The Dowda Method

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!

Decisions, decisions

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.

Robbing screens

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.

I was able to find information on robbing here

Hive Check : 08/08 the Queen refuses to lay

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.

Hive Check : no drawn comb

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!!

Hive check : outlook grim

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.

Hive Check : 07-10 : All in all, things look pretty good

Today I got into the hives to do some real investigative work after not having bothered them in a while.  I got in them when the family was here but it was only to show them what the inside of the hives looked like.  I lit my smoker because it is an overcast and somewhat windy day today and I didn't know how many of my little friends would be in the hives. 

Today when I went into the weak hive, I was pleasantly surprised.  I saw a bee coming out of it's cell.  I didn't want to take the time to see it come all the way out, it can take a while and I had other things I wanted to check out. 

I'm still worried about the absence of growth in my weaker hive. Having a Queen that is laying is a good sign but it's very late in the season and I don't see any stored honey and very little stored pollen. The numbers in this hive have dwindled, largely in part because a new Queen takes between 4 and 6 weeks to start laying after she's born.

The laying pattern of the queen is still spotty, it should be more dense and uniform, but she's laying. None of what I saw were drone cells which means that I have a mated Queen and the workers aren't laying.  In these two pictures you can see different larvae at several different stages of development. 

Since this hive is weaker than it should be, I'm constantly on the lookout for Hive Beetles and Wax Moths.  I saw a moth today and squished it.  I don't need those little buggers laying their eggs in my hives and devouring the wax comb that my bees have worked so hard to build.

The strong hive is doing really well.  There was a lot of activity in the hive when I took off the inner cover which is shown below.  The inner cover rests on top of a top feeder, where I've been putting sugar water for feeding.  There were bees all over the top feeder, and they'd been busy drawing out comb in the super just under it.

These bees have a lot of capped and uncapped honey.

The laying patter is looking fairly uniform and appropriate.  I saw a few drone cells but not many.  I still haven't seen any signs of mites yet, which is a huge relief.