Specific recommendations for Deep East Texas beekeepers by Robert Jones
February is normally another mixed cold winter month. In Deep East Texas below freezing cold days or weeks can be followed by a day or week of warming. The idea is still to keep that feeder full for each colony. Failing to do so could lose the hive. The earliest honey producing flows will come this month in the first to third week from the May-haws in the rivers and streams of Deep East Texas along with fruit trees (peaches, apples, blueberries). Even though this early resource is there do not stop feeding. Some of the most extreme and devastating deep cold freezes happen in this month while the hive is trying to expand.
Two things you may notice during this month are colony loss from long freezing cold periods and dead bee larva dumped out front of the hive porch. This should be the hardest month for survival for the colony. At the end of the month hives should be inspected for the presence of drones. This is the time for deciding when to set up cell building colonies. Without the presence of plenty of drones there is no need to make a queen building colony. This is the key factor one would look for to set the builders and do the grafting.
Traditionally in Deep East Texas builders are set up the last week of February into the First week of March. If you medicate your colonies, the end of this month on a warm day would be the best time to do so.
BUILDING THE FRAME Make a box frame the exact dimensions of your beehive. (16” X 19 7/8” = Langstroth 10 frame). The height should be about 2” to 4” but it is not critical. Getting
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In our PBA Bylaws, part of our mission is to improve marketing of honey bee products, so a current regulations summary seems appropriate when considering selling your golden crop! Your best honey is extracted soon
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This is the pdf version of the presentation given by Robert Jones at the February 2019 meeting. It deals with queen rearing using a cell builder colony and the Doolittle grafting method, and also touches
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These are reminders for those who took the queen rearing course or anyone trying their hand at this. Remember - The most important part of creating good queen cells is the cell builder colony. Choose
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Our Association’s Mission is first dedicated to honey bee education including all the different facts about and pleasures of keeping these wonderful creatures of God. Secondly, we are dedicated to the mission of service to others through internal mentoring and education of our club members as well as external programs to the general public. It is to these two missions we commit our combined efforts as an association to place into others, by mentoring, education, and apprenticeship, our love and passion for beekeeping. Our membership offers to all the much-needed experience that even beginners can have - the pleasure and joy we have personally each time we visit a beehive.