Driving to Nature's Nectar LLC

This is a video of driving to Nature's Nectar LLC. There is some road construction right now on Hwy 36 in Oakdale. Some of the detours are confusing. You can enter off of Hwy 36. There was a new access created and is on eastbound 36. You can exit and enter Hwy 36 eastbound off of this new access.

Check for queen acceptance

New packages should be checked for queen acceptance. What a beekeeper needs to do is to go into the hive and look for eggs. When you see eggs or small larvae, we can assume the bees have accepted the queen and the hive will move forward. If you do not see eggs or small larvae there is a possibility that your queen was not accepted, or the queen was killed during the installation of the package. It can take up to twelve days for a queen to start laying. Sometimes new beekeepers cannot see eggs. But when the larvae start growing, they are easy to see. Beekeepers want to see a nice egg laying pattern. The queen should be laying in a large concentric pattern, hitting most of the cells. A spotty brood laying pattern could be an indicator of a poor queen
 A hive that is queenless, needs a new queen right away. Failure to check for queen acceptance or not getting a new queen in the hive right away (if needed) can possibly lead to hive failure.

This is the stage of larval growth. From egg to capped brood

2019 Queens - Available May 2nd

Italian Queen in upper left part of this pic

Nature's Nectar LLC will have queens available starting May 2nd
Plus, new extended hours. Now open Sunday 11:00 am - 3 pm.
Queens, Carniolan, Italian and Saskatraz marked and unmarked
$35.00 unmarked
$37.00 marked
Saskatraz add $2.00 to these prices
Cash or Check only please.

The Second Delivery Has Arrived

The second delivery of bees have arrived and we are ready for beekeepers.
Today, Monday pickup will be first come first served. We will be here until 7 pm.
Tuesday will be by the pickup schedule posted a couple posts below.

The second delivery of bees

The second delivery of bees will be arriving sometime on Monday.
I will post when they are available for pickup. Pickup on Monday will be first come first served.
On Tuesday we will pick up to the schedule.

 Tuesday, April 23rd - Second Delivery We will be here Tuesday and Wednesday for pickup

The bees may be delivered on Monday. We will post if they are here

Please stick to the pickup schedule below

 Please Stick To The Pick Up Schedule Below.

 If everyone came at once there would be several hours wait to get your bees. With the schedule, everyone is spread out through the day, no one is here more than five minutes.
If you live over 100 miles away come when you can. There is no hurry to get the bees in. Best time to put the bees in the hive is around 6 pm.

  Pickup time will go by the first initial of your last name:

N - R  7:30 - 8:30am
S        8:30 - 9:30am
T - Z   9:30 - 10:30am
A - B  10:30 - 11:30am
Crew Lunch 11:30am - 12:30pm
C - D  12:30 - 1:30pm
E - G  1:30 - 2:30pm
H - J   2:30 - 3:30pm
K - M  3:30 - 4:30pm
Open Time (if the schedule time is not possible)  4:30 - 7 pm

The Oakdale Bee Supply store is closed during bee pick up. 
We will sell at the bee pickup:
Cash or Check Only = No Credit or Debit Cards
Pollen Patties 2 packs ............. $9.00
Pollen Patties 10 patties ......... $35.00
Pollen Patties 40 lbs .............. $75.00
Feeder Pails ............................. $7.00
ProSweet................................  $47.00

Sales tax is included in the pricing.
We will not take credit or debit cards because we are working outside and will have no way to process the card.

The Bees Have Arrived

The first delivery has arrived and we are ready to pass them out.
Open today until 7 pm.
Today Friday, is first come first served. The pickup schedule will be for Saturday.
With this sunny warm weather don't forget to fill the entrance with grass to hold the bees in the hive overnight. Failure to do this may lead to absconding.
The best time to put in the bees is 6 pm

Video to New Pickup Location

The bee Pickup will be at 14185 Square Lake Trail, Stillwater, MN  55082
It is located about five miles north and east of the old pickup location.
This is a video of from the old location to the new. I say in the video I am heading south, I meant to say north. Or look at from about 5:30 on.

Bee Pickup Schedule For Sat. April 20th and Tues. April 23rd

• 
   
• Bee Pick up will be at a new location this year:
• 14185 Square Lake Trail N  Stillwater, MN  55082
  

   

   Read this whole Post.  

  Pickup Schedule for Saturday April 20th and Tuesday April 23rd.

  April 20th - First Delivery We will be here Sat, Sunday and Monday for pickup

  The bees may be delivered sometime on Friday We will post if they are here.

  April 23rd - Second Delivery We will be here Tuesday and Wednesday for pickup

  The bees may be delivered on Monday. We will post if they are here

  Please stick to the pickup schedule below

 Please Stick To The Pick Up Schedule Below.

 If everyone came at once there would be several hours wait to get your bees. With the schedule, everyone is spread out through the day, no one is here more than five minutes.
If you live over 100 miles away come when you can. There is no hurry to get the bees in. Best time to put the bees in the hive is around 6 pm.

  Pickup time will go by the first initial of your last name:

N - R  7:30 - 8:30am
S        8:30 - 9:30am
T - Z   9:30 - 10:30am
A - B  10:30 - 11:30am
Crew Lunch 11:30am - 12:30pm
C - D  12:30 - 1:30pm
E - G  1:30 - 2:30pm
H - J   2:30 - 3:30pm
K - M  3:30 - 4:30pm
Open Time (if the schedule time is not possible)  4:30 - 7 pm

The Oakdale Bee Supply store is closed during bee pick up. 
We will sell at the bee pickup:
Cash or Check Only = No Credit or Debit Cards
Pollen Patties 2 packs ............. $9.00
Pollen Patties 10 patties ......... $35.00
Pollen Patties 40 lbs .............. $75.00
Feeder Pails ............................. $7.00
ProSweet................................  $47.00

Sales tax is included in the pricing.
We will not take credit or debit cards because we are working outside and will have no way to process the card.

Lets look at a brood pic

This is a nice frame of brood with a Saskatraz queen. Taken today. Hive is packed with bees. Did a reversal a week ago and has added a third deep because the bees are crowded. This is a great queen. Brood pattern is a large Oval. Queen hitting most of the holes. Everyone wants a frame like this in mid April. The bees in the background show the hive has plenty of bees.

Photo by M. Lai

Apiary Certificate for Wisconsin Beekeepers

This year the State of Wisconsin wants beekeepers that import bees into the state to provide them with that information.
This is the link to the webpage. There is a link to an importing bees to Wisconsin form in the page.
https://datcp.wi.gov/Pages/Programs_Services/MovingBeesintoWI.aspx

This is the Health Certificate for 2019

Bee Delivery Update 4/11/2019

This the latest on bee deliveries
First delivery, Saturday April 20th
Second Delivery, Tuesday April 23rd
We will be publishing a pickup schedule. It will go by the first initial of your last name. Everyone will have an hour block of time to pick up their bees. If you can't make that time there will be a late afternoon slot open for everyone.
 There is no hurry to put the bees in. Usually around 6 pm is the best time to put them in.
If you want to see all of our you tube videos on how to put the bees in here is a link to our YouTube page. Bee Video's
Or these videos:
Installing bees using plastic bee buss cages
The bee pickup will be at Tom and Jessy Minsers home north of Stillwater.
Their address is: 14185 Square Lake Trail N. Stillwater, MN 55082
https://www.google.com/maps/place/14185+Square+Lake+Trail+N,+Stillwater,+MN+55082/@45.1462073,-92.8182494,18z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x52b2c7a2488fcc55:0x3e9e4882b8780bf9!8m2!3d45.146206!4d-92.81752?hl=en

Package Bee Delivery Update 4/10/2019

I talked with Ray Olivarez today. This is what is happening with the bee deliveries.
The first delivery:
 The bees should be here on Saturday April 20th. There is a possibility they may show up sometime on the 19th. But that is to be determined.
The second delivery:
 The second delivery will be right behind the first. The bees may be here possibly around the 22nd of April. This date is not solid, but I wanted to get it out there. If all this happens, the deliveries will be coming fast, one right after another.
I will update this blog if there are any changes or more information. Being these deliveries may be coming close together, please check this blog daily for updates.

Installing Package Bees

This is one of my old video's about installing package bees. It is a little out of date because now all of the bee cages are plastic instead of wood. This video is with wood cages. But all the rest of the video is solid and rings true today.
I will follow this one up with the plastic cage install tomorrow.
Double  Click on the video for full screen

I do like installing the queen  using a rubber band to hold the cage on the frame. That will be in tomorrows video. Or you can see all my videos by clicking the link for our YouTube channel in the upper right corner of this blog. You can't see the link on a phone without switching to web version.

package bee update update 4/9/2019

 I talked to Ray Olivarez this afternoon. Looks like the first delivery may be sometime within the next 10 - 14 days or so. I don't want to publish a hard date because a few things need to be firmed up first. But, on the other hand, I want to make sure our bee customers are being given as much information as I can give at the moment so they can make a plan. There is a possibility that this first delivery may come on or around Easter.
I will be talking with Ray again tomorrow and hopefully things will get a clearer picture.

package bee update 4/8/2019

I did post a date today.
Just got off the phone with Ray Olivarez and he says he had to back off that date.
He wants to make sure everything is perfect before he commits to a date. It may be a couple more days or shortly after Easter.
I will talk to him tomorrow, Tuesday and there maybe a more accurate date.
I don't mean to be indecisive, I want to get a date out to everyone right away so beekeepers can make a plan. but lets watch what develops in the next few days.
I will update this post on Tuesday.

Bees in Grain and bird feeders

This time of year on the first warm days of spring, bees will look for pollen. Sometimes there is no pollen yet. Bees will go to forage on anything that may give them something to feed their brood. Bees will go to corn bins, bird feeders and even saw dust. They will collect the dust off of these and bring it back to the hive. A beekeeper may think that this is pollen coming in, but it is not. There is some pollen coming in in many locales, but not everywhere.

Package Bee Update 4/5/2019

Nothing new to report as of today. We hope to get some delivery dates very soon. 
 As soon as I know something concrete I will post it.
Everyone getting bees from Nature's Nectar LLC should be ready for bees by April 14th. Meaning, you should have purchased your bee equipment, the hive should be all painted and set out in the beeyard by then. 
 Nature's Nectar LLC has a very good selection of bee supplies and equipment right now at their Oakdale store. Their prices are the lowest in the area. Call or email them for a quote.
 If you need to put up a bear fence, do it now if the frost is out at your location.
Bear Fence Design  a bear fencer should put out 2 joules of power.

 DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE BEES COME TO GET YOUR BEE EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES.
 
 When we get a delivery date there may be very short notice before the first delivery arrives, so don't get caught off guard. There may be no more than a seven day notice that the first delivery is coming.
 Everything may happen very quickly. Olivarez Honey Bees tries their best to stay on schedule. So once things start moving, be ready.
 We will begin posting video's on how to install package bees soon. All of the pickup information, location of pickup, pickup schedule and everything involved with the deliveries will be coming at a fast clip. So stay tuned to the blog and try to check it everyday if you can.

Checked a bee yard today

I finally was able to get to this beeyard on a four wheeler today. I have been nervous because the battery for the bear fence was not there. I put on a fully charged battery and the bear fence is on. The bear fence I have really packs a wallop.
 I looked at all my hives. I wintered seven hives in this yard. Six of them made it. Actually all of the six looked great. I put pollen patties on everyone and fed syrup and moved a few frames of honey around. I will leave the winter covers on for another week. When I go out a give them their first reversal, I will remove all the covers then.
 So I lost one colony out of 10 that I wintered. The plan is to run more hives this coming season. I actually heeded my own advise this year. I did all the mite treatments at the proper time and the bees were all heavy with honey going into winter.

You can see winter covers on seven hives. One did not make it.

All six of them looked like this. Packed with bees. They should give me some great splits in May.

Nosema, a late winter killer

This video is about a deadout colony that quickly came from a strong overwintered colony to a very weak colony in a matter of a few weeks. The symptoms make it look like Nosema.
  Nosema is a late winter disease that can cause the demise of a colony. Nosema is a stress related disease and causes bee diarrhea in a colony. The stress is caused by winter related issues. Mites can sometimes be a contributing factor. Beekeepers used to treat for Nosema using Fumigillan, an antibiotic, mixed in syrup. It is no longer available for sale.
Life without Fumigillan

Package Bee Update 4/2/2019

I talked to our bee supplier Ray Olivarez today. He did say that they have been caging queens. So they have been getting some queen mating done, even with the tough weather. The weather in the near term is improving in his area where he is doing queen mating. He is hoping to get some type of delivery schedule together soon. Probably after this weekend. So with any luck there may be a delivery date in our future.
 I will update again as soon as I know anything.
The 14 day outlook for weather is much improved from what we have been seeing. With partly cloudy skies and warm temperatures at the mid to end of the forecast.
Orland, California 14 day forecast

Bee Strategy: Easy Way To Draw Comb In April

The bee strategy is: by adding a new box of frames with foundation on this strong overwintered colony. The bees will draw out the foundation because I am feeding them syrup. The queen will move up and start laying on the new comb. After a couple weeks, as the daily temperatures warm up, I will remove the bottom box. I will use the bottom box for package bees that come at the end of April. This will give me an advantage of starting package bees on drawn out comb. The package bees will increase their population quicker because the queen has the whole box of already drawn comb to work with.
  If I had started the package bees on the new foundation, the population of bees would grow slower. As I only have about 7500 bees in a 3 lb package of bees working on the foundation.
 Using a strong overwintered colony to draw out the new foundation, I will have probably 15,000 bees working on it today. As the population grows in the overwintered hive, there will be more workers to make comb on the frames. The bees should have this new box drawn out in about three weeks.

Doing a Reversal on an Overwintered Colony

Sometime over the next week, reversals should be done on strong overwintered colonies. The temperatures are warming up, with 60's forecast for later in the week. Reversals are needed to expand the brood nest. By doing a reversal, the queen will move through the colony more efficiently. On strong overwintered colonies, after this first reversal, whenever you see eggs in the top box, do another reversal. A beekeeper may do two or three reversals before a divide is made on the colony in May. At the same time as reversals, clean the bottom board off on all colonies, weak or strong.
 Weak colonies with two or three frames of bees should not be reversed at this time. When the colonies are weak like this, the bottom box should be removed and the hive should just be in one deep at the moment. This will make the hive easier to keep warm compared to a two deep hive. If a beekeeper has another strong colony, it would be helpful to take a frame of brood sometime later in April and add it to the weak colony. This little increase in brood can turn around a weak colony and it will start increasing the bee population almost immediately. The extra bees will aide in covering more brood, this will give the queen a better opportunity to increase egg laying.
 New Package bees are reversed usually only once in June.
 The first reversal on a three deep colony should go like this. The three deeps are numbered to keep it straight in this example.
Boxes:

1  should end up with  3

2                                   1

3                                   2

After this first reversal on a three deep hive setup, any new reversals will be switch the bottom box with the top box.