1) Does the colony have sufficient room?
2) Is the queen present? Or, is there the expected quantity of brood present?
3) Is the build up right for the season OR are there queen cell present? Ratio: 1 egg: 2 unsealed: 4 sealed - 1/7 of the area has eggs
4) Is there disease or any abnormality present?
5) Are there enough resources to last until the next inspection?
Entries are in chronological order beginning in the Spring of 2010.
Jeff inspected the hives on July 17, 2010.
July 5
Concerned about starvation. All blooms gone. Put a boardman feeder on each hive. Large jar on north; smaller jar on south. Mixed 1 quart water with 2# sugar. Removed the entrance reducer completely from both hives. No sign of Varroa mites on the sticky boards. N=73.3; S = 77.8
July 10
Came home to find all the sugar water gone. Will feed again on the 12th.
July 12
Bees buzzing around outside of both hives, especially the north hive in the morning. Refilled the feeder bottles. At the ABA meeting on the 14th, confirmed we are in the nectar dearth.
July 17
No honey, no comb. Removed the honey supers. Lots of empty brood comb in the north hive. Thinking the queen is weak but no queen cells seen. Noticed some small hive beetles around the feeder.
July 25
ABA had a field day out at the river hives. Learned a lot. North hive down to 42#. Decided to remove the entrance reducers and put on the board man feeders. There's little or no brood in the north hive. Took one frame of honey from the south hive. South hive seems very strong. Taste is very nice. Will add back a super to the north hive if needed next week. North=48.8; South=60.8
July 28
Removed entrance reducer to accommodate the boardman feeder. Will leave alone for two weeks, except to feed.
July 31
Added one pint to South hive; one quart to North hive.
August 1
Opened the hives. Lots of small hive beetles. Using flexible traps from the last ABA meeting. Beetle Blaster is better than the heavier plastic. North=46.5; South = 60
August 3
Bee inspector, Jeff, confirmed small hive beetles and trachea mites. Treat with half strength and drench ground one foot in front to a depth of 3-4 inches. Use Guardstar on all three sides. Use Thimol - half does for varroa and trachea mites. See the k-wing in the photo. Use sugar/grease combination will help treachea mites. Formula: 6# grease (crisco) to 12# sugar to 18 tablespoons teramycin. Mix and put a quarter size on the top bar or feeder lid. Another solution for the beetles is moving the hives to a hot, dry location. While the hives are moved, drench the ground at the old site. Use traps in the moved hives. Be sure to give water, with a bit of chlorine. Use Thimol 25 mg 2x in 10 days in between, scrape content into lid/tray.
August 8
Read about diatomeous earth traps used in Australia. Made up a couple and put into the North hive. Added Beetle Blaster traps as well. Began using Honey B Healthy in North hive.
August 15
Added GreenBees oil-tray bottom board to the North hive. Bees very weak.
August 22
Added two Apistan strips per hive. Remove October 2.
September
Jewish holidays. No time for bees.
October
Spanish needles have started to bloom the end of September. Bees have something to forage on! Sumac is nearly over. Goldenrod just coming on. Temperatures starting to change.
October 2
First day of Fall temperatures. October 2 high was 78; lo was 48. Noticed that the South hive seems very quiet. North hive had bees gathering pollen. Took Apistan our of the hives. South is very weak. North is now strong. Almost no beetles in the North hive. Moved the Greenbees oil-tray to South hive. Continue feeding both, but they've stopped taking food. No honey stores in either super. Added a cardboard insert to the plain screen bottom board in the North hive to keep the cold out.
October 7
South hive is very week, perhaps queeneless. North hive strong and active. Full bloom is on. Feeder in South hive leaked and drown lots of bees. Took both feeders off and put on cut down excluder to about 4'. Night temperatures down to 55-60; days about 85. No rain.
October 16
What a terrific surprise. Lots and lots of bees all over the South hive. North hive doesn't seem to notice. Continues to bring in pollen of every color: pumpkin, lemon, gray, orange, persimmon. None of the South bees have pollen, but lots of action. This is what robbers look like: erratic flight patterns, approaching all sides of the hive, scrambling to get into the entrance, or to find any other way in.
October 17
coreopsis and goldenrod are in full bloom. There's lots for the ladies to forage.
October 25
The South hive is gone. I have drown it after problems. See photos.
November 5, 2010
coreopsis have peaked. They should last another week but not number more.
Bees are still bringing lots of dark yellow pollen. Probably from the goldenrod. There's some dusty pollen mixed in. Haven't opened the hive. Too much work pressured until this coming Tuesday, November 9th. I'll open on Thursday or Sunday.
The weigh in today was surprising light. Down from the 56 pounds on October 25. There's a nearly 12 pound loss. Still the bees are active and bringing in pollen.
Checked and cleaned the oil tray. No new larvae or signs of other problems. Wish I could have had time to open the hive to see what's going on inside. Many of the bees on the landing board still have their fur. All the wing positions seem good, no real evidence of varroa mites.
Put on the boardman feeder at the entrance to prevent any further loss of weight. Mixed two pounds sugar and four cups water and 1 tsp HoneyBe Healthy.
Since one of the feeders drowns a bunch of bees earlier during the nectar dearth, I made an adjustment to the feeder lid. I poured melted wax over the existing holes to seal them up and then re-pierced them with a needle. When I inverted the jar with the sugar water, it barely dripped out. I hope that will prevent any more drowned bees!
November 13, 2010
Days continue to be glorious. The hive was active today. I've taken some photos. I'm assuming that the as long as some bees are bringing in pollen, the activity is probably not robbers. However, I did notice that several of the bees had darker bodies than most of the other bees. Also, I happened to accidentally bump the hive and the upper lid was loose. That's unusual. Typically, propolis has that snugged down tight. I opened it a drop to see quiet a bit of condensations on the upper bars. Tomorrow, I'll open the hive for inspection. I'm not sure what would cause so much condensation.
Winds have been light, no rain for over a week. Temperatures are mid-70s during the day, dropping to mid-30s at night. No freezes, and just a light scattering of frost at the beginning of the week. Weather should be similar for the coming week.
No evidence of any problems from just observations. Quite a few yellow jackets still around. Checks of the oil tray don't reveal any problems. Put on a feeder last Sunday and have used about a pint of food.
November 14, 2010
There's been so much activity around the one remaining hive I've been concerned for robbers. There was no evidence that bees where trying to get in from other locations, but still I was concerned. Also, I had seen condensation on the top bars of the honey super and wanted to see what was up with that.
As usual, in the later afternoon, I weighed the hive. It came it at 43.8 pounds, just a little down from the previous week. I decided to open the hive briefly to do the primary checkups.
Sure enough there was still water on the top of the frame. I lifted the whole super off. No new wax. No new honey, just a few bees wandering around.
I knew it would be best honey or not to remove the queen excluder. If there was honey and I left the super on, the queen might get left behind if the cluster moved upwards for the stored honey as winter progressed. No need to worry -- no honey at all!
Decided I needed to do at least a cursory investigation following the five points. The wind was light and the temperature about 73 so I set the smoker downwind of the hive and just let some smoke drift over it.
There was good population in the hive. Bees did not boil up, but every frame had bees. This improved my spirits. I was going to fret about the robbers or something weakening the hive till I looked for myself.
Because the temperature was already declining from the 75 degree high, I elected to check only three frames.
The #2 outside was full of bees, with capped honey along the top 20% and only a little bit of stored pollen here and there. I then went to the #3 frame in from the other side. It looked good as well, even more bees and a good pattern of stored pollen. I took a frame just off center, checking carefully for the queen. It was covered on both sides with good looking bees. It had a nice pattern with good brood, but not totally covered, what was present was in a solid cluster.
Although there was still a lot of activity at the entrance to the hive, the bees themselves were quite calm.
I closed it all up. I'll do a more through check at the end of the month after Thanksgiving. It was reassuring to see that all was well: Good population, visible pollen and honey stores, bees in good shape. Tho' I didn't see the queen, the good brood pattern was enough. There were no visible signs of disease or other problems.
November 16
Gonna be a busy week so last night I made up more syrup to set out this morning. Thunderstorms and rain moved in overnight. Temperatures high, air heavy and muggy. November?
Early, about 7a.m. I took the syrup bottle out to the hive, dodging the rain drops, thinking I would simply re-fill the bottle and skedaddle. Remember: There are no prizes for getting stung in the face.
Surely, I thought, standing behind the hive: Reaching over the top and quickly refilling the bottle would be a cinch. No need for a veil, no need to suit up. Yeah.
The wind was so strong it had blown the locked screen door open. I slipped through hoping the rain would not pick up again. Winds tossed the tree tops. Most of the wet that was coming down was left over rain from the leaves.
When I lifted off the feeder I saw that rain had leaked into the bottom of the feeder. It wasn't draining out. A couple of back-stroking bees convinced me to take an extra moment to removed the holder and dump the accumulated rain water before putting the feeder back on. Not such a good idea.
I lifted the edge of the brood chamber to slip the feeder out and dry it before refilling the syrup holder. Yikes, a couple of bees came up to investigate. While I wedged the feeder back in place, put on the feeder bottle and sent thoughts of love to the curious ladies, one of them got caught in my hair.
Did you read the advice about bees not liking long hair? Take it seriously.
Three bees investigating quickly turned to a half dozen, and then a few more.
Don't slap! Don't flail! Finish the work and retreat to the house.
As I walked calmly but deliberately further from the hive, most of them departed, except the one caught in my hair. Oh, and the one that fell down my blouse. Then, the one on my forearm that decided to strike. Yeow! Attack pheremones released.
Don't slap! Don't flail!
I picked out the lady in my bra. Plucked the dying warrior from my sleeve. I tried to rake the trapped bee from my forehead as I pressed down on the screen door handle seeking the refuge of the back porch.
Damn! The door which had blown open, was now slammed shut. I had neglected to unlock it when I slipped through earlier. The rain began, in earnest.
By the time my husband roused himself from bed by my shouts, I had cleared all the bees but one. It landed squarely on my forehead, between my eyes and planted its weapon in my furrowed brow.
No prizes that morning.
January 29, 2011
After weeks of freezing and near freezing nights, the weather has taken a warm turn this weekend with sparkling blue skies, gentle breezes and the ladies are on the wing. I went down to the hive to check the feeder and see if it they were willing for a hive check. In and out they flew with satchels of pollen, I know not from where, on their legs. So busy.
Their weight today was the same as it has been since December. There are two dozen pictures from this visit which evidenced a good brood pattern and capped, but mouldy honey stores. I didn't not see the queen, but that's not a problem as the brood looked good and there were a good number of bees in the 8 central frames. The outer most frames had no stores, no brood and very few bees.
I've been feeding a thinner syrup on advice of other local keepers. They take about a quarter mason jar every 10 days or so.
There were no pests present, except for one lonely small hive beetle. I hope this is a result of moving the hive out from under the oak to be more fully in the sunshine. I'm almost through with the transit south and will put the hive up on doubled cinder blocks in the next few weeks.
I'm told that only maples are blooming now, so perhaps that the source of the pollen. Only the clover has started to show some greening up.
The white clover I spread out at the farm on the pine-edged drive has come up nicely. There will be plenty of it and the crimson clover that's been out there for years to welcome the new hive this spring.
I have two nucs on order, so there should be a total of three for this year.
I did notice some splitting of wood on a frame or two, so in keeping with the advice of changing the comb every three years, plus the fact that I used the chemical last summer for the SHB invasion, I plan to change out the honey frames to all new ones (non-chemically treated) as some of the brood box frames that are split.
On the whole, the afternoon was serene. The ladies were calm and did not seem to be upset with the inspection. I want to take a closer look at one of the photos. It seems there is an excellent shot of a varroa mite. I plan to get better this year at the sugar shake. Any advice is welcome!
April 2, 2011
Spring build up was going along just fine. I treated with Apiguard as we left for Spring Break during the second week of March. I had left a quart of 1:1 to make sure they had enough food while I was gone for a week. When I returned the hive was full, not fully congested, but crowded. I no longer needed to feed. I added a super to help with the congestion. On the March 18 visit, there were a few queen/swarm cells. My theory was to keep the hive from swarming by eliminating the swarm cells before the new queen could emerge. I had two nucs on the way and I figured having a strong second year hive would ensure good honey production as the bloom came on. If I checked diligently every two weeks for queen cells, and squished them, that would prevent a virgin queen emerging and allowing the old queen and the built up brood from swarming.
That's a great theory. Its success rests completely on the ability of the beekeeper (me) to eliminate every single queen cell, lest it develop, open and the hive swarms.
Everything was going great until I noticed that the numbers seemed to be down. Perhaps, it was the rainy weather.Perhaps, I was just imagining it. The last check of the hive showed a great brood patter, lots of capped pollen, surrounded by capped honey. Just what you want to see.
The work days were long this week. On Thursday, I took out the stethescope at about 10 p.m. There was a clear wailing coming from the hive. Hum. I thought emerging queens squeeked.
Sunday came with beautiful weather just perfect for opening the hive.
No honey in the super. I took out the spacer between and removed the second Apiguard treatment. As Imoved through the hive I noticed there weren't as many bees as I expected. During the past two weeks, when I had time to observe the hive there were a few bees that seemed disoriented and weak, but not bodies outside of the hive.
I've keep an oil tray on this hive to make sure that there weren't problems in the honey super. There was a total of five SMB in the tray, but about six medium size larvae - drowned, THG!
I moved through the hive on Sunday thinking that there weren't the same number of bees, but with the sunny day, perhaps they were flying. The middle brood boards offered up five queen cells in various stages of development, and one that was open at the bottom.
While I noticed quite a bit of food, and not so much pollen, I didn't take my normal time to check for a good laying pattern or cells in various states of development.
After closing it up . . . without spotting the queen . . .I thought all was OK, until I got to thinking. If I've killed all the queen cells, and the queen in failing, perhaps, squishing the developing queen cells is not so smart.
The one of the left has a well developed queen larvae. The middle on is still closed. The one on the right looked closed, but upon further inspection, the trap door at the bottom was open. I had intentionally saved all the cells I had taken, and only later, upon close examination did I notice that the one was open on the botton. A new queen had been born. Here are the photos of the swarm cells.
Various advisors mentioned that Apigard might have contributed to reduce laying and to superceding. Now, I have two options. Wait a few days, hope the virgin queen had a successful maiden flight and is robust enough to take over and make this hive strong in short order; or, if I don't see evidence of a good emerging brood pattern in the coming week, I'll order a new queen and get rid of the new virgin.
I picked up two nucs this morning from CTH. Eazy, peazy in the back of the car. I set up one at the farm (so it will be called the East hive). I added a second at the house (so it will be called the South hive). The veteran hive, virgin queen or not, is now the North hive.
April16, 2011
Spring has lasted longer than usual with warm days, but cool nights. There have been a couple of strong storms that bring drenching rains and winds drawing down the cooler air, just like the strom that toppled the nuc at the farm.
Today, the afternoon was warm in the sun, cool in the shade. I've been patiently awaiting the opportunity to check the north hive for signs of a mated queen. I was rewarded today with signs of curled larvae in the cells. I still can't see eggs, and perhaps will get a better veil that will allow a clearer vision, but seeing a good laying pattern with a good number of larvae was the best. The bees were very calm, populace but not boiling at all. The end frnaes have little activity. On #10 I spotted two beetles and a wax moth. I will continue moving the hive further south to get it in complete sun. This time of year, it's shaded until late morning and then by mid-afternoon. It weighed in at 36.1 pounds.
The south hive, closest to the lake and in full sun had more bees, almost to boiling. This houses one of the two new nucs. The bees have pulled out comb in most of #1, #2. There was excellent capped brood filling most of the center frames, even #8 had brood. #9 had capped white honey. There were no signs of any problems or pest. This hive weighed in at 24.3 pounds.
The east hive, the new nuc out at the farm is by far the most successful at this point. When I opened it up, there were bees on all the frame, no boil but a good population; and very calm. Most of the outer frames were heavy with nectar. There was nectar filled new comb on the inside of #2, but not on the outside. #1 had not comb. #9-10 were empty as well. The brood pattern was solid. This weighed in at 31.4. It was amazing. It's one of the new nucs and yet it weighs seven pounds more that the south hive by the lake, and just five pounds shy of the veteran hive. I believe having it in full sun in the pasture of clover has made the difference. If it continues to do so well I'll move one of the other hives out to the farm.
September 24, 2011
Summer has come and gone. Yesterday was the first day of Fall. I've been lax in posting to the blog, but I have all my hive reports so I can update the weigh-in charts for this season. We drew honey from the north hive (7# crushed) in July. Then, in August we took a total of 25# total from all three hives. The north and east hives were the most prolific. The south hive struggled all season.
Originally, it had swarmed in late May. What I thought was a "lost bee ball" I mentioned earlier was actually probably the bees balling an injured queen. From all that's gone on since late May I've come to believe it was my mucking around in the hive with queen cells in June that might have been the beginning of the problems with the south hive.
In June there was an acceptable level of brood and no real signs of problems in the south hive, but it never attained the strength of it's twin -- the east hive. Both started from nucs at the same time, but somehow, the south hive never got established.
In late August, when the hives were inspected by the Ag Dept., Jeff confirmed that the south hive was queenless. At the time, the population was low, but did not seem unsustainable. That was Wednesday, prior to Labor Day. I called in an order for a queen to be delivered on Sept. 6th, the Tuesday following. It didn't arrive until Wednesday. Unfortunately, UPS trucks are not climate controlled. The queen and her entourage were dead. Luckily, I had purchased the $2.50 life insurance on her. Instead of risking another death by suffocation, I drove the hour north to Moultrie.
I installed the new queen on Thursday sandwiched in her cage in the middle of the hive. On Sunday, I checked to see if they had successfully eaten they way through the candy plug. NO! The queen and her companions were still active and alive, but no where near releasing themselves from the cage.
I had taken a large darning needle out to the hive with me, and with it opened a fairly large hole all the way through the candy plug, thus making is easier for them to leave.
Feeling that I had not need to be concerned, I did not return to the hive until the following Thursday.
She was still alive, but still in the cage! At that point, I pried out the cork end of the cage and release her and her companions into the hive. I thought she was fine. She had been moving in the cage. I hoped for the best.
I now know that at this point the hive had been queenless for more than one week, probably closer to two, and perhaps even more than that. Without a laying queen, the population will begin to drop.
The life cycle of a wax moth is quick. Eggs hatch in 5-8 days especially if its damp. The larvae/grubs go from 10 mm to 28mm in a month and then begin to spin their cocoon. The cocoon stage lasts an additional 10 days. So, from egg hatch to moth can take as little as three weeks, especially if there's plenty of food (wax, pollen, brood) for the larvae to tunnel through.
Here are a couple of good points to remember for the future:
1) the activity - number of flights in and out the hive was decreasing; activity overall was limited
2) the landing board seemed to get "dirty" with more and more black splotches.
3) bees coming out of the hive took time to groom themselves on the landing board before taking flight, probably because they were removing the grubs "silk".
Once the hive population falls below a certain level, the bees can no longer defend against the hatching grubs. At that point, the end is inevitable.
The photostream link on "See the Bees" tells the ugly story. Very Yuck.
Check out this info sheet on these pests. "Failure
to periodically inspect beehives and provide correct
beehive management is the main cause of extensive
wax moth damage. . . .In warm weather, the combs in
a weak or died out beehive could be destroyed in two
to three weeks."
Despite it all, we look forward to a sweet New Year with lots of sweetness from the ladies' work.
October 17
coreopsis and goldenrod are in full bloom. There's lots for the ladies to forage.
October 25
The South hive is gone. I have drown it after problems. See photos.
November 5, 2010
coreopsis have peaked. They should last another week but not number more.
Bees are still bringing lots of dark yellow pollen. Probably from the goldenrod. There's some dusty pollen mixed in. Haven't opened the hive. Too much work pressured until this coming Tuesday, November 9th. I'll open on Thursday or Sunday.
The weigh in today was surprising light. Down from the 56 pounds on October 25. There's a nearly 12 pound loss. Still the bees are active and bringing in pollen.
Checked and cleaned the oil tray. No new larvae or signs of other problems. Wish I could have had time to open the hive to see what's going on inside. Many of the bees on the landing board still have their fur. All the wing positions seem good, no real evidence of varroa mites.
Put on the boardman feeder at the entrance to prevent any further loss of weight. Mixed two pounds sugar and four cups water and 1 tsp HoneyBe Healthy.
Since one of the feeders drowns a bunch of bees earlier during the nectar dearth, I made an adjustment to the feeder lid. I poured melted wax over the existing holes to seal them up and then re-pierced them with a needle. When I inverted the jar with the sugar water, it barely dripped out. I hope that will prevent any more drowned bees!
November 13, 2010
Days continue to be glorious. The hive was active today. I've taken some photos. I'm assuming that the as long as some bees are bringing in pollen, the activity is probably not robbers. However, I did notice that several of the bees had darker bodies than most of the other bees. Also, I happened to accidentally bump the hive and the upper lid was loose. That's unusual. Typically, propolis has that snugged down tight. I opened it a drop to see quiet a bit of condensations on the upper bars. Tomorrow, I'll open the hive for inspection. I'm not sure what would cause so much condensation.
Winds have been light, no rain for over a week. Temperatures are mid-70s during the day, dropping to mid-30s at night. No freezes, and just a light scattering of frost at the beginning of the week. Weather should be similar for the coming week.
No evidence of any problems from just observations. Quite a few yellow jackets still around. Checks of the oil tray don't reveal any problems. Put on a feeder last Sunday and have used about a pint of food.
November 14, 2010
There's been so much activity around the one remaining hive I've been concerned for robbers. There was no evidence that bees where trying to get in from other locations, but still I was concerned. Also, I had seen condensation on the top bars of the honey super and wanted to see what was up with that.
As usual, in the later afternoon, I weighed the hive. It came it at 43.8 pounds, just a little down from the previous week. I decided to open the hive briefly to do the primary checkups.
Sure enough there was still water on the top of the frame. I lifted the whole super off. No new wax. No new honey, just a few bees wandering around.
I knew it would be best honey or not to remove the queen excluder. If there was honey and I left the super on, the queen might get left behind if the cluster moved upwards for the stored honey as winter progressed. No need to worry -- no honey at all!
Decided I needed to do at least a cursory investigation following the five points. The wind was light and the temperature about 73 so I set the smoker downwind of the hive and just let some smoke drift over it.
There was good population in the hive. Bees did not boil up, but every frame had bees. This improved my spirits. I was going to fret about the robbers or something weakening the hive till I looked for myself.
Because the temperature was already declining from the 75 degree high, I elected to check only three frames.
The #2 outside was full of bees, with capped honey along the top 20% and only a little bit of stored pollen here and there. I then went to the #3 frame in from the other side. It looked good as well, even more bees and a good pattern of stored pollen. I took a frame just off center, checking carefully for the queen. It was covered on both sides with good looking bees. It had a nice pattern with good brood, but not totally covered, what was present was in a solid cluster.
Although there was still a lot of activity at the entrance to the hive, the bees themselves were quite calm.
I closed it all up. I'll do a more through check at the end of the month after Thanksgiving. It was reassuring to see that all was well: Good population, visible pollen and honey stores, bees in good shape. Tho' I didn't see the queen, the good brood pattern was enough. There were no visible signs of disease or other problems.
November 16
Gonna be a busy week so last night I made up more syrup to set out this morning. Thunderstorms and rain moved in overnight. Temperatures high, air heavy and muggy. November?
Early, about 7a.m. I took the syrup bottle out to the hive, dodging the rain drops, thinking I would simply re-fill the bottle and skedaddle. Remember: There are no prizes for getting stung in the face.
Surely, I thought, standing behind the hive: Reaching over the top and quickly refilling the bottle would be a cinch. No need for a veil, no need to suit up. Yeah.
The wind was so strong it had blown the locked screen door open. I slipped through hoping the rain would not pick up again. Winds tossed the tree tops. Most of the wet that was coming down was left over rain from the leaves.
When I lifted off the feeder I saw that rain had leaked into the bottom of the feeder. It wasn't draining out. A couple of back-stroking bees convinced me to take an extra moment to removed the holder and dump the accumulated rain water before putting the feeder back on. Not such a good idea.
I lifted the edge of the brood chamber to slip the feeder out and dry it before refilling the syrup holder. Yikes, a couple of bees came up to investigate. While I wedged the feeder back in place, put on the feeder bottle and sent thoughts of love to the curious ladies, one of them got caught in my hair.
Did you read the advice about bees not liking long hair? Take it seriously.
Three bees investigating quickly turned to a half dozen, and then a few more.
Don't slap! Don't flail! Finish the work and retreat to the house.
As I walked calmly but deliberately further from the hive, most of them departed, except the one caught in my hair. Oh, and the one that fell down my blouse. Then, the one on my forearm that decided to strike. Yeow! Attack pheremones released.
Don't slap! Don't flail!
I picked out the lady in my bra. Plucked the dying warrior from my sleeve. I tried to rake the trapped bee from my forehead as I pressed down on the screen door handle seeking the refuge of the back porch.
Damn! The door which had blown open, was now slammed shut. I had neglected to unlock it when I slipped through earlier. The rain began, in earnest.
By the time my husband roused himself from bed by my shouts, I had cleared all the bees but one. It landed squarely on my forehead, between my eyes and planted its weapon in my furrowed brow.
No prizes that morning.
January 29, 2011
After weeks of freezing and near freezing nights, the weather has taken a warm turn this weekend with sparkling blue skies, gentle breezes and the ladies are on the wing. I went down to the hive to check the feeder and see if it they were willing for a hive check. In and out they flew with satchels of pollen, I know not from where, on their legs. So busy.
Their weight today was the same as it has been since December. There are two dozen pictures from this visit which evidenced a good brood pattern and capped, but mouldy honey stores. I didn't not see the queen, but that's not a problem as the brood looked good and there were a good number of bees in the 8 central frames. The outer most frames had no stores, no brood and very few bees.
I've been feeding a thinner syrup on advice of other local keepers. They take about a quarter mason jar every 10 days or so.
There were no pests present, except for one lonely small hive beetle. I hope this is a result of moving the hive out from under the oak to be more fully in the sunshine. I'm almost through with the transit south and will put the hive up on doubled cinder blocks in the next few weeks.
I'm told that only maples are blooming now, so perhaps that the source of the pollen. Only the clover has started to show some greening up.
The white clover I spread out at the farm on the pine-edged drive has come up nicely. There will be plenty of it and the crimson clover that's been out there for years to welcome the new hive this spring.
I have two nucs on order, so there should be a total of three for this year.
I did notice some splitting of wood on a frame or two, so in keeping with the advice of changing the comb every three years, plus the fact that I used the chemical last summer for the SHB invasion, I plan to change out the honey frames to all new ones (non-chemically treated) as some of the brood box frames that are split.
On the whole, the afternoon was serene. The ladies were calm and did not seem to be upset with the inspection. I want to take a closer look at one of the photos. It seems there is an excellent shot of a varroa mite. I plan to get better this year at the sugar shake. Any advice is welcome!
April 2, 2011
Spring build up was going along just fine. I treated with Apiguard as we left for Spring Break during the second week of March. I had left a quart of 1:1 to make sure they had enough food while I was gone for a week. When I returned the hive was full, not fully congested, but crowded. I no longer needed to feed. I added a super to help with the congestion. On the March 18 visit, there were a few queen/swarm cells. My theory was to keep the hive from swarming by eliminating the swarm cells before the new queen could emerge. I had two nucs on the way and I figured having a strong second year hive would ensure good honey production as the bloom came on. If I checked diligently every two weeks for queen cells, and squished them, that would prevent a virgin queen emerging and allowing the old queen and the built up brood from swarming.
That's a great theory. Its success rests completely on the ability of the beekeeper (me) to eliminate every single queen cell, lest it develop, open and the hive swarms.
Everything was going great until I noticed that the numbers seemed to be down. Perhaps, it was the rainy weather.Perhaps, I was just imagining it. The last check of the hive showed a great brood patter, lots of capped pollen, surrounded by capped honey. Just what you want to see.
The work days were long this week. On Thursday, I took out the stethescope at about 10 p.m. There was a clear wailing coming from the hive. Hum. I thought emerging queens squeeked.
Sunday came with beautiful weather just perfect for opening the hive.
No honey in the super. I took out the spacer between and removed the second Apiguard treatment. As Imoved through the hive I noticed there weren't as many bees as I expected. During the past two weeks, when I had time to observe the hive there were a few bees that seemed disoriented and weak, but not bodies outside of the hive.
I've keep an oil tray on this hive to make sure that there weren't problems in the honey super. There was a total of five SMB in the tray, but about six medium size larvae - drowned, THG!
I moved through the hive on Sunday thinking that there weren't the same number of bees, but with the sunny day, perhaps they were flying. The middle brood boards offered up five queen cells in various stages of development, and one that was open at the bottom.
While I noticed quite a bit of food, and not so much pollen, I didn't take my normal time to check for a good laying pattern or cells in various states of development.
After closing it up . . . without spotting the queen . . .I thought all was OK, until I got to thinking. If I've killed all the queen cells, and the queen in failing, perhaps, squishing the developing queen cells is not so smart.
Various advisors mentioned that Apigard might have contributed to reduce laying and to superceding. Now, I have two options. Wait a few days, hope the virgin queen had a successful maiden flight and is robust enough to take over and make this hive strong in short order; or, if I don't see evidence of a good emerging brood pattern in the coming week, I'll order a new queen and get rid of the new virgin.
I picked up two nucs this morning from CTH. Eazy, peazy in the back of the car. I set up one at the farm (so it will be called the East hive). I added a second at the house (so it will be called the South hive). The veteran hive, virgin queen or not, is now the North hive.
April16, 2011
Spring has lasted longer than usual with warm days, but cool nights. There have been a couple of strong storms that bring drenching rains and winds drawing down the cooler air, just like the strom that toppled the nuc at the farm.
Today, the afternoon was warm in the sun, cool in the shade. I've been patiently awaiting the opportunity to check the north hive for signs of a mated queen. I was rewarded today with signs of curled larvae in the cells. I still can't see eggs, and perhaps will get a better veil that will allow a clearer vision, but seeing a good laying pattern with a good number of larvae was the best. The bees were very calm, populace but not boiling at all. The end frnaes have little activity. On #10 I spotted two beetles and a wax moth. I will continue moving the hive further south to get it in complete sun. This time of year, it's shaded until late morning and then by mid-afternoon. It weighed in at 36.1 pounds.
The south hive, closest to the lake and in full sun had more bees, almost to boiling. This houses one of the two new nucs. The bees have pulled out comb in most of #1, #2. There was excellent capped brood filling most of the center frames, even #8 had brood. #9 had capped white honey. There were no signs of any problems or pest. This hive weighed in at 24.3 pounds.
The east hive, the new nuc out at the farm is by far the most successful at this point. When I opened it up, there were bees on all the frame, no boil but a good population; and very calm. Most of the outer frames were heavy with nectar. There was nectar filled new comb on the inside of #2, but not on the outside. #1 had not comb. #9-10 were empty as well. The brood pattern was solid. This weighed in at 31.4. It was amazing. It's one of the new nucs and yet it weighs seven pounds more that the south hive by the lake, and just five pounds shy of the veteran hive. I believe having it in full sun in the pasture of clover has made the difference. If it continues to do so well I'll move one of the other hives out to the farm.
September 24, 2011
Originally, it had swarmed in late May. What I thought was a "lost bee ball" I mentioned earlier was actually probably the bees balling an injured queen. From all that's gone on since late May I've come to believe it was my mucking around in the hive with queen cells in June that might have been the beginning of the problems with the south hive.
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| August 17 inspection of South hive show no brood. |
In late August, when the hives were inspected by the Ag Dept., Jeff confirmed that the south hive was queenless. At the time, the population was low, but did not seem unsustainable. That was Wednesday, prior to Labor Day. I called in an order for a queen to be delivered on Sept. 6th, the Tuesday following. It didn't arrive until Wednesday. Unfortunately, UPS trucks are not climate controlled. The queen and her entourage were dead. Luckily, I had purchased the $2.50 life insurance on her. Instead of risking another death by suffocation, I drove the hour north to Moultrie.
I installed the new queen on Thursday sandwiched in her cage in the middle of the hive. On Sunday, I checked to see if they had successfully eaten they way through the candy plug. NO! The queen and her companions were still active and alive, but no where near releasing themselves from the cage.
I had taken a large darning needle out to the hive with me, and with it opened a fairly large hole all the way through the candy plug, thus making is easier for them to leave.
Feeling that I had not need to be concerned, I did not return to the hive until the following Thursday.
She was still alive, but still in the cage! At that point, I pried out the cork end of the cage and release her and her companions into the hive. I thought she was fine. She had been moving in the cage. I hoped for the best.
I now know that at this point the hive had been queenless for more than one week, probably closer to two, and perhaps even more than that. Without a laying queen, the population will begin to drop.
The life cycle of a wax moth is quick. Eggs hatch in 5-8 days especially if its damp. The larvae/grubs go from 10 mm to 28mm in a month and then begin to spin their cocoon. The cocoon stage lasts an additional 10 days. So, from egg hatch to moth can take as little as three weeks, especially if there's plenty of food (wax, pollen, brood) for the larvae to tunnel through.
Here are a couple of good points to remember for the future:
1) the activity - number of flights in and out the hive was decreasing; activity overall was limited
2) the landing board seemed to get "dirty" with more and more black splotches.
3) bees coming out of the hive took time to groom themselves on the landing board before taking flight, probably because they were removing the grubs "silk".
Once the hive population falls below a certain level, the bees can no longer defend against the hatching grubs. At that point, the end is inevitable.
The photostream link on "See the Bees" tells the ugly story. Very Yuck.
Check out this info sheet on these pests. "Failure
to periodically inspect beehives and provide correct
beehive management is the main cause of extensive
wax moth damage. . . .In warm weather, the combs in
a weak or died out beehive could be destroyed in two
to three weeks."
