CRYSTALLIZED OR UNCRYSTALLIZED?

How do you like your RAW honey?

Most will agree that RAW honey comes straight from the hive without being pasteurized or filtered. This kind of honey usually crystallizes over time, causing the honey to be grainy or sugary. While that is a good sign, all the nutrients are still in the honey, it can turn some people off. 

Now that we have had honey for a few months now, most of you are probably experiencing crystallized honey in your jars. Once the crystallization starts, it will continue to consume the whole container. The honey will get thicker and may even turn solid.

The best way to decrystallize your honey is with slow heat that is not above 110 degrees. Some will argue that you can go higher but most will agree that anything above 140 will destroy the nutrients and benefits. I think of it as, how hot would have the honey have gotten when it was in the hive? 

There are lots of ways to slowly warm your honey back up in order to melt the crystals. Place your honey container in a pot of hot water, put it in the sun or hot room/car, wrap a heating pad around it, etc. Never put it in the microwave! Microwaves have uneven heating and will most likely go over 140 degrees. You can warm your honey to remove crystals as often as necessary.

However you like your honey, ENJOY!

Patti Ingram

Mite Management for Fall and Winter Bee Health

South Western Ohio Beekeepers Association

FREE Zoom Meeting

Title: Mite Management for Fall and Winter Bee Health

When: 16 Nov. 2021 at 7:30 PM ET (Cincinnati time).

Speaker: Barbara Bloetscher 

Barb has been the State Entomologist/Apiarist at the Ohio Department of Agriculture since 2009. Prior to that, she worked for 23 years at The Ohio State University as an entomologist and agronomic diagnostician in Extension. 

As State Entomologist, she oversees the Apiary Program and identifies insects and other arthropods submitted from Ohio Nursery inspectors and businesses. Barb monitors the County Apiary Inspection Program and addresses honey bee issues in the state.

Barb has kept her own colonies of honey bees for over 35 years and belongs to Central Ohio Beekeepers and OSBA as well as The Ohio Lepidopterists and other insect-related organizations.

To register:
https://www.swohiobeekeepers.com/m-16-nov-2021

WESTERN APICULTURAL SOCIETY - FREE Webinar

Thursday, November 11, from 8 - 10 pm CST

The Western Apicultural Society is hosting another Webinar.  

The speakers are Dan Winter of the American Beekeeping Federation (ABF) and Chris Hiatt of the American Honey Producers Association (AHPA).  The topics of discussion aren't listed, but it's probably worthwhile to give them a listen.  

As always, you have to register for this free event.

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_HkXZussXRYGiWcq2fF6KnQ

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

AUTUMN is Approaching!

Sedums are in bloom and Goldenrod is winding down.

Sedums are a great late season source of pollen and nectar for pollinators, and honey bees love them!  I'm happy that I see so many blooming in my neighbor's yards. They're a reminder to me that it's the time of year to share some honey with them.

The goldenrod is still going but it's winding down pretty quickly in my area. I extracted honey this past weekend and it's primarily goldenrod honey.  It's darker than earlier honeys, which means it has more minerals, and goldenrod honey crystallizes quickly.  I bottled some today from an extraction on Saturday and it's already cloudy.  It might be that it has a higher sugar crystal content than others, but I don't know.  Kathy says it's the sweetest of the honeys that I extract anyway.

I've put some frames with Ultrabee powder (technique demoed at the last meeting and pictured below) in the hives for the bees to make beebread. In a couple of weeks, I'll put out my repurposed Gatorade bottle Ultrabee powder feeders. The bees harvest the powder every flight day once the goldenrod is about done until it gets too cold for them to fly to gather resources. But not all beekeepers have had success with their bees gathering the powder from feeders, so putting it in the frames is a better method.

In addition to the frames of Ultrabee powder (protein), I've given my colonies a dose of ProDFM (probiotic) to help promote gut health.  I see this as a positive way to help the bees fight disease because if they have a healthy gut microbiome they will absorb more nutrients.  (SuperDFM is another probiotic.)  Some beekeepers treat their colonies in fall with Fumidil-B (fumagillin) but research has shown that this antibiotic doesn't discriminate between beneficial bacteria and non-beneficial bacteria and kills them both, causing the bees to be less healthy overall.  Fumagillin products are banned in many countries, but available in the U.S. 

Most of my hives are within the winter population numbers that I like, but I have at least two that aren't.  I'm robbing brood frames from very strong colonies to give to the weaker ones but there's only a few weeks left to do this.  I've started feeding the weaker hives 2:1 sugar because they don't have much honey stored or personnel to collect nectar.  Hopefully the added brood will get their numbers up and the syrup will load the larder in time.

 - Gerard

Sedum Photo courtesy of Jody Kulick.

Goldenrod Photo courtesy of Gerard Shubert

Ultra Bee Powder pressed in Brood Frame Photo courtesy of Gerard Shubert

 

Winter Preparations Begin

September is the time to start preparing the bees for winter.

Be aware of Varroa BOMBS!

There are two ways that I know of that mites from collapsing hives can get into our hives.  

1. When a colony collapses in late fall due to an overwhelming population of Varroa, the bees abscond and take up residence with surrounding colonies, bringing the mites with them (aka; Varroa bomb).  

2. After the colony has abandoned its hive, bees from other colonies detect the unguarded honey left behind, and being opportunists, will rob out the abandoned honey.  While robbing, mites in the hive will hitch a ride with the bees and end up in our hives.   

Mite Treatments

Apiguard treatment in mid-September after the honey is off.  Apiguard treats for both Varroa and tracheal mites and needs to be administered (~28 day treatment) while temps are still in the 60's.

Some of us also treat in October and November with an Oxalic Acid Vapor treatment, and that is good insurance against any mites entering our hives as colonies around us collapse and their mites become our mites.

Upper Entrance

An upper entrance allows the bees to take cleansing flights in winter when they can't get out of the bottom entrance. It can get blocked by snow, ice, or dead bee bodies piled up on the bottom board.  

This is the time to start thinking about how you're going to provide one.

Fall Feeding

Fall feeding should be 2:1 syrup, after honey for human consumption has been removed.  

Also, this is the time to add/squish pollen substitute powder into an empty brood frame's cells so the bees can ferment it into beebread.  This way the nurse bees will have ample supplies when the queen starts laying in January.

Pollen patties needn't be offered because the bees have no way to store it and it will most likely just sit on the top bars.  Mid-January is the time to start offering pollen patties, when the queens start laying to replace natural winter losses.

It'll be a couple more weeks and then resources will become very scarce, and that's when we'll see robbing activity increase.  I opened a couple of hives recently and almost immediately yellowjackets were in the hives.  I don't know how they get there so fast, but they respond quickly to the scent of honey.  They may already be hunting for hives with easy access.

Check for Queenrightness in the all the colonies. Laying worker colonies can be combined with weak colonies or just killed off with an alcohol or soap bath. Low number colonies can have a capped brood frame with their nurse bees put in from a flourishing donor colony to build the strength on the low numbered colony.

One way to combine a laying working hive. Take the laying worker colony and dump it 30' away. Place a strong colony or swarm colony in the spot of the laying working colony. The foragers and workers will make their way back but not the laying workers. The returning bees may not want to accept the queen they find there, but her colony should protect her. Hopefully the returners will accept her.  Those that don't make it back will die where they were dumped, and those that don't accept the new queen may die in battle.

The season is winding down, but there's still a little time to build up weak colonies with brood from donor colonies, combining colonies, and to take care of queenless and laying worker colonies. There's still queens available, but there won't be for long.  

It's important to check our colonies and do what we can to help them get winter-ready. 

-Gerard

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

FAT BEE REARING IN AUGUST

Fat Bees are the ones that get the queen through winter.

The time is here to make sure the mite levels are below the treatment threshold by August 15. It's critical for the successful rearing of Fat Bees which are required for overwintering success. 

Brood rearing stops in the fall. The emerging worker bees have no brood to feed so they store it for winter. Thus becoming 'Fat Bees'.

Be sure to check your hives for mites and treat if necessary. It takes time and effort, but makes the difference between being a beekeeper and a boxkeeper.

Enjoy your bees and the honey they produce.

Gerard

BEES SEE IN ULTRA VIOLET

I look at the markings on the Deptford Pink and wonder what it looks like to a bee?

We know that plants have ultraviolet markings (that humans can't detect, but bees can) on their petals, and I'm just curious what this would like through an ultraviolet lens. 

 For those curious about how some flowers look to a honey bee, click this link: http://www.naturfotograf.com/UV_flowers_list.html#top/ 

 It's pretty cool. -Gerard

 

WHPA Summer Meeting June 12, 2021

Hotel Mead 451 E. Grand Ave. Wisconsin Rapids

Room blocked under Wisconsin Honey Producers Association. Please book your room early to take advantage of reduced rate. Call (800) 843-6323 to make your reservation.

Registration Fee: WHPA members $25, non-members $35 (includes lunch)

Please pre-register online, here. If you have any issues registering online please call Karri Burzynski 715-644-5681.

SUMMER MEETING AGENDA

Friday June 11th 2021

• 6:30-9:00pm: Social
• We will be ordering pizza and appetizers and asking those that attend who will be eating to chip in $15 for food. Drinks are on your own.

Saturday June 12th 2021

• 7:30 a.m. – Registration opens
• 8:30 a.m. – Welcome WHPA President
• 8:45 a.m. – Wisconsin Honey Queen Anna Evenson
• 9:00 a.m. – Dr. Katie Lee: Varroa mite biology and management
• 10:00 a.m. – ABF Update – Kent Pegorsch
• 10.00 a.m. – Break
• 10:15 a.m. – Youth scholarship beekeeping program overview
• 11:00 a.m. – ABF Honey Queen Jennifer Hinkel
• 11:15 a.m. – State Update, state inspector
• 11:45 a.m. – WI State Fair update
• 12:00 p.m. – Lunch
• 1:00 p.m. – Dr. Katie Lee: Working for commercial beekeepers with Bee Informed Partnership’s Tech-Transfer Teams
• 2:00 p.m. –Expert Panel Q & A: “What the Heck Did I Get Myself Into?”
• 2:30 p.m. – Adjourn
• 3:30 p.m – L.B. Werks James & Jon Hillemeyer tour begins

Summer Keynote Speaker, Dr. Katie Lee: Katie Lee is a post-doctoral researcher on the Minnesota Agriculture for Pollinators Project (MAPP) led by Dr. Dan Cariveau at the Univ. of Minnesota. The project assesses the benefits of pollinator plantings on both honey bees, wild bees, and natural enemies in southwest Minnesota. Lee leads the honey bee team that looks at how the surrounding percent natural area and pollination plot size affect honey bee health. Her previous research focused on metrics that indicate honey bee colony and queen health. She developed a parasitic V. destructor sampling protocol that is now a nationwide standard. In collaboration with the non-profit organization the Bee Informed Partnership, she founded the Northern California and Upper Midwest honey bee Tech-Transfer Teams that provide services for commercial beekeepers by assessing colony health, sampling for pathogens and parasites, and testing breeding stock for disease resistance behaviors. Lee serves on the board of the American Beekeeping Federation and her long-term goal is to conduct research that generates practical information for beekeepers.

Swarm Catching Fiasco!

Successful story time 😊

On Sunday, 5/30: I was walking my dog, Casey, around 6 p.m. and spotted this swarm about 60 feet away from the home apiary. At the apiary they had a deep with drawn comb available for occupancy but apparently decided not to use it.

The swarm was only about 5' above the ground and looked like a firm shake would drop them into a box.  After taking Casey back to the house I went back to get the swarm and felt that the branch was a little too stout for a good shake.  I decided to cut the branch slowly with a lopper so that it would slowly bend over and into a cardboard box.  Good plan, but the branch snapped and fell, nicking the side of the box and tipping it on its side. About 25% of the bees landed in the box, and the rest landed in the long field grass.  Now what? 

I walked away to think about my next move, and decided it would be best to just leave them alone and maybe they would regroup and eventually decide to move into one of the swarm lures I had in the vicinity.  I went back about 15 minutes later to see what they were up to and noticed several bees on the top of the box fanning, and bees were flying into the box.  The queen was in the box?  Lady Luck must have been in the area.

So I pushed the box down so it made good contact with the ground and shot this short video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKIteVq-d-w

A most amazing thing!  Streams of bees going to their queen.  The majority of these bees had never been out of the hive before swarming and instinctively knew what to do.  When I had collected the majority of the bees I poured them into a deep, and bees immediately started fanning to call their sisters home.  In the meantime the air was filled with bees flying between the deep and the bees in the grass. They were also collecting on the tree. Within one hour there were no more bees in the grass or on the tree!  The only bees in the area, around a dozen, were hovering and flying slowly over the grass. I presume they were emitting a pheromone trail so as to 'leave no bee behind'. Amazing!!

Hope you enjoyed it.

Gerard

HONEY FLOW IS ON!!

Call it the main honey flow or the main nectar flow, this is the time when the greatest number of nectar and pollen producing plants are blooming, and will continue to bloom heavily until around mid-July.  

Black locust and basswood trees are two of the major producers blooming now, and wild rose, birdsfoot trefoil, clover, and catmint are blooming with them.  

In the next couple of weeks I expect to see acres of raspberry, mint, motherwort, milkweed, and a host of other blossoms. 

The locally adapted honey bees knew when this was going to occur and that's why they started swarming 3 - 4 weeks ago.  The main flow gives them their best chance to have the resources available that they need to reproduce and start new colonies that have a chance of being ready for winter.

The Colony after a Swarm/Split

The "mother" or "source" colony from a swarm may not be queenright for 2 - 3 weeks after the event, and several of my colonies were in that state last weekend.  By next weekend I'm hoping that all of the colonies are queenright, and I'll be out checking.  

Of my 4 queenless splits I found one queen last weekend, and the other 3 appeared to be working on it.  I'm leaving them undisturbed for two weeks so as to not interfere with the process.  Any colonies that aren't queenright by next weekend will get eggs and larvae from donor hives

Brood Break

An advantage of swarming and splitting is that both phenomena create a natural  brood break.  Because there's no bee larvae entering the pupal stage for several weeks the mites can't reproduce, except those that are already in capped cells.  

A really good time for an oxalic acid treatment would be when the last of the capped brood are emerging and the new queen's progeny aren't capped yet because nearly all of the mites would be phoretic.  If only one knew when that window of opportunity was present!  

Food for the Bees

The nectar (and pollen) being brought in now will be used mainly to support the colonies' growth, which will grow to around 40,000 - 60,000 bees (maybe more) by July!  

This is true of first year colonies from packages and nucs, splits, and swarmed colonies.  As the colonies grow, so do the number of foragers. Eventually they'll be able to produce more honey than they need for immediate growth needs.  

Survivors that didn't swarm or weren't split could have a large population and may already be putting on honey, but those would be rare.

Water for Air Conditioning

Foragers are probably bringing in more water than nectar right now in order to cool the hives.  Bees spread the water over the pupal cappings and fan the air to remove heat through evaporation.   

It's a colony's method of air conditioning and they do that to maintain the ~94F required pupal temperature.  

For hives in full sun, more water will be required than for those with afternoon shade.

Single or Double Deep?

I'm debating whether to put a second deep (when they're ready) on two of the swarm colonies that I captured over the past couple of weeks, or just put on a queen excluder and honey supers and see how that goes?  

I think I owe it to myself to at least try it, and I'll undoubtedly learn something from the experience.  There's the risk that a colony in a single deep will expand to the point that it will swarm in July, but perhaps they won't if there's enough space for them in the supers?  

The initial springtime reproductive swarm urge would have passed, and now it would be a matter of congestion.  

First Year HONEY or Not

It's said that one large colony produces more honey than two small colonies, and to not expect honey from a first year colony, but I'm pretty sure that depends on the bees.   

Twice over the past 9 years I have had first year package bees produce 240 lbs. of honey (starting on foundation) while the other package bee colonies, and survivor colonies, produced 35 - 40 lbs. of honey in the same apiary, all in double deeps.  

It wasn't the location, and it wasn't the housing.  Had to be the bees!

Don't run short of Honey frames or Storage jars!

Unassembled medium frames arrived Friday so I'll be getting more honey frames ready. 

Once the season takes off I'll be replacing capped frames (as they become available) with empty frames in the supers and I don't want to run short.  

Last year all of my honey frames were either in the supers, or were "wet" and waiting in the barn to go back into the hives, and I ran out of back-ups.  

I assembled more medium supers and now I'm getting the frames ready.

Hot, dry summers are when the bees produce the most honey, and this season is starting out that way.  

I'll wait a while yet before I order 55 gallon drums, but I did start buying pint and quart jars because of last year's experience when so many people decided to grow their own food and can it.  

I do hope those people continue on doing that, and they should have last years' jars on hand, but I don't want to get caught in that predicament (not enough jars) again!

Club Pressure Washer

Jack has purchased the new club pressure washer for cleaning the extractor, and it's capable of 2,000 psi and should make extractor cleaning a breeze.  

Because we'll be meeting at the Caestecker Library for our June meeting we won't see it at the RMW until July, and I don't think anyone will be extracting before that.  

If you are, contact Jack to pick it up if you want to use it.  And you will want to use it!

Club Hives

The club hives are looking strong (from the outside) and as of yesterday they each have 2 supers.  

Kathy Hayes and I will do an inspection within the next couple of weeks to make sure all is well, and work to correct what might not be.

Next Club Meeting

Our next meeting is June 19 at the Caestecker Library in Green Lake, 9:30 a.m.  

For those that haven't been there, enter through the front door and the stairway down is on the right.  

Some of us will be there early to help direct you, or ask any of the librarians for directions to the meeting room.  

I don't have a topic in mind, so everyone should bring one. :)  

See you then...............Gerard

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