ROBBING IS NEAR!

Protect against honey robbers...

I've been seeing yellowjackets at the hummingbird feeders so their brood season must be over and they're turning from protein (meat, pollen, etc.) to sweets (honey, syrup, nectar, fruit, soda, etc.).  

During the yellowjacket brood season, they gather protein to feed their larvae. The larvae reward them with a drop of a sweet substance.  The yellowjackets are addicted to the sweetness and continue to bring food to the larvae to continue to be rewarded.  When there's no longer any brood, the adult yellowjackets seek out sweet stuff  in the environment. What could be better than a hive full of honey?!

A robbing event from other honey bees can be a death sentence for a colony under attack. Once the hive is overpowered, predators like wasps have an easy time of accessing the hive and killing the remaining bees.

In order to recognize a honey bee robbing event, the following link will take you to one of Rusty Burlew's posts on robbing. There you will find suggestions on how to stop a robbing event that's in progress.   https://www.honeybeesuite.com/how-to-stop-robbing/ 

So our colonies are in jeopardy of bees robbing bees, and yellowjackets robbing bees.  While I was in my apiaries the other day, I put in entrance reducers and plugged the upper entrances with vent plugs in all of the hives.  That's my method of assisting the colonies against robbing.  

If anyone has other methods to discourage robbing, please share them here.

Gerard

Rare Pic of Dead Forager!

I happened upon a dead bee on a goldenrod blossom the other evening while taking a walk with Tucker.  It's rare that I see a dead bee in the field even though 800 - 1200 bees per colony die each day during summer.  

More emerge than die every day during the season buildup, and that's how our colonies grow.  But now with diminishing resources and winter on its way, our queens will decrease egg laying and the colony populations will start dwindling to winter size.

I could see her proboscis extended into the blossom, so she was apparently collecting nectar at the time of her death.  Her wings look to be in pristine shape (no ragged edges) so she's not an old forager.  

It's a bit disconcerting to see a young forager dead while gathering nectar, but I know that there are no pesticides being applied anywhere near this area.  The cause of her death is unknown.

Gerard

The Final Flow!

Goldenrod is just beginning to bloom, and that signals the final flow of the season. 

Goldenrod grows abundantly in our region but isn't a reliable source of nectar, as some years have heavy nectar flows and some years have light flows. You'll know when it's coming into the hives by the scent of gym socks in the air! 

Goldenrod honey has a bitterness to it that some people don't care for and others love. I remove honey from my hives prior to the goldenrod flow to keep it separate, then do a final harvest just as the bloomtime is passing its peak which will be in 3 - 4 weeks. 

Goldenrod pollen is the final major source of protein for pollinators. Honey bees, bumblebees, wasps, hoverflies, and other insects will be visiting the blossoms. 

Now is the time to make sure the hives are healthy. Do mite checks and treat if necessary. Check for queen rightness and combine weak colonies with strong ones. Hives should not be disturbed in September with combining or requeening, as that is when the Fat Bees will be being raised.

The active beekeeping season is coming to a close faster than I ever like, but we still have lots to do in August and into September if we want to see our bees in April!

Gerard