MY CONVERSATION WITH LARRY CAIN by beekeepers Fred and Larry-Rev. 3

Larry was a visitor at our March 17^th ECWBA club meeting.  He is from Appleton and is both a beekeeper, a flyer and friend of Damon Reabe, the presenter at our meeting.  He was gracious and participated in our first winter survival survey.  His survival was 10 out 12 hives or 83%, which is noteworthy for central Wisconsin.  He agreed to let me informally quiz him about his mite control strategy.  He stated he is more than willing to help anyone.

After talking about queen rearing for a short time we got down to business.  He indicated that he considered this year’s survival rate a failure.  83% a failure???  He said he obtained 100% the previous two years and therefore was considering methods to improve his mite control strategy in the future.

First to what he does now for varroa control. 

Larry’s hives are installed in 3 sided shelters open to the east  or south.  This shields the hives from the midday summer sun and from the winter winds.  It also facilitates minor hive tasks in inclement weather.  The structural roof allows him to use chain tighteners hooked to deer scales to lift each hive and monitor weight gain during the summer and weight loss through the winter.  Recording the weight on a dry erase board next to each hive allows him to detect even minor changes. During a honey flow a strong hive often gains five pounds during the day and often loses half of that due to evaporation overnight.  Monitoring the weight changes and comparing to other hives is a non-invasive way to possibly detect a  problem within a hive.  This system also permits him to determine if the hive needs supplemental feeding in the fall to assure sufficient honey stores for the winter. 

All of his hives have screened bottom boards.  He inspects the pullout witness board on a weekly basis throughout the year.  He records the mite count on each hive's dry erase board  and, if he sees more than 12 mites on a witness board in one week, he schedules a mite treatment.  This would be one strip of MAQS with supers on or one shot of oxalic vapor if supers are off.  Some experts believe that counting mites on the witness board is not an accurate indication of the level of infestation but Larry considers the intrusive sugar or alcohol tests to be an irritant to the colony, a risk of harming the queen and, perhaps most importantly, a demanding task that most beekeepers just don't get done on a timely enough basis to effectively control the mites.  In late summer he treats with MAQS (full strength-2pads).  In the fall, when temps are too low for MAQS, he uses a single oxalic vapor treatment as a cleanup.

Because of the “poor” outcome (83%) this winter he is considering incorporating a fall brood break in 2018.  After the honey flow is complete he will isolate the queen in the hive for 30 days in a tube of window screen with a cork at each end and then do an oxalic vapor treatment which will kill off the phoretic mites (there should be no mites in cells after 30 days).  Then he will release the queen to allow the colony to resume raising its winter bees.   

Other things Larry does to help the bees thrive. 

Two winters ago Larry had five hives that, due to a poor honey flow in the fall, were dangerously low in population and honey stores.  He decided to conduct an experiment to see if such colonies could be saved.  He fully enclosed one of his shelters, insulated the floor, walls and ceiling, installed lights and a 1500 watt heater.  Each hive was fitted with a 2" clear plastic tube which was extended through the wall to the outside.  To minimize heat loss the outside end of the tube was fitted with a rubber cap with a 1/2" hole large enough for bees (perhaps even carrying a dead one) to make their cleansing flights. Keeping the temperature at 45 degrees allowed the bees to stay warm while using less than a pound per week of stored honey. Each hive survived. When spring foraging began and traffic increased he was amazed to see the inbound (heavy) bees generally travelling on the bottom half of the tube while the lighter outbounds travelled upside down on the upper half! 

One other side note.  Noticing in January that the weekly mite count in 5 of his 12 hives was of concern and in 3 others of great concern.  He treated those eight hives with oxalic acid vapor.  Over the following three weeks he counted almost 2300 mites with 1300 of them falling from the 3 hives that were of great concern. He views the results as clear evidence that, even though recommended mite treatments are done in summer and fall, there could still be a significant infestation.  Mite counts are now practically nonexistent in most of his hives.

Larry just attended his local bee club meeting in Appleton.  They went around the room surveying overwintering success.  He said it was the same situation as the ECWBA rates; very high losses by everyone but a few.

This shelter has been changed in several ways.  The tree has been cut down to allow more sunshine.  The glass sidewalls have been paneled to keep bees from having difficulty travelling.  A rain gutter protects arriving bees from drips during a drizzle.  The rainwater is directed to a sand-filled trough to provide water for the bees. 

 These east-facing hives catch the early morning sunlight but are in the shade by noon.  It would probably be better to face southeast.  The deer scale, chain tightener and chains can be seen on the far right hive.   

Larry overwinters his hives with two deeps.  The third deep is actually a feeder.  Inside each feeder he has installed two Boardman feeders. Its configured so the bees can access the feeders from below and Larry can swap out empty feed bottles from above without suiting up.  Ingenious!

 This is the interior of the emergency shelter.  That's the top of the electric heater in the foreground.  The hives were wrapped in case the temperature dropped due to power failure.  The plastic tube slips into a 2" circular saw cut in the adapter that has a 1" hole aligned with the 1" hole that had already been drilled

Larry uses queen excluders.  

Question: how times is an average hive treated?
Answer: Well, I used to eschew treatment and have gradually come to the conclusion that it’s absolutely essential not only to protect my own hives but those of my neighbors.  In the past I’ve noticed that a fresh colony such as a split or a swarm seems to get by with a small mite load and doesn’t need treatment or at most a knock back (one strip) of MAQS is sufficient. But an overwintered colony seems to get loaded up requiring treatment early, often and with a knock down (two strips). But with the promise of oxalic which doesn’t seem to adversely affect the bees and can be used in cold weather, I expect the overwintered colonies to have a lower level infestation. So I think and hope I that, with winter and spring applications of oxalic vapors, the mite levels I experienced in the past will no longer occur.  I know that doesn’t directly answer your question but I’m afraid that this whole mite thing is so variable depending on the specific hive and treatment is in such flux that I hesitate to put a number on it. 

Question: Do you have scheduled foundation/comb replacement?
Answer: Well, Fred, like a lot of things I always plan to phase out the three year old comb but it often looks so good and I (or other beekeepers) often need drawn comb for splits and swarm captures so, at the end of the season some of the older combs have brood or critical honey stores. So, I do agree with the concept but, in practice, it just doesn’t happen with any reliability. 

Larry freely admits not all beekeepers will go to the lengths he does in order to keep their bees alive.