March is what I would call a “transitional” month,
full of weather surprises. One day it feels like
summer—like a few days ago when we hit 80°F
—and then, 24 hours later, temperatures can
plummet to near 30°F. The reality is that March
is as schizophrenic as a psychiatric ward
patient with multiple personalities. Can we say
unpredictable?

What is Mother Nature thinking? One moment
she’s saying, “Okay, let’s move into spring,” and
the next, she decides, “Nah, I’ll toss a few more
snowflakes out,” like she has them stashed in
her pocket.

It’s not easy to deal with. Who knows how to
dress for work in the morning? Coat? Jacket?
Short-sleeve shirt? Winter boots, rain boots, or
gym shoes?

And what about our bees? Just like us, they
want to break out of their homes after a long
winter to sniff the fresh spring air, take a
cleansing poop, and look for some good grub…
only to find there’s nothing available just yet.
What a bummer. It’s like us trying to find a
decent place to eat out in the suburbs after 10
p.m. Good luck with that.

This schizophrenic month can really cause
havoc, tempting bees to break their cluster on a
warm day, only to be caught off guard by
sudden temperature drops. I think we can all
relate to stepping outside after work and
realizing the temperature has dropped all day
long. For bees, this could be the final blow to a
weak colony.

March tosses our bees a few challenges as we
approach more stable weather for the April
beekeeping season. But for those colonies that
made it through the winter, they aren’t fretting.
They’re in production mode, with the queen
ramping up egg-laying and brood developing,
just in time for them to emerge in April.
To ensure they make it to the first nectar flow in
April, it’s crucial to make sure they have enough
food reserves. A pollen patty may not be a bad
idea either. Open those hives for a sneak peek
and give them a hand if needed.

A big question that arises this time of year is:
How well did your hives fare over the winter?
Here are the results of our survey: Of the
beekeepers surveyed; we went into winter with
a combined hive count of over 500. We did
have losses, but 68% made it through the
offseason. Hopefully, we can determine what
went wrong as we examine four hives later
tonight.

It’s February, and once again, it’s the time of year when we feel

isolated and removed from our bees. It’s been over three

months since we last opened the hives to say, “Hello, little

ladies! How’s everyone doing today?” We can only wonder

what’s going on in there, in that cold and lonely bee box,

whether it’s in your backyard or tucked away in a secluded bee

yard near your summer cabin.

I have to say, it almost feels like a summer fling that has gone

cold. For three quarters of the year, beekeeping is a huge part

of my life, with hive checks twice a week across two yards—two

of the seven days in my week. Whew.

But now, I feel I’ve lost my connection with all 30-40 thousand of

my stinging girlfriends, and when you multiply that by 13 hives,

we’re talking almost 520,000 bees in total. How sad. All I see

are a few unfortunate souls that didn’t make it, sent out of the

hive to their final resting place at the entrance.

Let’s turn this story around.

Valentine’s Day is the highlight of this month, and I’m sure we

all have our perspectives on what it’s really about. Is it a

Hallmark holiday ploy to sell cards, or is there some deeper

meaning behind those mushy, sentimental words? By the way, I

refuse to pay $5.95 for a card.

To me, Valentine’s Day is about the acknowledgment of caring

—whether you’re thanking your mom for all the hugs over the

years, or starting a new relationship by proclaiming your love to

a special person. Caring is the key word here because it’s about

the actions we take when we commit to someone. Just like

mom caring for me the moment I was born.

According to my brother, the surefire way to win over a girl is

through chocolate and flowers. You can take that advice, but be

warned: he’s still trying to land a girl at the tender age of 57.

I think we all know a relationship goes deeper than chocolates

and flowers. It’s about caring. Our wedding vows allude to this…

“for better or worse.” For some, the worse ends the journey; for

others, it’s the thing that drives them forward. But it’s the “better”

that we all really live for—the moments we cherish, from our

wedding day’s first dance to buying a house, to having a child,

or retiring together to enjoy every sunset. And caring, well, that’s

the glue that keeps a relationship strong.

So, at this point, you’re probably wondering, what does this

have to do with beekeeping? Well, this goes back to the first

day you picked up your first bee package. Whether you realized

it or not, you started something that goes well beyond a hobby.

You started a relationship. A relationship that, hopefully, brings

you enjoyment—but not without hard work, worrying for sure,

and with some anxieties mixed in: Am I doing this right? I’ll

never forget seeing my first wax frame being drawn—that was

10 years ago—or harvesting my first honey crop… about 8

bottles at most. These are the “better” moments that make it all

worth it.

As you can see, you’re in a relationship that goes beyond

tinkering with a car. You’re caring for living creatures, and in

return, you get something back from them as well. The

satisfaction of helping them do what they do best, making

honey.

When it comes to February and bees, I almost feel that

something has gone wrong in my relationship. It’s been weeks

since I last saw them on that warm fall day. I’m sure they’re

wondering where I am, just as much as I wonder about them.

There’s no buzzing around the hive, no inspections, no new

brood—at least, not that I can see. But love is in the air, and

with only a few weeks until March, I’m sure my bee relationship

will rekindle, and my bees and I will be an “item” for yet another

year.

It seems appropriate that, since we’ve been talking about

relationships and wedding vows, I should mention a wedding

dance. Now, I have to admit, I’m not much of a dancer. I’m

pretty uncomfortable with my middle-aged white dance moves.

But I can’t deny that I do have fun joining in on the chicken

dance—or more recently, the slow dance that celebrates how

many years of marriage my wife and I have enjoyed so far. 31

years and counting. Let’s change that to the number of years

you’ve enjoyed your beekeeping relationship. Everyone, please

stand up. Let me cue the music.

Okay, for those of you who have enjoyed keeping bees for two

years or less, please sit down. We’ve lost a few. Alright, five

years or less. Ten years or less. Fifteen years, twenty years…

how about thirty years? Forty years? Wow, that’s amazing. Let’s

give them a big hand.

Gone are the holidays. No more Christmas pajamas. No more ugly sweaters (thank goodness). No more Christmas cookies. And no more Mariah Carey singing “All I Want for Christmas.” I’m okay with that. Are you?

It’s time to roll into January and embrace a fresh new year.

Now, I can’t say I’m a New Year’s resolution sort of guy, but I won’t knock anyone who is. After all, resolutions are generally good things… right?

I’ve never heard a person say that their New Year’s resolution was to take up smoking or eat more double chocolate cake from Portillo’s… although, that doesn’t seem like such a bad idea.

Resolutions are quite the opposite—like visiting old Granny in the nursing home more frequently, donating to the Save the Whales Foundation monthly, or, of course, everyone’s favorite: exercising more, which is the number one resolution.

By the way, according to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychology, only 46% of people who make New Year’s resolutions are successful. That means over half of those who set goals for the new year will fail!

You might find it surprising that the top 10 resolutions list includes things like traveling and saving more money, but oddly, “to be a better beekeeper” is not on the list. Strange, right?

So what does it even mean to be a good beekeeper? I think we need to put time into perspective to answer this question. As we all know, times have changed.

I’ve listened to many episodes of HoneyBee Obscura with Jim Tew, where he shares stories from yesteryear. Back when he first kept bees, being a “good beekeeper” just meant maintaining bees in solid equipment, adding supers when needed, and checking on them at the end of the year to harvest honey. And that was about it.

Fifty years later, if you followed the same agenda, you’d most certainly be in the category of a bad beekeeper—doomed for failure.

In today’s world, being a “good beekeeper” means keeping colonies alive by managing pests like small hive beetles, wax moths, and the infamous varroa mite, which causes all sorts of problems leading to colony collapse due to disease. And let’s not forget about pesticides that contaminate the brood comb, resulting in smaller, less healthy brood.

The game of beekeeping has changed. It’s a bit like the old-time boxer, whose physic might seem pretty “pillow-soft” compared to today’s muscle-bound, mighty man who trains for hours a day and has a very unique skill set to defeat his opponent.

Beekeeping today requires dedication. When Jim Tew was young, I bet he visited his hives a couple of times each season. Today’s beekeeper visits each hive probably 30 times a year to stay on top of any issues—being proactive in helping the bees succeed with management techniques such as testing and treating for mites all season, knowing when to do a split to prevent swarming, or spotting when a hive is “not right” and knowing what to do about it.

So, if I truly believed in New Year’s resolutions, mine would be to be a better beekeeper—prepared to fight for my bees like that modern-day boxer, becoming more informed and to ready to jab back at challenges.

Number 10 on the official top 10 resolution list is to read more, and that would be a great start for all of you—especially with our vast library of books to choose from. Our past newsletters give plenty of reviews if you’re not sure what to check out.

Today’s meeting could help us all to become better beekeepers. Dave and Fran and company will be sharing some insights, new tools, and other informative tidbits from several conferences they attended earlier this year.

So, let’s get to it.

Patrick

James Konrad: International honey beekeeping expert shares his years of success and failure with well researched topics every Saturday morning to a welcoming hive of participants each with his and her own fool proof honeybee farming practices.

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CONTACT: James Konrad breakfastwithbees@gmail.com

Printable Breakfast with Bees Flyer

Welcome to our final meeting of the year.

Can you believe it, another year has gone by, but we still have tonight, so let’s finish the year with a bang by having our Golden Spoon Honey competition, board elections and of course pizza … which I see most of you are enjoying.

2024 was a great year for WillBees. Our membership bounced to over 100 beekeepers. Those are numbers we haven’t seen since prior to covid. We had some great speakers this year including our very own members who stepped up like Georgia and Mike. I think we all got a real kick out of Dave and his dead out analysis. Outside speakers included Peggy from Hive Hugger, that surely made most of us think twice about ventilating our hives in the winter. The reality is, our club is going strong, and it’s because of every one of you … whether you helped out on a Field Day event, or spent some time at the Will County fair, or came out to each and every monthly meeting… which by the way was stronger than ever … even during the vacation months. We routinely had 30 to 45 members, which tells us … your board … that we are doing things right. A little secret that most members may not realize …after each meeting the board compares notes… did the members seamed engaged, did they get excited about the raffle gifts, did they participate in the q&a… and by golly, based on our notes, it seams like you all did.

Speaking of thank you’s, November is the month to give thanks. This list over my shoulder includes all of you that supported our club over the year. Thank you for your contributions. You all make our club what it is today. How about a big hand for us all? Let’s move on to a few more special acknowledgements.

Thanks,

Patrick

Welcome to October. This is the time of the year
when we start to ramp down bee activities. Yes,
I’m sure some of us will be feeding those light
hives, or making sugar bricks for emergency
feedings. Or maybe you still have a few supers
on with the hope that they will cap the
remaining few frames from the fall nectar flow
like me. But it won’t be long till they are all
bundled away.

With the August and September drought, I
found my last nectar flow to be pretty dismal,
but I know this was not the case for everyone.
While we all live in our small portion of Illinois
called Will County or nearby, and generally
experience the same weather conditions, we do
have environmental uniquenesses that may
include natural water sources such as lakes, or
rivers, or forests vs prairie land, or flat suburban
manicured lawns, versus hilly terrain. I’m sure
all these variables play into the microclimates
that influence what our bees are bringing in.

Speaking of micro climates, I would like to
share 2 quick stories. My wife and I just got
back from a little trip out to the East Coast to

visit my nephew and his family. Has anyone
ever heard the term “leaf peepers”? I heard of
Peeping Toms , but “leaf peepers” is new to me
and I guess … since we had planned the trip
around seeing the fall colors …we fell under
that category.

Here’s the interesting part. We landed in Boston
with most trees pretty much green. As we made
our way up to Lebonon, which is only 2 hours
north, we saw the trees turn into a seasonal
splendor of yellow, orange and red. When we
finally arrived at my nephew’s house… again,
just a few hours away, trees were beyond their
peak with some trees turning barren.

Perhaps the warmth of the ocean breeze
helped to keep Boston trees green, while the
inland locations with no thermal protection
triggered the color changes.

I saw this again when my wife and I made a trip
to Galinia, Ilinois from our first home in Munster
Indiana. At that time, my wife took up the hobby
of making dried floral arrangements. As we
trekked westward during that fall weekend on
the backroad of Illinois, we were awe-struck by

a field of brilliant blooming flowers. These would
be perfect for her hobby once dried. So we
stopped and plucked a few of these exotic
prairie flowers that must be specific to this
region only. One more bunch was added to our
subcompact car, and we were back on the road
with smiles…. which turned to frowns.

As we continued on our way, we started to be
infested with little yellow beetles. Being nobody
really like to have things crawling up their neck
while driving … but not willing to give up our
lucky find … we stopped and moved our
luggage to the back seat, and the flowers to the
truck.

That worked well till my wife’s allergies started
to flair up and the sneezing began. Yet, another
stop to grab her inhaler and allergy meds. We
weren’t about to give up yet… after all, we
thought these flowers only bloomed in the little
micro-climate of Illinois… right?

As the trip continued up and down the rolling
hills of the surrounding Glalinia area, and the
sun warmed the contents of the trunk, my wife
noticed a stinky smell. Could that be the

flowers? … And that … was the final straw, we
pulled over for the third time to toss our lucky
find back into the prairie fields.

So what does this have to do with beekeeping?
This was the rare plant better known as
goldenrod!

And here’s the funny part, as we made our way
home just a few days later, goldenrod
surrounded us everywhere, and was just a few
miles from our home.

So, let me ask you, who saw a good goldenrod
fall nectar flow?

Whether it’s waiting at a long TSA line at the airport hoping we won’t miss the flight, or standing by the phone for the doctor to say the scans all look good … patience is something we all struggle with.

How many of you remember this Nestle Quick commercial from when you were a kid:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfKvwd2hkIg

I would say that most of us, especially as we grew up … the word “patient” wasn’t necessarily celebrated in our vocabulary. And somewhere between when I was a kid to where we are now, the world has been turning faster and faster and patience has all but disappeared. Perhaps there’s something to be learned from when life was a bit slower and you had no choice but to let things cool down before you reacted.

As a young lad, I would get a comic book for a birthday or another special occasion. Now I have to admit, I wasn’t a comic book type of kid, but I remember looking at the back page, drooling all over the nifty items and gadgets that could only be had through mail order…things like sea monsters (which actually turned out to be brine shrimp), x-ray vision glasses (which did a better job of making you blind), an all sorts of other magical items like growing rocks, which did work.  Once I scraped enough money together, I would have my mom send a check through snail mail and then I patiently and I mean patiently waited, waited and waited some more. Back in the 1970’s, it was normal to wait 8-12 weeks for delivery whether you ordered Don Ho’s Hawaiian greatest hits box set, or Popeil’s pocket fisherman. Today, you can order those x-ray glasses and have them delivered from Amazon in a matter of hours. Instant gratification without pondering … is this really such a great thing? Do I really need x-ray vision, or Don Ho’s greatest (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3V58lYBvygI) hits instantly? There isn’t even time for buyer’s remorse.

Mail order was a great way to learn patience as a kid, and so was glue. You all know what I’m talking about. Whether you were working on a model airplane or gluing paper together for an art project, patience was needed for the glue to “set,” meaning we had to wait some more. And what if you didn’t? Well, the wheels of your model car would fall off, roll off the table’s edge, and right under the kitchen stove only to be found when mom started cooking. The smell of melting plastic filled the kitchen.

Today we are all about “now.” Every ounce of patience that we learned from the past has all but disappeared.

We don’t need to wait to see a movie, we can see it now on OnDemand. We don’t wait to have a delivery; we have Amazon Prime. We don’t have to wait for a meal, we have more fast-food places that we can count on to fill our demanding bellies of feed me NOW.

So, what does beekeeping have to do with patience? Well, like that glue that seemed to take hours to dry, Mother Nature sets the pace. We need to work with her timetable and understand the cycle of the bees, or it could be costly.

Let me explain. Even as I’m up here talking about learning patience as a kid, I had a moment just like that Nestle Quick Bunny of freaking out. It was an odd week back in late May. I had several swarms that as much as I tried… I simply could not prevent them.

Knowing a new queen was going to take 16 days to emerge, and then another week to 10 days for her to start laying, I counted the days till I did my inspection and searched for eggs. To my disappointment, I had about 6 queenless hives. Not a single egg anywhere. How could this be, and right at the beginning of the nectar flow to make matters worse? My honey season is going to be a total bust. I felt I had no choice but to fix the situation and without delay. We can do that nowadays you know… the good old days are gone with waiting 8-12 weeks for a delivery. I can get a queen in hours in the form of Dave. In desperation, I called him and told him my dilemma. We immediately went into planning mode. When will you have them … can we meet in Warrenville … how many do you need? Yipes! That much. Do I get a friend discount?

Patience … what patience?

However, between that call, and my normal life obligations, liking having a job to pay for my wife’s pedicures and mortgage, we never met up. And that’s where patience came back into play, and it was a good thing. I’ve played this queen less game before and have been on the wrong side of the “fix” by acquiring a queen only to find eggs present at my next visit when installing her. And now I must deal with a new situation of having an extra queen and no more equipment. Ugg!

So, like letting the glue set, I decided to wait and go to work to save my job. Plus the cost of 6 queens at $35 a head was pretty hard for me to swallow. But I did right, all but 1 of those hives had eggs or capped brood on the next inspection. And what about that last hive, they had eggs a week later. Patience prevailed!