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!
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Hive Check : robbing the nuc
Someone just got caught with their hand in the honey pot.
The bees I saw flying into and around the nuc were robbing the full frame of honey. No swarms took up residence in that palace.
Hive A looks like it's numbers are down. There wasn't much in the way of capped brood. I saw an Emergency Queen Cell. Damn. This means that the hive has no Queen and needs one as soon as possible. I am certain that this hive swarmed.
Hive B looked pretty full, but there wasn't an overabundance of capped brood here either. I can't tell if they swarmed and I'm so hesitant to look for the Queen because disruptions raise the chances that she'll be killed when I move frames and boxes around.
I swear if I lose my hives this year I'm going to give up.
The bees I saw flying into and around the nuc were robbing the full frame of honey. No swarms took up residence in that palace.
Hive A looks like it's numbers are down. There wasn't much in the way of capped brood. I saw an Emergency Queen Cell. Damn. This means that the hive has no Queen and needs one as soon as possible. I am certain that this hive swarmed.
Hive B looked pretty full, but there wasn't an overabundance of capped brood here either. I can't tell if they swarmed and I'm so hesitant to look for the Queen because disruptions raise the chances that she'll be killed when I move frames and boxes around.
I swear if I lose my hives this year I'm going to give up.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
a fun swarm story - with pictures!!
Monday we were supposed to run errands, like buying plants and finding toad houses. Fun stuff. Instead we tried to catch a swarm of bees that had perched in a tree in the backyard. Also fun? Depends on how you define it.
I'd just come back from a run and sent Jamie off with a neighbor to the gun store, and I was outside checking on things. To my sheer amazement, I saw another swarm, the 9th of the season. I called and let him know that we needed to get some swarm catching gear from Lowes; a bucket with lid and 100 feet of rope. I'd be at home preparing 5 frames with foundation, making sugar water and finding a broom.
I'd tried making the nuc as attractive as possible by including a frame that had honey on it already.
We concluded that were going to hoist a bucket up to just underneath the large, undulating, buzzing mass of bees, spray them with sugar water to keep them busy/occupied/not angry, and coax them into a bucket and then dump them into an extra hive we have.
Most of you are probably thinking that catching a swarm sounds like a good time. I bet you'd want to try this just to say you'd tried it.
It was dangerous, the ladder could have slipped off the tree sending Jamie taking a nose dive and possibly breaking bones, or worse. It was tedious, you try holding a bucket over your head, while holding on to a ladder, while spraying bees with sugar water and sweeping them into the bucket, then putting on a lid. Without falling. It was thrilling, to have bees dropping from the swarm onto me because they didn't go into the bucket when they should have.
And you try doing it twice. Once to see how it works, and a second time to make the bees really, really angry.
After the first attempt the bees that were sprayed with sugar water that didn't make it into the bucket dropped to the ground and made little pfft and thud sounds. We dumped the bees into the nuc and Jamie volunteered to go back up to get more. Partly because we're greedy and want lots of bees. Partly because he didn't know if he'd gotten the Queen and we need the Queen in the nuc to keep the bees in the nuc.
Turns out that bees only tolerate the whole being swept into a bucket once. Jamie got stung on his forehead during the second try, the stinger was still attached when he came down off the ladder. I'd gotten stung on my left ear. Awesome. Don't make fun of me because I was standing under the ladder with no protective gear on, wearing a tank top and shorts. But do picture it, because it is pretty funny.
The bees didn't stay where we put them, they eventually vacated the building and went right back up to where they were before we risked life and limb. And they've since left our yard, too.
It was really cool, but you don't get to see more pictures because Jamie wanted me to hold the ladder and to "forget that damn camera".
I wish you all could have been here. Don't you?
I'd just come back from a run and sent Jamie off with a neighbor to the gun store, and I was outside checking on things. To my sheer amazement, I saw another swarm, the 9th of the season. I called and let him know that we needed to get some swarm catching gear from Lowes; a bucket with lid and 100 feet of rope. I'd be at home preparing 5 frames with foundation, making sugar water and finding a broom.
I'd tried making the nuc as attractive as possible by including a frame that had honey on it already.
We concluded that were going to hoist a bucket up to just underneath the large, undulating, buzzing mass of bees, spray them with sugar water to keep them busy/occupied/not angry, and coax them into a bucket and then dump them into an extra hive we have.
Most of you are probably thinking that catching a swarm sounds like a good time. I bet you'd want to try this just to say you'd tried it.
It was dangerous, the ladder could have slipped off the tree sending Jamie taking a nose dive and possibly breaking bones, or worse. It was tedious, you try holding a bucket over your head, while holding on to a ladder, while spraying bees with sugar water and sweeping them into the bucket, then putting on a lid. Without falling. It was thrilling, to have bees dropping from the swarm onto me because they didn't go into the bucket when they should have.
And you try doing it twice. Once to see how it works, and a second time to make the bees really, really angry.
After the first attempt the bees that were sprayed with sugar water that didn't make it into the bucket dropped to the ground and made little pfft and thud sounds. We dumped the bees into the nuc and Jamie volunteered to go back up to get more. Partly because we're greedy and want lots of bees. Partly because he didn't know if he'd gotten the Queen and we need the Queen in the nuc to keep the bees in the nuc.
Turns out that bees only tolerate the whole being swept into a bucket once. Jamie got stung on his forehead during the second try, the stinger was still attached when he came down off the ladder. I'd gotten stung on my left ear. Awesome. Don't make fun of me because I was standing under the ladder with no protective gear on, wearing a tank top and shorts. But do picture it, because it is pretty funny.
The bees didn't stay where we put them, they eventually vacated the building and went right back up to where they were before we risked life and limb. And they've since left our yard, too.
It was really cool, but you don't get to see more pictures because Jamie wanted me to hold the ladder and to "forget that damn camera".
I wish you all could have been here. Don't you?
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Swarm of Bees : #6 of the season
Today at 8:15am when I got back from shopping I heard a commotion in the backyard. I knew what it was before I went back there to take a peek, it was another swarm. Or swarming activity. Or maybe it was bored bees with nothing better to do than dart around quickly and poop on me, and then congregate on the hive.
.
The hive at 8:30am
The swarm was just coming down from the treetops when I got this picture.
The hive at 9:30am when I got home from the store.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Comb on the outside of the hive
This evening we enjoyed some dinner with our friends and neighbors, D and Robin. Jamie had gone back to the house to do some work on the garden and came back over to tell me that there was something going on with one of my hives. (the one that seemed to have a swarm underneath)
Donning my gear I took the hive apart.
For several days I didn't see much activity at the front of this particular hive. There is a crack at the rear which I know bees had been using for an entrance, but the activity at either of these entrances was too low to indicate that there were very many bees here. Looking at the beautiful comb I found on the bottom, outside the hive body I can see why there wasn't activity at the entrances.
I shook off the majority of the bees and set about determining the severity of the situation.
As I was looking at the comb that the bees built under the hive I spotted the Queen - thank God she was marked with her blue dot or I'd not have seen her. She was on the outside of the hive, and she'd been busy - I estimate that there were at least 25 capped brood cells and at least 100 uncapped larvae in several stages of growth. There was no way to save this larvae, so it's currently in our freezer so I can show it to our neighbor kids. Both Jamie and I were profoundly sad at the loss we experienced. We did, however, really like seeing a full super of 8 frames of capped honey!
Donning my gear I took the hive apart.
For several days I didn't see much activity at the front of this particular hive. There is a crack at the rear which I know bees had been using for an entrance, but the activity at either of these entrances was too low to indicate that there were very many bees here. Looking at the beautiful comb I found on the bottom, outside the hive body I can see why there wasn't activity at the entrances.
I shook off the majority of the bees and set about determining the severity of the situation.
As I was looking at the comb that the bees built under the hive I spotted the Queen - thank God she was marked with her blue dot or I'd not have seen her. She was on the outside of the hive, and she'd been busy - I estimate that there were at least 25 capped brood cells and at least 100 uncapped larvae in several stages of growth. There was no way to save this larvae, so it's currently in our freezer so I can show it to our neighbor kids. Both Jamie and I were profoundly sad at the loss we experienced. We did, however, really like seeing a full super of 8 frames of capped honey!
Once the comb was removed from the bottom board and the Queen was back in the hive I put it together and hoped I didn't squish the Queen (like I'm sure I did last year). I hope that this setback doesn't reduce the health or vitality of this hive. It would be a shame to lose another hive (that would make three).
I am thankful I didn't get stung and appreciated that I Jamie to help take pictures. Normally I have to do that by myself...and having someone around made everything so much easier!
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Swarm of bees : #5 of the season
This is the fifth swarm we've had in our yard this year. Number 4 was either just before or just after this one. Jamie saw it, I didn't. He said it was high up in the trees and by the time he could call me to come out it was already moving on.
Our friends Tom and BJ need a swarm and if one is withing a retrievable height I'm to call them right away. Number 5 for the year was too high to retrieve.
Jamie was the first to notice this swarm. I really hope it's not any of my bees...but only because that would mean I'd have an unmarked Queen left in my hive and my marked Queen would be on her way to her new palace.
Our friends Tom and BJ need a swarm and if one is withing a retrievable height I'm to call them right away. Number 5 for the year was too high to retrieve.
Jamie was the first to notice this swarm. I really hope it's not any of my bees...but only because that would mean I'd have an unmarked Queen left in my hive and my marked Queen would be on her way to her new palace.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Swarm of bees : #3 of the season
We witnessed our third swarming activity today. In terms of swarming, that's not really what these bees are doing, they're really just hanging out underneath this hive. I'm not sure why. Right now I'm not sure I care why...because it's really interesting. If I had to guess, I'd venture to say that the Queen of either this or some other hive is in the middle of this ball of bees.
Bees are a quirky bunch. They never do what you'd expect them to do and they always seem to be up to something. This year, as I have mentioned, I've been staying out of the hives. My eagerness last year to be in there all the time led to some prett serious consequences.
Most people don't want their bees to swarm. Call me crazy, but I do. I kind of like the fact I get to experience and witness some really interesting behavior. And I get to document it so other people can learn without having to dress up in a white jacket and veil.
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