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Thread: My little homestead

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    Quest - reading about your bee hives is inspiring!! You're doing amazing!

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    Quest (10-10-2017)

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    Super Moderator Quest's Avatar
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    The colonies are strong and preparing for winter....I am in the process already for late winter to be ready and not overwhelmed with swarms....

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    Getting this to help next Spring..

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    Quote Originally Posted by happysandyh View Post
    Quest - reading about your bee hives is inspiring!! You're doing amazing!
    Thank you!

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    My little homestead-homemade-butter-jpg

    Been playing the last few days...Tuesday I made homemade applesauce and canned 12 4 oz jars..calculated they are no more expensive than the ones at the store and after I reuse the jars they will be about 1/2 price...plus they are made with my own honey...

    Today I made homemade butter...next I will make some flavored ones for the holidays including honey butter...1 pt of heavy cream made 1/2 pt of butter and about 1/3 cup milk...

  7. #86
    Quote Originally Posted by Quest View Post
    The colonies are strong and preparing for winter....I am in the process already for late winter to be ready and not overwhelmed with swarms....
    Quote Originally Posted by Quest View Post


    Getting this to help next Spring..
    I watched the video, interesting...but how do you know when and even if they are going to swarm?

    Quote Originally Posted by Quest View Post
    Today I made homemade butter...next I will make some flavored ones for the holidays including honey butter...1 pt of heavy cream made 1/2 pt of butter and about 1/3 cup milk...
    Was this your first time? How did you do it...churn it by hand?

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    I just had this situation...I check my hives every day and have done so for so long I pick up on unusual behavior....I saw more than usual activity at the entrance and went to observe closely...saw fighting....some dead bees in front of the hive...

    I first opted for the wet sheet option and as soon as I put the sheets on the hives the front and atmosphere filled with swarming bees...it looked like this video only they were attacking the sheet not the robbing screen...that was when I realized the robbing was much worse than I had first thought....I left the sheets on for 2 days and the attack seemed to not diminish...

    Hubby and I built two robber screens...will share a photo ...and after placing them on I removed the sheets...but the intensity in front of,and around, the hive was such that I opted to put them back on for another 24 hours....

    Thank goodness we had a shower and sudden drop in temperature and now for 2 days the activity has returned to normal..it was a challenging and distressful 4 days....

    When robbers attack like this they can wipe out a colony...steal all the stored food and even kill the queen.

    At this point I don't know how much damage they suffered and it's too cool to open the hive for an inspection. Plus doing so could retrigger the robbing...I will watch for the next week...

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    Quote Originally Posted by krystian View Post
    I watched the video, interesting...but how do you know when and even if they are going to swarm?



    Was this your first time? How did you do it...churn it by hand?
    Inspections of the hive in late winter or early Spring will reveal queen swarm cells...also if the wintering bees start to BEARD a lot on the front of the hive...Bearding during summer is normal but bearding in early Spring indicates they are over crowded..

    A beekeeper gave me another option I am studying and considering....if done right a lot less bees are removed from the hive giving a more likely outcome of a honey harvest by creating a very minimal faux swarm...but it timing to be precise...not sure I can pull that one off...

    BUTTER...I put a pint of heavy whipping cream in my Ninja....blended for about 3 minutes (using the Ninja it is recommended to engage for 20 second intervals as it will burn up the motor to keep it engaged for that long). This timing may vary based on the blender so give no attention to a time...just give attention to the affect....If you used a regular blender or food processor or even one of those hand held blenders you just blend until the fat separates from the milk....drain the milk then press the butter against the side of a bowl with a spoon..this presses out any remaining milk....and you have butter!

    Add salt, honey, seasonings...whatever you like...it is not any more expensive than buying real butter and it is totally fresh...for me it is more fun and interesting because I may make some for Christmas gifts...honey butter made with my own honey ...

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    http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/dang...oney-5387.html

    Read an article and decided to post it here...some may not give thought to the fact that people with low or weakened immune systems might have a problem with honey..

    I use it to boost mine in a concoction of garlic, turmeric, pepper, ginger and honey....but take it in small doses...

    It says that it should not be consumed in large quantities...fact is it is so sweet and rich not sure anyone could. And never give honey to babies.

    Proverb 25:16 Have you found honey? Eat only what you need, That you not have it in excess and vomit it.

    God is SO SMART!!!

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