Hive check - still drone heavy

So I know my hive will die over the winter but it hasn't yet.  There's a lot of honey in there and still a lot of bees.  But any brood I saw was drone and very little of that. I expect to see fewer and fewer bees over the next month or so.

I still put a pollen patty at the top of the hive, and merged three deeps to two.  Where I saw drone brood, I poked it to kill them. 

I also added a super that has a cedar pillow in it to catch any condensation but left the 1 inch hole open on the upper deep so air can escape.

I left on the mouse guard and closed up the entrance to the one inch size.  They can get out of the top deep in that hole too.

We'll see how it goes but I'm sure I'll be losing these bees but at least they seem to have enough food for a while just in case a miracle happens :).

disaster

Okay.  That's it. The season is over for me.  I went into the hive this afternoon to remove the apiguard strips.

The drone green frames are empty of brood but the rest of the frames...if there is capped brood at all, it is drone brood.  Most of the honey seems to be gone except in the bottom deep.

I didn't even bother to add the sugar syrup I had for them.  I give up.  They are going to eat what is left and then all die before the winter because there's not going to be enough brood (or a real queen) to keep the hive going, as I had hoped.

What a bummer.  I am just going to leave them alone and not use my time and energy for the rest of the year.  I'll think about next year.

Right now I probably have enough honey to last me years so maybe I should sell my gear and let someone else try. 

No decisions will be made today.  I just feel bad.  I try so hard to make a good habitat for the bees; I just hate to fail them.

Checking the merged hive b- 8/31

I opened the hive today to see what's going on and how they merged....and if they merged!  They did!

I now have one hive with three deeps.  The newspaper layer is totally gone.  The bees did it themselves. I'll watch the two top deeps as things slow down over the next month or so.

• Top deep - 
• had a good amount of nectar (maybe because the sugar syrup we in that hive). 
• had a bit of capped honey 
• no eggs
• some drone brood on the green frame which I removed.  I saw mites
• kept the feeder in there but didn't refill yet...probably can use it
• saw NO pollen

• Middle deep
• had a lot of honey
• I moved a few heavy honey frames from here to the top deep
• I moved a few rather empty frames from top to middle
• Saw no brood
• Saw no pollen
• Saw a lot of bees
• Bees are making comb on the drone frame but not filled in yet

• Bottom deep
• Hive loaded with bees
• Saw lots of open brood
• Thankfully I added a few frames for the queen to lay - I was so glad to see this!
• The two deeps above seem to have adjusted into this now requeened hive.
• Because I saw mites...and some dead bees outside that were either from mites or something else or even a bee fight before the hives fully merged.
• Saw mostly capped honey in frames very heavy so I moved them up and replaced with frames that could be used for brood.
• I saw one bee loaded with golden pollen from the goldenrod. I expect to see more of that shortly.

Next steps:

• I need to make sure I can use Oxilic acid after using the strips.  I'll need to research that. 
• I will try the soak a towel approach with glycerin, soak them together. then wring them out by pressing into another recepticle like described here: https://honeybeesuite.com/oxalic-acid-and-glycerin-for-varroa-mites/

Merging the hives - 8/24

Yesterday I looked in the hive and saw the queen out of its cage and a few eggs in a few cells.  If I had a lot of space for her to lay, I would have waited a few days but I ended up adding a few frames to that hive and removing the sugar syrup. 

I add a layer of  newspaper with a few slits in it and then added the two deeps from the hive with laying workers.  I didn't see any more eggs in the old hive making me believe that removing all the bees from all the frames away from the hive, worked out.  I added the sugar syrup to the middle deep after refilling it.  There was a lot of uncapped honey in these frames. This hive lost a lot of bees.  I think many ended up in the new, hopefully requeened, hive.

Today I'm in the basement extracting honey.  I have lots of frames in the freezer from last year that needed to be thawed and then extracted, as well as a few frames from this year.  As I've gotten my honey out of them, I've been putting them outside, well away from the hives, so bees will clean them off.  This seems to be the easiest way to clean them.

I also had a bucket in the greenhouse where I had honey that had thickened. Also from last year.  I finished up warming that so it was all liquid again and these are now jarred.

Update on laying workers and requeening little hive 8/17/18

After much research, here's what I did to try to rectify the laying worker hive situation described in previous post. The goal is to try to save the hive. Otherwise it's a goner.

• One by one, I moved the two deeps and one super from Hive 1 that has laying workers over to the pond side of the house and brushed every bee off each frame.
• I took Hive #2 and moved it into the spot where Hive #1 was...the point of this is to try to confuse the bees - you don't want those egg-dropping drones to find their way back to the hive. You want to break up their rhythm.
• Meanwhile I found a source to obtain a queen from Jeff Cunningham out in Westminster which I have  just put into Hive 2 where there is no queen...and no laying workers yet so I was anxious to get a queen in there.
• NOTE: that hive has a lot of honey so when I release the queen in 4 days, I will add two frames of drawn comb for her to begin laying eggs...if all goes well of course.
• Once she's laying eggs, I will then add a layer of newspaper over Hive1 and then add one or both deeps from Hive2 on top of the newspaper.  (I may decide to consolidate two deeps into one to remove some drone comb as needed)
• Eventually the bees will merge into one stronger hive with a queen.
• I will remove the one super and extract that honey and not put it back on.
• Then I will treat Hive 2 for varroa after super comes off by adding two strips per deep
• Hive 1 will need to have their apistrips removed in mid September which I'll note on my calendar

Funny thing about that hive check

So, after 6 years, I still am a newbie. Maybe I always will be.

In my hive check last week, I thought things all looked good!

This week, a Vermont Hive Inspector made an appointment and came by to look at my hives. I didn't ask for this service.  What they saw was something different.

- Hive 1 has laying workers instead of a queen so unless I do something, the hive will die
- Hive 2 has no queen either, but there were no signs of laying workers (may I add 'yet'?)

If I find a queen available, I will buy one.  If not, I will try this method below I took from www.honeybeesuite.com

The only way to save the colony is to suppress the laying workers’ ovaries. This can be done by adding open worker brood to the hive. But just as it took a while to develop the workers’ ovaries, it will take a while to suppress them. If you add a queen too soon after adding the open brood, the workers will kill her too.

One of the best ways to save the hive is to introduce a frame of open worker brood every few days until the bees begin to raise a supersedure queen. How often you have to add brood depends on how old the brood is. Eggs remain eggs for three days and larvae are open for about 5.5 to 6 days. Since the pheromone is produced by larvae and not eggs, a new frame of open brood should be introduced at least once every five or six days if the larvae are very young, but more frequently if the larvae are old.

Because it's still raining, I can't very well begin this process so will wait for better weather, although I'm getting anxious about it given the lateness of the season.   Stay tuned.

Hive check 8/6/18 - all's well

I thought I should take a peek to see how things are going.

The first hive seems to be doing ok so I just emptied the drone brood frame and put it back in.  I am not feeding this hive right now, so I just closed it back up.  They are making honey in the super but only a few frames filled at this time.  I treated this hive earlier with the Apivar strips for about 6 weeks.  I may need to do it again when I take off the super and extract whatever is in there.

The new hive seems good too.  There are lots of baby bees, and the frames are filling up  nicely with honey, brood and pollen. I saw larvae too so I must have a queen in there. I may add a super to that one in a week or two, and will begin to use the super sizes as deeps on that hive. I  need to nurse a tennis elbow.  I also added another Apivar strip to this hive.  I'll leave them on until mid-September.

The dates on the Cam are obviously wrong.  These are images from either July or August 2018.

Hive check - 7/20

This week I put the Nuc I had created at the end of June into a deep.  The deep will only have 8 frames, one being the green one for drone brood.  They seemed pretty crowded in the Nuc.  I added one Api-guard strip to this deep but have ordered more.  I will need to add more than one soon.

In the other hive, I've seen some dead bees at the front of the hive over the past week or so.  Not a lot, but enough to notice.  I peeked in to see if the super was filling up, and it seemed to be.  I should have gone deeper but was worried about this tennis elbow which is bothering me.  I will need to get in there this week to check on the drone frame in there as well as anything else it might need.

I also charged the battery for the fence to keep out the predators, whatever they are!

Hive check and split - 6/27

Today I checked the hive and it is loaded with bees, honey and brood.  So I decided to take a few frames and create a Nuc which I took to my daughter's property where it will stay for a few weeks.

On the existing hive, I added some old frames with honey etc. on them that needed to be cleaned and let me bees clean and then fill those frames.

I removed the sugar syrup for now so I could fit more frames into the bottom deep.  When I feed again, it'll probably be in the upper deep which is easier to get to.  But it was very heavy this time around.  I had to remove some frames in order to lift it. 

The drone frame was full of comb and half full of brood so I scraped that onto the lawn for the birds and put it back into the top deep.  Again, it'll be easier to get.

I removed the Varroa mite strips today since I also added a super.

Hive check - 6/16

I went into the hive and spent quite some time looking things over.  Here are the things I did and what looked for:

• I saw a lot of babies
• sass lots of brood and egg so should have a queen but didn't see her
• Noticed just a few dead bees on the bottom board and cleaned them off
• Cleaned off comb where it shouldn't be
• removed the brood from the drone frame which the bees had built with comb and filled quite a lot.  I didn't bother to freeze the mites but just scraped off the brood and left on the lawn for the birds.
• I filled the sugar syrup container again since it was empty again and they'll still need to build comb on the green frame for drone population containment.
• Removed the entrance reducer altogether so bees can come and go easier.  I had noticed they were bunching up at the entrance during the busy "coming home" times.

Next time

• Remove varroa mite strips
• Add a super
• Remove feeder and replace with new frame 
• Possibly start a Nuc

Hive check 5/30/18

I went in over lunch today to check on my girls.  I saw s LOT of brood in the top deep and a lot of building of new comb on frames that were empty and needed new comb.  The only frame that had no action is the green frame meant for the drones to build on and then I can use it to manage varroa mites by freezing the frame once there is brood in there, to kill them, and hopefully reduce the mites.  Varroa, if you remember, like to attach to drones so if you can manage the drone population, it should reduce the mite problem.

I had added Checkmite "sticks" into the two deeps, two in the top deep and only one in the bottom  deep about three weeks ago.  I added one more to the bottom deep today. They like to be there for about 42 days, according to the package, so we'll give them another 3 weeks or so before removing them. 

All looked good inside the hive.  Lots of brood and pollen. No dead bees.

I did see them making some cells at the bottom of a few frames.  I left them alone for now, but it does seem like I already have an active queen.  I wondered about perhaps starting a Nuc but think I won't mess with the hive at this time. 

I also filled up the sugar syrup which was almost gone so they're still using it.  But now we have some nice days coming so they  may not use up this batch.  We'll see.

Bee incident of 5/11

I had an interesting event with the bees yesterday morning. I got up to find two clusters of bees outside the hive on the ground and on the cement block under the hive.  I also saw a lot of dead bees laying around.  The entrance reducer was gone. 

So I waited for the sun to come out and then suited up to get into the hive and see what happened.  I figured something had pushed in the reducer and it would be in the hive.  It was not.

At first I was scared all was lost. At first I thought the clusters were all dead bees.  Now I think they were cold and didn't dare to move from there.  Eventually, as it warmed up, they began to move and ended up going back into the hive. Aside from the clusters, inside the hive, there were still lots of bees and they seemed fine.

I found the entrance reducer outside the fully charged electric fenced bee yard...back in the brush.  Interesting it's the same spot where the bear, about 4 years ago, got to my hive and took the frames over there to eat the honey. But whatever it was  either flewover the fence or went under that 4-5 inches of space.

Instead of putting the reducer back on, I screwed in the mouse guard and duck taped over a lot of it to reduce the entrance, for now. Also added medicated sugar syrup too. Bees seemed fine after whatever the incident was.

The clusters you see are live bees...even some on the board turned out to be alive.

finally...bees

I've been slacking off on this blog, getting through a tough winter and then getting ready for spring..aren't we all doing the same in this part of the world?

I ordered yet another Nuc which arrived earlier this week.  Today I will go to the hive, and check things out.  I will:

• add sugar syrup that has been treated with medicine for nosema to a top hive feeder
• look at the honeyed frames to see if the bees have cleaned them off yet and will add other frames as needed. I have lots of frames still for them to clean off from last year.
• check the lower deep to see if there's a queen or if I see eggs
• make sure there's plenty of room for the queen to lay her eggs.

That should be enough for now.  Rain is expected tomorrow with cooler temperature so I want them to have plenty of honey and syrup for them for a few days where they'll be inside the hive.  Then the weather is supposed to warm up and be nice for several days.

thinking bees in a snow storm

As this storm winds down, I can't help but think of the bees to come in a few months. 

I removed Hive 3 and instead of finding an empty hive, I found the hive full of dead bees.  They were mostly at the bottom, but I also had clusters of dead bees on the frames.

I put a note out to the Brattleboro Beekeepers group on Facebook with these photos and was told that it's probably Varroa mites that killed them.  I didn't do anything about Varroa last year, thinking they are treated before arriving and last year was  my first year with these bees.  However, I was wrong.

I also signed up for the Vermont Beekeepers Association who offer free courses to members.  Other courses cost money and I seem to spend enough on buying the bees (necessary) and equipment (necessary) and haven't attended courses lately.  So I will attend the VBA courses this year. They appear to be hands-on too so I hope to gain more knowledge and avoid the pitfalls I've experienced.

Dead bees everywhere in the hive, even clustered on the frame.

Here's what I found throughout the hive.  At least there will be some honey to feed the new bees when they arrive.  I put the frames that had any honey from this one hive into the freezer until then.  Freezing them should also kill any mites that might have been on the frames...if they survived the winter.

I have two more hives to clean up once this snow melts.  One will be left in the yard to house the new bees to come.  The other will go down into the basement until needed...praying it is needed at some point.

I noticed that the mesclun started in the greenhouse has sprouted.  I can't wait to eat fresh greens again.  What you get at the grocery store sure isn't the same as fresh from the garden.  Once this snow melts, I plan to put a row cover out in the garden and plant other greens.  I left the cover on for the entire season last year and it worked beautifully to keep things from disappearing overnight by the night visitors.

February 28 - 50 degrees and preparing for spring

I'm beginning to putter around the yard.  Once the snow melts, how awful things look until a bit later in the spring.

Two blueberry bushes were pruned yesterday.
Two weeks ago, the peach and pear trees were pruned.
Apple tree was also looked at but it didn't need much pruning

Next task will be to burn all the debris I'm collecting in little piles around the yard.

Other chores this week include:

Cleaning the greenhouse to get it ready
Planted Mesclun in a hanging pot in the greenhouse

Arugula already planted - this was planted in a pot in the fall and 3 months later, it's only about an inch high.  There's just not enough light in the middle of the winter.  It's beginning to grow more now that the days are longer.

The bees will be back in town

I realized that it's only a few months before my bees will arrive.  I've ordered one Nuc.  I will see what I can (or can't) do with the one.

1)  Changes this year include managing varroa mites.  I will use the method of using drone frames in the hive where the mites like to attach themselves.  Then bring in the filled frame, freeze it for a few days, then put it back into the hive and let the bees clean it out and start filling it again.  I've read that this is an effective way to minimize the  mite population.

2) I will take little to no honey this year.  It will be left to the bees.

3) Purchase a screened bottom board and add a mite counting sheet (or whatever it's called) to monitor how large a population is in the hive.

I'm hoping that these changes will make a difference in being able to keep a hive for more than one season.