Good Morning - 2023

[Happy]

Along this same theme of natural Honey being "bad" because it doesn't look as expected...I am now flat out refusing to sell or give away eggs to anyone other than family. My health-freak brother eats more of my chicken's eggs than my husband and I do. I had been selling eggs and managing to cover feed costs. Then hubby's boss said he cracked an egg open with "a baby" in it and he and his children may never eat eggs again.
It was a meat spot.
I explained that but he seems to think that he knows more than I do. Even though they tease me about being such a chicken geek all the time. So that's it. I see a lot of egg salad in my future.

I feel badly for the kids.
Just because parent is a moron, children shouldn't be marked for life.'
Perhaps a small printout of chick development inside the egg, sent with hubby, for bases children, a teachable moment ?
I am sure even morons don't want their children traumatized ? although what do I know ?

I really can't be bothered. You can't call me names because of my chicken hobby and then not believe me on facts about that very hobby all at the same time. I can take a teasing and wear the name "crazy chicken lady" with pride but I won't take ignorance. So they can go back to their "healthy" store-bought, safe eggs.

[TomK]

So there's a lot of "bad" imported honey hitting the market here. dirt cheap, and full of glucose/fructose syrup! From overseas. sigh. And the hive losses from last winter (winter 2021) means the 2022 honey which is now on the shelf is expensive-supply is down and with fuel costs sky high, labour costs, transportation, replacing lost hives....this year the survival of the hives has been much better, so hopefully the prices won't go up again, but with import honey coming in who knows what will happen. Looks like major losses on imported bees from some places, nucs and stuff dead on arrival...sigh.

We sell 1kg for 15$ at farmgate but if were selling through a store that would get marked up to likely around 30$. We don't have a lot of honey to sell though, and mostly give honey away as gifts. And, keeping last year's honey from crystallizing (the general public doesn't get that unpasteurized honey actually granulates over time naturally) so the general public doesn't freak out is almost impossible for someone like us....i'm not going to spend the time and money to reliquify naturally granulated honey just because jane smith thinks granulated honey is "bad". LOL. I think i'm getting old and cranky...hm.

good luck ross! Hope you see/hear and get! Deep fried wild turkey....mmmmmm best ever!

Kathy...I have an old warming tray that i plug in and set the glass jar of honey on for a few hours and the crystallized honey returns back to how people like it...the temp.is very low but it works and it doesn't harm the honey the way a microwave would, and a lot faster and easier than the old hot water method.
I am getting more bees this spring. I had a few hives up until the year before last but lost them in the great unexplained die off and chose not to replace last year (and anyway there weren't any to be had) but I am looking forward to it again this year...almost out of honey from my own stock. Nothing like it.

[Happy]

I have a question about bee keeping. Well probably 100 questions but for starters this one.
We live amid crop fields that are intensively sprayed. The usual crops are rotated (corn, wheat, soy beans) and cabbage or brocolli fields nearby.
There is about a 25 acre parcel directly beside us that has been reforested but the trees are small enough still to allow grass/weed/wildflower growth. We have had neighbours tell us that there's no point getting bees because the spray killed theirs every year within days of being applied to the field. Is there truth in this?

[TomK]

@Happy ...I am no expert but it doesn't sound like you live in the ideal habitat for bee health. Corporate farming these days involves spraying the hell out of crops with all sorts and no one knows the long term effects on bes, honey, or us. But those crops you mentioned don't offer much to bees... maybe the short flowering seson of the soy beans but corn and wheat offer nothing...that area of reforestation would be great if it was big but it is a balance between bees numbers and food source. Remember, one hive can have 50000 bees in it, and thats a lot of foragers. Bees will fly out as much as 5k from the hive looking for pollen. Vast areas of commercial farm crops don't give much if anything. And some of thw chemicals used for herbicide or fungicide or insecticide have neural disrupters for bees and mess with their homing instincts leading to hive collapse. Modern farming methods may make money but are a nightmare for bees and everything else.

[Happy]

Thank-you @TomK
It's sad that the farming landscape is what provides me the most comfort but also provides the most harm. There's no telling what those chemicals are doing to us. I always know when spraying has been done that day because I will come home from work and my lips will go slightly numb. Same way I know if I've just eaten non-organic celery. I guess bees are not in my immediate future. I will certainly support those with them though.

[thegawd]

I have no experience with bees at all but I am very interested in getting some. My neighbor who is on about 1 acre basically in the middle of a 100 acre field surrounded by sprayed crops that are rotated keeps bees. Hes kept bees for many many years. I don't know this guy very well and have no idea what kind of struggle he has with keeping his bees alive. I do know the owner of the land that surrounds his property though he also sprays our field. I do know that he does not indiscriminately spray the entire field and he keeps the mix as low as possible. I absolutely agree with what Tom said, but I do not have any experience with bees. I do believe that glyphosate has been proven toxic to bees.

Our neighbors bees are constantly in our garden and all over the dandelions that are all through our lawn. I always go slow when cutting the grass so the bees can escape. I'll let you all know how his bees are doing when our crops have flowers. We grow all kinds of pollinator attractor flowers n plants to draw those bees over here. And he has come over with some honey and thanked us for doing that, while asking if his grandson could hunt turkey in my bush. I said sure go ahead, its a swamp though and he would likely have better luck somewhere else. Told him good luck and thanks for the honey.

He told me he doesn't make enough honey for us to be able to buy or trade any from him.

We want bees so bad but also have all the same concerns. Expensive to get into, there's a nice bee store in Dresden Ontario called Bria Lees Bees. Check them out online. https://www.blbhoney.ca

[labradors]

Thank-you @TomK
It's sad that the farming landscape is what provides me the most comfort but also provides the most harm. There's no telling what those chemicals are doing to us. I always know when spraying has been done that day because I will come home from work and my lips will go slightly numb. Same way I know if I've just eaten non-organic celery. I guess bees are not in my immediate future. I will certainly support those with them though.

Oh my goodness! Mouth numbness caused by non-organic veggies? I never knew this, but that could well explain why I sometimes get that effect from cantaloupe! Thanks :).

It's very sad that something as wonderful as honey can be so easily contaminated .

Linda

[Happy]

Thank-you @TomK
It's sad that the farming landscape is what provides me the most comfort but also provides the most harm. There's no telling what those chemicals are doing to us. I always know when spraying has been done that day because I will come home from work and my lips will go slightly numb. Same way I know if I've just eaten non-organic celery. I guess bees are not in my immediate future. I will certainly support those with them though.

Oh my goodness! Mouth numbness caused by non-organic veggies? I never knew this, but that could well explain why I sometimes get that effect from cantaloupe! Thanks :).

It's very sad that something as wonderful as honey can be so easily contaminated .

Linda

It happens to me every single time I eat non-organic celery and sometimes grapes (which is typically at someone else's house now). I have always heard that celery gets intensively sprayed and absorbs the chemicals quite easily because it is such a high percentage of liquid. No idea if that's true but my numb lips tell me it is. I actually thought for years that I had some type of allergy. But organically grown celery does not give me that same sensation.

[WLLady]

So the big culprit for us with bee losses are mites going into the winter. We started doing a series of late oxalic acid vapourization treatments and making sure our mite count was as zero as it could be and we stopped losing hives. I think there are some nasty viruses and things the varroa can carry. for sure if a hive is weakened due to pesticide use then the varroa will be harder on the hive, but i haven't noticed problems here and we're surrounded by workable that gets sprayed.

Our crops are sometimes sprayed with btk (won't hurt bees) for the corn borer and cutworm, and roundup/glysophate for early emergent weeds. Our guy keeps the spray low and in low wind conditions so there's no drift, and all my hives are within 50 yards of the field. We haven't noticed big die offs at all. but we don't spray if it doesn't need it. period. usually one post-emergent on the corn to knock back the weeds until the corn is big enough. that's it. If someone was spraying for cabbage loopers in broccoli that would/should be btk....which won't harm the bees (they aren't caterpillars). I use btk all the time in the vegetable garden, and have never seen that hurt the bees. However, if someone is spraying for aphids, or japanese beetles, then yes, the bees will be in big trouble. However, with enough notice the beekeeper can do entrance reducers and cover the hives. As soon as those sprays are dry (usually in an hour or two) it's okay to let the bees out again. Much like you wouldn't put poultry out on the lawn after spreading pelleted fertilizer....Interesting point-most soybean cultivars will not attract bees whatsoever. We had 112 acres of it planted here, and not a single bee in it at all. And corn is wind pollinated....bees will collect the pollen if they are desperate, but it doesn't do anything for pollination. If you could cover the bees or have responsible spraying then it shouldn't affect the bees....25 acres could support a hive

Bees LOVE broccoli when it flowers! (of course, one growing broccoli tries to harvest before it flowers....). I always leave the side shoots on mine to go to flower after i take the main heads off-both broccoli and cauliflower. I'll also let my late season lettuce flower once its bolted. The honeybees love it!

We have 6 right now, and i'm sure that will be about 12-15 by a couple of weeks from now. but we have fruit trees and the river/river flats, 35 acres of bush, a 70 acre wood lot north of us, and a fruit growing farm on the other side of that woods from here. A guy a couple houses down from us also has bees-20-30 hives, and we all have more than enough forage in the area with the hay fields and the river/woods around. In the spring the bees will collect pollen and nectar from the trees when they're blooming too. We have put in many fruit trees, and lots of plants that produce pollen and nectar, and we don't pull the dandelions (major spring food for the bees).

BLB is where we got our first 2 hives! They're super people and very helpful!

[thegawd]

Thats some really great info Kathy! Cheers!