Three hives appear to be empty

I didn't open them up except for the super that holds the cedar pillow.  But I heard no buzzing and no bees came out as I opened up the mouse guard to clean out the entryway, which wasn't blocked after all.

I hope I'm wrong but I think my bees are gone.  I am heartbroken.  I don't know what else I could have done to keep them warm, fed and alive. 

I just seems like I'd have seen some action today since is close to 55 degrees today and sunny.  I'm recharging the fence battery but think it's probably on for nothing.

The only bit of hope I have is that two days ago, I saw one bee come out and go back into one of the hives so is it possible they're just not coming out?  And if they are in there, how come they're not more protective?

I don't know what to do so I will do nothing for now but within a month or so, I need to  make a decision about whether or not to continue with this hobby if I can't keep bees alive over a winter.  Darn!!

getting ready to insulate

Today's chore was to move the hive on the left to the right about a foot.  Last week, I move the hive on the right over to the left.  I want them close together when the cold weather hits. Tomorrow, I will recharge the fence to ensure it's fully charged.  Last year, this was the time the bear came through a few times looking for a meal which he didn't get from my hives, but he sure caused a lot of damage around the yard.  I must have posted that debacle in my blog last year.  Check it around the last week or so of October.

In about a week, I think the weather is turning colder so I think I will add the cedar pillow in supers on the hives.  These will catch any condensation.  I also added popsicle sticks on the 4 corners of the two flat tops to give moisture a chance to escape.  The peaked hive top has venting built in to the top. 

My plan is to use the building paper to wrap them in.  I often put a piece of plywood over the top to give some added protection from the elements.  I also have some bubble pack material that I used to insulate inside the greenhouse in years past.  But I don't know if it's an ok practice.  I will need to find out before I do that.  

I think by mid-November, these should be all insulated.  I have used bales of hay in other years but thought about that insulation so I think ti may be just fine but again, I will double check with some experts in the area.

I will keep the fence charged until I'm pretty sure the bears have settled in for the winter.  Someplace other than here hopefully.

Meanwhile I'll continue to enjoy these beautiful, warm October days.  

Hive check 10/2/17

I got through my list over my lunch hour....no stings!  Yeah!

Hive 1 - I removed 3 frames to extract and then consolidated the rest into one super which I will leave on the hive until they either empty it or fill it up.  I expect them to empty it but the upper deep seems to be full too so there should be enough food to last them through the winter.

Hive 2 - I did nothing with them today. I added more fumicilian to syrup and added that yesterday.

Hive 3 - I removed the jar of sugar syrup which they hadn't finished and moved that to a tree stump well away from the hive.  Then I added new syrup to a top hive feeder.  I added a 3 frames to the upper deep to fill in where the jar was.  Then I moved this hive about a foot closer to Hive 1.

I will go into hives again on Friday or another lunch to take a good look at the deeps in Hive 2 and make sure they are looking ok, do a little of comb cleanout too.

Less pollen coming in

As I sat last night with my binoculars, looking at my hives, for the first time, I saw very little pollen going in.

For the past few weeks, my yard has smelled like sour milk by the end of the day.  After much research, I learned that this is a smell that is from goldenrod pollen!  I have a lot of goldenrod around and in those few weeks, bees would come in with their pollen sacs full of golden pollen.

Last night, I saw practically no bees with golden pollen.  I also didn't smell that smell.

 I guess the summer is truly over, even though there has been no frost...and it's been gorgeous!  I have some amount of late blooming flowers they can pollinate and probably some asters nearby.

Stuff to do:

1) Begin moving hives together, a foot at a time (or less) until they are close enough to help insulate each other.
2) Continue feeding Hive 2 with fumicillin
3) Add varroa strips to Hive 2
4) Feed Hivc #3
5) Remove any full supers off from Hive 1 and then consolidate into one super.

medication

I gave Hive #2 some Fumigilin today in 1/2 gallon of 2:1 syrup.  It will need another dose when this is gone.

No meds in Hive #1 since they have supers on

No meds in Hive #3 since I had a mason jar filled with 1:1 syrup already and didn't want to disturb this hive until it's fully blended with the Nuc, which I did just yesterday.

I have pain everywhere today due to the  number of bee stings yesterday!

I had to put back into Hive #1 the empty super frames this morning and also needed to get some equipment from the area to wash it.  When I opened up Hive #1 to just add the frames, they swarmed me!  Oh man, they didn't like to be disturbed by me again!  Not in two consecutive days.

Only one sting on the wrist. But, I'm over getting stung.. I need to remember that, at this time of year, they don't want anyone taking their honey.  So they're very protective....hence the stings.  I've gone all season with no stings until yesterday.

I'll leave the bees alone now for a few weeks...so we can all recover.

Finally going to extract some honey!

Today I was able to take 5 or 6 frames out of the supers on Hive 1.  I have a few more but they aren't fully capped yet so will leave them for a bit longer.

Then I decided to merge Hive 3 and the Nuc.  If I don't, neither will last the winter.  As it is, I'll most likely need to feed them throughout the winter because I don't think there will be enough stores.

That Hive 3 is vicious! Somehow the bees broke into my suit and I started getting stung on the head...if I collapse, you'll know why.  Also a few stings around the ankles because the elastics holding suit in place around my legs lifted up in all the commotion and they found my ankles.  Also one on the wrist.

But now they are merged and hope they relax.

I was so worn out that I didn't even open Hive 2.  I'll save that for another day.

Hive check 9/4/17

What an adventure!

Eight days ago, in my hive inspection, Hive #2 appeared to be queenless.  I saw a lot of uncapped honey and pollen coming in, but I saw no brood at all. I had decided to wait a week and if still queenless, I would merge Hive 2 and Hive 3 since Hive 3 is going strong with what appears to be a energetic queen.

However, today, when I opened Hive #2, I saw an entirely different scenario.  I had many many frames with capped brood.  I saw open cells with brood in various stages of development.  I saw capped honey in the upper corners. So plan B is to leave them both alone!

Later on, when I'm ready to wrap them for the winter, I will put Hive 3 on top of Hive 2, separately so that hive #3 can catch the warmth of the hive below...and hopefully winter them over.

At some point I'll need to merge the Nuc into somewhere.  It only has 3 frames full right now.

Then I went into Hive #1 to find many frames nearly capped.  But only two were completely capped over.  I'm hoping that in another few weeks,  they will all be capped and I'll actually get some honey.  I was beginning to doubt that I would since it's so late in the season.  I think I've over manipulated the hives this year, trying to expand.

It does look like I'll get a decent enough harvest, although a little late.

hive check 8/27/17

Well, things aren't quite as rosy as I would like but, if I've learned anything with this hobby, it's that it's a challenge.  I need to be ready for anything.

Today, Hive #2, that has been a weak hive from Day 1, is without brood and queen and there's not enough honey for them through the winter unless something changes.  I removed the super from that hive since there's no action in there at all.  They don't need the extra space as we go forward into the fall.  Last few nights were pretty cold for them.  I did add more sugar syrup though since there are still a few frames with no comb and I'd like to see them making comb.

Hive #1 still doesn't have enough capped honey nor full enough frames for me to take any.  I'm beginning to think I may not get any honey for myself this year.   I've tried to make it an expanding year.  Otherwise it looks good and strong.  I removed the feeder from this hive.  I just read that you shouldn't be feeding them syrup if you have supers on the hive.  Oops.  I didn't realize that.  Perhaps that's why I see so much uncapped honey...it's really sugar syrup...at least for now.  We have a bit more time in the season to see what happens here.

Hive #3 is still humming along slowly.  There is brood in there as well as honey but only half the frames are filled or partially filled.  But it has a queen so I am thinking of adding this hive to the top of Hive #2 with newspaper in between.  Then, once they merge, the queen can help strengthen this hive. I will wait another week before doing this since I've been in the hive twice in two days.  I'd better give them a break.

The Nuc seems to be doing ok too.  There is capped brood and fresh eggs so there should be a queen but I didn't see her. It's only 3 frames though.  I'm not sure what to do with this Nuc.  It will need to get merged with another hive, probably, before winter since I don't know if there will be enough bees to keep themselves warm.

All things to think about.  Meanwhile the fence has been recharged because I'm expecting more bear activity soon.

August 11th inspection

It's good to have this  blog because it encourages me to document the goings on in my hives. Otherwise, I'd forget the details from previous inspections. As it is, it's already been a few days...

I am finally feeling much more comfortable going into the hives. If I get strung at all, I don't seem to be as allergic to the stings as I was at the beginning.  I was told this would happen and it seems to have been true.

My intent this week was to pull out some frames and extract honey.  But I think the one hive where there will be honey for the taking is still a few weeks away.  There were frames partially full but I don't want to take it until they're fuller.  So instead of extracting, I made sure to refill the sugar syrup since they were all dry.

I then realized that the  little Nuc was the only hive that didn't have sugar syrup!  So I used the mason jar technique , added an empty Nuc box (a second story box) to house the mason jar and syrup. I could add some frames around it in the future, if needed, but the Nuc isn't ready for that yet.  I just want the bees to make comb since 3 of the frames need to be drawn out so the queen can lay eggs.  Got to move quickly as the season will be winding up shortly.

It's hard to believe how fast the summer has gone.  The light has changed...days are shorter.  The nights have been pretty cool all summer long anyway. I fear a tough winter and don't feel ready.  But I've lined up a plan for the bees...a loose plan anyway.

Instead of using hay to insulate the hives (in addition to roofing paper, I have this bubble pack insulation in the shed that I will wrap over the bubble pack.  and I will put the smaller hive over the larger hive to help insulate it.  I will need to feed as well.  Maybe I'd better purchase a snow blower to I can have a path to the hive all winter...still thinking it through.

July 28 hive inspection - all looks good

4) Let's start with the Nuc...It has only three completed frames but I saw the queen.  Probably because there were so few bees.  But it looks healthy and I see brood in there so I did nothing to the Nuc.  I'll just keep watch.

3) Hive 3 is the new hive, second from the right.  That looks healthy and there was brood, capped and uncapped so I must have a queen in there but I didn't see her.  Because I had some frames that were new and not drawn out with comb, I added a top hive feeder and some 1:1 syrup to give them a boost.

2) Hive 2 appears to be thriving after such a slow start this year.  I removed a bunch of comb, added some syrup to the feeder inside the hive, and also put the super back on the top  in case it's needed.  They aren't really using it yet.

1)  I have a lot of bees in this hive but the second deep seemed rather light on honey stores...but I did move some frames out of this last time so I think it just hasn't had time to recover yet in 10 days, at least half of which were rainy.  So I added the top hive feeder again to hopefully help them build comb on the new frames faster.  I saw progress but this should help.  Then they should be ready for the goldenrod coming very soon.

I'm thankful for my flowers because I think they really help the bees in the slower times.  I did see lots of colored pollen in the hives...yellow, orange and white...

I charged the fence yesterday too so I think the bees should be fine for a week or two.

Lastly, others use tie downs to hold the hives together so I bought some..the kind with a ratchet at the end.  I added one to Hive 1 and Hive 4 and was tired so I stopped.  My fence has a strong charge so I think I'll be ok should a bear decide to break in.  I think (hope) they have learned to stay from this fence.

Soon, I'll pull off the supers from Hive 1.  That's probably the only harvest for this year.

Hive check 7/16/17 - and new pink hive

Exciting day yesterday when I add a new hive...the pink one, third from the left.  I had to purchase a new complete hive, with top cover, deep box, inner cover, 10 frames, bottom board and entrance reducer.  I expect I'll need to buy another deep hive over the winter for spring...if the new hive survives.

I'm excited because for the past 2-3 years, I've been trying to increase the number of hives with no success.  This year, I purchased two nucs so I could switch around frames and use them to shore up the weaker hives.

• Hive 1 is the tallest.  I need to pull off some honey from that hive soon.  One super is just about full.
• Hive 2 is the second tallest.  I added more sugar syrup to that one this week since many of the frames are not drawn out and I saw a lot of uncapped honey.  I also added a super in case they needed room for eggs.
• Hive 3 is the pink one which is now half full, with plenty of brood and seemingly very active.
• Nuc is on the far right.  I added some frames in there in case something should happen with them but don't expect much.  I saw little activity in there yet had bees going in and out so I'll watch that one for a bit.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the progress this year.

I'm beginning to think about medications for the fall and insulation.  I remembered that I have a bunch of bubble pack type insulation in the shed that I used to use in the greenhouse.  I don't know why that wouldn't be good for insulating the hives.  Wrap that around the hives and secure with  bungie cords.  

In the past I've used bales of hay but thought I'd try this other method...but will run the idea by some other beekeepers to make sure this is a good idea.

Now we need lots of sun to get more flowers.  I know golden rod is coming but this year's rain has cut down on flowers I think.  I notice it in the vegetable garden too.

Hive check 7/8/17

In today's hive check, here are some of my observations.

1) Nuc has survived and I saw lots of comb building, larvae and enough capped and uncapped honey so I added half a sugar/crisco patty to the top and closed it back up.

2)

• Hive #1 continues to show lots of activity including many queen cells which I removed except for one frame that had a beautiful queen cell that I moved into another Nuc along with a few frames of capped and uncapped honey and some brood.  Just three frames into the new Nuc.  I just needed to remove some of the uncapped honey thinking this deep was low on space to lay eggs.
• The upper deep where I moved out frames last week is getting filled so all I did was remove extra comb and moved out one uncapped honey frame to the new Nuc.
• The lower deep showed larvae, capped and uncapped honey, capped brood, very little drone cells. Again I didn't need to do anything other than remove some extra comb and queen cells. The lower deep is very heavy so they are gathering enough honey to get them through the winter.
• I also checked the two supers...one is very heavy with honey but as I looked at a few frames in there, some was still uncapped so I left it all in there and think that in a few weeks, I can take honey out of this hive.
• The top super is being worked on but there's still plenty of space for them to store more honey

3) Hive #2 continues to build...the poor thing got such a slow start.  But I've watched the activity and lots of pollen is going in and comb is being built and eggs are being laid so I have a queen.  It looks like I have three queens  - one per hive - which is awesome...and maybe a fourth on the way in that new Nuc.

• I don't expect any honey out of this hive this year. If I can build up the population though, and keep it going through the winter, I would have a good start for next year.
• This might be a good hive to top with the first Nuc to winter over and it will help to keep the Nuc warm.

I'm going to order another hive kit to give me a complete set, hoping to put the Nuc into the new hive soon and hopefully giving it time to grow before the winter.  Once done, this will become Hive 3...hopefully!

Inspection today sees evidence of a queen!

Last week I did an inspection of the hives and  Hive 1 appears to be thriving.  Today I inspected again and Hive 1 is still just bursting with activity.  I see a lot of uncapped honey and other frames pretty full so I went ahead and added a super onto Hive 1.  They seem to be doing fine with the entrance opening.  In a week or two, I will probably fully open the entrance.  They had a good amount of comb coming off from the bottom of the frame. I took it off.  I also took one of the frames that appeared to have some queens in development.  I moved that and another few frames to the nuc.

Let's talk about the Nuc

Two weeks ago, I moved a few frames into that same Nuc with the queen cell. but I didn't move the Nuc to another yard so when I checked on them, I saw that the bees were gone.  So I left the frames in there, including the frame that had the large queen cell and still closed up.

My intent today was to split Hive #1 and load up the Nuc and take it to another yard this time. I put a frame in there with one frame I found that had a bunch of queen cells in the making and a few other frames of honey and syrup.  I'm hoping they finish making queen cells and maybe I can get a new queen that way.  My intent was to raise a queen for Hive #2 that had no eggs in last week's inspection.
The one I purchased and added apparently didn't make it.  But today, there were eggs!  I was so excited.  There must be a queen in there now.it's more likely the queen I bought laid the eggs but I don't know why it would take her so long.  She came out of the cage on 5/31 and only started laying eggs sometime this week.  

I first thought it might have come from the Nuc since that queen cell now had a hole at the end.  She had hatched and she was gone...perhaps to Hive #2 This queen would need to take its maiden flights, etc. so think it's too soon for her to begin laying eggs.

Very positive inspection today.

May 25, 2017 - added queen to one hive

One of the Nucs I bought a month ago has not florished at all.  It has no eggs.  I thought about letting them build a queen cell, currently in production, but decided to get a new queen so that I don't lose any more valuable time this spring.  I bought my queen for $35 from Charles Andros up in Alstead, NH, making an early morning trip there.

I took out the frame that has the queen cell on it and added that to a Nuc along with another frame that has a lot of capped brood and honey.  I am hoping they'll finish making the queen and let nature take care of itself.

Meanwhile, I added the new queen to the small hive that has only one deep after seeing how the bees were with the new queen.  They seemed ok and not trying to kill her. Hopefully she will survive and I'll take a look sometime this weekend to see if she's out and alive.. This hive has a lot of uncapped honey in it so I also added an empty frame that she can use to lay eggs...but I believe it also needs comb built.  We'll see how things go.

On the larger hive, I saw a lot of burr comb down below so thought they may be thinking of swarming.  I'm told that doesn't usually happen the first year, but I'm keeping vigil so I don't lose these bees to that!

I also did a bit of checkerboarding in the lower deep, adding a few empty frames and move some of the loaded frames to the top deep.  And one of these loaded frames went in to support the new Nuc I started today.

Bees arrived

Two Nucs installed this morning, each with top hive feeders and sugar syrup.  I added some screens to the feeder to hopefully get less drowning, giving the bees something to stand on.  Not sure how they'll work so will keep a pretty close eye on them.

I noticed after the installation was done, that the back of the fence was in disarray.  The fence was fine but I have roofing shingles under the fence to keep weeds down, and then cover with hay.  I see the shingle a few feet away and the hay that was on top of it in a pile behind that.  Hmmm. So I walked around to put it back in place and noticed that some animal was trying to dig under the fence.  They didn't get far (thank goodness for clay soil) and hopefully they were zapped pretty hard.  The fence has a good charge.

All this was before the bees actually arrived.  Their empty hives were there, however, with 5 frames in each and so I bet it was a bear and he could smell the honeycomb.

I just hope I'll be able to sleep at night knowing my hives are being stalked by  a bear.

Picking up bees in 5 days

I am investing in more bees this year so that I have two hives.  I'm hoping that I can keep them both going. It's been a difficult few years because I haven't been able to keep a hive from year to year.  But with two, I'm hoping to have one of the hives doing okay to help boost a hive that  might be falling behind for one reason or another.  And to compare behaviors would be interesting and hopefully insightful into bee behavior.

Clearly, these are expensive jars of honey!  I haven't sold any yet.  I've had enough for myself and immediate family, which is good and delicious.  But I lose money on them every day.  So it's not about the money.  It's about the bees and thriving crops, which is, from a long range perspective, even more important than the honey they produce.

Anyway...off to another year of beekeeping. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed.

My goal is to have these same two hives thriving a year from now!

Raindrops and gophers - signs of spring

This morning, I'm happy to hear it rain on my roof.  Let it wash the snow away.  I' want to see green again.

Yesterday I went down to the rain garden where a gopher lives.  In front of the gopher hole was a prickly shrub that was spreading and hiding the gopher(s) when they come out of the hole.  I cut it down.  Later I will burn the branches in the rain garden along with the old Christmas tree and other debris I find in the yard after the winter.

I was going to go buy another portable fence to keep out the gophers from my garden.  But I decided to poison them instead using the pellets.  So I need to be able to get to their active entrance and once the pellets arrive, I will use them.  Last year, in the early spring, there was a family of gophers.  Over the summer the family either disbanded or something else.  By the end of the season, I think there were only one left.  But he/she was big.

Last week, I looked out and saw the gopher so I know I have at least one.  He wandered up near the pond and started munching on a shrub.  This one isn't huge...maybe the size of a cat.  Last year, one was the size of a pig!  Almost.  But it was huge.  I tried to shoot this one with the BB gun but missed. Of course.  Then I loaded up the 22 rifle.  By the time I finished, the gopher had disappeared and I haven't seen it since.  But I'm sure it's around. But now the gun is loaded...if the pellets don't work.

At least I've started the process of getting the gopher(s).  The taking down of the shrub was my second step.  Ordering the pellets was the first step.  Wish me luck!

I want to tackle some of the other spring work before the bees come. I have at least another  month before needing the bee yard set up. So much fun to come.

Meanwhile seeds have been started in the greenhouse.  I bought more seeds yesterday so will plant them over the new few days.  Flowers and vegetables.

Happy spring 2017.

Coyotes and spring

Last night at just about this time, it was dusk, and I looked out the kitchen window which looks down beyond the pond where the woods meets the lawn, and see two coyotes.  One of them went into the woods to the right, into the pines.  The other sat down beyond a small woodpile of useless hemlock and waited for the other one it seemed.  I think that was correct because finally the other one came out of the pines and headed down the hill away from his companion and me.

By that time, I was wondering if there was any communication between them.  I thought that because one night a few years back, I listened as two coyotes signaled each other.  First they were very far away, and they would answer each other from opposite sides of the little canyon beyond my house.  I listened to them get closer and closer until there was silence again.  I figured they found each other.  It was so beautiful.

So I opened the window to hear something like that.  But there was silence.  As I closed the window, the sitting and waiting pup heard me.  And he or she took off like lightening!  In the opposite direction from the companion.

I sort of figured, afterwards, that it was a mother and child.  The mother sat by the logs waiting for the other to do a bit of wandering on its own.  Perhaps the "child" was hunting in there.  The "mother's" attention appeared to be so very watchful.

Seeing and hearing wildlife is such fun.

2/12/17 - snowstorms and downtime

What I like about the winter is that it's a time when you can snuggle up with a book or a movie or a game and wile away the day guilt free!  If I get one or two chores done, know what's for dinner and had my shower, and make the bed, then I feel like I can do that for the rest of the day.  But that's about the only thing I like about the winter.

I'm a summer gal/lady/old lady/grandma lady...through and through.  This week, I began the process of 'thinking summer'.  I planted some seeds.

Someone sent a link about starting seeds outside in January and February in empty plastic jugs that have been cut in half and had holes drilled for drainage.  Then fill them with dirt, plant your seeds, water thoroughly and put the cover back on and tape it shut a bit and put outside.  I put them on  my patio table.  I need more jugs, but have one more to use this week.

Today I finished cleaning my last hive part and painting the outside of the last super.  Others are all done and waiting to go out in late April to be ready for bees to come in early May. I like starting the year with cleaned hive parts. It's easy to do if you lose your bees because it's starting fresh.  Not really what we want but it happens very often. If all the parts are outside being used, it's more difficult to get them all cleaned each year.

I'm excited about this year because I will start with two Nucs.  That will give me two hives where I can compare them and also use them to supplement the other hive, if needed.  It would be great to have two fully functioning hives.

I will treat for varroa mites this year and will not allow bee robbing which is what happened this year. I allowed my hive too many entrances and this gave robbers another avenue in.  Plus my hive wasn't strong enough to fend them off.

I just saw a notice in the Brattleboro Beekeepers Facebook page that some mushrooms are being used (experimentally) to control varroa mites!  That would be wonderful.  Another tool in the toolbox.  It seems that they just made a solution with it and let the bees drink. That would be easy for the beekeeper to manage.

Mid February is all about getting through it.  Today is our second snowstorm in a week...or is it the third? It might be the third.  But who's counting?