Well, it's been awhile, huh? You may have thought my interest in my bees waned with the loss of the Georgia Girls. Admittedly, it was a blow, but I've soldiered on. With other projects and obligations around the house, it has been the blog that has suffered, unfortunately. Finding time to sit down and make an entry has been difficult, while at the same time, the colder weather has reduced the activity level on my part and the bees.
After Georgia went down in flames, I carefully dismantled the hives and allowed the marauders to finish cleaning out the frames. Some had been torn up pretty thoroughly by wax moths and those I discarded. The ones that were salvageable I stored away in sealed plastic bags for future use, along with the hive boxes and other hive components. The last I saw of my beautiful Georgia queen and her blue dot, she was wandering, alone on the bottom board with nary an attendant to wait on her. A pitiful sight! I gave her another day or so to fly off or die, as I just didn't have the heart to perform a mercy killing. She had done so well for the first four or five months of her reign, but Mother Nature, while neutral, takes no prisoners. Georgia Queen lost.
While the weather remained warm, the Arlington hive bustled with activity. Several workers were seen hauling full pollen sacs into the hive and there could be seen daily orientation flights in front of the hive that featured hundreds of bees. As an experiment, I placed two full honey supers left behind by Georgia on their hive to see if it might have any ill effects on the Arlington bees. As best as I could tell, to this point, no harm seems to have resulted from it as they began to slowly empty the comb from these supers.
The weather began to get colder and activity slowed considerably in front of my remaining hive. Each morning I would find dead bees and brood on the landing board and very few girls flying around. This worried me because this was how the Georgia collapse began. Eventually, I began to fear that Arlington was going to give up the ghost as well. For days on end I saw no activity or even dead bees at the entrance. I had inserted an entrance reducer to cut down on drafts into the hive and I would poke a stick into the entrance to see if I could get a response, but nothing. The thought of losing my other hive left me mildly depressed, let me tell you! Of course, temperatures were generally getting no more than in the 50s during the day and much chillier than that at night, so I clung to the hope that they were just staying indoors for warmth. As my mood reached its lowest point, Indian Summer arrived the beginning of Thanksgiving week with temps reaching to nearly 80 on a couple of days. It was as if an alarm clock had gone off and the bees woke up. Suddenly, for 3 or 4 days, I saw large congregations of bees on the landing board and winging about. They worked diligently removing their dead from inside the hive and I even saw some returning to the hive bearing pollen! They were ALIVE!!!
Having developed a strong attachment to my little friends by now, I can't tell you how excited I was to see them enjoying the fine weather. I felt I had another good reason for celebrating Thanksgiving!
With the holiday came a cold snap and once again bees are scarce around the hive. Last night, I put my ear to the side of the hive and heard a reassuring buzz eminating from within. I pictured them in a big cluster fighting the cold, but surviving. Of course, it's only November, so they have a long way to go, but this week has made me feel hopeful. We'll just have to see what happens.
The good news is that cold bees = no stings!
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Friday, October 5, 2007
Georgia Gone South
Well, tragedy has struck my Georgia contingent. I had known for several days that something was amiss but I hadn't had time to investigate. After checking their hive yesterday, I believe I've been the victim of "Colony Collapse Disorder" or CCD. The bees were simply gone, leaving the hive open to marauders. It was a scene of devastation and it all seems to have occurred in a month's time. The fact that Georgia had been my strong hive only adds to the shock.
As I mentioned in my last blog, I had noticed a dozen or so dead bees on the entrance board each morning along with a few larvae at the Georgia hive. The Arlington hive in contrast might have one or two. I pondered why this might be so, but I had no inkling that it was a sign of the disaster that I would soon discover. I also mentioned that I saw drones from time to time at the entrance and thought it odd, given the time of season. A few days after this observation though, I witnessed several instances of workers wrestling drones out of the hive and driving them off. I allowed myself to believe that this was a sign that all was well. But shortly after this, I observed a large dropoff in the number of bees in front of the hive when compared to Arlington, who remained robust. Within the last couple of weeks I began to notice the telltale signs of robbing bees dancing in front of the hive. They are quite distinct and easy to identify by their approach to the entrance. A bee who belongs to the hive will fly right in with little hesitation. Robbers, on the other hand will fly back and forth, probing for an opportunity to enter by darting in and out for a fair amount of time, working up their nerve perhaps. This activity increased considerably and it was this that convinced me that something very bad had happened to my Georgians.
Yesterday, I finally had time to open the hive to check it out. It consisted of three shallow honey supers on top and two deep brood boxes below. The top two supers were still full of capped honey and a few bees busied themselves gorging from a few of the cells. The third super, closest to the brood boxes had almost all of its honey removed. A handful of bees were still working it over but their dirty work was mostly done there. The further I went down into the hive, the number of bees remained constant. Perhaps a hundred or two in each super and those that were there probably didn't belong.
Upon entering the brood nest, it took on the look of a ghost town and with honey to be found in tiny patches only on the outermost frames. There was not much activity to be found and the comb was almost completely deserted. I began to see instances of young bees who had started to emerge from their cells, only to die with just their heads poking out. I found a wax moth on one of the frames and evidence of her offspring beginning to tunnel beneath the comb. Fortunately, the wax moth damage was minimal. Both brood boxes were the same. Vast fields of chocolate colored, empty cells and no bees. Finally, in the bottom box, huddled between the wall and the last frame, I saw a clot of bees massed together. I knew I would find the queen there and I did, her blue spot clearly visible among her remaining attendants who numbered perhaps 2-300. It was a pitiful sight for they were surely doomed. They had long since given up on any notion of defending their hive from intruders and now simply hid in a corner waiting for the inevitable.
The bottom of the hive was free of dead bees. The girls were simply gone. At this point, I found a deep frame that had a fair amount of honey on it and placed it next to the queen and her retinue so that it might sustain them for a time. The least I could do for the poor girl, I figured. I then reassembled the hive, keeping the top two, honey filled supers for myself. Next I'll have to figure out what to do with the hive so that I can preserve as much of the drawn out frames as possible. That will be a subject for another entry.
Meanwhile, all indications would seem to suggest that Arlington is doing great. Each afternoon, I see hundreds of bees winging about in front of their hive and crawling under the top cover. I don't feel as sure of myself as I once did, however. And I have grave doubts as to the bees ability to survive the winter. The last couple of months, I have consciously chosen to let the bees fend for themselves according to what nature prescribed and for Georgia it was too much. It is hard for me to accept that these wild creatures would depend on my activities to survive and yet, with little interaction from me, left to what their instincts would dictate, a colony that once held 50 to 60,000 bees has completely collapsed in the space of just a few weeks. Why do I feel that man has a hand in this as well? With the introduction of mites, pesticides and God knows what else, survival for the honey bee seems to be quite a precarious proposition these days.
As if to exact some small measure of revenge for this state of affairs, I was stung. Though it hurt, I couldn't help but feel it was a bit of spitting into the wind for that bee and her sisters.
As I mentioned in my last blog, I had noticed a dozen or so dead bees on the entrance board each morning along with a few larvae at the Georgia hive. The Arlington hive in contrast might have one or two. I pondered why this might be so, but I had no inkling that it was a sign of the disaster that I would soon discover. I also mentioned that I saw drones from time to time at the entrance and thought it odd, given the time of season. A few days after this observation though, I witnessed several instances of workers wrestling drones out of the hive and driving them off. I allowed myself to believe that this was a sign that all was well. But shortly after this, I observed a large dropoff in the number of bees in front of the hive when compared to Arlington, who remained robust. Within the last couple of weeks I began to notice the telltale signs of robbing bees dancing in front of the hive. They are quite distinct and easy to identify by their approach to the entrance. A bee who belongs to the hive will fly right in with little hesitation. Robbers, on the other hand will fly back and forth, probing for an opportunity to enter by darting in and out for a fair amount of time, working up their nerve perhaps. This activity increased considerably and it was this that convinced me that something very bad had happened to my Georgians.
Yesterday, I finally had time to open the hive to check it out. It consisted of three shallow honey supers on top and two deep brood boxes below. The top two supers were still full of capped honey and a few bees busied themselves gorging from a few of the cells. The third super, closest to the brood boxes had almost all of its honey removed. A handful of bees were still working it over but their dirty work was mostly done there. The further I went down into the hive, the number of bees remained constant. Perhaps a hundred or two in each super and those that were there probably didn't belong.
Upon entering the brood nest, it took on the look of a ghost town and with honey to be found in tiny patches only on the outermost frames. There was not much activity to be found and the comb was almost completely deserted. I began to see instances of young bees who had started to emerge from their cells, only to die with just their heads poking out. I found a wax moth on one of the frames and evidence of her offspring beginning to tunnel beneath the comb. Fortunately, the wax moth damage was minimal. Both brood boxes were the same. Vast fields of chocolate colored, empty cells and no bees. Finally, in the bottom box, huddled between the wall and the last frame, I saw a clot of bees massed together. I knew I would find the queen there and I did, her blue spot clearly visible among her remaining attendants who numbered perhaps 2-300. It was a pitiful sight for they were surely doomed. They had long since given up on any notion of defending their hive from intruders and now simply hid in a corner waiting for the inevitable.
The bottom of the hive was free of dead bees. The girls were simply gone. At this point, I found a deep frame that had a fair amount of honey on it and placed it next to the queen and her retinue so that it might sustain them for a time. The least I could do for the poor girl, I figured. I then reassembled the hive, keeping the top two, honey filled supers for myself. Next I'll have to figure out what to do with the hive so that I can preserve as much of the drawn out frames as possible. That will be a subject for another entry.
Meanwhile, all indications would seem to suggest that Arlington is doing great. Each afternoon, I see hundreds of bees winging about in front of their hive and crawling under the top cover. I don't feel as sure of myself as I once did, however. And I have grave doubts as to the bees ability to survive the winter. The last couple of months, I have consciously chosen to let the bees fend for themselves according to what nature prescribed and for Georgia it was too much. It is hard for me to accept that these wild creatures would depend on my activities to survive and yet, with little interaction from me, left to what their instincts would dictate, a colony that once held 50 to 60,000 bees has completely collapsed in the space of just a few weeks. Why do I feel that man has a hand in this as well? With the introduction of mites, pesticides and God knows what else, survival for the honey bee seems to be quite a precarious proposition these days.
As if to exact some small measure of revenge for this state of affairs, I was stung. Though it hurt, I couldn't help but feel it was a bit of spitting into the wind for that bee and her sisters.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
I've been a BAD Blogger!
Well, I guess I'm not doing so well keeping this blog updated, huh? Part of it is due to the novelty wearing off a little, I guess. Where as before I would run to the computer as soon as I did something new with the bees, now I put it off for weeks. Since this blog is serving as my record for all of my bee doings, I better get back with the program.
Since last we wrote, several events have occurred in the Holster beeyard. To begin with, the girls have had several visitors since July. Their fame has spread and they are often the first thing on the agenda for our guests. Various cousins, in-laws, and friends have tested their fortitude in seeing how close they can dare venture up to the hives and take a peek. Some have been fearless, others not so fearless. All have exhibited a deep curiosity in these little critters and what they do. My 89-year-old mother-in-law stood right beside the hives, examined them closely and asked many questions. Others, who will remain nameless Joe, kept a sizeable amount of real estate between themselves and our little heros. Either way, the girls were popular attractions and of course, I didn't mind holding court describing every nuance of bee culture. Not all of my hobbies have had such an effect on others.
With the increased mite count that I referred to in the last entry I had planned to pick up some confectioners sugar and a sifter so that I could douse the bees and hopefully, as a result, reduce the population of mites. I finally got around to that a couple of weeks back and though the girls didn't seem to appreciate the procedure at first, they quickly set about cleaning up the mess. My procedure was to set each super on my picnic table and sprinkle them their before returning the supers to the hive. This worked out well but the table ended up covered with powdered sugar that the bees cleaned up with vigor. By the next morning you wouldn't know that the sugar had ever been there. Hopefully, this treatment along with a normal reduction in mites going into the fall will keep the bees healthier.
During the process of sugaring the bees I examined the hives down to the brood boxes. As I mentioned in a previous entry, I had installed inner covers below my honey supers in order for the bees to move those stores down into the brood boxes. The idea being that my supers could be cleaned out and ready to go for spring. All five shallow supers were completely filled with capped honey but they showed no signs that the bees had begun moving anything south. Several bees toiled about the comb but initially, there seemed to be so few of them that I worried that most of the bees had flown away. I was relieved when I saw that the hives were jam-packed with bees below these inner covers. Still, it was a little disconcerting to see that the supers were still honey-filled after a month sitting above the inner covers. The bees had also propolized the inner covers to the tops of frames below so thoroughly that I had to literally dismantle the inner covers to get them off the hives. Likewise, the frames themselves were locked in tight. The Arlington girls seem to be the propolis queens as their hive is routinely dripping with the stuff and working the hive is always more of a challenge because of it.
The real problem I was faced with though was what to do with these supers of honey. It might seem obvious that I should just extract it and bottle it up but I'm fairly sure that most of it was produced from the gallons of sugar syrup I had been feeding the bees through the middle of August and so it wasn't the sort of honey that would be suitable for keeping. I also don't have the facilities yet for extracting the honey which means I would have to prevail upon one of my mentors to use their equipment. If the honey was not the best for human comsumption I wouldn't want to waste someone's time dealing with it. So in the end, I figured I would just leave it all for the bees to help them through winter. I'd estimate that there is probably at least 80 lbs. of honey in each hive. Having removed the inner covers and thus creating two large hives, four to five boxes tall, I imagine the bees will do what nature prescribes and use the next couple of months to orient their household in such a way to help them best face the winter. I'll feed them a 2:1 mixture of syrup again in October to help them replace any stores they use in the meantime and give them a dose of medicine to help them fend off Nosema this winter.
As the weather has turned colder at night, I've noticed a higher mortality rate amongst the girls. Each morning, before work, I'll take a look at the hive and usually I can expect to find up to a dozen dead bees littering the landing board. Interspersed with these are a half dozen dead larvae. I'm guessing that these are the result of what is called "chilled brood" and has come about because of the drop in temperatures. The Georgia hive seems to be having a larger die-off than Arlington. Interestingly, I still see a fair number of drones active at the entrance. I would have thought, going by the books I've read, that these guys would have been run off by now. I guess there must be adequate amounts of food entering the hive, or we can chalk it up to the bee's notorious reluctance to read books.
Well, until next time.
Sting count: Holding at 15! Yay!!!
Since last we wrote, several events have occurred in the Holster beeyard. To begin with, the girls have had several visitors since July. Their fame has spread and they are often the first thing on the agenda for our guests. Various cousins, in-laws, and friends have tested their fortitude in seeing how close they can dare venture up to the hives and take a peek. Some have been fearless, others not so fearless. All have exhibited a deep curiosity in these little critters and what they do. My 89-year-old mother-in-law stood right beside the hives, examined them closely and asked many questions. Others, who will remain nameless Joe, kept a sizeable amount of real estate between themselves and our little heros. Either way, the girls were popular attractions and of course, I didn't mind holding court describing every nuance of bee culture. Not all of my hobbies have had such an effect on others.
With the increased mite count that I referred to in the last entry I had planned to pick up some confectioners sugar and a sifter so that I could douse the bees and hopefully, as a result, reduce the population of mites. I finally got around to that a couple of weeks back and though the girls didn't seem to appreciate the procedure at first, they quickly set about cleaning up the mess. My procedure was to set each super on my picnic table and sprinkle them their before returning the supers to the hive. This worked out well but the table ended up covered with powdered sugar that the bees cleaned up with vigor. By the next morning you wouldn't know that the sugar had ever been there. Hopefully, this treatment along with a normal reduction in mites going into the fall will keep the bees healthier.
During the process of sugaring the bees I examined the hives down to the brood boxes. As I mentioned in a previous entry, I had installed inner covers below my honey supers in order for the bees to move those stores down into the brood boxes. The idea being that my supers could be cleaned out and ready to go for spring. All five shallow supers were completely filled with capped honey but they showed no signs that the bees had begun moving anything south. Several bees toiled about the comb but initially, there seemed to be so few of them that I worried that most of the bees had flown away. I was relieved when I saw that the hives were jam-packed with bees below these inner covers. Still, it was a little disconcerting to see that the supers were still honey-filled after a month sitting above the inner covers. The bees had also propolized the inner covers to the tops of frames below so thoroughly that I had to literally dismantle the inner covers to get them off the hives. Likewise, the frames themselves were locked in tight. The Arlington girls seem to be the propolis queens as their hive is routinely dripping with the stuff and working the hive is always more of a challenge because of it.
The real problem I was faced with though was what to do with these supers of honey. It might seem obvious that I should just extract it and bottle it up but I'm fairly sure that most of it was produced from the gallons of sugar syrup I had been feeding the bees through the middle of August and so it wasn't the sort of honey that would be suitable for keeping. I also don't have the facilities yet for extracting the honey which means I would have to prevail upon one of my mentors to use their equipment. If the honey was not the best for human comsumption I wouldn't want to waste someone's time dealing with it. So in the end, I figured I would just leave it all for the bees to help them through winter. I'd estimate that there is probably at least 80 lbs. of honey in each hive. Having removed the inner covers and thus creating two large hives, four to five boxes tall, I imagine the bees will do what nature prescribes and use the next couple of months to orient their household in such a way to help them best face the winter. I'll feed them a 2:1 mixture of syrup again in October to help them replace any stores they use in the meantime and give them a dose of medicine to help them fend off Nosema this winter.
As the weather has turned colder at night, I've noticed a higher mortality rate amongst the girls. Each morning, before work, I'll take a look at the hive and usually I can expect to find up to a dozen dead bees littering the landing board. Interspersed with these are a half dozen dead larvae. I'm guessing that these are the result of what is called "chilled brood" and has come about because of the drop in temperatures. The Georgia hive seems to be having a larger die-off than Arlington. Interestingly, I still see a fair number of drones active at the entrance. I would have thought, going by the books I've read, that these guys would have been run off by now. I guess there must be adequate amounts of food entering the hive, or we can chalk it up to the bee's notorious reluctance to read books.
Well, until next time.
Sting count: Holding at 15! Yay!!!
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Belated Update
Wow! It's been awhile since I wrote something here. For the few who are still actually reading this, I hope I haven't run you off by ignoring you. Truth is, I haven't really done much with the hives since my last communication and here we are closing in on the middle of August. Please forgive me, dear reader!
I did another mite count using the greasy bottom board technique and after 24 hours, it was clear that the mite population has grown considerably within both hives. I gave up counting but I'm sure I had at least a few dozen on each board along with various other tiny critters, bee legs, etc. Time for some countermeasures. Must pick up some powdered sugar and a sifter tomorrow. Stay tuned on that one.
I also built a screened inner cover for each hive. Actually, Arlington got theirs a couple of weeks ago and it's afforded a nice opportunity to peek in on the girls while keeping them safely separated from yours truly. They appear to enjoy the draft up there because there is always a huge number of bees loitering around on top of the frames. I glued 1/4" pieces of dowel to the tops of the new covers to give a 360 degree opening for circulation while still maintaining a low enough profile so that the edges of the top cover prevent rain or direct wind from entering the hive. Of course, the bees have begun propolizing the screen in the corners, so maybe they have too much breeze?
Today I built a screened inner cover for Georgia and I had to remove the original inner cover to install the new one. Of course, this action riled them enough for one of their number to sting me on my exposed leg (I was wearing shorts) For some reason, that sting REALLY hurt! That girl packed a punch, let me tell you. Another tried to get me, but I was too quick for her and she gave up the ghost without delivering the goods! Ha Ha! You try to do them a favor and look how they repay you! Ungrateful little bugs.
A couple of weeks back, I had installed another inner cover under my top honey super in Georgia. They had completely filled the frames with honey and capped it and so, following the recommended procedure, I slipped in the cover so they would begin removing the stores and move them downstairs for easier access. Well, it doesn't appear that they are making much progress in this regard, at least as viewed from above while I performed the task mentioned in the preceeding paragraph. I guess I'll need to do a more thorough inspection to be sure.
At any rate, they should be a little cooler for the rest of the summer.
Sting count...15
I did another mite count using the greasy bottom board technique and after 24 hours, it was clear that the mite population has grown considerably within both hives. I gave up counting but I'm sure I had at least a few dozen on each board along with various other tiny critters, bee legs, etc. Time for some countermeasures. Must pick up some powdered sugar and a sifter tomorrow. Stay tuned on that one.
I also built a screened inner cover for each hive. Actually, Arlington got theirs a couple of weeks ago and it's afforded a nice opportunity to peek in on the girls while keeping them safely separated from yours truly. They appear to enjoy the draft up there because there is always a huge number of bees loitering around on top of the frames. I glued 1/4" pieces of dowel to the tops of the new covers to give a 360 degree opening for circulation while still maintaining a low enough profile so that the edges of the top cover prevent rain or direct wind from entering the hive. Of course, the bees have begun propolizing the screen in the corners, so maybe they have too much breeze?
Today I built a screened inner cover for Georgia and I had to remove the original inner cover to install the new one. Of course, this action riled them enough for one of their number to sting me on my exposed leg (I was wearing shorts) For some reason, that sting REALLY hurt! That girl packed a punch, let me tell you. Another tried to get me, but I was too quick for her and she gave up the ghost without delivering the goods! Ha Ha! You try to do them a favor and look how they repay you! Ungrateful little bugs.
A couple of weeks back, I had installed another inner cover under my top honey super in Georgia. They had completely filled the frames with honey and capped it and so, following the recommended procedure, I slipped in the cover so they would begin removing the stores and move them downstairs for easier access. Well, it doesn't appear that they are making much progress in this regard, at least as viewed from above while I performed the task mentioned in the preceeding paragraph. I guess I'll need to do a more thorough inspection to be sure.
At any rate, they should be a little cooler for the rest of the summer.
Sting count...15
Sunday, July 22, 2007
More Syrup...What Else is New?
Today, I added two fresh gallons of sugar syrup to each hive. They had drained it by Tuesday or so, but as I said in my last entry, I'm only going to fill the feeders once a week on Saturday or Sunday. For the record, I also added a large chunk of pollen patty to both hives.
It had been awhile since I had done a full inspection (below the honey supers) on either hive so I decided to take a top to bottom look at Georgia today. I had the intention of removing the honey supers and the top brood chamber so that I could start by checking out the bottom brood chamber first, as is recommended in some of the books. This way, you get the most defensive part of the hive out of the way early and they can start calming down as you check succeeding boxes. The idea being that you'll have fewer guards and foragers to contend with the higher up in the hive you are working.
It sounded reasonable to me except for one little hitch. The Georgia girls have shown themselves to be quite fond of propolizing everything to the maximum and building prodigious amounts of ladder/burr comb. When I tried to pry off the top honey super, it became clear that all of the frames were fastened tightly to the frames below. As I tried to lift, the second super wanted to come too. This meant I had to begin by removing each frame in the top super, one by one, and scrape wax that ran the length of each bottom bar. The girls had also added gobs of propolis to the ends of each top bar as well. Clearly, they had done their level best to ensure BeeKeeper Man could not invade their bustling little abode. Unfortunately for them, they don't know about hive tools and muscles of a size their small minds can't even begin to fathom! But even with these advantages, BeeKeeper Man had his work cut out for him. I scraped and scraped and the ground piled up with wax. Each frame was filled with beautiful capped honey and a couple contained a fair amount of capped brood too. Supers filled with honey are surprisingly heavy, even with the shallows I have on the hives. I'd estimate them to weigh around 30 lbs. or so.
(I'm using shallow supers not out of choice but because they were given to me, along with a whole stack of shallow foundation, by a friend. My preference would've been to use mediums, but why spend the money if you don't have to, right? I have a total of five, ten-frame supers and enough foundation to build five more. The bees have already drawn and filled four of these and I had prepared the fifth to put on Georgia today. But I'll get to that shortly.)
I had been into the honey supers before and so I wasn't surprised to see twenty frames of capped honey in them. The girls were close to achieving that goal the last time I looked. It is tempting to grab some of it now but I'm guessing it was made largely from the sugar syrup I've been feeding them, so it probably wouldn't be anything to write home about. Another reason for not taking it is that I've pretty much decided to leave all the honey for them this year. The better to ensure their survival through the winter. The question I have is how to manage all of these excess stores. The battle plan was to have the bees draw out the comb, fill it with honey and then place an inner cover between the supers and the brood chambers below. This would make the bees retrieve the honey from the supers and move it down into the lower boxes, leaving you with nicely cleaned out frames for the harvest next spring. But I don't know where the bees would put it. Please continue reading to see what I mean...
On checking the first brood box, I found the outside frames heavy with completely capped off honey. As I worked towards the center, I found the queen and lots of capped brood, eggs and larvae. She still appears vigorous and healthy and was easy to spot in the multitudes with her big blue spot. The brood pattern appeared to be a little more spotty than her usual, but there was plenty of it, so I'm not too worried about it. The bottom box had two outside frames full of honey, just like the box above it. Interestingly, as I moved towards the center, I encountered vast fields of cells full of nectar, upper corners full of honey but almost no brood. I was getting a little concerned until I hit the middle of the box. Frames five through nine were packed with capped brood, eggs and larvae. So the queen has been laying prodigiously from the bottom of the hive to the top. Some girl, that queen, but as you can see, I have no idea where they would put all the honey they have hoarded in the honey supers if I were to encourage them to bring it downstairs. Must ask Pat about this...
As I reassembled the hive, I inserted my fifth honey super with the new foundation under the existing supers, giving Georgia three total. When they fill that one, I can almost picture them setting up a little hiveside stand to sell honey to bee passersby. Wouldn't that be great? Little bee entreprenuers. I'm sorry, the smoke probably got to me. I mean, we all know they would kill 10,000 bees and lose 10,000 of their own before they would give up a mouthful of excess honey to a bee outside their hive tribe. Hard wiring doesn't allow for deviation from the script, my friends. And why in the world would we wish on them a human characteristic like that anyway? Before you know it, there would be Bee monopolies, multinationals with watered-down honey, queens having whole supers to themselves while other bees were forced to live on a mere cell or two. Fortunately for them, they have no capacity to listen to anything we might have to say.
Friday, while trying to replenish their water in the Boardman Feeders a bee who couldn't tell my pants leg from a hive entrance managed to crawl, undetected nearly to my crotch before panicking and giving me the ol' honeybee jab. As I grabbed at my inner thigh, she came tumbling out of my shorts onto the porch floor and trust me, she was doing far worse than I at that moment. She did boost the tally though...
Sting total...14.
It had been awhile since I had done a full inspection (below the honey supers) on either hive so I decided to take a top to bottom look at Georgia today. I had the intention of removing the honey supers and the top brood chamber so that I could start by checking out the bottom brood chamber first, as is recommended in some of the books. This way, you get the most defensive part of the hive out of the way early and they can start calming down as you check succeeding boxes. The idea being that you'll have fewer guards and foragers to contend with the higher up in the hive you are working.
It sounded reasonable to me except for one little hitch. The Georgia girls have shown themselves to be quite fond of propolizing everything to the maximum and building prodigious amounts of ladder/burr comb. When I tried to pry off the top honey super, it became clear that all of the frames were fastened tightly to the frames below. As I tried to lift, the second super wanted to come too. This meant I had to begin by removing each frame in the top super, one by one, and scrape wax that ran the length of each bottom bar. The girls had also added gobs of propolis to the ends of each top bar as well. Clearly, they had done their level best to ensure BeeKeeper Man could not invade their bustling little abode. Unfortunately for them, they don't know about hive tools and muscles of a size their small minds can't even begin to fathom! But even with these advantages, BeeKeeper Man had his work cut out for him. I scraped and scraped and the ground piled up with wax. Each frame was filled with beautiful capped honey and a couple contained a fair amount of capped brood too. Supers filled with honey are surprisingly heavy, even with the shallows I have on the hives. I'd estimate them to weigh around 30 lbs. or so.
(I'm using shallow supers not out of choice but because they were given to me, along with a whole stack of shallow foundation, by a friend. My preference would've been to use mediums, but why spend the money if you don't have to, right? I have a total of five, ten-frame supers and enough foundation to build five more. The bees have already drawn and filled four of these and I had prepared the fifth to put on Georgia today. But I'll get to that shortly.)
I had been into the honey supers before and so I wasn't surprised to see twenty frames of capped honey in them. The girls were close to achieving that goal the last time I looked. It is tempting to grab some of it now but I'm guessing it was made largely from the sugar syrup I've been feeding them, so it probably wouldn't be anything to write home about. Another reason for not taking it is that I've pretty much decided to leave all the honey for them this year. The better to ensure their survival through the winter. The question I have is how to manage all of these excess stores. The battle plan was to have the bees draw out the comb, fill it with honey and then place an inner cover between the supers and the brood chambers below. This would make the bees retrieve the honey from the supers and move it down into the lower boxes, leaving you with nicely cleaned out frames for the harvest next spring. But I don't know where the bees would put it. Please continue reading to see what I mean...
On checking the first brood box, I found the outside frames heavy with completely capped off honey. As I worked towards the center, I found the queen and lots of capped brood, eggs and larvae. She still appears vigorous and healthy and was easy to spot in the multitudes with her big blue spot. The brood pattern appeared to be a little more spotty than her usual, but there was plenty of it, so I'm not too worried about it. The bottom box had two outside frames full of honey, just like the box above it. Interestingly, as I moved towards the center, I encountered vast fields of cells full of nectar, upper corners full of honey but almost no brood. I was getting a little concerned until I hit the middle of the box. Frames five through nine were packed with capped brood, eggs and larvae. So the queen has been laying prodigiously from the bottom of the hive to the top. Some girl, that queen, but as you can see, I have no idea where they would put all the honey they have hoarded in the honey supers if I were to encourage them to bring it downstairs. Must ask Pat about this...
As I reassembled the hive, I inserted my fifth honey super with the new foundation under the existing supers, giving Georgia three total. When they fill that one, I can almost picture them setting up a little hiveside stand to sell honey to bee passersby. Wouldn't that be great? Little bee entreprenuers. I'm sorry, the smoke probably got to me. I mean, we all know they would kill 10,000 bees and lose 10,000 of their own before they would give up a mouthful of excess honey to a bee outside their hive tribe. Hard wiring doesn't allow for deviation from the script, my friends. And why in the world would we wish on them a human characteristic like that anyway? Before you know it, there would be Bee monopolies, multinationals with watered-down honey, queens having whole supers to themselves while other bees were forced to live on a mere cell or two. Fortunately for them, they have no capacity to listen to anything we might have to say.
Friday, while trying to replenish their water in the Boardman Feeders a bee who couldn't tell my pants leg from a hive entrance managed to crawl, undetected nearly to my crotch before panicking and giving me the ol' honeybee jab. As I grabbed at my inner thigh, she came tumbling out of my shorts onto the porch floor and trust me, she was doing far worse than I at that moment. She did boost the tally though...
Sting total...14.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Counting Mites!
To begin with, for the record, I added four more gallons of syrup to the hives on Saturday - two for Georgia and two for Arlington. They had both been dry for about four days, but in the interest of fair-sharing the sugar cane harvest in the western hemisphere, I've decided they each get two gallons per week and no more. They've actually kept ahead of my ability to provide fresh, undrawn supers for them anyway and the four supers currently on the hives have been drawn and filled for some time. Adding that to what they have stashed in the brood chambers, they should be in good shape. I'll pick up the feeding pace again in September. I do need to add more pollen patty though, as I'm sure they've finished that off.
Yesterday, July 15th, I slid a grease-covered board under the screened bottom boards of the hives for the purpose of collecting varroa mites that drop from inside. Today, I pulled the boards and counted. On Arlington, I counted a grand total of three after going over the board with an eye-loop three times. Georgia had six. They are pretty small - about the size of a lower case 'o' but after seeing a few, they became readily visible. The difficulty comes in determining that the little critter you see is a mite and not some other hapless insect who got stuck. There were many of these. Of course I had several ants -no surprise there - a couple of moths (wax moths?) and a variety of other things. Add to this the usual debris that rains down out of the hive such as wax flakes, dirt, propolis chunks, bee poop and God knows what else. They decorated the board pretty good in just 24 hours.
By putting the boards under the hives I effectively closed off a major source of ventilation for the bees. This was evident when I checked the hives an hour or so later and found thousands of bees chillin' on the front porch (ie. landing board). Twenty or thirty of them were vigorously fanning the hive entrance to get some air conditioning going. I felt bad for them, but it is for their own good in the long run. When I pulled the boards today, I felt like I was giving them a gift. Now the hives can get back to their normal 95 degrees or so and the girls can sleep at night without sweating all over the comb.
I believe that based on my count, the bees are in pretty good shape for the moment. I will do the count again in a week and see if the mite population has grown. They are supposed to peak in August, so I assume my count will rise. If it does, I'll have to take to the countermeasures that have been suggested. One of these is to sift powdered sugar down through the hives and onto the bees. This causes the mites to fall off the bees and it is hoped that the bees themselves will dislodge more when they groom each other after the sugar bath. The direction nowadays is to avoid using chemical solutions if at all possible. Stay tuned!
The girls and I have enjoyed a peaceful coexistance of late and so...
the sting count remains at 13!
Yesterday, July 15th, I slid a grease-covered board under the screened bottom boards of the hives for the purpose of collecting varroa mites that drop from inside. Today, I pulled the boards and counted. On Arlington, I counted a grand total of three after going over the board with an eye-loop three times. Georgia had six. They are pretty small - about the size of a lower case 'o' but after seeing a few, they became readily visible. The difficulty comes in determining that the little critter you see is a mite and not some other hapless insect who got stuck. There were many of these. Of course I had several ants -no surprise there - a couple of moths (wax moths?) and a variety of other things. Add to this the usual debris that rains down out of the hive such as wax flakes, dirt, propolis chunks, bee poop and God knows what else. They decorated the board pretty good in just 24 hours.
By putting the boards under the hives I effectively closed off a major source of ventilation for the bees. This was evident when I checked the hives an hour or so later and found thousands of bees chillin' on the front porch (ie. landing board). Twenty or thirty of them were vigorously fanning the hive entrance to get some air conditioning going. I felt bad for them, but it is for their own good in the long run. When I pulled the boards today, I felt like I was giving them a gift. Now the hives can get back to their normal 95 degrees or so and the girls can sleep at night without sweating all over the comb.
I believe that based on my count, the bees are in pretty good shape for the moment. I will do the count again in a week and see if the mite population has grown. They are supposed to peak in August, so I assume my count will rise. If it does, I'll have to take to the countermeasures that have been suggested. One of these is to sift powdered sugar down through the hives and onto the bees. This causes the mites to fall off the bees and it is hoped that the bees themselves will dislodge more when they groom each other after the sugar bath. The direction nowadays is to avoid using chemical solutions if at all possible. Stay tuned!
The girls and I have enjoyed a peaceful coexistance of late and so...
the sting count remains at 13!
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