GloryBee Blog

How To Winterize Your Hives [Part 1]

One of a Beekeeper’s main responsibilities at the end of the honey season is to prepare for winter. This is commonly overlooked by newbees after the excitement of the flow season and the joyful labor of extracting honey. If you want to be a successful beekeeper, Wintering your hives is critical to colony health and longevity.

TREATMENT

First and foremost in preparing for winter is mite treatment. Varroa destructor is more than just an annoying pest to our lovely ladies. This parasite is a vector that introduces illnesses to a hive that will deteriorate overall health. The most notable, and possibly most offensive, contribution the mite introduces to the hive is the disruption of the honey bee’s ability to produce the hormone vitellogenin. This hormone allows the bee to get ‘fat’ and live for the wintertime requirement of six months rather than the springtime requirement of six weeks. Ultimately, it does not matter how much honey and pollen they have stored for sustenance throughout the winter — if the colony has an abundance of mites, they will not survive. If you have yet to treat your hive, DO IT NOW!

Remember to monitor your mite count on a regular basis, as this not only gives you a reading of how your hive is doing, but also lets you know how effective your treatment choice is.

TREATMENT TYPES

For warmer weather applications, GloryBee® offers Apiguard®, as well as Api Life Var®, both of which are Thymol based products. For more cooperative treatment temperature ranges, a great go-to may be the formic acid based Mite Away® Quick Strips, which also treat for tracheal mites. In an effort to make treatments available for all, GloryBee has recently dropped all Varroa treatments to wholesale pricing.

Keep in mind that it is highly recommended to rotate treatments to avoid resistance.

BEST TREATMENT PRACTICES

As a general rule, all honey supers must be removed prior to treatment. If replacing supers to provide winter sustenance, provide a general allowance of two weeks post-treatment before doing so — unless otherwise specified on the treatment instruction label. Be aware that storing honey supers for any extended amount of time will require treatment for wax moths. The most reliable strategy is to freeze the frames for 48-72 hours prior to storage in sealed plastic bags.

Resources for treatment options:

http://www.lcbaor.org/Supportfiles/varroa_honey_bee_health_coalition.pdf

http://www.lcbaor.org/Supportfiles/Ramesh_Varroa_Sept2014.pdf

HIVE STRENGTH

When heading into winter, we recommend six to eight frames of bees at minimum upon inspection. This is ideally coupled with 50-60 pounds of capped honey (This ends up working out to approximately two to three frames on each side of the brood, along with a full honey super). Less than this likely means you are in for a bit of work and decision making. A beekeeping truism is that “It is better to take your losses in the winter, than in the spring.” The reason for this is that a small cluster cannot adequately maintain stable brood temperatures (approximately 92° F) to continue the cycle of replacement of workers that are lost due to rapid temperature drop, disease or simple end of lifespan. If you are questioning whether or not your hive will last the winter, even with substantial feeding, it is worth seriously considering combining with a stronger hive. Be judicious in your efforts, as any manipulation of this extent late in the fall has its caveats.

Resources for helping you build Hive Strength:

Randy Oliver's Scientific Beekeeping

The Beekeeper’s Handbook- Chapter 11: Special Management Problems (Newspaper Method)

Beekeeping for Dummies- Chapter 18: TWO HIVES FROM ONE section (Newspaper Method)

Click here to read part 2 where discuss winter feed and supplements.

Fizzy Bath Bombs

Bath bombs are a luxurious way to enjoy a long soak in your tub. This bath bomb recipe is kid friendly. Don't let the large ingredient list intimidate you, these are easy to make and the perfect homemade gift to give.

INGREDIENTS & SUPPLIES

2 cups baking soda
1 cup citric acid
3 Tbsp carrier oil of your choice (sweet almond oil, jojoba oil)
Spray bottle with water
1/2 oz GloryBee Fragrance or Essenital Oil
GloryBee Gel Tone Colorant (Blessing Blue)
Bath Bomb Plastic Mold 4 Cavity or soap molds (if desired)

INSTRUCTIONS

In a large mixing bowl, mix citric acid and baking soda with a whisk.
Add colorant (add a few drops at a time until desired color is reached), fragrance oil and carrier oil. Mix thoroughly to break up clumps.
Spray mixture with a little bit of water at a time. The mixture is ready if the batch sticks together when squished.
Put mixture into molds and pack them as much as possible and wait a few minutes.
If using Mold: Flip mold over and tap out molded bombs onto a smooth surface. TIP: The harder you pack the mold, the more dense, heavy and durable the bomb will be. You can also just make "snowball" shaped bath balms that look more handmade.
Press two halves together to make a full sphere. Be careful not to press too hard or your sphere will collapse.

Wait for 2 to 3 days for the bath bombs to dry and then you're ready to enjoy!

Reusable Cloth & Beeswax Food Wrap

Beeswax and cloth food storage alternative wrap is a reusable alternative to plastic wrap and resealable plastic bags. This sticky fabric wrap hugs bowls with just the right amount of cling using the warmth of your hands. Also perfect for wrapping snacks, fruit, veggies, cheese, and bread! This wrap is reusable and can last up to a year. After that all you'll need to do is re-wax them. To keep your beeswax sanitary, wash in cool water with mild soap. Hot water will melt the beeswax. We do not recommend using this craft with meat.

Wrap your sandwich for lunch on the go and use the beeswax cloth as a place mat. Build your sandwich, place in the center of the wrap and fold in corners and wrap with string or make your own reusable snack bag shown below:

EQUIPMENT

pinking shears will prevent fraying
silicone spatula
fine cheese grater
large baking sheet
parchment paper
dropper
thread, needle, string and buttons (optional)
ruler or tape measure (optional)
oven
old newspaper

INGREDIENTS

2 ounces of Organic Beeswax
powdered pine rosin
16 oz Container GloryBee Jojoba Oil
100% cotton fabric. Needs to be very thin, like a sheet.

8×8 Sheet
2 teaspoons grated beeswax
2 teaspoons powdered pine rosin
1/2 teaspoon GloryBee Jojoba Oil

11×11 Sheet
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon grated beeswax
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon powdered pine rosin
1 teaspoon GloryBee Jojoba Oil

14×14 Sheet
1 tablespoon plus 2.5 teaspoons grated beeswax
1 tablespoon plus 2.5 teaspoons powdered pine rosin
2.5 teaspoons GloryBee Jojoba Oil

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat your oven to 225° F
Cut your fabric into the size(s) you prefer.
Lay parchment paper over the baking sheet and place your fabric on top. Sprinkle your beeswax and resin evenly over the fabric Drop jojoba oil with a dropper evenly over the cloth as well. It will spread out under the heat of the oven.
Place baking sheet in the oven and bake until the mixture is fully melted. This should take between 5-10 minutes.
Using the silicon spatula, spread the mixture evenly over the fabric. Pull pan with the sheet out of the oven, brush, and then pop it back in to let the mixture even out for another minute or so.
When the mixture is evenly melted, remove the baking sheet from the oven and lift the sheet with tongs. I wave mine in the air to allow it to cool enough to touch (it doesn’t take long it all) then lay on newspaper to cool.

How To Make Reusable Snack Bags

Start with a 14×14 inch piece of reusable food wrap
Fold it into thirds
Fold the top and bottom to create flaps
Unfold the fabric and sew on buttons as shown below
Re-fold into thirds, then fold over the flaps and attach a string to one of the buttons
To close the snack bag, just wrap the string around both buttons in a figure eight pattern.
If you prefer not to make your own, we also sell Bee’s Wrap online and in our Factory Store

Nourishing Foot Salve

Summer is a popular season for sandals, flip-flops and even sometimes barefooted adventures in the yard, at the beach or by the pool. Along with this summer time footwear often comes dry, cracked heels and calluses which can also be caused by a number of other factors such as fungal infections, poor circulation or nutritional deficiencies.

The best remedy for treating skin-related foot problems is to regularly soak your feet, exfoliate and apply a healing salve to moisturize and protect the skin. This DIY foot salve recipe will do just the trick, with oils and butters to penetrate and soften the skin, Vitamin E to treat and beeswax to create a barrier to lock in the moisture.

For best results, apply before bed to allow the salve to absorb completely and work its magic!

INGREDIENTS & SUPPLIES

1 oz GloryBee Pure Filtered Beeswax
1 oz Aunt Patty’s Deodorized Cocoa Butter
1 oz Aunt Patty’s Expeller Pressed Avocado Oil
1 oz Tamanu Oil (optional)
3 oz Aunt Patty’s Fair Trade Virgin Coconut Oil
1-2 tsp GloryBee Vitamin E Oil
Maximum 10 drops of GloryBee Essential Oils (a nice combination is equal parts GloryBee Lavender and Rosemary Essential Oils)
Double-boiler (or a pot with a heat-safe bowl on top)
Kitchen scale
Glass jars, tins, or tubes for salve

INSTRUCTIONS

Combine all ingredients in your lightly simmering double-boiler (except vitamin E and Essential Oils).
Melt everything down; the beeswax will be the last to melt. Encourage melting with a wooden spoon.
Remove bowl from heat and wipe down the HOT outside to remove moisture. You do not want water getting into the mixture because this can encourage bacteria growth.
Add Vitamin E and Essential Oils.
Carefully pour mixture into clean, sanitized containers.
Let cool for at least 30 minutes.

Maguey Barbecue Sauce

With a three-day weekend on the horizon, nearly 60% of American households will some throw meat (or meat alternatives) on the grill.

Now is the time to prep your best barbecue sauce for the big day!

This recipe uses Aunt Patty’s Maguey Syrup, Apple Cider Vinegar, and other ingredients to create a tangy and sweet St. Louis style barbecue sauce. This sauce works amazing with pork, but also adds a satisfying flavor to beef and chicken dishes.

Looking for something to pair this sauce with? Try our popular pulled pork recipe.

INGREDIENTS

½ Cup ketchup
⅓ Cup Aunt Patty’s Organic Maguey Syrup
2 Tbsp Aunt Patty’s Organic Apple Cider Vinegar
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
½ tsp onion powder
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp fine sea salt

DIRECTIONS

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together ketchup, maguey syrup, vinegar, tomato paste, Worcestershire, onion, garlic, and salt. Store refrigerated up to 2 weeks. Yield: 16 servings (about 1 cup)

How to make a rain barrel for stormwater catchment

A rain barrel is a great way to capture rainfall from your roof and save it for later use. By attaching a hose or a drip system you can water plants (or wash off muddy pet paws) without using your municipal water resources. It’s also a great way to slow down stormwater runoff from your property and protect local waterways from flooding.

Choose your spot

Pick a downspout near where you will be using the water. Make sure you can both fill up your barrel and also dispose of overflow into the stormwater system. The barrel can sit on even ground or a solid base.

Connect your barrel

a. Connect the downspout to the barrel using either the existing downspout or a rain chain.

b. Drill a hole near the top of the barrel for an overflow pipe. The pipe and hole must be at least 2 inches in diameter. Make sure the overflow pipe seals tightly.

c. Connect the overflow pipe to the stormwater system.

Connect a spigot or hose

If your barrel has no spigot, drill a hole and attach a spigot or hose.

If you are located in Lane County, you can often find these barrels for sale at our Factory Store.

The Three most important words beekeepers should know

“Every honey bee colony in the continental United States and Canada either has Varroa mites today or will have them within several months.” – Honey Bee Health Coalition

This bold statement by the Honey Bee Health Coalition is the same advice Oregon Master Beekeeping mentors tell their students. In fact, at the first class session of the Oregon State Master Beekeeping Apprentice Program, the powerful opening statement students hear is, “If you learn nothing else from this class, it should be these three words: treat for mites”.

Varroa mites are a major problem for beekeepers. Many hobbyist beekeepers either deny that their bees have mites (because they cannot see them) or do not want to use a mite treatment, thinking it is unnatural. We hear this frequently. Unfortunately, in the winter and spring we also frequently hear from beekeepers who had a strong hive going into the fall but have no bees in the spring. There is a great article on the Bee Informed Partnership website that summarizes this issue that is well worth a read.

So now you know you need to treat for Varroa mites and your question is: which treatment is best? The short answer is: That depends. Lots of different factors will determine which mite treatment you choose. A great resource for the different mite treatments can be found on the Honey Bee Health Coalition Website.

This guide gives the most effective treatment to use during the corresponding time of year. Right now we are in the “Population Decrease” phase, so the recommended treatments are the two thymol based products, Api Life Var and Apiguard. Two other products, Mite Away Quick Strips or Apivar also prove successful this time of year.

We like to recommend the thymol products in the fall due to the higher temperature treatment range. Apiguard can be used from 60 to 105 degrees, which makes it a terrific treatment for the Pacific Northwest, which recently saw a summer high of 104 degrees!

Since rotating treatments is highly recommended, we use thymol treatments in the Fall and Mite Away Quick Strips or Apivar in the Spring.

The best time to treat in the fall is right after taking off the honey supers. Treatment can start any time from mid-July to the month of August. If you have not treated yet-- NOW IS THE TIME.

Bee a good neighbor! With bees drifting up to 3 or 4 miles, we need all beekeepers to treat for varroa mites. Let’s look out for each other and keep our bees healthy.

Royal Treatment Lip Balm & Salve

Treat your skin with products from the hive. This lip balm & salve uses our bee pollen, propolis and royal jelly to make a luxurious and royal treatment!

Royal Jelly is a nutrient-rich antioxidant skin treatment (along with other benefits) that supports skin elasticity and can help reduce inflammation.

Pollen is the honey bee’s main food, and is one of the most nutritionally complete foods on earth. Like royal jelly, it has great skin and hair nourishing benefits.

Propolis is made by honey bees collecting various resins from trees and flower buds. People have used it for centuries to treat skin issues and as a natural antibiotic.

This recipe combines all three ingredients into a luxurious creamy lip balm and salve.

INGREDIENTS

3/4 oz Olive Oil
3/4 oz Coconut Oil
.35 oz Beeswax
.17 oz Raw Honey
1/2 tsp Bee Pollen Granules (crush granules into a fine powder. A mortar and pestle work nicely for this.)
1/2 tsp Royal Jelly
10 drops Propolis Tincture
Ointment Container or Slider Tin

INSTRUCTIONS

Melt the oil and beeswax together in a small saucepan over low heat, reserving a teaspoon or two of the oils.
In a separate bowl, whisk the honey, slowly blending in the pollen, propolis, and reserved oils. NOTE: Try using a mortar and pestle to further grind up bee pollen before adding to honey. This will help incorporate the pollen into your mixture better. Whisk very thoroughly to ensure the olive oil emulsifies into the honey.
Once the oils and beeswax have melted, remove them from the heat and let cool for a few minutes, stirring, until you have an opaque, creamy substance. Transfer the honey mixture to the pot and vigorously whisk everything together.
When thoroughly mixed and emulsified, pour it into your small lip balm container or tin.

Slow-Cooker Pulled Pork

We LOVE pulled pork, but it can be a pain to make during the work week thanks to the long cook time. With this easy 3-step recipe, it's a breeze! Begin in the morning, and come home to delicious melt in your mouth pulled pork in the evening.

INGREDIENTS

⅓ Cup Aunt Patty’s Coconut Sugar
2 Tbsp ground cumin
2 Tbsp ground coriander
1 Tbsp fine sea salt
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp garlic powder
1 Boneless pork shoulder roast (about 4 pounds)
1 Large onion (peeled, halved, and sliced)
½ Cup chicken broth or water
Aunt Patty’s Barbecue Sauce, optional for serving (see additional recipe below)

DIRECTIONS

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together sugar, cumin, coriander, salt, onion, and garlic. Rub mixture all over pork.

2. In a slow cooker, add onions and broth, and then place pork on top. Cover and cook until very tender and easy to shred with a fork, about 6 hours on high heat or 8-10 hours on low heat.

3. Shred pork, removing and discarding excess fat. Mix in cooked onions and any juices from the bottom of the slow cooker, and serve with barbecue sauce to taste.

Aunt Patty's Barbecue Sauce

Yield: 16 servings (about 1 cup)

INGREDIENTS

½ Cup ketchup
⅓ Cup Aunt Patty’s Organic Agave
2 Tbsp Aunt Patty’s Organic Apple Cider Vinegar
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
½ tsp onion powder
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp fine sea salt

DIRECTIONS

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together ketchup, maguey syrup, vinegar, tomato paste, Worcestershire, onion, garlic, and salt. Store refrigerated up to 2 weeks.

Getting down and dirty with the school garden project

To nurture a garden is to feed not just the body, but the soul.

There is something satisfying about tilling the earth and growing your own food. With the rapid urbanization of open spaces, we were thrilled to receive the opportunity this year to “adopt” a plot of land by Fairfield Elementary School in Eugene, OR and plant a garden.

From seed to harvest—digging, planting, weeding and gathering— a lot of work goes into tending a garden. But is it really work when you're having so much fun? Check out the smiles on our GloryBee volunteers faces.

How To Make Your Own HoneyStix

HoneyStix are the perfect portable on-the-go snack or single-serve sweetener for your tea. As a snack, they provide a great boost of natural energy for hiking, camping and playing sports, which make them a summertime staple!

This video shows the process on how to make your own HoneyStix by hand: (Project difficulty/time rating: ADVANCED)

Making your own HoneyStix can be a fun and rewarding hobby to stay healthy and satisfy your sweet-tooth, but please note: it requires a significant time and money investment to do it right.

Once you're in a groove, we've found that you can get 5 stix done by hand using this method in about 2 minutes. If you wanted a full 2000 count case it could take over 13 hours. Also if your honey isn't headed to a proper consistency, you can tack on additional time for filling each item.

If you love HoneyStix but don’t have the time or drive to make your own, GloryBee offers over 25 varietals of HoneyStix in 100 count, 2000 count, and grocery sizes.

HoneyStix Flavor Combinations

When we pull long hours here at GloryBee, things can get a bit kooky. A few years ago, an employee grabbed two random HoneyStix for a quick pick-me-up. She popped both in her mouth, and remarked “This tastes JUST like a Caramel apple”.

Soon we were all trying to come up with new flavor combinations. Through years of rigorous testing, we’ve come up with the following HoneyStix combos:

HoneyStix Flavor Combinations

Sour Fruit Punch: Sour Cherry + Sour Grape
Strawberry Lemonade: Sour Strawberry + Pink Lemonade
Apple Pie: Cinnamon + Sour Apple
Caramel Apple: Caramel + Sour Apple
Berry-liscous: Sour Raspberry + Sour Strawberry
Creamcicle: Orange + Vanilla
Chocolate Covered Almond: Chocolate + Amaretto
Mountain Meadow: Clover + Wildflower
Lemon Ginger Tea: Lemon + Ginger
Mojito: Lime + Mint
Root Beer Float: Root Beer + Vanilla

Tasty drink pairings

Chai Tea and Vanilla HoneyStix
Black Tea and Peach HoneyStix
Green Tea and Ginger HoneyStix
Mango Tea and Lime HoneyStix
Coffee and Caramel HoneyStix
Coffee and Amaretto HoneyStix