Hive Check : cleaning the dead out and freezing frames

Today is pretty cold so I couldn't do much with the surviving bees.  I did check to see if they were still alive, they are.  They had eaten some of the sugary-substance-that-should-have-been-fonant but not a lot.  I'm sure this has to do with the fondant being on top of the parchment instead of the other way around.  There were two dead bees on the fondant.  I didn't see any standing water but I am pretty sure that there is moisture being generated because some of the sugar was soft.  Another potential issue/problem is that the shim on the nuc doesn't fit flush with the box and I'm concerned about winds getting into the hive so I'm going to also have to check around to see what I can use to stop the gap between the shim and the top box. 

I inspected the dead out frames again and looked for, but didn't find, the queen. 

Finding frames with pollen turned out to be harder than I thought.  (the queen will only lay if there is natural pollen, sugar alone is not sufficient)  The two frames that I found with the most pollen were abesnt of any honey stores, capped or uncapped, and contained maybe 50 cells of pollen.  I put those two frames on the outside of my empty 5 frame nuc box and put three full frames of honey in the middle.  I'll have to check with my mentors to see if that's the right set up before I put this box on the nuc. 

It's recommended that beekeepers freeze frames for three to four days before putting them on a different hive.  I definitely don't want to set this hive back by putting on frames with any existing issues.  Sunday is supposed to be a nice day with temperatures in the 50's and that's the day I'll be putting on this "new" box. 

While the 5 frames are freezing I'm going to be making, or trying to make, more fondant.  At the meeting this past Monday it was suggested to me that after boiling the sugar to the right temperature that I use an ice bath, stir vigorously and then pour into molds.  Which reminds me, I am going to have to find molds around here somewhere. 

Hive Check : The dead out

The top box filled with 8 frames of nothing but honey

Part of the winter cluster

More dead bees

A great deal of bees were found with their entire bodies inserted into cells in the comb.

More dead bees.

The view inside the hive, this is the middle box looking down into the bottom box.

Bees in the comb.

All of the comb in the bottom box was empty of honey and pollen.

Comb from the bottom box

A bottom screen full of my dead bees.

A smidgen of pollen

A tragedy.

Hive Check : Feeding my winter bees

I made some fondant yesterday to feed my surviving hive.  It's a combination of suger, water, cream of tarter, Karo syrup and lemon juice.  I did everything like I was supposed to; measure, mix, boil, pour.  What I didn't do was spray the parchment paper with Pam (that's not in the directions, by the way).  This meant that the cooling fondant stuck to the parchment paper.  When I went to take the fondant off the parchment paper it stuck because it was sticky.  Everything I'd read about fondant said that it shouldn't be sticky.  I set the parchment on some tinfoil so it wouldn't stick to the counter.  It stuck to the tinfoil.  I snip snapped around the kitchen and got frustrated and .

Since it didn't turn out the way I thought it was supposed to turn out (see the first two photos below), I threw a tantrum, rolled up the gooey sticky fondant and tossed it in the trash.  To hell with bees, and feeding bees, and winter.

A little more than two hours after the tantrum, and after I'd gotten some helpful words from a fellow beekeeper, I retrieved my fondant from the trash and let it sit overnight on the counter.  I sprayed a piece of parchment paper with Pam to prevent it sticking again, set the other paper with the fondant and the shim on that, picked out bits of tinfoil left over from the tantrum and waited.

Jamie called me today from work and told me that he would put the fondant on the hive.  He thought I was silly for wanting to put on my jacket and gloves and veil to do it, plus as he says he has "boy skills".  I say preparation is the key to success (and not getting stung), we agree to disagree here.  I let him think he was going to be the one to put the fondant on the hive then I suited up and tromped through the snow and opened up the hive.

Success.  I saw my winter cluster of live bees.  Nearly getting stung I placed the fondant on the top of the frames and adjusted it so that there weren't big gaps between the shim with the candy and the top box.  I truly hope that the bee that made, uh a beeline for me, finds his way to the entrance else he's going to be pretty cold tonight.  Which reminds me I need to get some of the Denver Sting Stop.  Oh, and figure out what I need to buy for this coming spring.  And I need to send off the check I owe for yet another hive of bees.

So much to do...so much to do.

Hive Check : It's been a long, long winter

I have lost one hive.  The other has a small cluster near the top of the hive.  I got a message from a friend who said she made some candy for her bees and it looks like I'm going to need to do the same. 

Excuse me while I go cry, and mourn the loss of yet another hive.

Fall Hive Check

Today I spent two hours in my hives.  I don't have the energy to write about it now and don't have time before I go to bed to transfer pictures from my camera...but I will say that they both looked good and I'm pleased. 

Two thriving hives and volunteering (pictures to come)

I haven't checked either hive in a few days, probably let too much time go by.  But they both seemed to be doing well.

In the Blue (strong) hive, when I took off the inner cover there were about 10 hive beetles hiding under the plastic baggie I'm using to feed.  So, they're still in there but at least they are hiding which means they aren't laying eggs.  I didn't pull out the two middle frames, I'd put in empty the last time I was in there, to see if they bees had filled cleaned/filled them.  I might do that tomorrow.  Today was just  a feeding day and I wanted to get in and out as fast as I could. 

In the Brown (nuc) hive, when I took off the cover I saw NO beetles running amuk.  There were beetles in the trap though, which made me feel pretty good.  Also, the dirty frames I'd put in the last time I was in there were all cleaned out!  I'm amazed that they do that.  I may try to get pictures tomorrow, we'll see how the weather is.  The frames in Brown were originaly like this : E E H/B H/B E.  (empty, empty, honey/brood, honey/brood, empty).  I switched them around so now it's H/B, E, E, E, H/B.  When I switched the H frames into Brown from Blue (last visit) I should have put them on the outside because bees work from the inside out.  So I just switched them around and now the bees should use the 1:1 that I put in there today to fill out the middle frames.

In addition to my own beekeeping, I'm now volunteering with the Sustainable Honeybee Program.  If you live in the area and want to learn more about bees, I would suggest contacting them.   The more you know about bees and the more you get involved the more fun it is.  Aside from being a great hobby, it's a very important hobby as well.  Without pollinators we wouldn't have many of the food options we enjoy today.

Here is a link to beekeepers in the United States.  Get involved, you won't be sad you did!   

Beetle traps and a second story addition (pictures coming soon)

So - last night I took the frames out of the freezer (but kept them in the black trash bag) and let them defrost overnight.  I took them out of the bag this morning and got a couple good pictures of the evil larvae that I froze to death.  It sounds horrible, but freezing is the best way to kill wax moth larvae. All told I counted about 6 large larvae on the frames.  I was able to extract three of the dead bodies.  They get no proper burial, I'm leaving them out for the hornets or yellowjackets or wasps.

The strong hive looked good.  I have decided to stop using the top feeder but I had left it on to test an idea.  The other day I put in the beetle traps and wanted to see how many the traps would have in them with the top feeder on because it seems like the beetles love to be up there.  I counted 5 dead beetles in the oil in the traps.  There were about 10 beetles in the dry top feeder.  So the top feeder came off today, and I put two traps in the strong hive and fed a baggie of 1:1 syrup.  If my theory is correct the next time I go in to check the traps there should be more drowned in the oil since there's no dry top feeder to hide in.  I'm going to feed more tomorrow, I didn't have enough syrup made today to do more than one bag.  As I was putting the baggie in the hive, some of the syrup spilled out and I had a good time watching the bees gather at the edge of the pool to drink it. 

Today was construction day, I added a second story to the nuc. 
I took 2 frames of honey from the strong hive to put into the new nuc hive. (Then I replaced those with some fairly good comb from the old hive that just needs to be partially drawn out and filled)  The frames I put in the nuc have some capped and uncapped honey and some larvae.  I tried to get the bees off as best I could but some ended up going into the nuc anyhow.  I put three of the "best of the worst" frames, that I'd previously frozen, into the nuc and then filled the jar feeder.  I took my first picture of the inside of the nuc, for posterity, and I did see the Queen but I was so scared of harming her that I didn't get a picture and put her frame back down as gently as I could.  I can't imagine something happening to her now.  I just got her!  She's got a lot of work to do to keep this hive buzzing through the winter.

Today wasn't a disaster, thank God.