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    <link href="https://mierscher-beien.lu/bees-of-mersch/blog/?sAtom=1" rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" />
    <author>
        <name>Honey &amp; bee products from Mersch</name>
    </author>
    <title>Blog / Atom Feed</title>
    <id>https://mierscher-beien.lu/bees-of-mersch/blog/?sRss=1</id>
    <updated>2021-07-20T01:18:03+02:00</updated>
    
        <entry>
            <title type="text">Bee diligence: first successes</title>
            <id>https://mierscher-beien.lu/bees-of-mersch/blog/bee-diligence-first-successes</id>
            <link href="https://mierscher-beien.lu/bees-of-mersch/blog/bee-diligence-first-successes"/>
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                                            We have sown a wildflower meadow from the proceeds of the bee products sold.
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                 We have already written in several places that we are less interested in commercial success than in contributing to the preservation of biodiversity and the strengthening of wild bees, butterflies and other wild insects, which are currently in acute human-induced decline. 
 As one of the first results this year, we bought wildflower seeds of flowers and wild herbs native to the Guttland from a local trader and sowed them along the A7 near Mersch. At this point again a big thank you to all the volunteers of  Transition Uelzechtdall  who supported us energetically and with great commitment on this 1st of May (sic: the Labour Day)! 
 Creating a wildflower meadow is not difficult at all and we can only advise everyone who cares about the preservation of the remaining insect species to create one in open spaces. It is easy to sow and undemanding to maintain. It also provides nesting sites and food for our bees and many wild insects. 
    
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                            <updated>2021-05-14T12:45:00+02:00</updated>
                    </entry>

    
    
        <entry>
            <title type="text">Autumn in the bee hive</title>
            <id>https://mierscher-beien.lu/bees-of-mersch/blog/autumn-in-the-bee-hive</id>
            <link href="https://mierscher-beien.lu/bees-of-mersch/blog/autumn-in-the-bee-hive"/>
            <summary type="html">
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                                            After honey harvest and summer varroa treatment, the bee colony becomes quiet in autumn
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                 After a hot and quite dry summer, we are almost finishing the 2020 bee season. The honey harvest was quite small, although there was a rich supply of flowers. Those who still want to stock up on locally produced honey for the winter should hurry. Therefore, the income from honey sales will probably not be sufficient to purchase and install another insect hotel. We therefore hope for next year. 
 I was pleased to take part in the national varroa monitoring, where the Luxembourg bee consultant came to my apiary and took samples from the colonies to test for varroa infestation - once before treating the colonies with formic acid and once afterwards. The test results were very positive, the infestation of the colonies with Varroa was very low, even slightly higher after the treatment. But all in all I can be satisfied, the colonies will come through the winter well. 
 But I am worried about the colonies in our garden. Already at the end of September I could observe wasps coming and going from the bee box, although I had already made the entrance hole much smaller. There, the bees&#039; resistance seemed to be quite low, although normal colonies fight fiercely at this time to protect their winter stores from predation. If these stores are stolen by the wasps, the bee colony may not survive the winter. The wasps also moved almost unhindered in the box itself. According to our association president, this indicates a weakening queen or a pending reversion (i.e. a queen change), which would be much too late for this year. Not good prospects for this colony. I will have to keep an eye on it over the winter. 
    
 Last weekend was once again very warm for the beginning of November. We went for a hike and found the magnificent specimen on the cover picture, which weighed 850 g and tasted delicious. On the hike we also encountered some bees with pollen pants, which is quite unusual for this time of year. 
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                            <updated>2020-11-06T10:15:00+01:00</updated>
                    </entry>

    
    
        <entry>
            <title type="text">How others keep bees</title>
            <id>https://mierscher-beien.lu/bees-of-mersch/blog/how-others-keep-bees</id>
            <link href="https://mierscher-beien.lu/bees-of-mersch/blog/how-others-keep-bees"/>
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                                            On my business trips I learnt how bees are kept in other countries
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                 My business trips regularly take me to Eastern Europe, where I have met beekeepers and their working methods time and again in recent years, which have both surprised and inspired me. 
 In Romania we met a migratory beekeeper in the Carpathian Mountains, who works in spring and summer on the lush green and flowering meadows of the Carpathians and spends autumn and winter in the warmer south of Romania. He himself was already a pensioner and spends his retirement together with his wife in their caravan in summer and in their own house in winter. That his Carpatica bees are more resilient than my gentle Buckfast, I experienced very impressively (see photo). 
 &amp;nbsp; 
 In Ukraine beekeeping has a centuries-old tradition and beekeepers have joined together in local and national associations. The country&#039;s economic backwardness favours beekeeping in that large areas have not yet been affected by industrial agriculture and have been able to preserve a high diversity of plants and intact natural systems that provide the bee with abundant and varied food. 
 In the north I could observe beekeepers, who traditionally prepare stem pieces and hang them in other trees in the forest, where the &quot;dark bee&quot; (Apis mellifera mellifera) then naturally settles. In the endless woods near the jumps of Pripyat, bears also try their luck again and again to get their hands on the sweet gold, and the log hives hang accordingly high - up to 12 metres high, where the beekeeper only needs a rope and a board to sit on. At this dizzying height, he then works on the colonies virtually unsecured. 
 In the west of the Ukraine they are busy breeding the Carpathian bee (Apis mellifera carpatica). It is particularly resistant to the harsh winters in the mountains, does not swarm as strongly and can therefore achieve a higher honey yield. Another positive characteristic is a comparatively high resistance to varroasis, which is a major concern for beekeepers in Western Europe. 
 I was particularly interested in the rich knowledge of Ukrainians about bee products for human health. There are countless products made from honey, pollen, bee bread, propolis, royal jelly and bee venom, which are used as medicine or prophylactic products. The most impressive was the beehive where patients breathe in the healthy air of the hive and use the warmth and buzzing of the bees for relaxation. I cannot yet tell my wife about it, but I am already thinking about the best place to build and operate such a hive in the Gutland... 
 The easiest way to a stable health is of course to take a regular teaspoonful of honey. Just 60-120 g per day is enough to rid the body of all inflammation. But you don&#039;t have to go to Eastern Europe for this, you can also get the honey here, in our shop. 
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                            <updated>2020-10-31T11:00:00+01:00</updated>
                    </entry>

    
    
        <entry>
            <title type="text">Wonder material beeswax</title>
            <id>https://mierscher-beien.lu/bees-of-mersch/blog/wonder-material-beeswax</id>
            <link href="https://mierscher-beien.lu/bees-of-mersch/blog/wonder-material-beeswax"/>
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                                            What beeswax is, how it is extracted and what you can do with it
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                 In addition to honey, there are numerous other natural substances that bees give us. One of the most interesting is beeswax, a collection of about 300 individual substances, mainly esters and hydrocarbons, which is easily moldable at room temperature and has antibacterial properties. 
 How beeswax is produced 
 In order to produce honeycombs in the beehive, in which the brood is raised up to the full-fledged bee, the building bees have 8 small wax glands on the rear abdomen at the age of 12-18 days, from which the wax is sweated out as required and formed into fine leaves in the intermediate ring pockets. These fine wax leaves are chewed, shaped and joined together by the bee. During this process, the bee also gives the wax its antibacterial, skin-friendly properties, which it gets from several other glands in its body. 
 Wax extraction is a complex process for the bees. A bee can only produce and process 8 wax leaves per day, requiring about four times the amount of honey. The beeswax is incredibly light, 1 g beeswax is made from 1250 wax leaves, which means that many bees are needed in spring to build enough honeycombs in the colony for the offspring. 
 Architecturally, honeycombs are a wonder of nature. With a minimum use of material, highly stable connections with optimal volume are created in order to take in complete bees from bee eggs and food juice. Beeswax is reusable, because the bee can soften the wax in one part of the bee structure with the secretion of its mandibular glands and then reinstall it in a honeycomb in another part. In doing so, it controls the shape of the cell and thickness of the honeycomb wall with the sensory organs of its antennae. 
 Extraction and use of beeswax 
 The beekeeper extracts the wax during the honey harvest when the honeycombs are uncovered and after the honey season, when old combs are to be replaced by new combs after 2-3 years in the hive. The old combs then carry the remnants of continuous breeding - excrement, nymph skins from the moulting process, treatment remnants from varroa therapy and others. Honeycomb uncovering wax and old combs are each melted down and filtered several times to obtain a pure natural wax at the end. From the uncovering wax, new middle walls for brood and honeycombs are created, which are soldered into frames and which the bees develop into new honeycombs. 
 From the other wax a variety of products can be created. Beeswax is widely used in the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries due to its skin-friendly and antibacterial properties. As a candle, it gives light and warmth in an environmentally friendly way and has an unmistakable scent. 
 Beeswax wraps 
 We use our beeswax to create a sustainable alternative to plastic film used for food storage. For hygienic reasons, this is usually only used once and then becomes waste. This creates gigantic amounts of plastic waste, which in the worst case scenario ends up in our food as microplastics. In order to prevent this, we cut cloths of various sizes out of unused cotton wraps of fabric and soak them in hot wax. In this way we give them a very high stable formability to enclose and thus protect vessels or food. At the same time, the antibacterial properties of the wax prevent bad germs from colonising the food. Thus we use a permanent food-safe packaging possibility. 
 If you also want to pack and store your food in an environmentally friendly way with durable materials, you will find a variety of beeswax tissues in different shapes and sizes for your refrigerator in our shop. 
 &amp;nbsp; 
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            </content>

                            <updated>2020-02-26T10:00:00+01:00</updated>
                    </entry>

    
    
        <entry>
            <title type="text">Oxalic acid treatment at winter solstice</title>
            <id>https://mierscher-beien.lu/bees-of-mersch/blog/oxalic-acid-treatment-at-winter-solstice</id>
            <link href="https://mierscher-beien.lu/bees-of-mersch/blog/oxalic-acid-treatment-at-winter-solstice"/>
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                                            Oxalic acid treatment of the Mierscher Beien against the varroa mite at winter solstice
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                 At the winter solstice in December the bees begin their hard survival period. Before that the beekeeper has made his colonies ready for winter (&quot;wintered&quot;) and the queen has started to lay eggs for the winter bees in September. These winter bees are very different from summer bees: they live longer, their biorhythm is slower to save energy and they are more resistant to low temperatures. Their task is to bring the queen through the winter in good health. 
 In December the seriousness of the situation begins for our Mierscher Beien. At the beginning or in the first third of December, depending on the weather, the queen stops laying eggs so that the colony is free of brood at the winter solstice. In the cold temperatures of the winter, the population has already shrunk considerably. Now the remaining bees have to feed the queen and warm her up in a so-called winter grape until she starts laying eggs for a new brood at the end of December (triggered by the weather and the position of the sun). 
    
 The beekeeper uses this brood gap to treat the bees one last time in the year against the bee&#039;s biggest modern enemy, the varroa mite. Oxalic acid is used, which the beekeepers do not really like, but which is relatively harmless for the bees in concentration and effect. Against the Varroa however an effective poison, which the beekeeper can determine in the days after the treatment under the colony, on the hive soil. The oxalic acid is mixed with fine sugar, which acts as a glue for the varroa poison on the bees, which come into contact with the acid when the bees climb the hive and die from it. Then this solution is carefully dripped on the bees, when the beekeeper tries to sprinkle as many Mierscher bees as possible in the grape in order to maximize the effect of the acid. Since there is no brood in which the Varroa otherwise hides and lays its eggs, it cannot escape the fumes of oxalic acid and dies. 
 This means that a great burden is taken from the colony, which thus comes through the winter in a more stable way. And the beekeeper can calmly await the restart of vegetation in spring. Usually he sits for it at the window with view of the winter landscape, in the hand a cup with herb tea, which is sweetened with its delicious bee honey. 
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            </content>

                            <updated>2019-12-31T11:00:00+01:00</updated>
                    </entry>

    
    
        <entry>
            <title type="text">This year&#039;s honey harvest in our bee peoples</title>
            <id>https://mierscher-beien.lu/bees-of-mersch/blog/this-year-s-honey-harvest-in-our-bee-peoples</id>
            <link href="https://mierscher-beien.lu/bees-of-mersch/blog/this-year-s-honey-harvest-in-our-bee-peoples"/>
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                                            Our honey harvest was satisfactory this year.
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                 In the current Beienzeitung of the FUAL I read that there are some beekeepers in Luxembourg who could harvest only little honey this year. As unfortunate as this is for these bee lovers, I cannot complain. 
 Given that I am not exclusively concerned with the honey harvest anyway, 2019 was the first year in which we harvested honey, so there was no real yardstick for a good or bad year for me. This year we harvested about 23 kg of spring honey from one people, which crystallized quite quickly and of which only a few glasses are left. 
 In the late spring we took over three additional economic peoples, who supplied us altogether approx. 80 kg honey, but the people in our garden brought no summer honey at all. This summer honey was stirred by us extensively and is creamier than the spring honey. In this respect, we consider our yield to be successful. 
 So you are spoilt for choice as to which of our honeys is your favourite. By the way: a locally produced honey is a popular souvenir for your loved ones at home also at Christmas and a good sign that you are interested in the health of your loved ones! 
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                            <updated>2019-12-18T11:00:00+01:00</updated>
                    </entry>

    
    
        <entry>
            <title type="text">How the bees came to us</title>
            <id>https://mierscher-beien.lu/bees-of-mersch/blog/how-the-bees-came-to-us</id>
            <link href="https://mierscher-beien.lu/bees-of-mersch/blog/how-the-bees-came-to-us"/>
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                                            A commitment to the environment turns into an exciting hobby
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                 Like many other people, I have been thinking about the environment and the future of my children for a long time. Climate change conjures up a dark scenario for humanity, I think we must do everything we can to limit its effects as much as possible. This includes preserving biodiversity, which has suffered badly from intensive agriculture, growing traffic and urban sprawl. Insects are particularly badly affected by human activity, and the number of species and individuals has declined. The media used the bee as a striking symbol for man&#039;s dependence on nature and this did not fail to have an effect on me. I wanted to help the bee to secure our existence with its pollination. Concretely. But how? 
 Learning, learning, learning 
 There I came across the invitation of the Stadtbienen e.v. to a beekeeping taster course in summer 2017. On a long morning interested people like me were introduced to the life and annual cycle of the bee, we learned how to keep bees around their ropes. Everything is very relaxed, it does not cost much time (at most as much as a weekly tennis lesson) and not much money to start with. Ideal starting position when keeping bees to keep bees. I returned from the course highly motivated, but I wanted to be relaxed about things in the face of further commitments. That&#039;s why little happened at first. 
 The Luxembourg Beekeepers&#039; Association FUAL recommends every young beekeeper to become a member of one of the numerous cantonal associations for beekeepers for the first time. I have followed this advice and have not regretted it, on the contrary: the support of the association, the members of the associations and the beekeeper accessory dealers is a great support for prospective beekeepers and also a relief in all doubts. 
 In January 2018 I attended the theoretical course on beekeeping organized by the FUAL. In five theme packages lasting several hours, the bee consultant informed us about everything a beekeeper needs to know about the bee and its environment. One thing became clear very quickly: the bee advisor sees the bee as the source of the bee products that beekeepers are concerned about. Honey, pollen, propolis, zack - biodiversity yes, but please line up behind. Nevertheless I felt prepared for higher tasks after the course. 
 At home it was more complicated. There the bee was perceived as a stinging apparatus with a tendency towards bee sting allergy, which is why the family was skeptical about the idea of installing a bee box in our garden - especially next to playing children. But that didn&#039;t stop my loved ones from feeding me with all kinds of books and information about the bee and its life. I then instilled the findings into our family conversations in a good manner and - tata - at the end received permission to set up a bee box in our garden. 
 This in turn led to discussions with other beekeepers from Mersch, whom I met from March 2018 at the practical beekeeping courses offered by the Mersch Beekeepers&#039; Association for its members. The experienced beekeepers thought that in the beginning one should ideally look after at least two colonies in order to have sufficient motivation to continue if one colony is lost. On the apiary of our president Nico Turmes we could follow the life cycle of the bees once a month and the necessary work was demonstrated. Here the theoretical knowledge was underpinned by practical experience, and this was so lasting that even experienced beekeepers participated again and again in these practical courses, because one learns again and again a small trick or practical handle. 
 Changes 
 Over time, I noticed a change in myself that probably every beekeeper goes through: I looked at the weather and nature with new eyes. In the future, my observations were more about judging the state of the vegetation and what this could mean for my work with bee colonies. Which trees and plants bloomed? Is this spring costume enough to feed the wintering bee ball? Do I have to feed the people to survive this critical time? When is the costume in full swing so that I can put honey frames on the brood? That was a pleasant realization. 
 The arrival 
 In July 2018 I got a call from the president of our association, who also deals with the breeding of bees and from whom I ordered my first colony. My offspring was finished. An offspring is a miniature colony with a queen who is &quot;pulled&quot; out of a strong colony. From this offshoot my people should arise. A Buckfast dream on Dadant. 
 So I hurried to the beekeeper accessory dealer of my trust, who patiently and comprehensively provided me with tools and equipment.&amp;nbsp; A few days later I set up my first hive in the garden and loaded the offspring into it, which settled there without irritation. I put a tank of sugar solution on top of it to ensure strong growth. 
 An uplifting feeling grew in me to be a little more part of the local biodiversity. In the future all gardens in the neighbourhood were critically checked for the presence of pollen blooms or nectar sources, gravel gardens and stone deserts hurt a little more in the eye. 
 Contrary to all the fears of my family, our bees were not stinggy at all, very gentle, always focused on food, only sometimes perhaps a little clumsy. Then it could come to painful meetings between me and the bee, which did not bear this well at all. Too bad. 
 The summer was marked by two conflicting interests: on the one hand I always wanted to be with my girls in order to study them extensively and learn everything; on the other hand they should not be disturbed or even hindered in their being and growing. And the people grew up. 
 First winter 
 In autumn 2018 a stately people had grown up and could be sent into winter after a varroa treatment. I learned this winter that you should reduce the size of the flying hole with a wedge, but never close it completely. It took less than two weeks and the dead bees clogged the entire entrance area. Uncool for the very clean living bees. 
 In spring I could winter out a very stable colony and the queen laid diligently eggs, in order to increase her subjects again on people strength. The traditional costume came so abundantly that I did not have to feed in March at first, on the contrary I could put on honey frames with middle walls, which were quickly expanded by the bees to whole combs and then filled with the liquid gold. 
 First harvest 
 With the first harvest, new equipment became necessary, which I purchased through an advertisement on the FUAL website. The first extraction and filling of the honey was a celebration, I won the first discovery wax and discovered bit by bit the life cycle of the bee. But also the necessary amount of work, which did not correspond to a tennis lesson anymore, and necessary investments, which are comparatively high especially for beginners with few colonies. So if you want to win the honey, it is not a cheap hobby with little time. 
 On the other hand, the danger of losing a nation left to its own devices is quite high. As with all pets, you naturally have a responsibility towards the animal. So everyone must decide for himself how much care is necessary to live up to this responsibility. I do not regard my bees as farm animals, even if they supply me with honey and other bee products. Accordingly, I reduce my influence on our bees to the necessary minimum, which is life-sustaining. The rest can be decided by the bees themselves. 
 With the harvest, the question of honey consumption naturally also arose. Our bees were so diligent that we got more honey than we could consume ourselves and so the question arose about further buyers. After the whole family was supplied, we decided to use the remaining surplus to cover our investment costs, i.e. to sell the honey. And that&#039;s why we created this internet shop! 
 Anyone who has read so far has been very diligent and should now rest a little, let what he has read sit down. Best with a cup of tea with delicious Merscher honey! 
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                            <updated>2019-12-11T07:45:00+01:00</updated>
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