12/28 Hive check

i've been .dead bees in the snow but not a huge number but I was anxious to look inside the hive for a quick peek.

I changed up the cedar chip pillow at the top housed in a super with a screen bottom.  The top of the deep below the screen was filled with bs so I was happy to see that.  I did nothing except pull out the bottom board to see if there were dead bees there.  Nothing there.

Then I noticed that the front entrance had a lot of bees in front of the opening so I unscrewed the mouse guard and pulled out a lot of dead bees.  I then closed it back up.  No bees came out to greet me while I was doing that.  However a few had come out while I was changing out the pillow.

Overall I'm happy there are still bees in there.  I know I left them plenty of food by taking no honey for myself this year.  Fingers crossed.

10/28 quick check

I opened the hive today because it was the only day this week where the weather will be warm enough.  I probably should have taken it all apart and checked thoroughly but I didn't.  I wanted to see how many bees I have...LOTS.  And that is in the top deep.  There are three deeps.

The top deep has 8 frames and the feeder which takes up almost two frames worth of space.  I filled the feeder with sugar syrup.

I wanted to look at a few frames but got stung right away and it wasn't really warm enough to keep the hive open for long.  But I did see they were making wax on an empty frame so they are still busy creating space.

I'm so pleased to see a lot of bees.  I have treated for varroa twice.  Once with the Apivar strips and one with oxilic acid on paper laid over the top of the bottom deep. Very few mites have fallen off the bees though.  Some did at first.  But now I think I must leave them be until a nice day and I don't know when that will be.

I'm also thinking about not wrapping them this year.  I've heard of those who have had good luck not wrapping up the hives.  But I would move the two other empty hives close to the tall one and maybe  a piece of stiff insulation to the more windy side.  And close up the entrance.  I'm not sure yet.

I had added popsicle sticks to the top of the inside cover last month so that the sticks raise the outer cover just enough to remove any  moisture building up inside.  I saw no wetness on inner cover so  it looked to me like it was working well.  I also have cedar filled pillows I could add if needed but didn't want any more height to deal with. 

IF these bees survive the winter, I will do a split.  Perhaps I should have done a split this summer, in hindsight. We'll just have to see what happens over the winter and how many I lose.  Having an extra hive is something I want if only for comparison purposes and would like to  do it early to let bees make a queen.

9/27/19 - All's well

I see I haven't posted anything this month, for good reasons. I had a family emergency and lost a brother unexpectedly, which turned my focus to family rather than my bees.

Today I did a few things:

• Added mouse guard
• Added feeder to the top
• Repositioned this tall hive since it was leaning forward and as soon as I touched the first box, I stopped it from tipping over!  Oh boy, what a disaster that would have been.
• Upset my bees and got a few stings today
• Added Apivar strips to the two top deeps.  The bottom deep still has the Oxilic acid paper towels there so I thought I  may need extra help with the varroa since my bottom board didn't have  many mites on it.
• I added a new sticky board to see if I see more mites than I have been seeing

There still appears to be a queen since I saw brood in the middle deep and upper deep.  I didn't disturb the lower deep since I would have torn the oxilic paper.

Lots of honey, capped and ready to eat when needed.  I'm not taking any for myself this fall. I added the feeder so I will begin adding sugar syrup very soon but don't think they need it yet.

I'm worried about the height of my hive.  I fear something bumped into it which is what made it tippy. But it's too late, I think, to create a Nuc and have it winter over. I may get a few more cement blocks to add under the front so that it can't tip off.

8/25/19 - Hive check and varroa treatment and mite check

I was anxious to get into the hive with all the talk of mites this week and saw that this is the exact time of year when they begin to really multiply.  The last time I checked, I didn't have any.  But I decided that today was the day I was going to do the Oxilic acid/glycerin treatment on the work towel.  To me, out of all I've read, that seemed to be the easiest solution and it's supposed to be very effective. I followed these instructions.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eg1Vm-v2pRY
We'll see.

I also added the sticky board again but I should have done that three days ago so I can see how the solution works.  But it's too late now so I'll at least have a count in three days and then check it again in a few weeks and hopefully will see less than I'll have on Wednesday when I pull and count.

I was anxious to see if I had drone brood, still thinking of last year when my hive was overcome by drones.  The few cells I saw, I scraped off to get rid of them but also to see if they had mites in the brood.  They did.  But my green drone frames had no brood this time.  They were actually filling one corner with honey.  Whatever.  They have space to lay if they want to.

There's a lot of brood throughout the three deeps and a lot of nectar and capped honey.   I'm not taking any honey this year so that they have plenty to winter over.  In the spring, if there's any left, I can see if there's enough for me to take some.

It's not about the honey this year.  It's all about keeping the hive going!.

I did notice several queen cells, hatched or otherwise empty.

I also got my first sting of the year.  I've had much more aggressive bees than these. They probably thought, if they think at all, that I was going to take away  honey.

8/10 hive check = very pleased

I had added a sticky board 3 days ago so I removed that to check on mites.  I found one.  I couldn't believe that was all but there was debris but only one mite.  I use a 10X loop so I can really see them.  One.  Unreal.  I wonder how that could be when other years I've lost hives, I'm told, due to the number of varroa. or absconding or other.  I wonder if this new vendor I purchased from did some sort of treatment that has protected them.  I don't know but I'm glad it isn't an issue at the moment.  I will keep checking and treat when necessary.

Things otherwise looked great in the hive, now with three deeps and a super.  I added that third deep a few weeks ago because I had no brood and lots of nectar and honey.  But I needed brood and there wasn't enough places for the queen (which I wasn't sure I had) to lay any eggs. 

I have been on alert for drone activity after last year when the drones took over my hive and re-queening didn't work out so I lost the hive.  Finally they are working on the drone frame so I removed this and plopped it into the freezer.  I will put it back into the hive today or tomorrow. I shook the live bees away from the hive hoping drones wouldn't find their way back. It looks like I pulled it at the right time before the capped brood hatches/

A green frame, with larger cells, is used to encourage drones to build and hatch there so you can remove drones from the hive. It's done by freezing the frame for a day or two and then put it back into the hive.  The other bees will clean it up. Stay alert with these because if you let them hatch, they could take over your hive.

A beautiful frame; capped honey around the edges, capped brood in the center area, some nector in the few remaining cells.

The frame above is just what you want to see.  Capped brood and capped honey.  I didn't see any eggs in the cells...on this frame.  But I had a few other frames with lots of open cell brood in various stages. 

There was very little action in the super. The bees seems to be concentrating on building numbers and that's what we want right now. I don't plan to take any honey this year.  I want to see if I can get this through the winter as one hive, and if enough (any) survive the winter, I'll split it and then see if I can sell the nuc.  I really want only one hive so maybe...but I'm getting way ahead of myself, given my previous failures at this wonderful hobby.

Beeing Stubborn!

7/26 added drawn frame or two to the hive

I went through the hive yesterday and worried I didn't see any brood. However today I saw some  Not a lot but some.

Yesterday, I had added empty, undrawn frames to give the packed hive more space and added another deep.  But I worried that, IF there's a queen in there, she needs space now. 

I had a few frames in the freezer that are kind of old but at least they were already drawn out so I added it to the new deep where I saw another frame or two with some uncapped brood. I'm hoping it's not a drone brood.  We'll see.  At least I'll know I gave them room to grow.

I did see some queen cells that look empty.  I also saw a lot of craziness around the hive a week or two ago and a youtube video showed similar activity when a queen was heading out for her mating run.  That could be what was happening.  Time will tell

Hive check heavy with nectar but no real brood

I'm not sure I have a queen anymore.  I have a lot of bees right now, and a lot of honey and nectar.   In fact, the second deep was way too heavy for me to lift so I removed all but three frames from there to move it.  Then I decided to add a third deep since there was so little room in the second.  They haven't made much headway in the super I added but I also added that to the top.  Right now, I just wanted to give them room to grow....hoping there is a queen somewhere that I may have missed.

I saw very little brood, but did see some eggs on a few frames. I also saw some empty cells with black dot in them.   I wonder if they were mites.  I just fear that I could be drone heavy again.  I'm not sure.

But I did what I could for now as I'm heading to vacation and won't have time to deal with anything more than what I did today.  I checked all boxes and all frames today and cleaned out any comb not needed.

When I get back in a week or so, I plan to do a mite check and an oxalic acid treatment if needed then. I am not going to get a queen.  Seems to me the norm of the life of a queen should last more than 2 months!

Hive check 7/4/19

The bottom deep was pretty empty...much lighter than I expected.  But it is because all that brood is now hatched so I have a lot more bees flying around.  The queen is busy laying eggs and the pollen is so  varied and pretty in the cells.

I was going to add a super today but decided to wait until the next hive check.  They still have room now in the lower deep and about 3 frames in the upper deep so I added more sugar syrup instead so they can build out the few remaining foundations.  I didn't have a lot of comb on the frames this year so they've needed to put in some extra effort.  They seem to be thriving at the moment.

Dare I speak too soon?

I also added another sticky board which I will check on Sunday and do a mite count. Trying to get in the habit of doing it, even though I read that once a month is enough. Can't hurt though since there's no disruption to the bees.

I took this photo the other day when it was just slightly beyond its peak but it will be loaded with Elderberries in August.  I want to get them before the birds do. Will need to be diligent in watching for the perfect time to pick.

Mama and baby elderberry bushes.  I think I will move baby to another part of the yard that needs a focal point.

Looking from the hive area to the back yard and see some of the vegetable garden (with a few flowers around too)

Happy Independence day!

Added another sticky board

June 22 - I added another sticky board to check on mites.  I will take out the board on Tuesday and count them.

• There was lots of capped brood; 
• more bees so some have hatched
• I didn't see the queen but saw lots of larvae in various stages so I expect she's still in there. I always feel better, however, if I actually see her.
• Sugar water was all gone this time - probably because of all the rain we had last week.  But it's sunny today! I added more sugar water.
• So far, these bees have a great nature.  Not at all hostile.
• They are busy working in the second deep as well.  Lots of nector; a lot of cleaning done. It actually felt heavier than I expected when I removed it to get to the bottom deep.
• There was a lot of debris on the bottom board so I scraped that all out before adding the sticky board

Then I closed it up.  I also mowed the bee yard and added a pot of flowers.

A clumsy start with my screened bottom board (SBB) addition

I knew it wasn't right.  It didn't feel right. It didn't look right.  But I left it as it was and posted questions and photos to the Brattleboro Beekeepers Group on Facebook. It wasn't long before someone said that it looked upside down.  And darned if that wasn't the issue. I still can't believe I didn't see that at the time because now it's so obvious.  They were a great help.  If you're a beekeeper, happen to be reading this post, and aren't in a group, join one. You'll find a great sharing of issues and ideas.

So I flipped over the SBB and now the entrance reducer was in a position I recognize.  I left open the upper entrance (the circle one).  They seem to like that.

Today I pulled out the sticky board to check for Varroa mites.  So you get the count, when you're asked, you leave sticky board in the hive for three days and then you take it out and look for and count the mites you find in the rest of the debris on the board.  I used some paper taped together to the size needed to cover the board that fits at the bottom of the hive.  Then I sprayed with cooking oil...maybe I discussed this already.  I may spray heavier next time.  It didn't seem sticky enough.
But the count was 6 divided by 3 (the three days)=2  So my mite count today is 2.

I need to investigate how often I need to do this. I would think about every few weeks.

So I don't need to treat them yet.  I think that if the count is eleven or more, it's ready to treat. I also need to double check that fact.

June 7th hive check and added screened bottom board

I want to do the right thing this year regarding varroa mite counts and treatments.  I am set to do Oxilic Acid this year but first I want to get my counts.  So I bought and put on a Screened bottom board today, adding a layer of paper with cooking oil sprayed on so they stick as they fall from the bees.  I will go check on Monday to see what I have for counts.

Happily I saw the queen this week.  I hadn't seen her last week and was a little worried but not too much because I had seen recent brood.  Today I saw her and she was very busy.  They had filled in another frame or two with full brood and pollen.  I thought it was time to add another deep so I did that too.

I then added the frames I had extracted last weekend to the upper deep and let the bees clean them off.  At least they won't need to build comb from scratch in that deep.  They've had to do a lot of building in the lower deep.  I was careful to remove any drone comb from the frames I put in too.  And have added a green drone frame to the upper deep and the one in the lower deep is being built out, but no brood in there or eggs.  I'm keeping my eye on this after last year!

Bees still had not finished up  their sugar syrup from last time but I added more anyway hoping the ants stay away and the bees drink it.  I guess they don't really need it at the moment.

Notice the entrance reducer on the front.  That is not  correct, I'm sure.  I don't know if this screened bottom board is supposed to go over my regular bottom board but that seems like way too many bottom boards. 

Hive check 5/26//19 - two queens?

I had a surprise during today's inspection.  I was looking at each frame when I spotted a bee with a green dot on it.  I was pleased to see that.  I hadn't noticed the dot when I put her into the hive.  But as I started watching her, I realized this was the smallest queen I've ever seen!  I began comparing her to other bees nearby and thought a mistake might have been made when marking queens.

So I kept going and a few frames further in and who do I see?  Another queen who looked like a queen should look.  Long and skinny.  She was also marked in green.  So I'm assuming that the marker must have hit the worker bee by mistake. 

Otherwise, things looked really good in the hive.  I want to do a powdered sugar check but want to wait until more bees hatch because I don't want to lose a bunch of bees yet. I wonder if I'm making a mistake and should do it sooner.  I am thinking I could do it within a week or two.

Ants got into the sugar water but I have cleaned it and added more to keep them building comb.  They are doing good but soon will need more space for hopefully more brood.  Today I had a few frames in the center that were full of brood, nectar and pollen but more capped brood than anything else on these few frames.

Weather is now in the80's.  We finally have a long spell of early summer weather for the next several days.  They should thrive, as should the garden.

Planting is done, except the usual replacing a few that might have died already...like my cucumbers have.  One tomato plant disappeared totally and don't see anything at all where the plant was. I kept a few spares so will put one in that place.  Otherwise, things are coming along.  I noticed beans and up now and carrots, seeds I had put in a few weeks ago.

So glad to finally have things under control. In the spring, there are so many chores to get things done. If we miss that window, we may as well kiss the season goodbye.  It's short enough.  But I've noticed myself relaxing and enjoying my space for now..

Hive check - 5/19/19

It was time to go into the hive to see if the queen had been released and if she were alive.  Naturally I didn't actually see the queen, but there's a lot of activity in the hive.  There was nectar, pollen in various colors, and was happy to see some new brood.  So that tells me the queen is likely in there.  The workers are busy making new comb because my old comb was thrown away over the winter. It was old and dark colored so thought we should start with mostly fresh frames.

I need to research (again) when to check for varroa mites and treat them.  I will try the powdered sugar method to see the number of mites I have now.  And think I'll test again in early August and treat at that time...at least that's what I think prior to my research.  I also am prepared to use Oxilic acid as a remedy.  For now, I have a drone frame in the hive.

Bee's are here

It's been cold and rainy most days for the past month.  Today, however, is sunny and in the high 50's...still too cool, in my opinion, but the sun feels very good.  It was a good day to take a drive to pick up my bees.  I tried a new vendor this year, just for the heck of it. Given my history with losing bees, I figured I could spread the wealth!  But they are from the area so should be good stock used to our weather here in Southern Vermont.

The forecast for the week is showing a few days of sun and the rest is rain and cool.  One day it won't get to 50 degrees! Bees won't do much foraging until it warms up more and I suppose they'll want to get used to their new surroundings.

In my yard, I have vinca, daffodils and another spring bulb flower.  I've put out my geraniums on the porch but hanging plants are still in the greenhouse.  They have Petunias so they would prefer warmer temperatures.  Forsythia is at the end of its bloom but I did see some dandelions around and some tiny white flowers that appear on the lawn.  They were mowed a few days ago but will be back in another day or two so that'll be good pollen for the bees.  I know there's lots of pollen out there given the yellow on my car.  I noticed I don't have that much in the house.  Probably because the doors and windows have been mostly closed since it's been so chilly.

I just ordered a varroa mite jar lid so I will be checking for mites in a few weeks.  I need to be diligent with it this year.  My fingers crossed for a good bee year!

April 2019 - Ready for another year

April 15th and I'm ready for bees.  I am just getting a package this year...at least that's all I've ordered.  I may relent and get either another package or upgrade to a Nuc. I'm tired of not keeping the bees alive over the winter which is why I ordered less.  Frustration at work.  In fact, last year, with the drones taking over my hive, the bees didn't make it to Thanksgiving.  I was pretty disgusted by then so I did nothing further with them and decided to just deal with cleanup in the spring.

So about a month ago, I started looking at my equipment, most of which is down cellar.  I had moth larvae all over, but saw no moths, thankfully.  My comb was basically gone.  At that time, I cleaned off all the comb and threw it out.   My bees this year will have to work harder making new comb. 

I also decided to not store hives down in the basement anymore.  So I moved all deeps and supers to the fenced bee yard where they are sitting pretty, empty right now but clean and ready for use. I do have several frames of honey in one hive so those will need to be brought in and extracted before the new bees arrive.

Yesterday, I planted some early crops...arugula, mesclun, spinach, swiss chard and peas. I have a row tent to protect seeds from critters (at least from above).  Last year, moles seemed to find food from below. The row cover did help a lot last year and I used the white sheer cloth over the other seeds too.

Happy spring! And let the dandelions bloom!