A good number of dandelions are starting to pop out, (which means orange pollen and nectar), but I'll be feeding a few yards because the weather is uncertain this week. I really want to have a few more pounds of feed inside the hive before the weather turns rainier.

I am beginning to wonder when the black locusts are going to bloom. It's usually in May, but I won't be surprised by an April bloom this year.

The consequence of the good weather (and timely varroa treatments last fall) is a large number of strong overwintered hives. Here is an image from a yard down by Lynnville that was taken this week:

In other words, splitting season is going to come early and require a lot of queens. Our winter loss was also extremely low, so we have more surviving hives than we've ever dealt with in past years as well. Now the priority will be getting around to them quick enough to keep them from swarming in April and May. Hives this strong will need split twice to keep them at home.

For everyone else out there with lots of bees to split, I also wanted to let you now that I will not have queens for distribution until the first week of May. Splitting and life at Mount Mercy Univ will keep me too busy to do any queen shipments in April.

I hope all my readers have a similar situation with lots of bees and very few deadouts to clean! It makes for a much happier spring than some of the rougher experiences with winter loss in some of the past years

It's package bee season once more at Ebert Honey Co., so I've copied a note from Phil. Call him at 641-527-2639 to make a package order (he returns all messages, so don't worry if the machine picks up). Remember that we DO NOT ship package bees; they must be picked up in Lynnville within 48 hours after their arrival.

Phil's note:
Here are the 2012 package prices. We seem to be on a never ending price
spiral. The prices of bees, transportation and cages have all gone up.
The only thing I can suggest is that you get together with friends and
make a group order. Here's hoping for a successful year for everyone.

Package Bee Information at EbertHoney.com

Prices for 1-9 packages (For price breaks on larger quantities, click the link above)

2-pound $72

3-pound $84

4-pound(1 Q) $103

4-pound(2 Q) $119

YOU MAY MIX AND MATCH FOR QUANTITY DISCOUNTS. YOU HAVE YOUR CHOICE OF
ITALIAN OR CARNIOLAN QUEENS.

THERE IS A $6 DEPOSIT ON EACH CAGE IN ADDITION TO THE CHARGE FOR THE
BEES.

APPROXIMATE PICKUP DATES ARE APRIL 6th AND APRIL 13 20th 27th. REMEMBER THAT THESE DATES MAY CHANGE.

IF YOU ARE RETURNING CAGES, THEY MUST BE UNDAMAGED, AND I WANT THEM BACK
WITHOUT THE SYRUP CAN AND WITHOUT THE LITTLE QUEEN CAGE.

EBERT HONEY LLC
LYNNVILLE, IA 50153
641-527-2639 OR ehoney37@netins.net
www.eberthoney.com

Mentioning splitting season reminds me of an episode from earlier this year. I had just brought in about 20 new hives and had nowhere to put them at the moment, so I dropped them in the driveway for a couple of weeks. I split them right there and hauled them to other locations for the honey season. Here are those hives with excluders and 3rd story splits ready to head for their new homes and new queens.

Luckily, we produced a record number of cut comb sections despite a rather 'fair' harvest that will average under 100 lbs./hive.

Here is an image from just before we pulled out of one of our southern yards with the honey boxes on-board:

While I do like the direct drive boxes that motorize new extractors, I love the simple mechanics that make this one work. It basically comes down to a drive wheel that turns against a friction plate that spins the reel. I don't think it matters too much that Woodman was absorbed long ago because there are still businesses out there that can provide these basic components. Here is the drive system:

To regulate the speed, you just adjust the lever to determine where the drive wheel hits the friction plate. Simple simple.

I did put it up for sale for now, but if there are no takers I think I'll try to use it in the future. We always go to Old Threshers in Mount Pleasant to sell our products, and this extractor has a similar feel to some of the things we see restored there, but fixing this up shouldn't be too hard--and the reel can spin extremely fast

Up on the flight deck, I sat down on a bench and discovered a rather small stowaway:

The wind blew strongly across the deck, and she crawled next to my shoe to take advantage of the windbreak. Then she crawled onto my shoe:

I took her ashore thinking that she might be able to recover enough to fly home if I got her out of the sea breeze. It's funny how often honeybees pop up when your eye is programmed to spot them in any situation