Strong Colonies

Between swarms and after-swarms a colony can lose 60% of its population, perhaps more. A strong, healthy, overwintered colony is diminished instantly when the swarm(s) takes off. After a colony swarms, we need to inspect the hive to determine the remaining population size in light of the available real estate. Bees constantly patrol the comb to guard against invasions by wax moths, small hive beetles (SHB), wasps, and other pests, and if the bees are spread too thin our hives are likely to become infested with these pests. We may need to condense the population by shaking and/or brushing the bees into one or two hive bodies, and removing any others, until they build back up so they can keep the pests in check.


Wax moths and SHBs are the pests of concern now, wasps won't be a major menace until fall when the goldenrod starts to pass its peak. There are no in-hive treatments for either pest, but strong colonies can keep them in check. Strong is a relative term, and in this case it has to do with the number of frames of bees per hive body. The same colony can be weak if it's in a 20-frame hive, or strong if it's in a 10-frame hive. The more bees per frame, and frames of bees per hive, the better their control of pests. We also want our colonies to have enough room to expand the broodnest and store honey, so it's a matter of staying ahead of the bees with real estate, just not too far ahead.


Wax moths and SHBs will make a mess in a hive, but they aren't a real threat to a colony unless it's weak and suffering from disease. Then they could be the last straw. If you find frames (typically brood frames) with larvae from either of these pests, freezing the frames for a day or two will kill the larvae and the frames can be reused, depending on the extent of the damage. If it's not too bad, the bees will clean them up.


We also need to check our colonies to make sure they're queenright. A colony that has swarmed will have left behind virgin queens about to emerge, and after emergence they need three or four days to mature before they go on their mating flight(s). Upon a successful return to the colony, it will be another several days before they start laying eggs.


Eggs should be present after two weeks following a swarming event (three - four weeks following a split). If not queenright at that time, add a frame with worker eggs, larvae, and capped cells from another colony in case the queen got picked off by a predator. The brood will keep the colony unified, workers will be inhibited from laying, and the bees will have the resources to produce a new queen. Add brood frames weekly until there's a laying queen, or purchase a queen from a local queen producer if you don't want to watch the season pass with no laying queen in the hive and the population dwindling.


These are things we need to watch for throughout the season. We need to maintain strong, queenright colonies, and if a colony isn't thriving it should be requeened, combined with another colony, or euthanized if it is overwhelmingly diseased. We beekeepers need to be as pragmatic as our bees are.


I haven't seen SHBs in my hives, but some years ago I had a small Wax Moth infestation. After I found two frames that looked like the photo above, I inspected the hive and found about a 1/8" gap between part of the upper deep and the lower deep. The wood hadn't been cut straight on the upper deep. That's all it would have taken for a wax moth to gain entry, although they usually come in the entrances at night, But since the damage was right inside of that gap, I figured that was the entryway. The colony was relatively strong and had sequestered the moths to those two frames, which I removed and froze (and replaced the upper deep). Honey bees will kill wax moths but they didn't that time for some reason, instead living side-by-side with them..


Wax moths are important in the natural world because they eat the comb of hives that have died out, eliminating the pathogens and pesticides that the comb contains. They prefer brood comb because of the bits of pollen and pupal casings that are in it, but we don't want them messing up our brood comb and making it unavailable to our bees. The best defense is strong colonies.


Since I don't have any experience with SHBs, I could only repeat what I've heard and read, and who knows of what practical value that would be? I have also seen a number of gadgets available to trap the beetles, but again, I have no experience with them. Hopefully it stays that way, but I know they're around and prefer sandy soil, which I have an abundance of. I expect it won't be long before I will be learning more about them. Any member that has had dealings with the Small Hive Beetle, please share your experiences with us at an upcoming meeting.


I'm hoping the weather will be good for checking hives this weekend as I have several splits that weren't queenright last weekend, and should be by this weekend. I also captured two swarms at my home apiary and I need to see if I can determine which colonies swarmed, and if they need to have some of their furniture put into storage for awhile. I did find a queen in one of my splits and she was humongous, and laying like a machine, with lots of eggs and larvae in a very tight pattern. That's one.


I hope everyone's splits are successful, and that everyone caught some swarms. For me the season is starting out well, and I'm interested in what will be in my apiaries on October 1. And just as interested in what will be in my honey buckets before then.


Happy Beekeeping,

Gerard