July 2016 Tips from the President
Greetings from your WCBA president. My intent is to give pertinent beekeeping tips to you each month so that you will be able to plan the work that needs to be accomplished to keep your bees healthy, strong and productive. These tips are based on the timeline and the way I keep bees.
July 2016: It’s July already, this year is half over and the daylight is beginning to get shorter. “Time flies when we are having fun.” The bees are working very hard, bring in lots of honey, so give them plenty of space, add supers before they need them. As always check for queen cells. If you are trying to get comb honey, take it off as soon as the cells are capped. The bees will track up the surface and it will look dirty. It really makes a great gift for friends and family. If you are selling your comb honey it is in great demand at farmer’s markets. If you are one of us that can’t wait to taste fresh honey, now is the time to pull and extract early honey.
This is still the time of the year to capture swarms, keep an extra hive body or nuc box ready for a swarm. This hive should have several frames of honey and several frames of drawn comb. The drawn comb will allow the queen to settle in and go to laying eggs right away. Swarms and splits are a great way to grow your bee yard.
Do you want to Learn more about beekeeping, attend our club meetings where seasoned beekeeper share their knowledge and experiences. Come and join us, we would love to share.
Howard “Howdy” Martsolf
WCBA President