Spring is upon us earlier than expected. Find out all the latest Buzz at Three Bees. We have been busy bees!
www.threebees.net
THREE BEES HONEY FARMS LLC
Spring Edition
THREE BEES “BEE”ZINE
THREE BEES BEEZINE
CONTENTS 05 FROM THE BEEKEEPER Bees are flying at the wrong time of year. How bad is it really?
07
P R E P A R I N G F O R W H A T ’S NEXT There’s always changes to our operation from one season to the next; a bit of what’s new
09
EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED Beekeeping is an interesting profession that keeps you on your toes
11 EASTERN EUROPEAN PSANKY EGGS This beautiful Eastern European tradition has an interesting connection to bees and beekeeping
BEE! I’M EXPECTING YOU! BY:EMILY DICKINSON BEE! I’M EXPECTING YOU! WAS SAYING YESTERDAY TO SOMEBODY YOU KNOW THAT YOU WERE DUE— THE FROGS GOT HOME LAST WEEK — ARE SETTLED, AND AT WORK— BIRDS, MOSTLY BACK— THE CLOVER WARM AND THICK— YOU’LL GET MY LETTER BY THE SEVENTEENTH; REPLY OR BETTER, BE WITH ME— YOURS, FLY.
BEES FLYING IN WINTER THIS IS NOT A NORMAL TIME OF YEAR FOR BEES TO FLY IN ILLINOIS. As I write this we are in the middle of a mild February. They are calling for temperatures in the 50's next week. Bees will be flying for sure. I do love seeing my bees fly but I am not so much of a fan of them flying so early in the season. Just like last year, I have seen my bees fly every single month at least a few days here and there. Isn’t that a good thing?” you might wonder. Certainly one would assume mild temps with flying bees is better than those horrible cold temperatures we had at the beginning of this year. It can in fact, be worse for the bees however, as there isn’t much in the way of food out there for them and the more active bees are, the more resources they need.
What do bees normally do in the winter? Here in Illinois and other cold climates the bees will form a cluster around the queen, slow down their metabolism so they consume less, thereby conserving their resources so they have enough to make it until spring. When the weather warms unexpectedly several things happen as a result of the bees flying. They can eat through their winter stores sooner and this increases the possibility of starvation of the colony. The other thing that happens when the temperatures are unseasonably warm is the bees will ‘break cluster’ and fly out of the hive. If the temperature drops suddenly like it is prone to doing sometimes, the bees don’t always form a cluster soon enough and this causes them to die from the cold.
In order to manage the increased consumption the bees do in mild winters we can supplement their feed to circumvent starvation. This is not preferred by most beekeepers. Our intention is always that they have more than enough to make it through a ‘normal’ winter. Unfortunately there is nothing we can do to stop them from flying and no way to help them if the temperatures do drop too quickly and they can’t make it back to the hive and/or back into a cluster. The only measure we have for that is prayers and positive thoughts. So while it makes my heart sing anytime I get to see them flying it is too soon to assume we are in the clear until about mid April when the temperatures stabilze and spring arrives for real.
A look back at 2023
PREPARING FOR WHAT’S NEXT JUST LIKE THE BEES WE ARE ALWAYS EXPANDING AND GROWING AND BUZZING ABOUT Just like every other season of bees I aspire to accomplish all the great things in my ‘slow’ season. Let me start by confessing there is no slow season. There is just a different season. 2023 ended with an exciting but unexpected expansion into a new space; convieniently located right next door to the original space. So while I never planned on having a shop even as we moved into our original space here in Marengo, I now find myself excited about our new storefront which has a whole new look, feel and function. I am pleased to not only have a separation of my workspace from my living space but also a separation of my work space and my sales space. The new shop looks amazing and is getting noticed here in downtown Marengo.
This expansion not only provided better separation and set up of our workspaces but will allow us to expand what we are doing on the back end of our production processes and increase what we are doing overall.
This season we will have our bees flying in Streamwood, Huntley, Union, (2 spaces) Marengo and Woodstock. All but one of our yards will be providing pollination to small family farms. All of our farmers are chemical free farms.
The retail space is not the only expansion happening here at Three Bees. We are also expanding into a few more bee yards.
Our Streamwood bees live at home with us where we are staying with my Dad as we continue to work towards our next expansion of a small farm. In Streamwood our bees fly and forage mostly from the forest preserve right across the road.
Last year we expanded from 2 to 4 bee yards and this year we will be adding 2, possibly 3 new bee yards to our operation. Having multiple bee yards allows for healthier conditions for the bees with less competition and greater access to abundant foraging. It also allows for me to observe the differences that various locations provide and help me to continue to learn how to raise the healthiest bees in the best circumstances.
There are many things we cannot control as beekeepers. Where we place them is one small thing we can control. And while we haven’t perfected what we are doing, we are having increased success with each passing year that tells us we are headed in the right direction and certainly on the right track.
EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED IF BEING A BEEKEEPER HAS TAUGHT ME ANYTHING IT IS TO ALWAYS EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED.
Forrest Gump told us life is like a box of chocolates, that you never know what you are going to get. Personally, I think beekeeping is more unexpected than a box of chocolates. Last year I had a tiny, barely overwintered colony that exploded on me, filled up the hive super fast and then raised me 31 queens! I have never had a colony that small come out of winter and I never had a colony raise that many queens before.
This year, despite an earlier harvest that should have been wrapped up months ago, our rapid expansion has left us late to the game with many tasks. That is not so surprising as was the entire box of honeycomb frames we found as we have been working through and extracting the last of our honey frames. Normally we don’t have honeycomb in February but it’s on point with the many other areas of beekeeping, For a very limited time we will have honeycomb for sale just in time for Easter.
PSANKY EGGS & BEEKEEPING H E R E ’S H O W T H I S E A S T E R N E U R O P E A N EASTER TRADITION IS CONNECTED TO BEES AND BEEKEEPING
To give a Pysanka is to give a symbolic gift of life, which is why the egg must remain whole. Traditionally, Pysanky would be placed in several places to insure good luck and protection from evil, tucked away in a place where it would not be broken. Some claim the origin of hiding Easter eggs probably comes from the Ukrainian tradition that blessed Pysanky were believed to protect households from evil spirits, catastrophe, lightning and fires. An egg would be placed somewhere in the house, barn or with the livestock. In Ukraine, the tradition of Psanky eggs also involved an interesting beekeeping tradition in which it was the customary to place at least one Pysanka egg beneath each bee hive to insure good production of honey.
What is a Psanka Egg? It is a Central and Eastern European tradition of designing Easter eggs in a grid pattern and then drawing over the design with beeswax and then similar to the process of batik the eggs are dyed in layers of color and then coated in a thin layer of polyurethane. he beauty of the psanka egg is attributed to its symmetry and intricate patterns. he tradition spans as far back as 934 AD. With origins in paganism but later transferred to Christianity. In large families 60 or more eggs would be completed by the women in the house, the more daughters they had, the more eggs they would produce. The eggs would then be taken to church to be blessed and then given away.
We give thanks daily to allwho supprt us; for without you we would not “bee”
Easter Recipes
s y a w l a s y a d r u o y y Ma y e n o h e k i l t e e be sw
