When I went out to my poor performing hive to merge them with the new nuc, all the bees were gone. The comb was even more destroyed and infested with waxmoth trails, foreign larvae, and ants crawling about everywhere. I felt defeated. I knew there was damage in this hive, but in less than 48 hours that damage spread further than I thought it would.
John said, when I called him, that it was a good thing that they left. They probably integrated themselved into the healthy hive. After all of the work and monitoring and anticipation, I'd been looking forward to doing a merge of the hives myself. Oh well, maybe Mother Nature wanted to take the wheel, she does know best.
For the record, I got a photo of each frame and then when that was done I put the frames into a black plastic bag so I could put it in the freezer. Freezing the frames will kill the larvae and if I'm lucky the bees will clean up the damaged frames and use them again.
I also took a picture of the weak hive's feeder, it looks as though some water had seeped into places it shouldn't have been able to seep into...maybe something did leech into the water.
This morning at 9 John and Margaret came over to my bee yard to look at my hives. To my relief they didn't fall down and faint - so I must be doing something right. Since they are experiencing hive beetles for the first time this year, they didn't really have any suggestions aside from the traps I've already ordered. There were more dead bees in the syrup I'd just put in yesterday and it smelled the same as it did before, like fermenting oranges. The bees looked oily and they were sluggish. John put his fingers into the liquid in the feeder and he said it felt oily, I took off a glove and did the same - it was oily. It just didn't feel like a 1:1 simple syrup should feel. He thought maybe the syrup was contaminated by something in or on the feeder itself. But when they got home and checked their hives, they noticed that their syrup had an odor and felt oily just like mine. I did get stung when they were here, and the balm I mentioned in my previous post, Denver's Sting Stopper not only immediately stopped the pain but the sting didn't swell. I can't wait to get some of this!
While reading the directions to get to the bee yard, I noticed that I was asked to bring straps to hold the nuc to the bottom, I didn't have straps. So after I went and did a non bee related errand I made a quick stop at Lowes to get some. I don't know how I've survived without straps until now. I am already visualizing projects where I can put these to good use.
At about 2 I left to go to Purcellville to get my nuc and equipment. The drive out to their bee yard was glorious, the sun was shining, the sky was blue with a few clouds, the humidity was gone...and as I drove with my windows down and my music turned up loud, I could smell the fresh cut grass and hay and clover. I felt recharged.
So what did I come away with? I got a box with 5 frames, bees and a queen, plus two empty boxes. I got a mite count board, a shim, and a jar for feeding. Once I got the bees home I got to use the double drive gate we'd had installed when the fence was put in. Driving into the yard made more sense than carrying the hive full of bees from the front of the house to the back of the yard. I can just imagine, with me being as clumsy as I am, dropping the bees and them scattering all over and then dive bombing me. I kept the "front door" of the nuc shut and put some sugar water in the jar. It's really cool how the jar feeder works, there are holes punched in the lid and you fill it, invert it and situate it in the hole on top of the hive. This way you can see when it's empty and you don't have to bother the bees to feed them. Until I get my own pictures downloaded, this will have to do for an example.
The thing I had to do today was the thing I'd been dreading for weeks. I had to go into the weak hive and capture the Queen and kill her. Telling myself she's just an insect didn't lessen the gravity of what I'd had to do. She's buried just outside the front door to our house. I had to kill her because the nuc that I got has an established Queen - each hive has just one. Since my Queen has been such a poor performer making the choice to remove her was as easy as it was difficult.
It's been a busy day. A lot has happened and I'm hoping for positive changes. Tomorrow afternoon I plan to merge the bees from the weak hive with the strong bees in the nuc. I'm definitely keeping my fingers crossed.
I got stung on my hand today while my mentors were here (more on that later) and Margaret put a dab of this stuff on it and the pain stopped, immediately. And I see no evidence of swelling.
I did not expect such devastation. I didn't expect hundreds of dead bees, or fumes of fermenting oranges, or an explosion of hive beetles. I didn't expect to see empty frames - no brood of any kind and no larvae anywhere to be found.
I was absolutely stunned and horrified when I pulled off the inner cover. The feeder was full of dead bees and hive beetles and their larvae and wax moth trailings.
My first instinct was to just empty all that onto the ground, but I know that part of the life cycle of the hive beetle larvae is it crawling out of the hive and burrowing into the ground until it matures. If I emptied the liquid and bees and larvae onto the ground, I'd be taking part in furthering the beetle's life cycle. So rather than emptying it directly onto the ground, I spilled it out onto some garden netting and killed as many larvae as I could with the end of my hive tool.
And I sat there on the tree stump I use for a chair and I cried. If you know me at all you know I'm very passionate, and I have become attached to this weak hive in a way that I never thought I would, or could. Seeing what I saw today was just too much for me.
I saw one bee being born. One. And that is the very last bee being born out of the very last capped cell in the hive.
The strong hive had a lot of beetles in it also, no surprise there, but this hive didn't smell like fermenting oranges. The strong hive has a full medium of capped and uncapped honey which is a great sign.
In each hive I'd spent time squishing the beetles with the end of my hive tool. I noticed the bees rarely engaged the live beetles. They also really didn't do much with the dead ones, either. What it looked like to me was that they would engage the dead beetle briefly and then turn away, like it tasted bad or something.
I got a few pictures of some beetle larvae on the edge of my hive tool.
I called my mentor John and talked with him about what I'd been through today. He said that if the weak hive frames were dry, I could try taking two full ones from the strong hive and switch them out...the strong hive could feasably repair and fill the empty frames and the weak hive would benefit from having full frames...I could do that. I'm still on that list for a nuc, and I'm supposed to pick it up tomorrow. But do I risk getting a nuc with the problems I'm having with the beetles? I asked John what he thought about getting nematodes from SEI. Since this is the first year John has had any beetles, he didn't know really anything more than what he'd read from the link I posted to their SEI's website. I told him I'd call SEI today and see about getting more information.
I have to go back out and see if there is any stored honey in any of the weak frames. If the hive is completely dry, it will be easier for me to merge it with the nuc. I am pretty sure I have 5 dry frames of the 8 in the hive. If I do switch to full frames into the weak hive, the nuc and my existing weak bees will only have three to fill. It's only a $108 gamble.
Phil Tedders at SEI was very helpful and although he admitted he didn't have all the answers I was looking for, just talking to him about their nematodes alleviated some of the anxiety I'm having about my SHB infestation. He also told me that his dad, Lewis, could answer any of my questions. I asked him to see if Lewis could call me before noon tomorrow. I ordered 5 million nematodes (I'm not sure who they pay to count those little guys!) and asked Phil to send me any and all information he could with my order. He did tell me that the order more than likely will contain 7 million nematodes, on gel, and they like to overestimate the number they send and they guarantee live delivery. 5 million nematodes will treat 10 hives so I'm going to have some to share. From their website, SEI says "Nematode species produced by SEI are used to attack and kill larvae of certain soil dwelling insect pests. These pests include, larvae of white grubs, Japanese beetles, root weevils, small hive beetles, armyworms, cutworms, fleas, clear-winged moths, and fungus gnats." So, in the event that I keep more than I need for my two hives, I have some garden area in the front of my house that could benefit from a treatment of nematodes. (I'm pretty sure I have Japanese Beetles)
I mentioned to Phil that I'd take the information to the LBA meeting and spread the word about their products and that I'd included a link to their website here on my blog. It never hurts to make friends with people who have something you need.
In addition to buying from SEI today, I also put in an order with Brushy Mountain for AJ's Beetle Eater traps, Fumigilan and Api Life Var. My total today was $104.62 for the nematodes and the things from Brushy Mountain. Tomorrow's cost of $108 brings my total to $212. It's a good thing my intent in learning this craft wasn't to make money. I wonder if the IRS would be upset if I tried claiming all of my "adopted" bees as dependants?
So I received an email back from Keith Delaplane. He suggested the Beetle Jail for SHB and recommended a place in Georgia for nematodes, Southeastern Insectaries, (877) 967-6777. Unfortunately he didn't go into any helpful details about how the nematodes are working, so I guess it's up to me to do some more research. The SEI website is easy to navigate and has a lot of good information, I may have to find some time today to give them a call.
Here is a video of the beetle jail in action. I would have like to seen him zoom out so we could see how the trap fits onto the hive.
At our next LBA meeting I hear we are going to be discussing the SHB.
To feed my two hives I have been using the hive top feeder. These are great for feeding large quantities at once, and that's all I like about them. The bees tend to congregate up there even when there is no syrup and subsequently when I pour in new syrup I've been drowning some of my bees. Additionally I don't like (and what my mentor told me the other day is) that the hive beetle will take residence under the floats in the feeder.
During today's check, I took the tops fully off the feeders and I found the dreaded hive beetle. The picture above is a pile of beetles I squished. (normally I just slide the top back about two inches to pour in the syrup) When I fed my 1:1 today I looked for evidence that they'd invaded my hives. Well, I didn't have to look very hard. In my strong hive I had about 20 hive beetles that came scurrying out of the syrup I'd poured into the feeder. And to add insult to injury, lazily floating in the syrup, I saw larvae. If there was this big a disaster in the strong hive, what would I find in the weak hive. I was almost too afraid to look. Continuing in the strong hive, I ended up taking out the wooden floats and cleaning out the dead bees. I also made sure that there were no more beetles before I put the floats back in and filled the feeders.
Along with the hive beetles, I also saw some Queen cups along the bottom of three of the frames in one of the brood boxes. I got video and counted maybe 11 on one frame alone. All were empty but I have to wonder what they are up to. There were also some larger cells with larvae in them but I'm not sure if they are potential Queens or drones.
On a positive note, the entire top medium was filled with capped and uncapped honey. And I caught a glimpse of a bee loaded with pollen baskets.
Entering my weak hive, I took off the outer and inner covers and did a quick scan for beetles. I found only three, to my relief. For some reason these bees still had some syrup left over from the last time I'd fed. Until now it confused me, but my best guess as I sit here and write is that since I put up the robbing screen these bees don't have the numbers on their own to consume the volume I've been feeding. And they don't have the numbers because the Queen is worthless. I hate to admit it because I was really pulling for her, but I just don't see the laying pattern I need to be seeing to justify her reign in this hive.
So, the other day I got an email from the Sustainable Bee Program that indicated that they are switching gears and strengthening their educational activities, and are selling nucs to scale back their Queen production. I sent an email to my mentors to get their advice and they ended up calling me to discuss options. In talking with them I made the decision to get on the list for a nuc. I can hardly contain my excitement, a laying Queen, drawn comb, a fresh start!! Margaret reminded me that I'd need to remove and destroy the existing Queen. Luckily I have a husband who is willing to do the dirty work for me.
And just as I typed this, I was looking at the picture I took of the weak hive Queen. And I think I see frothy honey in a cell near her. Yet another "learning opportunity" for me. Oh goody. Frothy honey is a symptom of the hive beetle infestation. I did some quick research and found a couple places that suggest GardStar as a treatment for the beetles. But, it's highly toxic to people and bees. Hmm, let the beetles infest the hive and possibly turn the honey to froth and slime and drive them out, or treat the soil surrounding the hive and potentially poison the bees and myself? I see no happy medium.
I've spent about two hours creating this post, because of the complexity and number of the issues I'm having and stopping to do tangent research when I need more information about a topic. I'm intrigued by some research being done with nematodes and sent an email to Keith Delaplane to get some insights and advice on the topic. I hope I hear back from him, the idea of a non chemical tretment and prevention for the hive beetle excites me. This information may be old news to some, but it's new to me and the process of learning by way of stumbling onto information helps, me at least, to cement knowledge for further use.
I wish I'd done this sooner. Not only am I going to prevent some wax moth intrusions, but when I took off the outer cover today to feed there weren't a hundred bees congregating on the inner cover - they were all safely tucked away under the screen. Yay!! This ultimately made me happy for two reasons. Less bee/hand interactions and less bees squished while putting the outer cover back on. Thanks Margaret, for a great idea.
I fed the weak hive 4L and the strong hive just 2L today. I'd wanted to get into the weak hive to check the Queen's laying progress as well as the worker's progress in drawing out the remaining comb but it's hot and I don't want to be outside in that jacket right now.
Back on the 14th when I had seen a potential intruder I didn't have my camera. So, I went back later in the day and took my camera to see if I could capture anything else. Low and behold, an intruder. While standing at the hive I got two shots of this bad boy...who ultimately flew off after not being able to find the entrance to the hive. I wonder what other devious creatures have been attempting to hijack my babies?
I went out at 7 am today to do a quick visual check of my package hive. Without the protection of my suit and veil I didn't want to run the risk of getting stung unnecessarily.
In the past few weeks I've rarely seen any activity outside this weak hive unless there was a robbing frenzy so I wanted to see what, if any, changes were visible since the addition of my homemade robbing screen.
The front entrance was abuzz with bees leaving the hive! And not only that but I also saw an invading bee fly up to the hive, land on the screen, walk around on it like it was confused and then fly off. This bee wasn't a honeybee, it looked more like a bumblebee but I'm not sure what it was exactly. Had I thought there would be anything to look at I'd have taken my camera with me.
Later today I'm going to check to see if they need more 1:1 syrup, if they took all 4L that I put in there the other day I'm going to be amazed. My mentor said that maybe I should buy a nuc hive to overwinter these bees, that they'd do better in a smaller environment. That sounds good but when I checked Brushy Mountain's site, this was a 10 frame nuc hive and I have an 8 frame setup. I have to make sure that my current frames would transfer over to the new hive plus if the current frames do fit I'd have to put in two frames with bare foundation that would need to be drawn out (in addition to the frames that are already in the hive that need to be drawn out as well). It's an uphill battle, for sure.
Someone suggested to me that I share my blog with the Loudoun County Beekeepers membership. As a first year beekeeper this idea sounds both wonderful and terrifying at the same time. Panic, read it over, correct errors, read it again, smile, remember that it's all about learning. Deep breath. Jump in with both feet and don't look back.
My experiences have been different than those of my first year counterparts. Molly did splits this year, Stephanie's hives both did well, I haven't checked in with Bonni in ages so I'm not sure how her hives are doing. Shamefully I admit that I didn't reach out to make more friends from our class so I don't know about other people's experiences. But I know all about my ups and downs. And when I read past entries I'm very glad that I kept a journal. And I'm more glad I took a lot of pictures. In my zeal to take pictures, I probably encouraged robbing and didn't know it. In checking my hives I probably killed the queen in the package hive in that crucial first month. I didn't start feeding syrup to the package hive soon enough. Robbing screens could have been put on weeks ago and maybe the package hive would have had more stored honey.
This blog was initially created to keep my non beekeeping friends and family in the loop, to get them interested in what I'm doing out here in Virginia. I discounted the notion that what I'd write could be helpful or of interest to other people in the beekeeing world. Now it looks like I'll get to be a part of the learning process and this opportunity will open the doors to further my own learning. It's a win-win situation.
Now if you'll excuse me I need to panic, read it over, correct errors, read it again, smile, and remember that it's all about learning.
I forgot to post a picture of what it looked like when I dusted for mites the other day. Using powdered sugar isn't really a mite treatment, per se. It's more a method to help reduce the mites a bit. The sugar helps keep the mites from sticking to the bees while encouraging more grooming. The photo on the bottom is the plastic corrugated sheet I inserted under the screened bottom board to see how many mites dropped. Not all specks on the sheet are mites. Since I have a screened bottom board a lot of the junk, trash and debris falls out the screen at the bottom onto the ground. Inserting the sheet caught mites, but it also caught a lot of stuff that wasn't mites. And those buggers are small...so I had to do a lot of squinty eyes trying to pinpoint them!
I went into the weak hive today and took out the Queen, putting her in a plastic container. Today is the day that I chose to permanently remove her from this hive. Unlike a lot of other times I've looked, today she was not difficult to spot and I was able to pluck her out and get her inside the container. Seeing her alone and out of the hive was really strange, it's just not the natural way of things to see a Queen out of the hive. And I got emotional and was having a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that I'd have to kill her to merge her loyal subjects with the hive next to hers.
I did a check on her hive, taking out some of the frames. More foundation was drawn out than last time I looked but they're still not quite as prepared as they should be to survive the winter. You would not believe how elated I was to see some honey stores AND both capped and uncapped larvae. A baby bee was also emerging out of one of the cells. Another thing I saw was comb was partially destroyed on one frame. There was also what looked like sawdust underneath the hive and when I went to our Bee Meeting on Monday I heard that if the hive is getting robbed you will see this situation.
So after I was in the weak hive I called my mentor and had a little discussion about how I was feeling better about the hive, and how it was going to be hard to kill the Queen and how maybe I'd wait for a bit to see what happens. She agreed that making tough decisions is hard and that she and her husband have the back and forth feelings sometimes too, just like I was having. What decision is going to benefit the hives, if I make this decision am I putting the hive in jeopardy or am I increasing it's chances of survival. It's like playing chess with a thousand little pieces. Having someone so willing to help me with my hives has been invaluable and I don't know what I'd do without them.
My thought at the moment is that with all the good things happening, I am not going to merge the hives. Margaret told me that I can always merge the hives later and that maybe for now I could put the Queen back in with her colony and watch to see if more progress is made. She also suggested that I block the hole on the inner cover with some screen - waxmoths can get in a hive that way because apparently guard bees don't really get posted up there. With no guards, waxmoths and robbers can do major damage to a weak hive. I had a screendoor that was ruined so I cut a strip from there to staple to the top of both inner covers. I also fashioned a temporary screen to the front of the weak hive to help reduce robbing. The robbing bees generally fly straight into the hive, in essence bullying their way in, and the screen confuses them - maybe this is the edge I needed to give these guys. The bees that live there will learn that there is an entrance at the top of the screen and should continue about their business.
I fed both hives 4 liters of 1:1 syrup today. I'm encouraged and feel good about the additions to each hive. Now, I need to read over my notes again from our meeting earlier this week and make sure that I've got everything I need to help these little guys make it through the winter.
I think that my weak hive is being robbed and I'm sure the culprits are the bees from the strong hive just next to it. I just read that a robbing frenzy can be instigated by feeding syrup, and that would explain the frantic activity in front of my weak hive today. Buying a robbing screen should prevent this...I'm going to see if that helps my weak hive get stronger. If not, after I talk to my mentor I am probably going to combine hives.
The information from Brushy Mountains website says:
Detailed Description
This is the same screen as the one for the 10 frame. It has closures that easily confines the bees to the hive for moving. If a robbing frenzy starts, the primary entrance can be closed and the bees belonging to the hive use a reduced, "secret" passage.
There are very few capped brood cells, no drone brood and no honey stores in my package hive. As of yesterday I had been planning to get a new queen but in light of the disaster going on in this hive I'm leaning towards just merging this weak hive with the stronger one. While inside today I saw that not all of the frames are drawn and there were wax moths in the comb.
I was going to take pictures but there is nothing to take pictures of but empty comb.
I fed the failing hive nearly 2L of 2:1 sugar water. I fed the good hive about 6 cups. I have to make more syrup today to feed the good hive.
My package hive numbers look alright, but there aren't enough bees to overwinter. I checked some of the frames today and noticed that there are also frames with no drawn foundation. There are no honeycombs on some of my wax. This means in the winter, the bees won't have comb to insert themselves into. In the winter they form what's called a winter cluster and they won't be able to do this on bare foundation. So, on top of a poorly laying queen, now I have to figure out how to get them to draw out the rest of the foundation. I'm feeding a LOT, this weak hive still has no stores as far as I can tell. Maybe they are so weak they are getting constantly robbed?
I'm going to Costco today to get two big bags of sugar. I'm going to check EVERY day to see if they are taking it. I've also got an email out to my mentor to see if I need to be supplementing with pollen patties. I have two emails out to see if anyone has a replacement queen.
My last resort will be to merge the two hives.
Surely I've made every mistake that a newbie can make. Seems like my friends from class have all done a great job with their hives and their bees are thriving.
Today I also applied the Dowda method of mite treatment and covered my bees with powdered sugar. It was sort of cute seeing little white bees flying around!!
I'm a bit dejected tonight because of the lack of progress made by my package hive. My mentor said I should requeen. I have an emergency email out to see who to contact about that. I'm going to be feeding a lot, as much as the bees will take, as fall is around the corner and there are little to no nectar sources for the bees. I've been feeding every 4 to 5 days for the past three weeks, but I can see this is not enough. I fed the package hive 4 lbs of sugar in a 1:1 ratio tonight. I read that I may need to be feeding a 2:1 ratio until these bees can catch up. I'm going to possibly need my mentor to come out and help identify what I can and should be doing. Essentially my package hive has taken a serious nose dive. No honey stores and very little egg laying by the Queen. I'm afraid they are not going to make it. And that makes me sad - and I'm going to have to admit my inexperience to my friends who are waiting for next year's cornucopia of excess honey. If I keep it up, all my bees are going to die and there will be no excess honey. Sigh.
The nuc hive is doing pretty well, honey stores and good laying pattern. I am going to be feeding them also, wouldn't want to set them up to fail this winter.
I am going to do a mite drop count starting tonight. I am going to slide in a grid board under the screened bottom board and check it after about 24 hours to see how many mites have fallen onto it. Obviously I won't be able to tell exactly how many mites each hive has, but I will be able to see if I need to treat. The Dowda method is what I'm going to do if need be.
My mentor has been a gem, she's been supportive and forthcoming with information, she cheers me on and seems to have a gift for knowing when I need her help. There is a class coming up in a week or so, one that I"m not going to be missing - a class on Fall beehive management. I have so much to learn.
