Our solar ground mount build

Here is the video I promised about our solar ground mount. Finally got it up and running. If you are interested.
 In my opinion the tilting ground mount is the way to go with solar panels. You can always change the angle over the year to get the most solar out of your solar panels. Removing snow is a breeze. Some folks can only put solar panels on a roof system, and thats fine. The solar still works well.
 Some municipalities don't allow ground mount systems. Plus ground mount systems usually cost more than a roof mount. But, I have some construction friends that helped to make this all possible. I did call the solar company before I did anything, to see if they would put the panels on the ground mount if I built it. They were ok with it. Some companies may not do this because they would be afraid they may be assuming liability with the ground mount.
 The ground mount is from MT Solar. The ground mount is called a multi pole mount. It holds 28 - 60 cell solar panels.

Nature's Nectar Queen Update

Nature's Nectar is temporarily out of queens. They will be getting another shipment on Thursday April 30th.

Moved bees from Nucs to new equipment

Being the weather looks like it has stabilized and we seem to be into a more spring weather pattern, I have moved the package bees that I started in five frame nuc boxes into new 10 frame equipment.

I set the nucs in front of the hives they were going into. They have been there for several days. They are flying and bringing in pollen. The equipment they are sitting in front of is getting retired.

This is a pretty tough looking bottom board

I have set the new equipment in place. You can see that the nuc is not overcrowded and has ample space for a three pound package of bees

 

The new hives are set and frames are on the outside edges of the hive. I have a frame of honey in the hive and I will add a new 1/2 patty of a pollen patty.

When you remove a frame from the nuc box, do so carefully. The queen could be on any frame. In this pic, I picked the outside frame with the least amount of bees on it. I was right, the queen was on a different frame. I then added the rest of the nuc frames to the 10 frame box.

This was one of my insulated boxes I made. I put the frames in the 10 frame box and fed the bees ProSweet. There was not a lot of food left in the nuc. So my interaction with the bees was well timed.

Here is the end result. I put bricks on the lids to hold them down. The third hive has a brick standing on end. This is my signal to check the queen on my next visit.

By having the nucs in close proximity to the hives that the bees will being moved into. The bees know where they live. So when the frames are moved into the 10 frame equipment, the nucs are taken away, and the bees quickly discover their new hive.

Queens available starting April 23rd

Nature's Nectar LLC will have queens available starting on April 23rd.  They will get a new shipment of Queens each week though May. Queen pickup is at the Oakdale store only.

QUEENS: This is CASH OR CHECK discounted pricing.  Using a Credit Card, add $1.50 per queen.

MARKED Carniolan, Italian and Saskatraz: (no unmarked queens this year)

$39 for Italian & Carniolan
$41 for Saskatraz

Nature's Nectar LLC will be getting some more package bees

Nature's Nectar LLC will be getting a few more package bees. Call Tom or Jessy if you are interested or for more information. 651-242-2233.

Reversals on overwintered colonies

Don't let your strong overwintered colony to get to this point. This beekeeper had the winter cover on too long. But in his defense, 2017 was a cold spring.

This time of year, strong overwintered colonies can be packed with bees. To the point, swarm cells can be seen in the hive. This is how to prevent this while we are waiting for queens to be available.

• If you have eggs in the top box, do a reversal. Top box to the bottom, bottom box to the top. If you see swarm cells remove them before the cells are capped. If the bees cap the swarm cells they may have swarmed on you.
• During your weekly visits to your overwintered hives, if you see eggs in the top box, do a reversal. You may do several reversals before you do a divide.
• Doing reversals on strong overwintered colonies, gives the queen more open cells to lay eggs into.
• If your colony is very strong and it is in two deep boxes and you have swarm concerns, add a third box to the hive. Having a third box on the hive makes doing the divide easier to do. When the divide happens, one of the boxes is removed. This leaves two deep boxes on the parent, which is where you want to be anyway. 
• If you do add a third box and all you have is foundation, you will need to feed the colony syrup or the bees will not draw out the comb. A strong colony may draw out this box very quickly. If you start drawing a third box of foundation, that box has to stay on top while the bees are drawing out the comb. If you need to, the lower two boxes could be reversed with each other, during this process.

Dividing usually happens in May or when you have 8 frames of bees and brood. This means you have 8 frames covered with bees on both sides. Plus, the 8 frames will have brood on both sides. The brood could be eggs, open larvae and capped larvae.
 The days are warming up, pollen will be widely available this week. Keep pollen patties on the hive. Strong overwintered colonies demand for pollen sometimes in the spring is more than the colony can collect from nature. Especially when the daily high temperatures are in the low 60's. A pollen patty is cheap insurance that the hives protein demands are being met.

Checking for Queen acceptance

If you started packages recently, a hive check for queen acceptance is mandatory. A week after hiving package, it is time to look for eggs in the comb. Seeing eggs is the easy way to know that you have a laying queen.
 If you don't check for this, you may end up not knowing that your hive is queenrite or not. If the queen was not accepted, a new queen must be purchased and introduced. It can take up to ten days for a new queen to start laying.
 Late this week the weather will be warming up, perfect time to check.

Different egg and larvae and capped brood stages

Different stages of larvae. You can see the Royal Jelly in the young small larvae stage.

Our Solar System Update

Being there is a slight break in the bee action, I wanted to give you a one year overview on our 16.5 kwh solar system. It consists of 50 - 330 watt Panasonic solar panels. They were located on our garage and pole barn roofs.
 We added up all of our Xcel energy bills from last year, January through December, gas and electric. We then subtracted all of our solar credits and our renewable energy credits we get from Xcel. Last year our total 2019 Xcel energy bill that we paid, was $156.00.
 So for me, I would have to say solar is worth it. There is a big up front cost, but our solar should have paid for itself after about 8 years. The Panasonic panels warranty is 25 years. Guaranteed  92% minimum of 16.5 kwh output or they will replace any panels for free, parts and labor included.
 We have recently finished our ground mount solar panel install. We moved 28 panels off of our pole barn onto the ground mount. This will make it easier to get the snow off the panels, plus the ground mount also tilts and we can change the solar panel angle with the current sun angle. Video to come soon.
 If you are interested and have never seen our YouTube video here is a link.
50 kwh Panasonic Solar Build
 If anyone is interested in solar, I would be happy to talk about it.

Nuc's in the garage

I have been an advocate for installing package bees into five frame nucs for a long time. I saw this weather coming and I knew this was the way I will be starting my bees this year. Obviously if the current weather and for the foreseeable future would have been warm, I would have hived the bees in ten frame equipment.
 I put the bees in the nucs, they have a cap and ladder feeder and four frames of drawn comb. So there is syrup and a pollen patty on all of the nucs. The entrances are shut and the bees cannot get out. The garage is not heated, but it is dry with no wind blowing on the hive. The nuc's are a small box so the bees will not have any problems keeping themselves warm.
  My plan is to leave them in my garage until Friday. Then I will set them out in my beeyard right in front of the hive that I will move them into. The entrances will be opened, the bees will be able to forage as normal. The queen acceptance will be checked about an hour after I open the entrances. The bees will need to settle down before I go pulling frames. I will leave them in the nuc box until the weather is a little more stable. Whenever that happens, I will then move them into their 10 frame hive.

Feed your packages

Feed your package bees if you have not hived them yet. I noticed that the feeder cans were empty.  Spray the cages with sugar water to feed the bees. Get the cage wet where the bees are in the cage. Top and sides, don't drown them. Twice tonight and twice in the morning. Then again about an hour before you put the bees in.

Second delivery of Bees have arrived

The Second delivery of bees came in last night. They will be available for pick up today and tomorrow. Please follow the pick up schedule.

Pickup time will go by the first initial of your last name:  This year the alphabet will be spread out in TWO days.  This is due to Covid-19 as we will have fewer workers on site.

 SECOND Delivery PICK UP April 10^th - Pick up Schedule:

L       7:30 – 8:30

M      8:30 – 9:30

N-O   9:30 – 10:30

P       10:30 – 11:30

CREW LUNCH 11:30-12:30

R      12:30 - 1:30

S       1:30 - 2:30

T-V   2:30 - 3:30

W-Z  3:30 – 4:30

Open Time (If the schedule is not possible) 4:30 – 7pm

SECOND Delivery PICK UP April 11^th - Pick up Schedule:

A       7:30 – 8:30

B        8:30 – 9:30

C        9:30 – 10:30

D-E    10:30 – 11:30

CREW LUNCH 11:30-12:30

F-G    12:30 - 1:30

H      1:30 - 2:30

I-J     2:30 - 3:30

K      3:30 – 4:30

Open Time (If the schedule is not possible) 4:30 – 7pm

The OAKDALE Store is CLOSED during bee pick up.  If you need equipment, please plan ahead and get those items picked up before the store is closed.

The second delivery bees will be here a day early.

Bee Pick up Schedule April 10th & 11th: 

****READ THIS WHOLE POST!****

PICK UP LOCATION:  14185 SQUARE LAKE TRAIL N, STILLWATER, MN 55082 – Note: this is NOT the Oakdale store. https://www.google.com/maps/place/14185+Square+Lake+Trail+N,+Stillwater,+MN+55082/@45.146206,-92.8186143,18z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x52b2c7a2488fcc55:0x3e9e4882b8780bf9!8m2!3d45.146206!4d-92.81752?hl=en

 April 10^th - April 11th: Second Delivery.  Please note, these could be subject to change.  Check this blog every day because the date can still change.  

Check the blog before coming to pick up.  The bees are scheduled to arrive sometime tonight. The arrival time is not known so please watch the blog for an announcement that we are ready to distribute packages. No bees will be distributed prior to announcement on blog. Do not come here before it is announced that the bees are ready to pick up. You will be asked to leave.  You are not allowed to park on the road and wait.

ADHERE TO THE PICK-UP SCHEDULE.  Due to COVID-19 we will have fewer workers on site, so it is even more important to follow the pickup schedule.  Please do not call and request to come at another time frame.  I know this maybe inconvenient, but we all need to work together to keep each other safe and keep this as seamless as possible.  This schedule is to keep traffic at a minimum and in doing so, there will be less people on site. 

UPON PICK UP DO NOT GET OUT OF YOUR VEHICLE.  Give us your name, and we will place your bees in the vehicle for you.  This is for everyone’s safety.  Prepare ahead of time, legibly write the name of the person whose order is being picked up with black sharpie on a piece of paper and put it on your window.  This way, you can keep your window rolled up.  You can also write what additional items you are purchasing.  Do not hand cash or check to the people loading bees and product into your vehicle.  We have a separate crew designated to handle the money that will not be handling the product.  They will come to you.

The following will be items available for purchase when you pick up your bees.  These are cash and check only.  We will not accept credit cards.  If you use cash, BRING THE EXACT AMOUNT OF CASH so currency doesn’t need to be returned to you.  This is an additional safety measure so please comply.  These prices include sales tax so you can prepare prior to pick up.

$7.00 - 1 Gallon Feeder Pail

$6.00 – Feeder pail insulation

$5.00 – Queen Cage Holder
$9.00 – 2 pack pollen patties

$30.00 – 10 pack pollen patties

$80.00 – 40lb pollen patties

$35.00 – 2.5 gal Pro-Sweet

$55.00 – 5 gal Pro-Sweet

Pickup time will go by the first initial of your last name:  This year the alphabet will be spread out in TWO days.  This is due to Covid-19 as we will have fewer workers on site.

 SECOND Delivery PICK UP April 10^th - Pick up Schedule:

L       7:30 – 8:30

M      8:30 – 9:30

N-O   9:30 – 10:30

P       10:30 – 11:30

CREW LUNCH 11:30-12:30

R      12:30 - 1:30

S       1:30 - 2:30

T-V   2:30 - 3:30

W-Z  3:30 – 4:30

Open Time (If the schedule is not possible) 4:30 – 7pm

SECOND Delivery PICK UP April 11^th - Pick up Schedule:

A       7:30 – 8:30

B        8:30 – 9:30

C        9:30 – 10:30

D-E    10:30 – 11:30

CREW LUNCH 11:30-12:30

F-G    12:30 - 1:30

H      1:30 - 2:30

I-J     2:30 - 3:30

K      3:30 – 4:30

Open Time (If the schedule is not possible) 4:30 – 7pm

The OAKDALE Store is CLOSED during bee pick up.  If you need equipment, please plan ahead and get those items picked up before the store is closed.

Putting bees in a nuc hive, cold weather install

I put package bees in some nucs. This was done when it was cold, around 40 degrees. I did not spray the bees or the queen. When it is cold, you may not want to spray the bees. This can chill the bees and the bees may not get off the bottom board and they can die. Plus, when it is cold, you do not want to spray the queen, this can chill her. By using the rubber band as I demonstrate in the video works great.
 If you have drawn comb but no honey, take a spray bottle with 1:1 sugar syrup. Spray the syrup into the cells of a frame of drawn comb. Load the frame up with syrup. The bees will have plenty to eat when you put the bees in.

The 2nd delivery of bees may be early.

The second delivery of bees may be coming in a day early. Stay tuned for any changes to the pick up day. We should know more by tomorrow, Thursday morning.

The next day after installing a package of bees

After you put in your package bees, you need to check on them the next day. The grass needs to be removed from the entrance and the feeder pail needs to be checked.
 Take off the Telescoping cover, lift up the feeder pail, the weight will tell you that it is full of syrup. If it has leaked out, the pail needs to be filled up and there must be a reason the syrup leaked out.
 The pail should be filled with syrup, not a 1/2 a pail, a full pail. The hive has to be reasonably level or the syrup can leak out. You can level the pail instead of the hive to make it easy.
 Also, the beekeeper needs to make sure the bees main cluster is directly under the feeder pail. If a beekeeper does not check on this, there is a possibility the bees can starve if the bees are not under the feeder. It is going to cool off late in the week. The main cluster needs to be under the feeder pail.
 Bees sometime migrate to the outside frames of the hive when the sun is shining on the side of the hive. The bees move to the warmth. That is why putting bees in near dusk works better. There is no sun warming the hive.
 If the bees are on the outside frames of the hive,  and it gets cold, the bees will not be able to break cluster to go to the feeder pail which is four frames away from them, and the bees may starve.
 When you lift the pail, look to make sure there is a large cluster of bees under the pail. If you only see a few bees, there may be a problem. Light a smoker, remove the feeder pail. Lift up the inner cover, a couple puffs of smoke. Look at where the main cluster of bees are. If they have moved to the outside frames and are not underneath the feeder pail, you need to move the cluster. Pull out frames on the opposite side of the hive from the bees. Then, gently slide the frames with the bees on them to the center of the hive, under the feeder pail. Put the frames back into the hive box where the bees were. No you can close up the hive and the bees will stay there.
  If the bees are under the feeder pail, they should be fine.

Nature's Nectar Store/ Queens

The Nature's Nectar LLC
 Oakdale store,  will be open on Thursday only, this week. 10 am - 6 pm
Nature's Nectar LLC does have a few queens available for purchase right now. Please call if interested.

First Delivery Of Bees Update

The First delivery bees have arrived.
Please follow the pickup schedule below. The best time to put bees in is around 6:30 pm. Don't forget to put grass in the entrance.

Pickup time will go by the first initial of your last name:  This year the alphabet will be spread out in TWO days.  This is due to Covid-19 as we will have fewer workers on site.

FIRST PICK UP Monday April 6^th & SECOND PICK UP April 11^th - Pick up Schedule:

L       7:30 – 8:30

M      8:30 – 9:30

N-O   9:30 – 10:30

P       10:30 – 11:30

CREW LUNCH 11:30-12:30

R      12:30 - 1:30

S       1:30 - 2:30

T-V   2:30 - 3:30

W-Z  3:30 – 4:30

Open Time (If the schedule is not possible) 4:30 – 7pm

FIRST PICK UP Tuesday April  7^th & SECOND PICK UP April 12^th - Pick up Schedule:

A       7:30 – 8:30

B        8:30 – 9:30

C        9:30 – 10:30

D-E    10:30 – 11:30

CREW LUNCH 11:30-12:30

F-G    12:30 - 1:30

H      1:30 - 2:30

I-J     2:30 - 3:30

K      3:30 – 4:30

Open Time (If the schedule is not possible) 4:30 – 7pm

The OAKDALE Store is CLOSED during bee pick up.  If you need equipment, please plan ahead and get those items picked up before the store is closed.