It has been very busy the last few weeks here on The Hicks Homestead between taking care of the bees and preparing the gardens. We took a vacation from our day jobs the week of Memorial Day and the weather has been fairly cooperative as far as getting our outside chores done. Charlotte even got to try out her new sprinkler while we got some of our outside work done. The bees have been multiplying and on sunny days we can hear a dull buzz in the yard all day long. Josh got up close and personal to get some shots of the bees in action!
One part of being a beekeeper is protecting the colonies from disease and infestations. Josh applied our first treatment to the bees in the form of a grease patty.
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| Completed grease patty on wax paper |
The grease patty is made of 1/4 cup of Crisco and as much white sugar as the Crisco can take. This patty is one of the weapons we use to combat tracheal mites. The bees will eat the sugar and the crisco over time and this causes all the bees to smell like grease. This confuses the tracheal mites who are searching for the bees by smell and without a host they will die. We (and by we, that means Josh!) will continue applying new grease patties as the older one is eaten away.
We have also been getting our new raised beds built and transferring seedlings to the great outdoors. Once the dust settles, we'll adding another post about all the happenings in the garden. Stay tuned!
