Anybody hear from Jeff lately?

He's probably been busy commercial fishing.

Yea, been fishing all summer , last period tomorrow for Coho fishing for the season.

How did your summer go Jim.

Good summer Jeff, crazy hot, picked a nice pile of blueberries and started over again with 8 nucs. Was wondering how you made out with your bees?
Jim

How'd you do fishing Jeff?

8 nucs will make a lot of hives next year, Good Luck!

Was too cool out here during the flow to make much honey. And also I had to split my only hive because the airlines refused to ship my bee packages last spring.
Was a good berry crop here. I like to think my bees had something to do with it.



F.C. Fishing was pretty good. But fish and game don't give us enough fishing time, letting millions go by for escapement while we have to fumble with dipnets instead of our gill nets wasting time while they pass. And the upriver fishermen use fish wheels, and fish 24 hrs a day, seven days a week. We were also supposed to be able to sell incidental kings this year and last year, but they shut it down after the first fish were sold. Sadly upriver roe strippers, and upriver politics run the fishery down here.

Well you asked

Yep, I know everyone in Saint Mary's is frustrated with the dipnets and openers too.

A few more pictures of my summer beekeeping.






















I wonder how Chickenminer made out with his packages this summer.

Any other Alaska Bee Keepers on here, feel free to chime in.

You think your bees have improved your Berry picking spots?

I'm more interested in what he is having for dinner!

Maybe he is having Berry pie!

Hey Jeff... I see one of your girls packing a load of blue fireweed pollen in those photos.

Not a good year here in Eastern Interior. Was way to wet and cool this summer.
Just now getting around to extracting but so far only 3 gallons out of two hives.
One hive of Buckfast bees to take care of yet but not expecting much from it either.

Always next year! At least no trouble with bears ... my electric fence did its job.

I know they pollenate the berries here, I can pick all I want within walking distance of my house, and see them on the flowers every year.

Here they are on the salmonberry flowers.



Cranberry



Mountain Raspberries.



Blueberry

Yea we get some cool colors of pollen frames, the blue Fireweed pollen is pretty cool.

Glad you were able to keep the bears away, I didn't turn on my fence this year, hope I don't regret it.
And good you got some honey. I have my eye on a couple of frames, of fireweed honey they put away I might grab them yet.
Going to try over winter this year?
Was wet and cool here the whole flow, bummer for sure.

Baby Beluga Tonight.

My girls are heavy into the goldenrod right now, you can smell it 20 yards away as you approach the hives, they are coming in packed heavy with the yellow pollen.

You never disappoint.

Lovely presentation !! The diversity of colors is amazing !

Great pics as always Jeff! Love the bee keeping photos, very nice!

My wife says she don't care for the baby belugas they are too rubbery.

Veal of the north!

If the babies are rubbery,What are the old ones like,Muskrat hockey pucks?

Is that cooked or raw ?

It looks regurgitated

Looks like it was chrometanned.

Thanks Gator, always enjoy your pics too.

We have a plant that looks like goldenrod but blooms the same time as the fireweed in July so they aren't on it.
My bees are bringing in bright orange pollen now, I believe its from Icelandic poppies that grow on the road here.

Its cooked. I find the baby ones have the consistency of butter. The older ones can be about like eating gummy bears, and have a stronger flavor. Depends on how long they are cooked too.

Getting done with the garden.

Digging my small patch of spuds before the voles get them all.





Strawberries did good this year, produced more than the kids picked.

BOCO No the old ones are better. Not sure why the babies are rubbery maybe thinner muktuk. Watch my beluga video from last year that calf was really rubbery. It got eaten though.

Really cool berry pictures YukonJeff listening to you postABOUT BEES I WANT SOME NOW JUST TO WATCH THEM AND POLLENTATE BERRIES. I DOUBT THEY WOULD MAKE MUCH HONEY OR SURVIVE THE WINTER THIS FAR NORTH BUT THE BERRIES WOULD FOR SURE BE WORTH IT. WE HAVE 11 BEARS AT THE DUMP SO THEY MAY BE A PROBLEM TO.

I'm impressed with your potato crop.

Muskrat, bee keeping is pretty addicting just like trapping. And fun to watch. I waste way too much time just sitting, looking at the river and watching my bees. Expensive hobby too. You might be a little too far north but I would try.
I follow a Canadian bee keeper on YouTupe called, a Canadian Beekers Blog. Check him out makes tons of honey and has a good blog.


Thanks Les, I would starve it was up to my garden to feed me. But do get some fresh vegies. Turnips do good here and collard greens, peas and I get baby carrots. lol


Geese I got tonight are getting fat. Need a few more yet.



Be time to get a moose soon.

Jeff this is a great site, I am lucky to work closely near the university and belong to this bee club.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3mjpM6Av4bxbxps_Gh5YPw

Finished extracting honey from this summer.



And I have to brag about my carrots. Surprised as it was such a cool summer but they grew well.

Thanks Jim
I noticed the Canadian beekeepers have it together pretty good in the education department. I also Follow Canadian Devon Rawn he had a good vlog with great info, but seams to have quit posting.

Nice... Chickenminer. Good haul, Looks like good stuff too ! I only get baby carrots here, but have a few in the ground still going so might get a few bigger ones yet, not as big as yours I am sure.

Well I hated the idea of buying honey this winter and grabbed two frames I had my eye on.. You can see where the queen laid right up through them.







My take.


I put the wet frames back on and fed them the same day.

Oh, and one for A.V.you can see my baby carrots and turnips



My turnips do pretty good here, for such cool, wet, windy summers we have. They also keep pretty good in the fridge all winter, and are awesome in moose soup.

Nice to see how folks adapt and flourish in harsher growing areas, Jeff have you thought of building a small greenhouse and or using raised bed for your gardening?
You can see the different colored honey between yours and Chickenminer's. I sure they would have distinct flavors.

Alas, no moose hunt for me this year, my gang did not draw a tag in the lottery system here.

I would love a green house someday, I do have raised beds I made out of logs, hard to see with all the grass growing around it. My soil is acidic from under the tundra, I have been adding compost every year and its getting better. Its burns any small vegi starts I plant in the spring in it now, need to lime it more too I guess.

The voles are wondering where all their spuds went.



My asparagus is doing good, harvest some next year maybe.



Sweet corn and broccoli , not so much. lol



We had a cold late spring here, one of the latest I remember, had no pollen coming in until mid may.

And it was alder smoked, BBQ'd King salmon on the grill tonight. Food Don't get much better than that.

Just got done moose Hunting.
Enjoy.

won't let me watch it here in the USA says copyright laws

And who said you guys way up north dont eat like Kings....

Thats some fine looking vittals

Thanks ,Yes we eat pretty good around here.

Try this version, see if it works.

Yukon> So your eat the younger tasty moose?
i was so hoping to see you pop a 60+ for us.
nice video and thanks for sharing it!

What was the copy rite on YJI? I hope they did not make you cut out your rock and roll theme music. Stupid government or Google whoever.

Yea , them big ones are not fit to eat in late September.
Cows much better.

It was from M C A records, apparently they don't want thier old washed up, has been ,Bob Seger exposed to the younger generation on YouTube.

That's where we southern folks pay 20k and up for your grizzly 60" ers

Beaver open next week down there? Hoping to see another beaver snaring video watched the last one must be 10+ times now.

YA kinda stupid my son posted a video on facebook of his wedding dance him and his bride dancing to something playing on a kids ipod hooked to some speakers in the tribal building in AUK and facebook killed it

Our beaver and muskrat season is year round, don't close here, we can shoot them too. At the price of beaver, I wont be trapping them , just a few to eat.

And yes otterman ,they do take the copyright thing to ridicules levels.

Also O-man, I was contacted by a beekeeper from Dillingham this spring, said there were a few beekeeps there, would you know who that is, and how they made out this summer ?

Jeff, not a clue as to who is keeping bees here but could make an educated guess or two on them but Have never seen anyone selling anything other than fireweed honey

Thanks, I was just wondering if their bees did any good. Was a wet Fireweed flow here this year. Have to feed mine to get them up to weight for winter.

Got my hives loaded with sugar bricks and quilt boxes on,and wrapped.







Just in time.



Hope to have at least one alive come spring.

Just watched the moose hunting video.............WTH, looks like you had the camera lady with you, was sure hoping for a shooting clip. You must have had to be picky to find a nice fat cow. I'm generally preferable to more mature animals if you can get them early enough.
Was that a Remington 742 or 750 next to you in the boat?
Looks like you went downriver. How far off the river did you go?
Cool video tho, loved the music, as usual!
mt

Have to agree with MT. Mature animal....bull preferably before the rut starts. Lots of good fat. Best meat possible IMO. Nice video though ! I mute the music Thanks Jeff !

MT That's my hunting buddy Junior in the video. And yes It took a while to find the right fat cow. You know how when your looking for a bull and all you see is cows...well that works the other way too. The cow in the video was with a 60" bull and three other cows. I picked the fattest looking cow.

That's a Remington 7400. Been using my Ruger 7 mm mag recently, but the 7400 shoots pretty sweet.

I went in a few directions, across and down river,and about 5 miles in the sloughs, I only have a 40 horse so don't go too far.

And I agree White, A big fat bull early is hard to beat. After the 16th forget it.

I have not ate a piece of bull in three or four years, and no regrets at all.

fantastic photos, fascinating field reports, and i am with muskrat on the baby beluga: looks waaayy too blubbery to be appetizing. maybe a big dollop of honey will change that

howdy Jeff,how u doing up there? Wont let me watch the video either.

Thanks Guys

Doing good here Steve, Getting ready for Dumaguete Hope your doing well.

Try this one. Perhaps something changed with the new format.

Great thread Jeff, always enjoy your posts and pictures. Honey bees have always fascinated me. Stupid city will not allow me to have bees but from my back yard it is only a stones throw to the little farm my nephew rents and a bee keeper has 20 hives there. It's like 200 yards away. There reasoning is they may annoy or frighten the neighbors. Guess they don't know that those bees on the farm may fly all over town up to 3 Km away. Couple of orchards right in town also have bee keepers place hives.

Did not see any goose feet or beaks in that dinner shot.

Doing well here. Son and I will go back when school i
s out. Aerosmith,,,yeah!!!!!!! getting ready for coyote here.
tried to get son to take pole on this one but he wasnt having any!!

Very cool Steve. Nothing better than bringing boy fishing. Glad your all doing good. Wish we had coyotes here.

Thanks Ron. You would be surprised at how many people would let you keep bees on their property for the pollination benefits. So you might try that rout if you want to keep some hives. Be warned its addicting just like trapping.

What ya think Jeff,can u see the filipino in him?

He could pass as a local here in the village

of course he could,,they are all same dna

Have not been the forum in a while and just saw this thread. Jeff has it right re. early bulls and cows are the best. It is all about fat - no fat no not so good. Mentioned on another thread before we save fat from the cows to mix with the lean bull meat if we get a bull for mince meat. We dry some meat too. Rutting and later bulls no fat; we are taking a year 3 community moose and 1 or 2 personal moose for our extended family and friends and try to get cows in the winter mostly. Saw the comments re. the mattak (muktuk) also - not fussy about cooked stuff; rather have it raw.

YA kinda stupid my son posted a video on facebook of his wedding dance him and his bride dancing to something playing on a kids ipod hooked to some speakers in the tribal building in AUK and facebook killed it [/quote]


Does that mean they are divorced ????????? Sorry to hear that !!


I agree ! There is nothing better than a 60" bull early in the season !! The fat is incredible ! I ate so much one nite under a tree that it started kidney stones moving out of me


But the taste was worth it.............maybe !

Does that mean they are divorced ????????? Sorry to hear that !!


I agree ! There is nothing better than a 60" bull early in the season !! The fat is incredible ! I ate so much one nite under a tree that it started kidney stones moving out of me


But the taste was worth it.............maybe !

Warmed up to +26 F, so added sugar bricks to my bee hives today. Both are still alive so far. Hope I dint have to buy bees this spring.

Those beehives are neat to see. How long does that much sugar last them?

Hard to say for sure. depends on how much honey they have too. I can see they still have honey left now, but last year I had a hive eat through their sugar in a few weeks and starve before I got to them. I will check them monthly now, until spring.

Perhaps you could cover the whole hive with snow, for insulation ? Then you couldn't check on them though.

When you totally cover the hive with snow the co2 levels build up and kill them all.

There should be some patterns put on those black hives or you will have drift to the otter edge ones. Different leaf patterns in the wet paint,ie willow, birch etc.

It would turn into a solid block of ice by spring if I did.

They get solar gain from the black painted hives. The front feels warm on a +20 day if the sun is out. Helps quite a bit in my opinion.

They face south and the sun don't get too high in winter, so they stay to the front of the hive. In summer we will have overhead sun all day and most of the night. so it don't matter much.

Is that an ice road down the middle of the Yukon River in the picture? Where does it go. How big of a truck can you drive on it?

Muskrat
The trail goes along the edge right at the tip of the telephone pole by my house. What you see in the middle is a sandbar.
We can drive trucks on the river,to go to the next village or two, about 30 miles away.
Ice is still not safe enough yet for trucks. Soon probably.

We don't have any roads that connect to the main road system here. All trucks are barged or flown in.

I always assumed bees went dormant throughout the winter, had no idea they stayed active in the hives like that.

Try this one.
Click it.

YukonJeff Moose Hunt

Cool picture of the winter bees!

Neato. Love the bees! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks guys, bees are a fun hobby. Its very peaceful to watch them come and go.

A beekeeping video ,I posted before.

amazing, you are a true talent

Thanks Kevin. Not sure about that, but hopefully my bees will still be alive come spring.

I have just joined the forum, this is my first post . I have trapped in the past, almost 20 years ago. Beaver, rats , coon the odd mink. Still trap the odd nuisance beaver at our hunt camp, if they plug our culverts.. Our area is mostly farmland, with a few big swamps. Hunt deer , moose and coyotes .
Started keeping bees 2 years ago, actually my bee keeping buddy has them at my place. Have 7 hives. The other day was above freezing. saw bees at the upper entrance of 6 hives. Still too cold to disturb them much. They went into the winter , with lots of honey , fed sugar syrup , till they quit taking it. . Added winter green oil and spearmint oil to sugar water, supposed to help with nozema ( diorrea ) Watch the Fat Bee man, on utube , lots of info. Very interesting thread on Alaska bees. fishing trapping..Hope I can add something to the thread. . Good Luck old243

Welcome Brother
Good place to read up and share trapping experience's, and I will welcome your input on bees anytime.
Hope your hives make it.

Jeff , in my previous post , I mentioned oils in sugar water, forgot to add tea tree oil to mix . If you or anyone wants to get the recipe, preparation and using . Go to fat bee man video. use an old kitchen blender to prepare the concentrate.. Used it last fall so hope it works this spring.. Also different methods to split and raise your own queens. . He uses a lot of 5 frame nucs for this.. I built some , split a couple of hives , last year with a queen cell. Hope to experiment a bit this year. I am still very basic as far as knowledge. but hope to catch on. Enjoy the netting videos.. Good Luck old 243

Thanks, But I stay away from the oils and angel farts. They don't really need it. and it can induce robbing on the smaller hives. I have watched a little fat bee man but was not impressed. Might I recommend " A Canadian Bee Keeper Blog" Ian is a commercial beekeep and puts out some really good stuff on his youtube channel. Check him out if you haven't.

Jeff , checked outI Ians blog, lots of good information there.. old243

He is the man for sure. If you have the time, and bandwith, follow one of his seasons ,from spring, to fall. Be prepared to be amazed at the crazy amount of honey he pulls off single brood boxes. Sometimes 5 or more deeps full. Of course he is in the middle of huge Canola fields in Alberta.

He keeps pretty up to date entries. And will pull his hives from the wintering shed in the spring. Its enlightening to follow his season.

I am hoping my two hives make it.

Lost 2 of my 8 so far. We had a local bee meeting last week, put my order in for 2 new nucs.

I had 2 big fields of canola close to my bees , last summer. They were very busy girls for a week or so. If I understand it correct, canola honey will crystalize quickly, have to get it extracted quickly, or it doesn't , leave the combs , cleanly. . Saw action at my upper entrances , the last mild spell. at all, but one of my hives. Jeff In one of your video,s , are you wintering it inside, your shed , Or just spare boxes.. I have been making , bottom boards and inner covers this winter for my mentor. will now make frame parts. Good winter project. Anyone wanting plans go to . Michigan Bees, then bee keepers workshop. all methods and dimensions ,given. old243

Hope you are making some video so you can get into your Vlog for this summer's viewing. Our Manitoba bee keepers convention is this weekend in Winnipeg.

That sucks, Get the equipment cleaned out as fast as you can, or it gets moldy and no fun. If I was you I would just buy a couple queens and make your own Nucs. I did last year and used 4 frames of brood in June, and they built up pretty fast and still alive so far.


Yes he mentions the canola crystalizing fast, so I would extract it as soon as its capped. And my shed is just storing supers and extra equipment. I might try to overwinter one in there someday.

The beekeepers in my area of Alaska, Homer with a lot of freeze thaw conditions are having great luck with using a climate controled refrigerated van for storing bees in. I don't know the exact process. Keeping it in the high 30's I believe. Guy in Big Lake is doing the same thing. Here you pay a price to have your bees stored for the winter.

That's is nice to have that option. Although,I asked Ian the Canadian beekeeper that winters 1300 hives in his controlled wintering shed. How his winter survival rate compared to wintering outdoors.
He said the same. So its more of a convenience I guess, and not having to prep the hives for winter. He winters in single deeps, so just feeds and puts them to bed for the winter.

He keeps his shed at 5 c that's 32 f and has a air exchange to bring in cool air. Bees give off heat and will warm the shed too high . Also humidity and CO levels to maintain.

Personally I would rather not have to maintain a shed for them, put on a shim, quit box and sugar brick and wrap if its just a few hives.

Will see this spring, if I have to rethink things. lol

Was a nice day here yesterday about +35 with sun and not much wind. My hives got in a cleansing flight. Last year didn't get one until April 1



Alot of the walking dead bailed too. Its kind of heartbreaking to see them come out and crash into the snow. Or circle away into the blue yonder never to be seen again. But that's how it works when they don't have the resources to carry away the dead like they do in the summer, they fly themselves to the graveyard.
Just have to hope the cluster is big enough to go through to spring.

Jeff do you clean a few of the dead bees out of the bottom board, or just let them do their thing. I have smaller openings, Shoved a rod in a bit to open lower entrance.. My upper entrances are open, wintering in double deeps. Mild for a couple of days. Today cold , blowing a blizzard. Expect my cluster is in upper box, At least it was last year on toward spring. Good luck old243

On the first warm spring day when the bees are flying, I will trade out the old bottom board for a new clean one.
Yes I would poke a rod or something in the lower entrance to let airflow in and let water drain out ,I just did that to mine yesterday too.

I am sure your bees are in the top box, mine always are. They eat their way up.

Did you treat for varoa ? did you put a sugar brick ? do they have honey left ? It might be good to check about now, and add one if needed.

We treated , after the honey supers were taken off, with mite strips, fed heavy with sugar syrup . Till they quit taking it.. Most of the frames were full of feed.

I haven't opened since last fall, Last spring I rotated a frame from the outside of box, in next the brood cluster. scarred the capping up good. so it was easy to get at. Had some Nosema last spring, in one hive, Hoping the wintergreen oil in the syrup will control that, it tends to have an antibacterial effect, Time will tell. It has been cold so will have a peek if it warms up. . I am fairly new at bees, mostly just following my mentors guidance.. He has about 60 hives so keeps him busy. Good luck old243

That's the first thing I saw with your pic. Nosema spray from your bees leaving. Hope it is not bad.

Yea That has me a bit worried. That hive in particular had more than the other. I was foolish in the fall and left a pollen patty in when I added the sugar bricks. Thinking they would get more cleansing flights in yet. But they didn't. Been box bound since late October.

I will look in again the next nice day and add more sugar bricks, I hope I don't see a big brown mess of dead bees.
Fingers crossed.

Hmmm.... looks more like normal cleansing flight debris to me.
Good luck Jeff, hope you get good survival rate.

I just ordered 3 pkgs from Steve for this year.

Thanks CM .I hope your right. I cant get anymore bees shipped out here. I ordered 2 packages last year from Steve and he ran all in to Anchorage from the Valley twice trying to ship them but Ravn insisted on a box, and he would not ship them in a box. Said they would cook. So hoping to keep these alive.

Good luck with your packages. He has the best bees I think. One queen I got from him, will be going on her third season if she makes it through to spring. Real gentle bees too. Easy on stores

My bees were out yesterday , doing cleansing flights . quite a few not getting back. All hives active. Didn't disturb them. Cold weather again, so they will be back in.

Is there native honey bees in Alaska. or do you have to depend on your own hives, for drone production and mating. Would it depend where you are situated, probably milder in the south. We have quite a lot of producers in our area, so likely genetics get mixed up. If you do, can you trap swarms, I put out traps last spring and got one swarm. They did well , but are a bit hotter , temper than mine. Good luck with your colonies. old243

Good deal they got in a cleansing flight. It sure is dishearting to watch them crash into the snow, but its mostly just the walking dead leaving the hive. Hopefully you have enough bees left to make it, until you can feed, and put on a pollen patty.

I wish I could trap swarms. I caught my own swarm once, that was kind of cool. I am in the bush ,and mine are the only honey bees here. It will be interesting to see if I can mate a queen. I want to try this summer, one of my old queens is going on three seasons this year. I have been ordering queens so far. I have one coming this June from Michael Palmer. I am pretty exited about that. I hope I have bees alive by then.

I believe I am the western most beekeeper in North America, guys like Chicken miner and Fairbanks keepers are north of me yet. And I think that's as far north as they are.

Opened my hives yesterday, temp about 40 f. All appeared healthy. Spread across frames, they have lots of resources yet. put a sugar cake over the cluster.. Later in the day they were out and doing cleansing flights. Cold today , we still have a couple of weeks of winter weather yet. Hope everyones bees make it through. . Hoping to see more of your fishing videos. old243

Glad yours made it.

Mine have been coming out and doing cleansing flights on the warm part of the afternoon, When ever we have sun that is.
I opened them up to add more sugar bricks yesterday.
When we get a 40 degree day ,I will put on a jar of sugar syrup on the warm afternoon, take it off at night. Debating when to put on a pollen patty. Possibly later this month.



Thanks, I have more fishing video on my channel. See in my sig below.

Well looks like my bees made it. This queen is going on her third laying season.
Both hives had about a half a deep of honey /sugar syrup left.



The Nuc I made up last June is a little small. I hope they build up soon. The queen is not laying yet.







How did your hives make out Jim ?

What part of Alaska are you from Jeff? I’m trying bees this year and want to figure out how to winter them, do you get warmer coastal temperatures in the winter, I’m in Atlin a couple hours from Skagway. What kind of bees are they?
Thanks

I am in western Alaska 70 miles inland from the Bering Sea. We get alot of wet storms with cold temps as well but usually only down to about -30 f max all winter.
You are in a wetter climate and warmer. I would say go for it. Be sure to treat your hives for mites before winter and put on a shim with sugar bricks and a quilt box on top with a upper entrance and a super for them . You should have no problem and might make a boatload of honey down there.

My bees are Carnolian one queen is from California and the other is from New York

All beekeeping is local. There are beekeeping groups there that would be a wealth of info. I suggest you find them, it would help immensely.
Read on Beesource .com will help too.

Your hives are looking good, .nice to see they over wintered. My bees are all ok. Have put patties. the last two weeks and sugar water. My mentor came today, we reversed the boxes , lots of brood . They have drones almost ready to hatch. He has 10 queens coming Tuesday, have to get some nuc boxes ready.. Hope to have a couple of nice days, to get it done. Bees are bringing in pollen today., not sure where they are finding it . good luck old243