A few native nectar sources. I hope your hives are strong enough to make use of these short lived flowers.
BLACK LOCUST FLOWERS
RASPBERRY FLOWERS
Two shrubs, names unknown, that the bees were foraging heavily
Tuesday, May 29, 2018
Monday, May 28, 2018
HONEY FLOW STARTING!
The honey flow is starting in the ECWBA area. Today in addition to numerous bushes in bloom, I saw raspberries, clover and black locust in bloom. In some areas the black locust honey flow can be significant.
Overwintered hives have already began storing nectar in the honey supers. This year's new package hives have not yet reached a population large enough to generate a surplus for the honey supers.
Overwintered hives, of medium to strong strength, should definitely have a honey super installed at this point. Check the supers weekly and be ready to add another super when the first super is 60% filled. At this time you do not want the bees to begin storing nectar in the brood nest area if the honey super gets filled. This will cut down on the places for the queen to lay and may promote an urge to swarm.
Some beekeepers recommend what is called "bottom supering". In this technique the new empty honey super is installed underneath the partially filled first honey super. The claim is that this method motivates the bees to gather more nectar. "Bottom supering" requires more work of the beekeeper because he/she must remove the heavy partially super to install the empty super underneath. I have seen no scientifically gathered data to support this claim. Like most things involved with beekeeping there are varied opinions about "bottom supering".
Overwintered hives have already began storing nectar in the honey supers. This year's new package hives have not yet reached a population large enough to generate a surplus for the honey supers.
Overwintered hives, of medium to strong strength, should definitely have a honey super installed at this point. Check the supers weekly and be ready to add another super when the first super is 60% filled. At this time you do not want the bees to begin storing nectar in the brood nest area if the honey super gets filled. This will cut down on the places for the queen to lay and may promote an urge to swarm.
Some beekeepers recommend what is called "bottom supering". In this technique the new empty honey super is installed underneath the partially filled first honey super. The claim is that this method motivates the bees to gather more nectar. "Bottom supering" requires more work of the beekeeper because he/she must remove the heavy partially super to install the empty super underneath. I have seen no scientifically gathered data to support this claim. Like most things involved with beekeeping there are varied opinions about "bottom supering".
Sunday, May 27, 2018
QUEENRIGHT?
Today I was out checking some of my new package hives. One hive was lagging behind the others. Although there were several frames of capped brood there was no uncapped brood or eggs present. A more detailed search showed my hive was queenless. I took immediate action to install a new queen.
A hive without a queen is in trouble. This is a lesson usually learned by hard knocks by new beekeepers. For this reason it is recommended for beekeepers to inspect their hives every other week. The inspection is intended to verify that there are eggs and brood present. If these are present they allow the beekeeper to assess the condition of the queen even if they are not skilled enough to readily find her. A hive with eggs, uncapped brood and capped brood is termed to be "queenright".
If you see eggs you know in the worst case the queen was present as little as 4 days previous. If you see pearly white uncapped brood you know as a minimum that the queen was present at least 9 days previously. Capped brood is an indication she was present at least 21 days previously.
Without a queen the hive goes into decline. a queenless hive also triggers other events. Without the presence of queen pheromones the bees will usually initiate an emergency queen replacement if the right age and right sex larvae can be found. Emergency queen cells are usually found in the middle of the frame. Swarm cells are usually found on the bottom of the frame.
The brood also emits pheromones. The brood pheromones inhibit normally sterile worker bees from laying eggs. 21 days after the loss of the queen the worker brood has all emerged. Then the workers attempt to propagate the genetics of colony by raising drones. Although they may raise drones, drones contribute nothing to the survival of the hive and the hive will go into inevitable decline.
By inspecting once every two weeks you will be able to detect the queenless condition prior to hive population crashing and prior to laying workers beginning to raise drones.
Most beekeepers (new and old) get into trouble once the honey supers are put on the hive. Then the work involved with a hive inspection gets more time consuming and many beekeepers (new and old) blow off the biweekly inspection much to their peril. Some beekeepers think they can accurately gauge the condition of the hive by the amount of flight activity at the entrance. Things appear normal until all the brood is done emerging. By then the brood pheromones are dissipated and laying workers are in control. Do so at your peril.
Put in the effort to verify your hives are queenright and you will be rewarded with more honey.
A hive without a queen is in trouble. This is a lesson usually learned by hard knocks by new beekeepers. For this reason it is recommended for beekeepers to inspect their hives every other week. The inspection is intended to verify that there are eggs and brood present. If these are present they allow the beekeeper to assess the condition of the queen even if they are not skilled enough to readily find her. A hive with eggs, uncapped brood and capped brood is termed to be "queenright".
If you see eggs you know in the worst case the queen was present as little as 4 days previous. If you see pearly white uncapped brood you know as a minimum that the queen was present at least 9 days previously. Capped brood is an indication she was present at least 21 days previously.
Without a queen the hive goes into decline. a queenless hive also triggers other events. Without the presence of queen pheromones the bees will usually initiate an emergency queen replacement if the right age and right sex larvae can be found. Emergency queen cells are usually found in the middle of the frame. Swarm cells are usually found on the bottom of the frame.
The brood also emits pheromones. The brood pheromones inhibit normally sterile worker bees from laying eggs. 21 days after the loss of the queen the worker brood has all emerged. Then the workers attempt to propagate the genetics of colony by raising drones. Although they may raise drones, drones contribute nothing to the survival of the hive and the hive will go into inevitable decline.
By inspecting once every two weeks you will be able to detect the queenless condition prior to hive population crashing and prior to laying workers beginning to raise drones.
Most beekeepers (new and old) get into trouble once the honey supers are put on the hive. Then the work involved with a hive inspection gets more time consuming and many beekeepers (new and old) blow off the biweekly inspection much to their peril. Some beekeepers think they can accurately gauge the condition of the hive by the amount of flight activity at the entrance. Things appear normal until all the brood is done emerging. By then the brood pheromones are dissipated and laying workers are in control. Do so at your peril.
Put in the effort to verify your hives are queenright and you will be rewarded with more honey.
Thursday, May 24, 2018
HOT WEATHER
The hot weather of this coming week will be good for the bees. However, you should remember that strong hives need ventilation to cool the hive. For strong hives it is recommended to now completely remove the entrance reducer. This year's new package hives are still growing and their population is probably not yet large enough to cause overheating. The entrance reducer for these hives should oriented so the 4 inch opening is open.
WINTER LOSSES
Here is one of the first reports on this past winter's hive losses. What is interesting is that the losses of backyard beekeepers were 46% compared to 26% for commercial beekeepers. It also indicates varroa is the primary reason for winter losses and that year round monitoring and control of varroa is required to lower backyard beekeeper losses.
https://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2018/05/americas_beekeepers_report_40.html
https://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2018/05/americas_beekeepers_report_40.html
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