Promoting beekeeping in Door County
Max's Minute - Archives provides helpful insights and tips for managing your beekeeping throughout the year, as well as a look into the monthly activities of the Door County Beekeepers Club. These posts are provided by Max Martin, co-president of the DCBC, and initially appear on the Home page for timely aid during the various beekeeping seasons. Visit our Home page often to see the latest Max's Minute.
February 22, 2017 – It’s time for our February meeting on the 28th at 6:30pm at the Ag Research Station in Sturgeon Bay.
The topic will be: Preparing for the bees arrival.
If you have some unique equipment or bee clothes or plastic foundation black or white, bring it along. A few new members that are first time beekeepers will want to get to know you. If you want to bring a treat to share, they are always welcome.
Thanks! Max
January 9, 2017 – This coming Tuesday it is supposed to get up to 30 plus degrees!! I will be lifting the tops of my hives just to be sure the bees have enough food!! Lift your hives or tip them to see if they feel like there is food in the hive yet. If not buy or make some hard sugar bars to put on top of the frames or put on a queen excluder and lay the sugar chunks on top of that. What I mix for the hard candy is 8 lbs of sugar, 2 cups of water, 1.5 lbs of caro syrup and ¼ tsp cream of tarter. bring to a boil until it reaches a temp of 252 degrees F. Pour into a cookie sheet let cool, break up and put on hives that are low on food. Good Luck!!
October 25, 2016 – Our monthly meeting is October 25 at the DC Co-Op Country Store, 6:00-8:00pm. The topic is “How to take care of bees/getting ready for winter”.
Also note, we are starting to get freezing temps, which means that mice are looking for winter homes and there isn’t a better place for them than in a bee hive. Be sure to have mouse excluders on with a 2 inch by 3/8 inch opening for your hives next to your boardman feeder which the bees are feeding on 2 to 1 sugar water (8 lbs sugar to 1 gallon of water).
October 6, 2016 – A reminder that our October meeting will the Fall Bee Seminar is being held on October 25th from 6:00pm to 8:00pm at the Door County Country Store (Door County Cooperative) located at 317 Green Bay Rd in Sturgeon Bay. A representative from Miller Manufacturing (where all of the store’s bee products come from) will teach the public about how to take care of bees/getting ready for winter.
September 26, 2016 – DCBC meeting at the The Ridges in Baileys Harbor on September 27th at 6:30pm. We will be talking prepping your hives for winter. If you have ideas or items that you want to show and tell bring them along.
Max will bring his refractometer if you want to test your honey for moisture, bring some along.
August 27, 2016 – DCBC Meeting – August 30, 2016 @ 6:30pm
Location: Bob and Robin Griesser residence
Topic: Honey Extraction Methods
This meeting will include a demonstration of a flow hive. If you have something that you use for extraction and want to bring it to the meeting to share, please do.
May 23, 2016 – DCBC Meeting – May 24, 2016 @ 6:00pm
Location: Peninsular Agricultural Research Station
Topic: Hive Inspection/Split Demonstration
Our guest presenter this month is Dan Ziehli, the Wisconsin State Bee Inspector for our region. He will perform a hive inspection on site, as well as explaining the process for splitting a hive.
April 25, 2016 – Door County Beekeepers Club meeting on April 26th.
Please join Dr. Becky Masterman, UMinn Bee Squad, Steve Hupfer, Brown County Bee Keepers, and the DCBKC executive board for pizza, preceding Hive Dive at 4:00 and presentation at 6:30!
More info is on our Facebook page.
March 29, 2016 – How are your bees doing? This is the time of year when many hives are lost, so be sure to check on them and get them some sugar if the honey supply is low.
January 16, 2016 – During a warm day in this winter weather, take a minute to check on your bees. Lifting the cover quickly and taking a quick peek inside won’t hurt them. If they are all hanging around the inner cover they may be out of food. Another way to check them is to lift your hive to see if it is light. If you do need to feed your bees, a sugar board is a good supplement. Check out Max’s recipe on our Facebook page. There are also many other recipes online that you can try. Or you can order sugar boards from beekeeping suppliers. Try to place a warm (90 to 100 degrees) sugar board in the hive so that it will not be such a shock to the hive. You will need a 2 inch spacer box to make space for the sugar board. Visit our Facebook page for the photo gallery.
Good luck!
