction in brood rearing.  We have a commercial kitchen available to us with two 50 gallon steam kettles.  We will heat the water to 140 degrees, mix the sugar and then place it into 5 gallon buckets. 

Thursday, March 2, 2023:

Changed oil and airfilter on Super Bee Forklift.  Found dead rodents in air vent leading through air filter to engine combustion chamber.  They have been there for a long time, going back to when we purchased this forklift out of almonds in CA last year.  Explains lack of power.  After cleaning we covered air intake with 26 gauge 1/8" hardward cloth to prevent future problems.  Equipment like this is subject to rodent problems in the field.  We have left hoods up to discourage nest building.

Wednesday, March 1, 2023:

Beehives pollinating almonds outside Bakersfield, CA.  Verifying dates to have our truck driver load our hives and transport to Belen, NM.  The semi holds 408 double deep hives.  We expect the hives to arrive in Belen on March 15th.  We may have to wait 1 week because of delays in weather and rain for the last 6 weeks.  Received copy of COI (certificate of insurance) showing our hives are covered against loss.  Received price from trucking company ($4,500) to haul one way load.

Tuesday, February 28, 2023:

Called Pierco to order triple waxed deep frames. Need about  40 cases (52 frames per case) or 2080 frames.  Triple waxed is much better than waxed or plain.  Cost is about $8-10 more per super, but is well worth it.  We like black better than any other color.  We can see the white eggs and larva much easier.  I prefer plastic frames over wood bound.  The wood has a tendency to pull apart when separating supers and they are made in the USA. We are distributors for Pierco beekeeping equipment and supples.

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