Bee spring 2012 and the building up begins

Without wishing to encourage the evil eye, I'll say that this mild winter has been good for the bees. I weighed the hives in November and then again today. The east hive is holding steady. It has a single brood box with top feeder. The north hive has put some of the sugar water in storage. It weighed into day at 67.2 - that's brood box and one super. There's no excluder in between.
I opened the north hive today and it was "full o' bees." The incident I reported two weeks ago during a warm spell that looked like robbing was most likely the result of a brood burst with lots of new bees taking test flights. The yellow jackets were so aggressive during the fall I thought I had another robbing incident on my hands.The "war of the worlds" photos demonstrates how many types of bugs want to get in on the action.
Today, the temperatures climbed into the 70s. We're still six weeks from our last "typical" freeze date. I wanted to be sure that all was stable in the hive as I begin to ready for the build up and the nectar flow in April.
I have not tested for varroa mites since the fall. That's the next step. I used the newest natural agent, Hopguard, last September in the north and east hives to knock the population down. It doesn't kill varroa in the brood, just the active mites.

OMG, another disaster

Although there had been very little activity outside the hive, I had no evidence that wax moths had taken over the inside. My first clue was seeing cocoons when I switched out feeder bottles.

First day of fall and it is time for another entry. This time a wax moth disaster. The short version is:  Queenless at the end of August. Dry weather. Re-queened at the height of summer heat. All seemed well. Waited three week. Opened the hive to this!
Moral of the story. Late re-queening, probably won't be successful. Take the hive, weak in numbers but still healthy and merge with a strong hive. Don't think you can fool the wax moths. Yuck will ensue.
Check out all the photos at the link on "See the Bees." Read the full story on the September 24th entry.

Lost time, Lost Bees. Where does the time go?

Spring has given way to hot, hot summer. The near drought of May and early June finally shifted back towards the more seasonal hot afternoons and lukewarm showers. Just enough to steam the pavements and keep the humidity high. Overall, we're down about 10 inches for the year. The lake is partially dried up. I've vented all the hives to help with heat and humidity. Two of the three have screen bottoms, but the North hive continues to have small hive beetles (SHB) here and there despite efforts to move it to full sun.
The South and East hives are in full sun and don't show any sign of SHB at all. In April, the North hive had a few beetles so I added Beetle Blasters in the brood box. The hive was moderately strong, no boil but populated. Bees were calm. I added on medium honey super. When I checked it two weeks later, there were SHB in the Blaster, no new comb on super. When we got back from vacation (2.5 weeks gone) at the end of May, I decided to change the screen bottom back to the Greenbees oil tray and I took out the Blaster. Everything seemed good, reasonable build up of brood. By June 4th, the hive weighted in at 74.8 pounds. By June 18th, 40% of the frames had honey with about 40-50% of it capped. During inspections I seen a few SHB along the top bars, but not very many. The oil tray has trapped some but not nearly the number I've seen before. June 28th weight was 75.3 pounds.
The South hive and East hive are the same age, just located five miles apart. Both were started with nucs on April 16th. The South hive started at 24.3 pounds without a honey super. The first inspection on April 24 showed a good boil with comb built out on the exterior frames (1 and 2, and 8 and 9). There was a good brood pattern surrounded by capped honey. No problems were seen. I added the first super. In early May, there was strong build up, good brood pattern, while there were quite a few bees up in the super, there was no comb and of course, no honey yet.
When we returned from vacation I was anxious to see how the nucs were developing. The South hive appeared fine, but on the second day back when I went to take a closer look I noticed a large, fist-sized ball of bees on the ground. At first I thought they were gathered around something sweet or had congregated on a special mushroom, but the longer I watched the more it became evident that they were simply balled up on each other on the ground. The ball was located about 3 feet from the hive. Bees in the ball did not fly aways, but kept walking around on each other.  There seemed to be quite a bit of activity around the entrance to the hive, so I marked the bee ball with a small branch and decided to wait till the weekend to inspect the hive. The next day, the ball was still there and didn't seem to be any smaller. Becoming more curious as to what these bees were doing, I searched the internet, but most queries led to "bee balls" as in swarm clusters. This was a small cluster, only the size of a fist. I kept searching. The best explanation I found is "lost bees." The explanation seems to fit. These were bees that were part of a swarm the "got lost." They were prepared to follow the swarm, but had lost track of it. They didn't feel a need to return to the hive, even though it was only 3 feet away! The May 29th inspection confirmed it. The South hive had swarmed sometime not long before. I find this peculiar as there was a super in place with excluder to provide more room. At this inspection, there was no comb on any of the new super frames. There was good brood pattern, but clearly no boil. I did not see a new queen. On June 2nd the south hive weighed in at 46.2 pounds. This hive is in full sun, and despite the swarm, there was no sign of SHB or other problems. By mid-June there was still no comb built out on the new frames in the super.I didn't feel the hive to be strong and I wasn't sure the new queen was laying.  On June 28th I took a full frame of capped brood from the North hive and exchanged it for one of the South hives brood frames that were not well patterned. Still no SHB and the hive was down to 43.5 pounds.
The reason that beekeepers advise newbees to keep two hives is because each will develop in its own way, with only a little bit that we do to "keep" the bees. The East hive, which started as a nuc in mid-April at 31.4 pounds has grown strong, almost as strong on the veteran north hive. Throughout April and into early May the  build up was strong, the hive was calm and quiet, but full of bees. A medium honey super was added just three weeks after the nuc was installed. On June 4th this hive weighed in at 63.6 pounds.

Baby bees and near tragedy

Now that I'm down to one "strong" hive, I decided to get two additional nucs and start two new hives for 2011. I'm not quite confident enough (or have enough time to watch carefully) to make my own splits. Although I understand that with patience and care, it's an easy process. Rather than try to split the strong hive before it swarmed (see the swarm article) back in December, I contracted with a local apiary to purchase two nucs when they were ready in late March or April.
The weekend of April 2 was scheduled for pick up. I'd take the new nucs, transfer them to the new hives and viola -- two new hives to build up.
Logistics meant that I was unable to get the nucs on the weekend. I drove out to the apiary early on Monday morning. Picked up the two nucs. The apiarist had waited until late Sunday night to close the nucs, once all the field bees had returned. We loaded them into the car about 7:30a.m. They were neatly ensconced on their new stand by 8:15 a.m. Safe and sound. One at the farm, surrounded by red clover, the second back at the house in the open, close to the lake.
When I checked on both about 9:30 a.m. Bees from each nuc has begun to fly,figuring out where they were.
All was well until about 3:30 a.m. the next morning when  severe storms raced across the county. A tornado alert was issued. The power was out for a few hours. At early light, the nuc down by the lake was fine. Downed branches, blown leaves, chairs tumbled over, but the nuc stood firm on its base.
As I left for work I knew I wouldn't forgive myself if I didn't check on the baby bees at the farm.
I drove down the long pine-tree lined easement, noting that no apparent damage was done, no downed limbs -- I was sure I was worrying needlessly. And, then, I pulled into the field and spotted the nuc crashed over on its side. The top was cast to the side -- top bars of the interior frames exposes. The bottom was separated from the base and leaned at an angle against the brick base. Bees clustered on the exposed woodwork.
Fortunately, the temperature had dropped significantly as the storm passed through the area and now in the early morning was about 50 degrees. That was probably why the bees were still in the disheveled hive. Had I waited longer they might have absconded.
I still had my veil in the car. I thought: stay focused, stay present. I approached the nuc, righted the base and box on the stand and carefully settled the top back on the base. Ants had already found the sweet honey. I was not stung by any bee, but was bitten by ants. All the errant bees began to find their way back into the hive.
I'll know within the next week if the queen survived the tumble. The storms affected three states, killing more than a dozen people. Me and the baby bees were lucky.

Winter is ending

After weeks of cold weather, the end of winter is in sight. Bee spring is definitely here. The ladies are out gathering pollen, but I know not from where. Another local keeper has suggested: camellias, willow and maple, but the blossoming is "understated." Check out the January 30 2011 photos and you'll see how laden with pollen they are.

Winter for me, Spring for the Bees

January 8, 2011
The winter has been very, very cold so far with temperatures in the twenties and even teens at times. There have been very few of those glorious warm days that are cold at night but bright and nearly 70 for two or three days or more. Generally, in the north Florida we have 10 or so hard freeze nights all winter. We surely have surpassed that mark - and we're not even mid-winter, yet. The long nights with the sun setting by 6p.m. and temperatures dropping quickly for 10-12 hours below freezing are hard on all outdoor life.
We left for two weeks during the second week of December. I topped drilled the hive and left two quart mason jars with sugar water. One on the top and one on the front boardman feeder. I've been using the smallest entrance excluder cut to accomodate the feeder. The mix was 4# sugar to 4 cups water. The two feeders carried the hive through nearly a month.
I weighed today and the north hive . . .the remaining hive came in at 39 lbs. That included an empty oil tray and the weight of two empty mason jar feeders.
We've had tremendous rains intermixed with the cold. When I checked the boardman feeder there was a puddle of rainwater with a couple o' drowned bees.
The sustained cold has prevented me from opening the hive, but per the local experts: 14 days after December 21 is Bee Spring. In other words, January 4th -- last Tuesday.
When I checked the hive today (not inspected) I was pleased to see pollen be gathered despite a high of only 60. I've been moving the hive slowly to full sun with no overhanging branches. A few more yards and I'll be here.
I listened for the pipping of new queens and was surprised to hear several different types of sounds:

• Normal whirring of wings, especially near the top, adjacent to the feeder and along the sides
• Buzzing as might be heard nearer the entrance, but this was in the back
• Low on the back right side were clear tapping sounding that repeated, not rhythmically, but consistently
• Pipping, almost chirping like a little chick. It occurred a couple of times near the bottom backside of the box.

I'll check with the stethoscope again tomorrow. I tried listening again after the weigh-in, but the box was jostled when it resettled and I believe it disturbed the normal interior soundscape.

Moving to the Sun

Winter is coming. The ladies are still gathering pollen, especially the dusky persimmon colored type. They waddle bowlegged into the hive with saddlebags of it. Their sister bring in skinny leggings of yellow pollen from the last of the Spanish needles and goldenrod.
The first freeze is expected tonight. Happy Chanukah.
I've been sliding the hive along the track about 6-10 inches every few days. The rule on moving hives: Less than three feet or more than three miles. This direction takes the hive closer to the lake and out from under the overhang of oak boughs. There will still be some protection from the brutal summer sun but only once the late, late afternoon arrives and the graceful wax myrtle to the west spreads its sheltering shade. The hive has been moving very slowing on parallel tracks of two-by-fours toward the open sun. This should help keep them warmer during the winter. It's the strategy to keep the small hive beetles under control next spring.
My days have been busy. I haven't weighed the hive in two weeks. There is still lots of daily activity on the landing board, and I'm continuing to use the feeder.The last of the thinner syrup disappeared during two recent overcast days. Did being in the hive make them hungrier? Today I started giving them double strength syrup (four pounds to four cups).
The color variations that I had noticed were explained: A new queen is fertilized on her maiden flights by multiple drones. Their sperm is stored and then later released over a period of time. This will result in sibling brood having different patterns/coloration. No need to worry that other bees have come into the hive . . .at least not in the number that was showing up.
From all outward appearances, the hive is happy and queen right. I'll wait to the weekend to weigh and look inside. That will probably be one of the last for a while, barring any unforeseen problems during the winter.