Third oxalic acid treatment today - 11/1/21

 Because there still were many mites when I checked my second treatment, I decided a third treatment was necessary so today was the day!  I will go check on the bottom board on Thursday morning, three days after the treatment and do a count then. I expect it'll be much better.

This morning was cold enough that the bees didn't all come storming out of the hive when I inserted the acid wand.  And so I was able to treat all but a handful who managed to escape.  That was better than the last time when it may have been too warm and that's when they like to be out.

I also added a piece of insulation to the top cover and covered that with a board that'll help protect them from rain or snow getting into the hive.  It forms a little roof over their entrance and further helps to insulate them. 

Afterwards I unplugged the hole in the hive to give them ventilation.

I don't think I will wrap the hive with roofing paper this year, but will add an thick insulation board to the left side of the hive and probably pick up another bale of straw to hold it in place and help to insulate that side.  The right side of the hive already has a bale of straw and I will move it a bit closer to the hive as well.

Then I can be done for now.

Second varroa mite treatment - 10/18/21

 After my first Oxalic acid treatment for varroa mites 10 days ago, and seeing how many mites were killed, I definitely needed another treatment which I completed today. Here's the image from the first treatment.

I used the green drone frame this season and my last mite check showed nothing so I was very surprised to see this amount of mites. Had I done nothing, I'm sure I would have lost the hive.

Today I also removed the super and there were just a few frames of honey which I'll put into the freezer for now. I left just the two deeps in the hive and hope there's enough honey in there to get them through the winter.

I also removed the top hive feeder today.  I closed up the front and left open a hole for ventilation in at least one of the deeps.  I will add some insulation under the cover and a board across the top of the hive for added protection but I don't plan to wrap the hive this year.  I may buy a bale of straw to help insulate a bit but that's my only plan at the moment (subject to change of course).

Hive check 9/27/21

 I have a full hive, two deeps and one super.  Today I added a top  hive feeder and added 2:1 sugar water.  Not really sure if I need it but since bees drank all the sugar water from the hummingbird feeder, I think they'll like it!

The super isn't full yet.  I will probably leave it on this winter to supplement honey stores below.  The top deep was pretty full of capped and uncapped honey so if there's no robbing, I hope there will be enough.

I also added a mouse guard with duct tape to close off the entrance a little...again to help bees protect against robbing.

Otherwise, things looked good.  I am anxious to do an oxalic acid treatment and hope to do that within a week or two.

Sept. 2 hive check

 I sure have a lot of bees right now.  But I left in the green frame, for drones, a bit too long.  I saw some hatching as I looked at the frame, but the rest look like they've hatched.  So I took the frame away from the hive and dumped off the bees remaining. I doubt I got all of them but most of the bees seem to be young and not drones so hopefully the hive will remain strong.

I didn't see many super frames full...one or two...so I left them for now and hope they get capped. Then I'll remove them.  I think there are enough stores in the lower deeps.

Next I will need to do a varroa treatment but think it's a little early now. Maybe later this month.

I also put on the bottom board today since nights are going to be a little cooler...although the hive is so full, I expect they'll stay warm enough.

Otherwise, I think things look good and will be anxious to get the varroa treatment done soon and probably again in October.

Hive check 8/4/21

 Last week, our favorite head of Brattleboro Beekeepers Association was kind enough to check my hive for me.  She also did an alcohol wash and found zero varroa mites!!  She let me know that all looked good in there.

Today I wanted to add the green frame to use to help control varroa which is made for drones to build and lay their eggs.  Then it's up to the beekeeper to remove that frame before the drones hatch.  Since the varroa mites like drones best, when you remove the brood before hatching, you are removing mites as well.  

I also added another frame to the super since I had only 9 in there so if they need more space, they have it.  Now I'll leave them alone for at least a few weeks and let them forage for goldenrod and whatever else they can find.

This week I bottled the honey I had extracted last month and that should carry me through the year but I won't be selling any of it. Instead I will sort of hoard it!

A big thanks to Nancy Frye for her help!

Extraction and checking on the queen

 Last week, when I added the new queen, I pulled 4 frames from the super that were heavy but not entirely capped.  I put them into the freezer until I was ready to extract.  I decided to extract yesterday.  It's always a process and messy so I wanted to just get it done and get some honey!  Those now empty frames will go back into the same super to let the bees clean them and hopefully refill again.

I went into the lower deep to see if the queen was laying eggs and she was.  I also saw some uncapped larvae so now I will let her do her work and hope to see a new batch of bees anytime now.

Because of an upcoming operation, I'll need to get them all set because there will be no heavy lifting for a while. The second deep has honey and they have plenty of time to fill it for their winter stores.  I just need to keep an eye on drones eating the honey so I try to remove them as soon as I see brood and also have the green frames in there for drone brood...except one of them is being filled with nectar. Ugh.

I do want to give an oxalic acid treatment for varroa which I plan to do next week. So far, there don't seem to be many but want to get ahead of it.

That's about it in my beeland.

Released new queen from cage - 6/11

 I released the queen today and she immediately went out of sight down into the hive.  While I was in there again (3x this week!), I pulled a few super frames that had mostly capped honey and added to the freezer.  Then I consolidated the two supers into one because they are heavy to lift from that height.  I will keep watch and pull other frames from the one super as they fill out and replace with frames that have been built out with honeycomb.

Now I'll leave them alone for a few weeks!

New queen goes into hive June 8th.

 Let's see how this goes...

June 7. No brood and no queen

 I did a hive check because I wanted to check the supers to see how they were filling up.  Then I decided to get to the lower deep to see eggs because I didn't see any in the upper chambers.  Nothing I could see.  

So I went to get a queen.  35 minutes later the queen looked half dead and sure enough was totally dead this morning.  I should have closely inspected it to make sure it was lively.  I doubt it was.  Money down the drain.

So next morning, today, I got another queen from a local person and this queen is feisty!  Also the beekeeper insisted I check it before leaving.

So, queen is in the hive in a cage and I will release her on Friday.  Fingers crossed.

Meanwhile the honey supers are getting full as are the frames in the upper deep which is honey for the bees.  Honey is the supers will be mine.  I will take out full frames and freeze them until cooler weather.  

May 25th look-see

 I thought I'd take a look at what's going on in the hive today.  I wanted to take off the top hive feeder and see if any frames in the two supers were full enough to pull out...I need honey.  But they aren't quite ready.  I found several full frames but some were only partially capped.  The top super didn't have much of anything going on so I took some fuller frames from the second super and added them between empty frames in the top one.  We'll see how they do.

What I found is a lot of comb in weird spots...not within the frames.  I pulled it off.  I also took a look at the drone situation, and the green drone frame was full of uncapped honey with lots of drones on it.  So I marched that frame down the driveway, well away from the hive, and shook off the drones, hoping they don't find their way back.  Other than that, I left the  two deeps alone.

I also removed any drone larvae where seen.  Next time I'll need to go through the two lower deeps and see what's going on.  I don't think there's much room down there because I saw capped brood in one of the supers too. So I apparently have a queen.  I may need to take a few frames of honey in the second deep.  I'll wait a few more weeks. At that time, I should be able to pull off some honey from the supers as well.  Fingers crossed.

I'm not sure about splitting my hive.  I seem to have all I can do to keep up with one hive.  I'd sort of like two, for comparisons, or to help one or the other as needed, but definitely that would be my limit if I even decide to do it. I have enough equipment to do another few hives if I want to...just not sure at this time.

Indepth inspection May 7, 2021

 I sure did disturb the bees this morning!  But I needed to give a good inspection and see what was going on in there.  I knew I had a lot of bees but knew not much else about the goings on in there.

My green drone frame was loaded with drone brood ready to hatch.  I guess my timing was good.  That full frame has gone into my freezer and later it will go back on the hive for the bees to clean off.  I put an empty drone frame into the upper deep to replace the full one.

The first super (3rd box from bottom) had quite a lot of uncapped honey but was fairly full so I added a new super. I need honey!  So hoping they'll keep producing and capping it.  I did notice they had some brood in the super too so made sure there was enough empty space below for them to use.

I almost did a split...came very close.  But the weather being so cold at night, I didn't want a new hive to get chilled. I think I just want to do a walk away split and hope for the best.  My problem is never being able to find the queen. I may need help for the split.

Lastly I added the sugar syrup to the top hive feeder and closed it back up. There was one frame that broke apart as I was taking it out of the hive so I left that out by the hive for them to clean off.  

I removed the mouse guard for the afternoon but plan to put it back on tonight as it'll be cold again. 60's in the day, 30's at night.  I'm ready for 80-60 weather.

Spring 2021 plantings

 I fed the bees some sugar syrup this morning even though they're bringing in lots of pollen.  I want to also do a split if possible within a week or two.

It's time to start vegetables in the garden:  today I planted peas, lettuce, arugula, spinach and chard.

I hope to get parsley and cilantro in as well but need to figure out where I want them.  I think they'll go into one of the raised beds.

Yesterday I pruned the pear trees, and the day before, the apple tree.  Blueberry bushes were pruned in late March.

The water feature in front was set up this morning. 

First hive check of the season 3/22

 Wow.  I have a lot of bees! My hives look like it's August.  I"m not used to my bees living through the winter I guess.  It feels like I should be doing a split.  I will check with others in the area before that but it won't be today anyway.

Later today I will add sugar syrup to a top hive feeder.  Most of the sugar I put in there a few weeks ago was sitting at the bottom. I don't expect to add straight sugar again this spring but when I do, I'll put it on a plate so it doesn't fall through.  I had put it on paper; they ate the paper; sugar fell below.

There seems to still be enough honey in there too because the lower deep was heavy.  I didn't inspect every frame.  Some were really stuck and broke apart. I will be ready with new frames when I inspect again and will plan on a split then too.

- I have a queen.  I saw brood in the upper deep.  

- They're bringing in pollen! A neighbor alerted me that they were all over his heather. I went to see and there were many bees in that patch.  All mine I think.

- There is an unfilled super on there so if they need space, they can use that.

- Also added a few empty frames to the deeps in case needed.

- added sticky board and will check that in 3 days.

I did see three cells at the bottom of a frame. (are they queen cells or swarm cells?) They weren't peanut shaped so they were something else or in progress. Will check them again.

Quick peek to replenish sugar if needed

I had put in a pollen/sugar mix in early February which was too early, I was told afterwards.  Because I didn't want to disturb the hive again, I left them alone.  Then we had days upon days of very cold weather and I didn't see the bees out again until yesterday.  I hadn't wanted to open the hive at all during the very cold weather.

But bees came out yesterday frolicking in the snow like they'd been in a hive all winter! :)  Lots of bees.  

Today is also warmer, enough for them to be out again, so I opened the top to see what was left.  There was a little but I replenished with maybe 2.5 cups of plain sugar.  It won't be long until redbuds are out so maybe that will be enough to keep them happy for a few weeks at least.

It feels so good to have wintered over a hive. I'll be anxious to do a full hive check but not yet.

45 degree days and bees are out

 Yesterday was a beautifully warm day so the bees came out and did a lot of pooping.  I have lots of yellow snow around the hive.  I took a quick video because there was a bee in my hair and around me so I had to retreat further away.

After giving them pollen and sugar early in the month, I learned I shouldn't have done that.  No pollen until late March, if it's needed.  I could give sugar now but I left it alone since adding the pollen sugar mix because it's been way too cold to open the hive again.  Even yesterday I thought it would be better to just leave them alone and let them enjoy the weather without disturbing them.

I'm so happy to see them after wintering over.  Usually they don't survive and I wait for a Nuc to arrive in early May.  If I still have them and nothing happens between now and then, I hope to be able to start a Nuc of my own in April or end of March so that I can expand my one hive to two.

Fingers crossed.

Feb. 4, 2021 - Added bee pollen mixed with sugar

There were different thoughts on when to add the bee pollen and sugar mixture to the hives.  I've not done this before but it is supposed to help the bees get started on creating brood early and to just give them more nutrients beyond the honey I left in the hive this winter.

Two people were okay with my approach which included adding it now, versus one person saying I should wait until end of March.  That's quite a time difference but I moved ahead and added it today. Probably about two cups worth.  I didn't think it would hurt.

My approach was to add an empty super to the top, lay a sheet of newspaper over the frames in the super below and then add the pollen mixture to that.  I made sure the top box had an air hole drilled to give them another  exit and to vent moisture.

I should have ten a picture but I was too busy running!

I was told that I might be see bees at the top of the hive and boy were there a lot of bees there.  They attacked me! I was not prepared for that and didn't suit up thinking I'd not really see a lot of bees .  I was wrong.  I bolted to the house with bees following me.  Now there are a bunch of dead bees as a result.  Makes me feel bad.  But I do hope they enjoy their pollen and sugar treat. Those that are left, that is.

I have a lot of bees in that hive.  I was shocked by that since I haven't kept bees through the winter for quite a long time.  I was worried about the below zero cold snap we had for several nights and very low day temps but they clearly survived that, so I'm hopeful they make it to spring.

In the spring, I hope to split the hive and maybe encourage them making a queen instead of me buying one.  First things first.