Why do Bees ABSCOND?

First of all, what is absconding?  

When a colony absconds, all of the bees leave, including the queen.  This is rarely a spur of the moment decision by the colony, but is weeks in the making.  Once the decision is made to abscond, the foragers stop bringing in nectar and pollen for storage, the queen stops laying, and the colony waits around for the pupating bees to emerge.  Then the workers engorge with honey and off they go in search of a new home.  What the beekeeper finds is an empty hive. 

The triggers for absconding are not well understood or agreed upon, but some things are considered valid.  

#1 - something in the hive has them disturbed and they believe they will not survive in that environment.  This could be a certain odor; a high incidence of disease; a high rate of pests like Varroa, Small Hive Beetles or Wax Moths; continuous disturbance by outside forces (like skunks scratching on their doorstep every night; close proximity to a manufacturing facility that emits a disturbing frequency; or a beekeeper opening the hive every other day.).  

#2 - lack of resources.  A hive that's in full sun all day and there's not enough water available to cool the hive sufficiently is a bad environment.  Resources (nectar and pollen) in scarce supply is also a bad environment, they need to find a place that has a sufficient amount of both.  

#3 - inadequate ventilation, which adds to the summer cooling problem and the winter air exchange.

If a colony absconds in spring or early summer they have a pretty good chance of surviving the coming winter, same as a swarm does.  The colony will live in a temporary area for a period of time until scouts have located an acceptable nest site. 

When a colony absconds, all of the bees leave.  They aren't reproducing, they're trying to escape a bad situation. This isn't unusual behavior, and in other parts of the world honey bees actually migrate, particularly in the tropical zone.  In some places it's an annual event with the colonies leaving for better forage sites when resources get low, with the same colonies returning to the same nests they left when forage is again available.  Some researchers think that honey bees in our temperate zone may also migrate for better forage sites, but the phenomena is pretty much identical to absconding so it's hard to prove.

If a colony absconds, and I've experienced that several times, the hive should be checked to see if anything can be determined as to what triggered it.  An impossible task in my experience.  Some people use a propane torch to sanitize the woodenware, some burn the hive.  I tried torching and the boxes smelled like a cold campfire afterward so I didn't do it again.  Instead I mix about 1/2 teaspoon of tea tree oil with water and a pinch of lecithin in a pint spray bottle and spray everything down making sure to get the liquid inside of the cells and running down the insides of the boxes.  Then I let it dry and put bees in when I have a colony needing a home.  It works.  (Tea tree oil is antifungal, antibacterial, and the bees like it.  Smells like Pine-Sol.)

If you're able to capture an absconded colony, don't return it to the same hive.  I did that once before I knew anything about absconding, and the next morning they took off and didn't even bother to stop to hang out nearby (I had gone to check on them just as they took off.).  They had had enough.  But the probability is good that they would have accepted a different hive in a different location.

As long as we have our hives well sited, in a location with sufficient resources (nectar, pollen, propolis and water) and few disturbances, the bees should stick around.  If they do abscond we may never know why, it's just another thing that bees do.

-Gerard

Colony Monitoring using Thermal Imaging

 University of Montana, Scott Debnam

Scott is researching nurse bees and how they rear the brood. Different temperatures at different stages of development. Not just the same temperature all over the hive! Very interesting Power Point video on his research. 

Colony Monitoring Using Thermal Imaging // 4th Intl. Bee and Hive Monitoring Conference

Nov 4-9 - WHPA Fall Convetion, Wisconsin Rapids

WI Honey Producers Assoc. Fall Convention 

WHPA Fall Convention is November 4-6, 2021 at the Hotel Mead in Wisconsin Rapids. Keynote speaker, Sue Cobey.

WHPA Fall Convention November 4-6, 2021 

WHPA Fall Convention is November 4-6, 2021 at the Hotel Mead in Wisconsin Rapids. Keynote speaker, Sue Cobey and much more!

PRINT REGISTRATION FORM HERE

Fall Convention Schedule

Thursday, November 4, 2021

4:00 p.m. – Board of Managers meeting (Aspen Room)

6:00 p.m. – Board Dinner (Centralia)

7:00 p.m. – Budget committee (Aspen)

7:00 p.m. Kids N Bees Committee (Pub)

7:30p.m. Heine Hour Remembrance & Social (Pub)

8:00 p.m. – Honey Queen Committee (Spruce)

8:00 p.m. Poster Contest Committee (Timberland)

8:00 p.m. Other Committee Meeting if needed 

Friday, November 5, 2021

7:30 a.m. – Registration opens

8:00 a.m. – Exhibits open (Grand Ballroom C)

8:30 a.m. – Honey Show entries due 

8:30 a.m. – Call to order

8:45 a.m. – Introductions of Honey Queen & Candidates 

9:00 a.m. – Sue Cobey – Rearing Quality Queens & Drones

10:00 a.m. – Break

10:15 a.m. –Project Apis m.- “Research, Forage, and Resources for Beekeepers”

11:15 a.m. – ABF update

11:30 a.m. – Wisconsin State Apiarist Update

12:00 p.m. – Lunch (meal ticket required)

1:00 p.m. – James Hillemeyer “Lions, Tigers and Bears Oh My!”

2:00 p.m. – Ryan Lamb, Lamb Operation

3:00 p.m. – Break

3:15 p.m. – Business Meeting

Supper on your own

6:45 p.m. – Honey Queen Candidate presentations

7:10 p.m. – Honey Queen Fund Auction

Saturday, November 6, 2021

7:30 a.m. – Registration opens

8:00 a.m. – Exhibits open

8:00 a.m. – Announcements

8:10 a.m. – Presentation by WHPA Honey Queen Anna Evenson

8:20 a.m. – Presentation by ABF Honey Queen/Princess Jennifer Hinkel

8:35 a.m. – Sue Cobey- Challenges of Bee Breeding & Selection

9:35 a.m. – Break

9:50 a.m. –Promoting Wisconsin Honey, Kent Pegorsch

10:50 a.m. – Youth Beekeepers

11:50 a.m.- Announcements & Door Prizes

12:00 p.m. – Lunch on your own-Trade Show closes

1:00 – 3:00 p.m. Kids-N-Bees 

1:00 p.m. – Don Moody-Farmers Business Network- Helping Beekeepers Deal with Lack of Precipitation

2:00 p.m. – Packaging Honey, Bill Palmer

3:00 p.m. – Break

3:00 p.m. – Executive Committee Meeting

Social/Free Time

6:30 p.m. – Cocktail Hour

7:00 p.m. – Banquet & Awards (ticket required)

9:00 p.m. Dance & Social

Register on WHPA website

CONDENSING HIVES FOR WINTER

Driving the BEES down and feeding!

Bee Escape, Fume Board, or Bee Brush?

I try to have the hives sized to the bee population density. That way they don't have too much, or too little, space.  Right now about half of my hives have too much space and I'll be using bee escape boards to get the bees out of the upper boxes.

Bee escape boards work well when the nighttime temps are in the 40's to low 50's (or cooler).  The bees will leave the upper boxes to join their sisters around the broodnest to keep it warm.  It then takes them about 2 days to figure out how to get back up, so the bee escape and box on top need to be removed within a 24 - 48 hour period.  (Face the triangle down (underside) and close any entrances above it.  Lessons learned!)

There are other ways to remove bees from the boxes than using a bee escape board.  Some beekeepers use fume boards to drive the bees down, and some simply brush the bees off the frames and into the hive.  If there's only a few bees in the box, I'll brush them off, but if there's a lot of bees, I prefer a bee escape board and a cool night.  A lot less commotion and bees aren't harmed.

Feeding Syrup and Pollen

After I'm done getting the hives configured as I see fit, and removing the last of the honey for human consumption, I'll start feeding any lightweights 2:1 syrup.  An average sized colony in two deeps and a medium requires at least 90 lbs. of honey and/or syrup to make it through a Wisconsin winter.  I use the "heft test" to determine the weight of the hive.  I lift, or try to lift, one side of the hive to judge the weight.  If I can lift it easily, I need to feed it heavily.  If I can't lift it, good enough.  If the weight is somewhere in between, I feed until they stop taking the syrup or I can't lift the hive.  For those that are sticklers for knowing the exact weight, hive scales are available for around $285.00.

The bees will use honey for energy to maintain the cluster temperature throughout the winter. Not much pollen or beebread will be required until the queens resume laying in late January, but pollen (or pollen substitute) is required now in order for the winter bees to develop large fat bodies. This will be their source of proteins throughout the winter and into early spring, and to be stored as beebread for winter and early spring brood feeding.  I put out repurposed Gatorade bottles with pollen substitute powder, and press pollen substitute powder into empty brood frames as discussed in a previous post.

Robbing will Deplete Resources

With the decrease in available floral resources, robbing has increased.  Several members have mentioned putting wet sheets over their hives when they noticed robbing in process, but my hives are out of sight so I wouldn't see that.  I have found it's necessary to do the heft test periodically, until it's consistently cold enough that the bees remain in cluster, to check weight in case they got robbed.  I've had hives that were sufficiently heavy for winter, and two weeks later were as light as a feather.  

One year I discovered that the yellow club hive had been robbed out (I couldn't budge the green hive) after it was too cold to feed syrup, and they survived the entire winter on sugar.  So check the hives periodically and feed sugar if necessary.  There's several methods for feeding sugar, and all of them require space above the top bars of the top box.  My winter covers provide that space, but a 1 1/2" - 2" rim shim works well.  We'll be discussing winter feeding down the road, but for now it's good to prepare by building or buying rim shims and stocking up on granulated white (table) sugar.

-Gerard

PROTECTING AGAINST VARMINTS

 Moths, Mice, and Shrews... oh my!

As usual, after extracting, I put the wet frames on saw horses about 50 yards away from the apiary for the bees to clean up.  They do a great job in just a few hours, and then I stack them in the barn until next season.  

I put a paper plate with paradichlorobenzene crystals at the bottom of the stack, and another on every fifth super up to keep wax moths out. There are other ways of storing frames over winter, this is just the way I do it.  

For those that want to use a moth repellent, use only paradichlorobenzene and not naphthalene (moth balls). Naphthalene is toxic to honey bees and residues will linger in the wax.   

Paradichlorobenzene is available as Para-Moth from most bee supply houses for around $21.00/lb. plus shipping, and as Moth Ice Crystals from Fleet Farm for $4.49/lb. 

The shortening days and cooler temperatures get me thinking about mice and shrews taking up residence in the hives. That won't happen until the bees start to cluster.  

Mice aren't terribly bad because they just make a nest and chew up a few frames of foundation, but the American Pygmy shrew will pluck bees off the cluster one by one to eat their flight muscles. Eventually, the cluster becomes too small to survive the cold.  

Both are undesirable guests so it's good to get prepared for their visitations. Commercial mouse guards are useful in areas that don't have the American Pygmy shrew, but that's not us.  

The shrews can easily get through the openings in most commercial mouse guards so your best bet is to have guards with 1/4" openings.  Just stapling 1/4" hardware cloth over the entrances is sufficient. (If you go the commercial route, verify the opening size before buying.) Shrews climb, so all entrances need protection if  you're to keep them out!

So when to install the guards?  The advice I was given was to get them installed before the mice or shrews get in so you don't trap them inside.  Helpful, huh?   

There isn't any particular date to do this, but when it starts getting colder and flight activity decreases, that's my indicator.  As long as the bees are active, these varmints won't go in the hives because the bees will defend their colony in their typical stinging way. 

Once it's consistently cold, the bees are clustered and the varmints can enter at will.

 - Gerard