Swarm Traps!

I would like to welcome my newest follower, Jon. Jon has his own blog detailing his Journey To Homesteading, and his interest in honey bees. Go check him out at The Sweet Beeness. Jon asked for some details on my swarm traps so I will answer him here.

I make my traps out of 8 frame deep supers. That seems to be the proper volume to attract bees. I started out just nailing a piece of plywood on to the bottom of the super, but I came up with an idea. Normally, when you transfer a captured swarm to a hive, you take the top off of the trap. Then you pull the frames out and transfer them to the hive, all the while, bees are swirling all around in the air. After the frames have been transferred, you will still have a bunch of bees in the bottom of the trap which you will have to try to shake out into the hive. I thought there might be a better way. I thought if I had an easily removable bottom on the trap, I could just remove the bottom and set the whole trap onto a bottom board and they would be transferred in a matter of seconds without even opening the top. But how to do this?

I thought I might make a similar bottom like I use for the top. But no, that wouldn’t work well. Anytime it rained, the water would run down the sides and collect in the bottom of the hive.

Then I thought, what if I made the frame for the bottom fit inside the trap instead of the outside? It would be almost rain proof and I could just take out two screws to remove the bottom. I made five of the traps like this so I will see how it works out.

Oh, I made these 5 traps out of 1X12s that I did not rip down to the proper size to be a deep super. My box is an inch and a half deeper than a super. I needed the extra space so my deep frames will fit inside with the bottom attached. The only real negative I can think of is the bees might not like that extra space after I set the trap onto a bottom board. The old Beeks in my bee club are interested in my idea and they think the bees will just draw out a little bit of comb hanging from the bottom of the frames. That shouldn’t be a problem since these frames will be brood frames and won’t go into an extractor.

This is a picture of one of my traps hanging in a tree about 15 feet high. I put out four traps today while the temperature was 40 degrees with a 20 MPH wind. I even saw a few flakes of snow flitting by! That sure doesn’t seem like swarm weather does it? Well, last week we had temps in the 80s! I have 15 traps to put out, so I need to get started because it will take a couple of days to get it done. Oh yeah, my two surviving hives are doing really well. Last week I went through them frame by frame. As a matter of fact, one of the hives was so strong I did a walk-away split. I don’t know how it will work out but I thought if it will ever work it should be now because that hive was so strong.

I made this 5 gallon pail feeder last week and it is working really well. I drilled holes all around the bucket so that the little indentions around the top will hold the sugar water when you invert the bucket. The capillary pressure keeps it from spilling out just as it does with a jar feeder with holes punched in the lid. I have some other topics to discuss but I will save that for later. Keep prepping everyone!

Homestead Update 2/6/16

I was in the Post Office yesterday and I saw this flier posted on the door. $25,000 reward for assaulting a postal worker in Memphis. That is a big no-no. I thought everyone, even the crack heads, knew better than to mess with a postal worker. The Postal Service don’t play that! Traditionally, in the past all of the government checks and Food Stamps were delivered by mail and it was just understood that the Postman was off limits. Postal workers could still go into some of the roughest parts of town without being assaulted or robbed.  I guess now since the checks and EBT are delivered electronically the hands off tradition is ending. Although I guess a $25,000 dollar reward might just make some thugs own Mama turn him in. (for his own good, you understand) That should make even the most stupid criminal think twice about robbing the Postman.

I was going into one of the local Flea Markets/Antique stores last week and they had one of these signs posted on the door. I asked the proprietor if he really meant it.  He replied “absolutely, the more good guys that carry, the fewer bad guys will be willing to rob and assault people.” I felt right at home in a store like that. I sure feel safer there than at Starbucks!

Today I put together my first swarm trap of the new year. I need to get on the ball if I expect to have 25 ready to put out when the time comes. I was finally able to use my Porter Cable battery powered brad gun. I discovered you really have to be careful to hold the gun straight or it will shoot those brads out of the side of the wood. Oh, so that’s why the instructions say to keep your fingers at least 3 inches away from the nose of the gun. I can imagine you would NOT want one of those brads driven  into your finger. The tool has enough power to drive a 2 inch brad completely into the wood. I still am not sure how well those skinny wire brads will hold once the wood begins to warp and twist. I will give them a try and if they don’t hold well, I will put some nails into the top and bottom just like I did with the three traps I made last year.

I even had the opportunity to use that piece of wire grill that I salvaged off of the air conditioner unit I found on the shoulder of the road last Summer. I cut it into small sections and stapled the wire over the entrance hole to keep birds and squirrels out of the box. Tomorrow is Stuper Bowl Sunday, but there is no way I am going to sit around and watch the pre-pre-pre game show all day. I will go out to my shop after church and put a coat of paint on the trap. I plan on painting it a sort of camouflage pattern so it will be difficult to see hanging in a tree. Maybe that way, some Yea-hoo won’t shoot holes in it for target practice. Keep prepping everyone!

Homestead Update 1-31-16

I am under my Doctor’s order to walk for 30-45 minutes every day. I don’t like exercise walking and I never have. It always seems like a colossal waste of time. The whole time I am walking I am thinking about all the other things I could be doing with my time. So, I decided since I HAD to walk, I would at least walk through the woods on the back of the homestead. I was walking down a deer trail and I saw this fresh buck rub on this cedar tree. I’ve always heard the larger the rub, the larger the buck. Well, this one must be a trophy because that small tree is between 3-4 inches in diameter.

We are having some strange weather now. Last week the temperatures were in the teens with snow on the ground. Today the high was 74 degrees! I decided to replace this culvert that washed out a couple of months ago. The culvert ended up hung between two trees. I drug it back to where it needed to go.

I placed it where I wanted it and covered it with some of the dirt I bought last summer.

Last week I had to remove snow from the entrances of my bee hives. Today I noticed bees flying around all four of my hives. I lifted the tops and poured dry sugar on top of the inner covers. I hope they have enough honey to finish the winter, but if they don’t maybe they will eat that sugar.

I finally took down this pressed fiber swarm trap out of a tree on the front of the homestead. I hate to admit it has been hanging there still, as it should have been removed the first of July. But surprisingly, the weather hasn’t affected it, and it seemed none the worse for being out in the weather for that long. I guess these traps are sturdier than I thought.

This is a big pile of limbs, brush, and sapling trees that I cut down in the last two years. I noticed the pile was much smaller from settling down. I decided to use the front end loader on my Kubota to push the pile into a smaller concentrated pile. As I did, I saw a lot of nice compost underneath the pile. I was surprised those limbs were breaking down so quickly. I am not going to add any fresh limbs on the pile, I will just keep turning it over every so often. Maybe I will have some good compost I can use in the garden in a couple of years. So until next week, keep prepping everyone!

Homestead Update

I hope you have all survived Winter Storm Jonas. After watching the news on TV and internet, it still amazes me how people can be so unprepared for even a 3 day emergency. When SHTF we are really going to have some riots and uprisings like has never been seen. I know all of you, my readers, are at least marginally prepared, and most of you are fully prepared. We had 5 inches of snow here at the homestead, with some temperatures in the low teens. At times like this, I am glad I don’t have any livestock and chickens to take care of. Sweet Thing says I can’t have any until I retire so I will have time to take proper care of them, and I can see her point. Just going out and taking care of the dogs and barn cats is enough for me. I did go out and remove the snow from the entrance of my bee hives. As of last week, I still saw bees flying in and out of the hives on sunny days. I hope they make it through the winter. Other than that, not much has gone on around here. I have been going out to visit with my farmers to come up with a plan for the coming year. They all say they didn’t make any money in 2015, and next year doesn’t look any more favorable unless the commodity prices have an unexpected rally. That doesn’t bode well for the economy in this part of the country.

I have been watching the Trump phenomenon with mild amusement. The funniest part of this is watching the talking heads on the news shows react with absolute bewilderment trying to explain his poll numbers. The Washington elite are so out of touch with the rest of America it is unbelievable. There is only one way to explain it. Good, honest, hard-working tax payers are sick and tired of the absolute cesspool  that is our government. There are many, many people in the heartland of this country that have given up on voting because they think politicians are all the same. I can certainly agree with that sentiment. Well, here is someone different, and if he is elected, he might just go to Washington and blow the whole system apart. That is probably the only way to change anything. Will all of those disenfranchised voters come out and actually vote? That is the big question. And if Trump is elected, will he actually do anything productive or just sit back and take the bribes from the establishment and become just as rotten as the rest of them? We will have to just wait and see. Keep prepping everyone!

Homestead Update 12/13/2015

There hasn’t been much activity around the homestead the past two weeks. I did manage to put up this Rubbermaid Accu-track rack system for hanging up weed eaters and garden tools. I got tired of having all of my garden tools leaning in a big pile in the corner of my workshop. Invariably, anytime I wanted a particular tool, it would be all the way in the back of the stack and I would have to move every other tool to reach what I wanted to use. These tracks have sliding holders for quick adjustment and they feel nice and sturdy.

These are some runaway goats I encountered back in October. I was driving down a turnrow of a field I check each week and I saw some animals way towards the other side of the field. At first I thought they were small deer and as I got closer I realized they were goats. I had seen some farm animals at a house I pass that is about 1/2 of a mile from this field so as I was leaving I stopped at that house. I told them if they were missing some goats, I knew where they were. He said those goats came from a house about a mile further down the road. They had been missing for 2 months but no one had been able to catch them. He told me the owner said if anyone could catch them they could keep the goats. HUMMM! I wonder if I could take some t-posts and cattle panels and make some sort of trap? I bet I could come up with something if I could get motivated enough.

The man I was talking to had these cattle behind his house. I think that black one is just about ready to go to the freezer isn’t it?

I have an update on Little Bubba. The day after my first post of him, I was telling my neighbor about him. He replied “I have been seeing some mice around my house and my granddaughter has been asking for a cat. How about I take him to my house?” He took him home the next day and now he spends most of the day inside the house and sleeps out under the carport at night. He just settled right in over there so he has a good home after all. Keep prepping everyone!

How Many Syrian Refugees Should We Allow Into The USA and The Newest Resident of The Homestead

There has been a lot of discussion in the news this week about allowing 10,000 Syrian refugees to invade come to the USA. We have been told Oh, most of them are widows and orphans so there is no need to be afraid. Only one in a thousand might be a terrorist willing to strap on a suicide vest and kill you and your family while you are out at a ball game or shopping or eating dinner. Well, I think that meme above puts it in perspective doesn’t it? I’m not going to eat any of those M&Ms! Even if there are NO terrorists mixed in with them, we have enough people in this country already living on government assistance without bringing in more. Let them stay in the neighboring countries around Syria. They are all Islamic states and would be a better fit than here in our country!

This is the newest resident of the homestead, Little Bubba. He is a probationary resident that I have granted temporary asylum. If President Obama can bring in thousands of Middle Easterners and allow untold millions of third worlders to stream across our Southern border and then grant them citizenship, then I guess I have the authority to grant citizenship to Little Bubba! He was dumped out at a friend’s house, and my friend said he couldn’t stay there. He was going to take Bubba to the animal pound and I just couldn’t stand to see him treated like that. Bubba is such a sweety, I hope everything works out so he can stay. He seems to be content to stay out in the open air area of my barn so I think he will be OK there. My other barn cats are still taking their time getting used to him. The first couple of days, they really hissed and growled at him.

Today I noticed them touching noses so maybe they are not too upset about Bubba invading their territory. We will just have to give it a little more time to see how it works out. If I decide to let him stay, I will take him to the vet to be neutered and checked out to be sure he is healthy. You can tell from that picture, Kensey is much bigger than Bubba. I think Bubba will grow a little more, but he will always be a small cat. I’ll let you know how it goes. Keep prepping everyone!

Homestead Update 11-15-15

These are my rescue dogs, Wilma and Jethro. I had to go into their pen last week and fix the PVC dog feeders I have sticking through the fence. Jethro has pawed at his enough he finally caused it to come apart after 2 years. I had to make some repairs, but now the feeders are back in working order.

I’ve started putting my Prepper library on the new shelves I installed. Those books are only about 1/4 of what I have accumulated. I think I am going to have to cull back a little bit, but I don’t know where.

For instance, that stack of red books on the shelf is a 17 volume of Popular Mechanics Do-It-Yourself Encyclopedia. How can I get rid of something as useful as that? I just need more shelf space!

My neighbor called and said he had a deal on some used metal roofing. A storm damaged the roof of a local commercial building last Spring and the roof was replaced. Since then the roof has leaked numerous times until the company decided the best course of action was to just start over and replace the roof again. Thus, they had a bunch of roofing to sell at a ridiculously low price so I said count me in! I have several building projects rattling around in my head already!

We went to the Flea Market this weekend and I bought this old one-man crosscut saw for $10. I just had to have it to mount on the wall of my Man-cave.

They also had a lot of chickens, ducks, pea-fowl, and rabbits for sale. Sweet Thing said NO! Oh well, maybe someday soon. Until then keep prepping everyone!

Homestead Update 11-8-15

Last week I was working in my shop and due to the cooling weather, the Lady Beetles were coming in by the thousands! I guess winter is just around the corner.

Although, here it is November the 8th, and we still have not had a frost. We still have tomatoes growing in containers in the back yard.

This week I did manage to get my bathroom shelves painted and installed, ready to install my Prepper library!

I also put up 8 more shelves in the new addition to my barn. I have two more shelves to put up then I will have 25 shelves, 10 feet long, two feet wide, for a total of 500 feet of shelf space. That will hold a lot of junk supplies!

I noticed these large toadstools growing out of the mulch I spread around a couple of months ago. Someday I am going to learn how to identify some safe to eat mushrooms and see if I can get some to grow in the wooded lot in the back of the homestead.

In the meantime, I am just going to hang out here and enjoy the mild weather and the fall colors until Old Man Winter gets here. Keep prepping everyone!

Homestead Update 11-1-15

It’s hard to believe it’s already November isn’t it? Well how about this?

Only 54 more days till Christmas!!! Better get ready! Oh, I took that picture in Lowe’s back in SEPTEMBER! Please, can’t we wait until after Halloween to start Christmas? Maybe we need to pass a law.

It rained 4 inches this past week. Most farmers in the area need about 7-10 days to be finished with harvesting their crops, so hopefully the next rain can hold off for that long. I didn’t do a lot around the homestead this week, I took the opportunity to catch up on some paperwork since it was wet and rainy. I did assemble this drill press I previously purchased at Harbor Freight. I had it out of the box and up and running in a matter of minutes. I also mounted on the wall this antique metal sign I purchased on Ebay.

I used the drill press on these metal shelf mounting tracks. I bought six foot sections and cut them in half so I have two 3 foot sections from each unit. There was only 3 screw holes in each one after I cut them, so I drilled 4 more holes in each one for a total of seven screws each. Why so many you might ask? I am going to put 5 foot wooden shelves on these tracks and fill the shelves up with books from my prepping library. This is in the bathroom of my shop so that is a perfect place for a library. I have books on Survival, Prepping, Homesteading, Do-It-Yourself, and many other subjects that will be handy after SHTF! Those books will be heavy, but with 7 different 3 inch screws in each track I hope they can withstand the weight.

I also did a little work on my MIL’s truck. The fan belt broke and as it was whipping around it broke the upper radiator hose. The two hoses are made together with that plastic valve body as one unit. I replaced the belt, hoses and refilled the radiator with anti-freeze so now she should be good to go. Keep prepping everyone!

Homestead Update 10/25/15

The weather finally took a turn towards Fall this past week. The trees are finally putting on their colors and now the weatherman is predicting 4 days of rain so the rain will knock the leaves off before we have time to enjoy them.

I went through my hives and put my bees into their winter setup. This is one of several nice frames of honey I am leaving so they can have plenty of food to help them survive the winter. If you enlarge the picture and look closely, you can see several small hive beetles on the honey. There are way too many beetles in this hive. I made some beetle traps using old political signs, Crisco, and boric acid. I put one trap in each hive and I am putting another in the top of this hive tomorrow. I hope this takes care of them. I learned a lot about bee keeping this year, mainly what NOT to do. I anticipate having better luck next year, we’ll have to see how it goes.

Most of the area farmers are only about a week away from completing their cotton harvest before the rains set in, and so far the yields are fairly good. This is a field I check each week. I wish the sun had been shining when I took this picture, it would have made a pretty picture wouldn’t it?

Here at the homestead, I finally got around to filling up the fuel transfer tank I bought last Spring. After I cut off 3 feet on that old trailer, the tank sitting on it balances the trailer perfectly. Even with fuel in the tank you can pick up the tongue of the trailer quite easily. Before I filled up the tank I wanted to test it out, so I only bought 25 gallons at first. I hooked up the pump to a battery and the pump whirled but no fuel came out. Uh-Oh! I checked the vanes on the pump and they looked OK. There is a plastic, pressure valve in the pump and it seemed to be a little stiff so I sprayed it with WD-40. I put the pump back together and it worked perfectly. WD-40 works miracles doesn’t it? After I was sure the pump was working and the tank was not rusty I went ahead and filled it up with diesel while the price was down to $2.24. That’s as cheap as it has been in several years, so I figured now was a good time to set some aside for later. Keep prepping everyone!