Meetings are on first Mondays of each month in the Zilker Botanical Gardens Auditorium from 7:00-9:00pm, open to the public.

Spring Honey Flow It seems that the flowers are finally here and full of available nectar. The bees are taking advantage of any dry days we get to quickly fill their honeycombs. Remember when you harvest honey in July, to wait until the honey is capped to avoid fermentation. Don’t forget to leave 30-50lbs of honey for your bees to over winter.

If there is any capped brood in your honey super, you can wait till the bees hatch out to harvest, there is no need to rush. A great way to get the bees out of the honey supers is to use a fume board with some Fischer’s Bee Quick spread on the felt pad. When you place the fume board on top of the hive, the bees will quickly move down into the brood areas to avoid the smell and you can pull off the supers, place them into a plastic container with a lid and take them out of the bee yard.

Tour de Hives Seeking Bee Yards to Visit & Business Sponsorships Want to be in the tour? Sign up on the website! Do you know of a business that is willing to donate silent auction items or purchase a sponsorship level, send them a link to our sponsorship packet.

Seeking Volunteers Would you like to help out on the day of the event? Fill out a volunteer application on the website! Sign up for a 4-hour block to get a FREE event t-shirt!

Travis County Beekeepers Volume 1 | Issue 1

SUMMER 2016

Honey Flow is ON!

If your bees have stores,

you should NOT be

feeding any sugar water.

4th Annual

Tour de Hives:

August 20th, 2016

www.tourdehives.org

2

Brood Patterns

Regular Hive Inspections

You can check your hive every 7-14 days during active seasons. You are looking for signs of a healthy queen.

New brood (eggs, larva, freshly capped pupae) You do not have to see the queen, if you see eggs, she is more than likely present in the hive.

Check for plenty of food stores (nectar or capped honey and stored pollen)

Fresh new comb (See if your bees are building new wax on the frames or new combs)

Room to grow Are there empty honeycomb cells for the queen to lay more eggs? Do the bees have extra frames or combs to collect nectar in? If not add frames. If the super is full, it may be time to super up. (add another box of frames, or add some empty bars in a top bar hive)

Intruders Is there anything inside the hive that doesn’t belong? Small hive beetles, ants, wasps nest, roaches, spiders, varroa mites, wax moths. Look in cracks and under lid.

BEE SAFE Remember safety first! ALWAYS light a smoker and ALWAYS wear a veil. The larger the colony grows, the more they will have to protect and the more defensively they will behave. Always be prepared. If bees get aggressive, use lots of smoke outside of the hive, close the hive, and quickly retreat to a shaded area or move indoors

DID YOU KNOW?

That a honey bee larva

grows 6 times its size

EVERY DAY!!!

This comb has eggs,

tiny larva and a larger

larva near the center.

Healthy larva will be

white in color.

DON’T FORGET:

JULY’S MEETING WILL BE ON THE

1ST THURSDAY.

JULY 7TH 2016