hive check : fumigillan and apigard

At our monthly beekeeping meeting last night I learned that I should have been controlling mites since July. 

I also learned that I need to be feeding 2:1 along with pollen.  I'm feeding syrup but need to quickly order some pollen patties.  My hunch is that the bees I lost last year died because, althought I had fed syrup in the fall, I had not supplemented with pollen. 

In my hive on the left there were drone brood.  This is good.  If the hive was not able to support these warm bodies there wouldn't be any.  Essentially, if there's not enough resources to go around there will be no drone brood laid to further reduce already low stores.  With the discovery of drone brood I can assume, at least for the time being, that this hive is in balance.

My hive on the right looked good, although I completely forgot to look for brood, capped or otherwise. 

There has been no evidence of small hive beetles in my hives this year much to my relief.  I have one trap in each hive and there's never been anything in either.  I have also not seen any wax moths. 

I purchased shims this year to help with baggie feeding, shims being about an inch of headroom on top of a super to allow for placement of baggies of syrup. 


All things considered I am certain that this method of feeding has helped eliminate hive beetles.  With a top (trough style) feeder the beetles have bzillions of points of entry to the syrup.  Baggies I place in my hive have a slit about two inches at the most in them, greatly reducing the points of entry. 

In retrospect maybe the nematodes I applied to the area surrounding my hives also helped.

Despite not having done a lot with my bees this year I feel pretty good about the approaching winter.  But that's what I said last year and I lost both hives.

Keep your fingers crossed!