At the last Open Hive Day on August 25, we focused on the different methods of sampling for Varroa mites in our colonies. I had placed sticky boards (plastic boards rubbed with vegetable shortening) under the screened bottoms of the hives to trap any of the mites that naturally fall through.
After doing a careful count, we came up with 24-hour average mite drops for each hive. Only Hives A and C had levels that were close to the threshold for treatment (50 mites on the board after 24 hours), so we did a follow-up test on those hives, just for fun.
We used another test that is relatively new to my arsenal: the "powdered sugar roll". When using this assay, you get a certain volume of bees into a mason jar with a screened lid. Then you put a couple tablespoons of powdered sugar in the jar with them, and shake and roll the jar to coat them well. After a minute or two, you can then shake the jar upside down to dump out any mites that were in the jar, as they have been dislodged by the powdered sugar. If you know how many bees you had in the jar (about 100 bees/fluid oz, or 400 bees/half cup), then you can calculate your percentage of infestation.
If you've never tried it, getting 400 bees into a quart jar really is great fun. There are several methods for accomplishing this out there. I went with shaking a few frames of bees into an upturned hive cover, and then just pouring the (totally excessive amount of) bees into the jar. Admittedly, my technique could use some refining. I used far more bees than necessary, and had bees crawling all over my arm. Still, not one sting.
Using the powdered sugar roll, we found an infestation level of 6% (6 mites per 100 bees) in Hive A, and 14% in Hive C. Published guidelines recommend 10% as a treatment threshold, so I decided I would just treat Hive C this year.
I went with using a formic acid treatment, which is an organic acid, requires just one treatment, and does not contaminate honey. Perhaps at the next Open Hive Day, we can do one more follow-up mite count to see if it was effective. See you there!
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Open Hive Day, August 25th, 9:30-11am
Join us again this Saturday, August 25th from 9:30-11am to take another peek in our hives. This is the time of year to make sure that pest levels are acceptable for preparing for winter (and has been for a while now). We'll make sure our TLC colonies are doing well, and discuss pest pressures and monitoring. If you've never visited our hives before, it's always a great time to start following their progress. Whether you're just curious, a newbee beekeeper, or a seasoned 'keep who can't get enough, stop by and bring your questions and curiosity.
Protective veils are absolutely required in working up close to the bees. We have veils available in limited quantity, so if you have your own, please bring it along.
Cost for the event is free for TLC and CCBA members. $5 for non-members. Click here to register for the Open Hive Day.
*DISCLAIMER* TLC is not responsible for injuries including bee stings to preserve visitors and program participants. Those with severe bee allergies should refrain from attending.
Protective veils are absolutely required in working up close to the bees. We have veils available in limited quantity, so if you have your own, please bring it along.
Cost for the event is free for TLC and CCBA members. $5 for non-members. Click here to register for the Open Hive Day.
*DISCLAIMER* TLC is not responsible for injuries including bee stings to preserve visitors and program participants. Those with severe bee allergies should refrain from attending.
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
The Summer Rush
July has been a busy month for me. The July Open Hive Day was another great experience. We peeked in each of the hives, which all were queen-right and seemed to have healthy populations. We also managed to spot the queen in hive "C", who has been quite elusive, and marked her. Now all three queen are marked with a nice yellow dot on the thorax to make them easy to spot.
Yellow is the international color code for queens born in years ending with a "2" or "7". Not only does marking queens make them easier to spot, but it can be the only way to track your queen. Otherwise, you may not be sure that the girl you see in your hive today is the same one you saw a couple of weeks ago. Often, this doesn't matter to the average beekeeper, as hives can re-queen themselves quite seamlessly (and often do). For teaching purposes at TLC apiary though, it can be handy to quickly identify the queen. Also, I am working to select the best stock in all of the yards I manage to potentially go into a breeding program. Without marking, tracking performance becomes impossible.
In mid-July, we finally pulled off honey from the hives at TLC (as well as my other hives). All three hives managed to produce a surplus of honey, with hive "B" being the star performer. I promise to bring some honey out to the next Open Hive Day for tasting.
Now that August has finally rolled around, I find myself in Burlington, Vermont at this year's Eastern Apiculture Society conference. This is my first year attending EAS, which is a weeklong conference and the largest gathering of beekeepers in the region (over 600 this year!). For those of you interested, I can fill you in on what I pick up at the August Open Hive Day on the 25th. For those of you who wish that you could have made it, I have good news. EAS 2013 will be held right here in West Chester, PA! It's an honor to be hosting an event like this right in our own backyard, and it may turn out to be the biggest EAS yet. I hope I'll see you there next year.
Yellow is the international color code for queens born in years ending with a "2" or "7". Not only does marking queens make them easier to spot, but it can be the only way to track your queen. Otherwise, you may not be sure that the girl you see in your hive today is the same one you saw a couple of weeks ago. Often, this doesn't matter to the average beekeeper, as hives can re-queen themselves quite seamlessly (and often do). For teaching purposes at TLC apiary though, it can be handy to quickly identify the queen. Also, I am working to select the best stock in all of the yards I manage to potentially go into a breeding program. Without marking, tracking performance becomes impossible.
In mid-July, we finally pulled off honey from the hives at TLC (as well as my other hives). All three hives managed to produce a surplus of honey, with hive "B" being the star performer. I promise to bring some honey out to the next Open Hive Day for tasting.
Now that August has finally rolled around, I find myself in Burlington, Vermont at this year's Eastern Apiculture Society conference. This is my first year attending EAS, which is a weeklong conference and the largest gathering of beekeepers in the region (over 600 this year!). For those of you interested, I can fill you in on what I pick up at the August Open Hive Day on the 25th. For those of you who wish that you could have made it, I have good news. EAS 2013 will be held right here in West Chester, PA! It's an honor to be hosting an event like this right in our own backyard, and it may turn out to be the biggest EAS yet. I hope I'll see you there next year.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Open Hive Day, July 21 9:30-11am
Join us again this Saturday, July 21 from 9:30-11am, to catch another glimpse of the inner workings of a beehive. We'll take a look at the small split we made last month, see if we can spot a queen, and maybe even take off some honey. This is a great time to get initiated, peek into a hive for the first time, or ask questions about keeping your own bees at home.
Protective veils are absolutely required in working up close to the bees. We have veils available in limited quantity, so if you have your own, please bring it along.
Cost for the event is free for TLC and CCBA members. $5 for non-members. Click here to register for the Open Hive Day.
*DISCLAIMER* TLC is not responsible for injuries including bee stings to preserve visitors and program participants. Those with severe bee allergies should refrain from attending.
Protective veils are absolutely required in working up close to the bees. We have veils available in limited quantity, so if you have your own, please bring it along.
Cost for the event is free for TLC and CCBA members. $5 for non-members. Click here to register for the Open Hive Day.
*DISCLAIMER* TLC is not responsible for injuries including bee stings to preserve visitors and program participants. Those with severe bee allergies should refrain from attending.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Open Hive Day, Saturday June 16th
Join us this coming Saturday, June 16, for another chance to catch a glimpse of the inner workings of a beehive. Bring your curiosity and questions (and a veil if you have one). This is another great opportunity to learn more about our favorite pollinators, get a look inside a beehive, or get tips on keeping your own bees.
Protective veils are absolutely required in working up close to the bees. Veils will be available in limited quantity, so if you have your own, please bring it along.
The cost for the event is free for TLC and CCBA members, $5 for non-members. Click here to register for the Open Hive Day.
*DISCLAIMER* TLC is not responsible for injuries including bee stings to preserve visitors and program participants. Those with severe bee allergies should refrain from attending.
Protective veils are absolutely required in working up close to the bees. Veils will be available in limited quantity, so if you have your own, please bring it along.
The cost for the event is free for TLC and CCBA members, $5 for non-members. Click here to register for the Open Hive Day.
*DISCLAIMER* TLC is not responsible for injuries including bee stings to preserve visitors and program participants. Those with severe bee allergies should refrain from attending.
Sunday, June 10, 2012
High and Mighty (but not mite-y)
The hives are standing tall and proud at The Land Conservancy Apiary! This has been a great season for the bees, with our early spring and abundant blooms. If this is a typical year in SE Pennsylvania, our spring "nectar flow" will continue for another month or so. Then we can expect a summer "dearth" when very little forage is available for the bees. When harvesting honey from a hive in July, a beekeeper would be wise to be not too greedy. Colonies have been known to starve in the middle of summer.
Our bees definitely had a rough time in the early spring. There was a surprisingly high load of parasitic Varroa mites in all three colonies as early as late March. There are a number of treatments available (many of which I've tried), but the thing that did the trick for us was removing the queen from each colony. "Huh?!?"
Well, it turns out that Varroa mites reproduce on the developing bee larvae (brood) in their cells. If you remove the queen from a colony, the bees have to make a new one and they go through a period with no laying queen in the hive. This break in the bees' brood cycle also means a substantial break in the Varroa reproductive cycle. The Varroa population crashes. And it did.
As if this weren't elegant enough, the savvy beekeeper can time this to his/her further advantage. When you create a period during the nectar flow when there are no baby bees in the hive to care for, more of the adult bees can spend their time foraging- thus yielding a potentially greater honey crop. Win-win.
This technique was a great success in one hive, and another struggled to make a new queen for quite a while. Hive "C" failed to make a queen with its own resources, so I resorted to adding in frames of brood swiped from the other hives. If they didn't shape up by my last visit, I was about to write the colony off as a dud. When I popped the top last week, to my great surprise (and relief) I found freshly laid eggs, and several frames of capped brood- a sure sign of a new robust queen.
We're back on track for another great bee year at TLC!
Our bees definitely had a rough time in the early spring. There was a surprisingly high load of parasitic Varroa mites in all three colonies as early as late March. There are a number of treatments available (many of which I've tried), but the thing that did the trick for us was removing the queen from each colony. "Huh?!?"
Well, it turns out that Varroa mites reproduce on the developing bee larvae (brood) in their cells. If you remove the queen from a colony, the bees have to make a new one and they go through a period with no laying queen in the hive. This break in the bees' brood cycle also means a substantial break in the Varroa reproductive cycle. The Varroa population crashes. And it did.
As if this weren't elegant enough, the savvy beekeeper can time this to his/her further advantage. When you create a period during the nectar flow when there are no baby bees in the hive to care for, more of the adult bees can spend their time foraging- thus yielding a potentially greater honey crop. Win-win.
This technique was a great success in one hive, and another struggled to make a new queen for quite a while. Hive "C" failed to make a queen with its own resources, so I resorted to adding in frames of brood swiped from the other hives. If they didn't shape up by my last visit, I was about to write the colony off as a dud. When I popped the top last week, to my great surprise (and relief) I found freshly laid eggs, and several frames of capped brood- a sure sign of a new robust queen.
We're back on track for another great bee year at TLC!
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Open Hive Day on May 26th!
This will be our first Open Hive Day of the season, and our little beeyard is booming! We'll gather at 10:30 for discussion and questions, then you can join in for a routine hive inspection from 11-12pm. This is a great opportunity to learn more about our favorite pollinators, get a look inside a beehive, or get tips on keeping your own bees.
Protective veils are absolutely required in working up close to the bees. Veils will be available in limited quantity, so if you have your own, please bring it along.
The cost for the event is free for TLC and CCBA members, $5 for non-members. Click here to register for the Open hive Day.
*DISCLAIMER* TLC is not responsible for injuries including bee stings to preserve visitors and program participants. Those with severe bee allergies should refrain from attending.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Spring Buildup
It's been a while since the last post. After the lull of mid-late winter, as you all know, this spring came on early and strong. It's now been a busy time of year (for myself and the bees). I'm happy to report that all 3 hives at our little TLC Apiary made it through the winter, with food to spare.
To discourage swarming, in late winter/early spring, I had moved any empty supers (boxes) from the bottom of the stack to the top. As winter progresses, the over-wintering cluster of bees slowly eats its way upward in the hive. When it hits the top cover, the hive may start to feel crowded and swarming can ensue. "Reversing" the boxes as I mentioned can help relieve congestion, and will (sometimes) prevent the swarming tendency. As the brood chambers of our hives consist of 3 medium supers, I repeated this shuffling process a couple of times in March.
Really the only major flaw with the beeyard site is that there is no protection from harsh winter winds. Cold temperatures alone are not a big problem for the bees, but if you add dampness or winds blowing through the cracks in a hive, it can spell trouble in the winter months. A quick strawbale windbreak served very nicely to shelter the hives, and the bales will be easily re-purposed in the gardens on site this season. We hope to plant a living windbreak this year, but in a pinch, almost anything can work. It goes to show, if you think you have a less-than-ideal spot for your bees, there may be a very simple solution to get the location up to snuff.
To discourage swarming, in late winter/early spring, I had moved any empty supers (boxes) from the bottom of the stack to the top. As winter progresses, the over-wintering cluster of bees slowly eats its way upward in the hive. When it hits the top cover, the hive may start to feel crowded and swarming can ensue. "Reversing" the boxes as I mentioned can help relieve congestion, and will (sometimes) prevent the swarming tendency. As the brood chambers of our hives consist of 3 medium supers, I repeated this shuffling process a couple of times in March.
Really the only major flaw with the beeyard site is that there is no protection from harsh winter winds. Cold temperatures alone are not a big problem for the bees, but if you add dampness or winds blowing through the cracks in a hive, it can spell trouble in the winter months. A quick strawbale windbreak served very nicely to shelter the hives, and the bales will be easily re-purposed in the gardens on site this season. We hope to plant a living windbreak this year, but in a pinch, almost anything can work. It goes to show, if you think you have a less-than-ideal spot for your bees, there may be a very simple solution to get the location up to snuff.
Friday, January 13, 2012
Winter
About a week and a half ago, we had a nice sunny day in the mid 50's, so I figured it was a good time to check up on the bees. All three hives were flying; Hive #1 was very active as usual. All this activity is actually a bad thing this time of year. The bees spend all this energy flying around, foraging for something that isn't there, and using up their winter stores.
Sometime back in November, I had placed some "emergency feed" in the form of dry sugar in the hives. Unfortunately I had to feed all three hives a lot of sugar syrup this fall, but I still didn't feel convinced they were in great shape. For "insurance", I placed a sheet of newspaper on the frames at the top of the hive and poured 5 lbs. of granulated sugar on top of that. Then I placed a wooden spacer around that and closed the hives up as usual.
When I checked on them recently, there was not a shred of evidence that there was every any sugar placed in the hive. We did have a very mild fall, and the bees were active much later that I'd usually expect. It's very possible (and maybe likely) that they just carried the sugar out the front door, like the unwanted debris it was, and dumped it on the ground. It's also possible that they consumed it all. I'm hoping it was the former, because if they hit the emergency back-up food already they've got a long, lean winter ahead.
At any rate, I went back and repeated the whole procedure, leaving each hive with a fresh 5 lbs. of sugar. If they are already depending on this emergency feeding, I'm sure they will go through it quickly. So my plan is to return whenever the weather permits this winter, and top them off as needed. I'll keep you posted.
Sometime back in November, I had placed some "emergency feed" in the form of dry sugar in the hives. Unfortunately I had to feed all three hives a lot of sugar syrup this fall, but I still didn't feel convinced they were in great shape. For "insurance", I placed a sheet of newspaper on the frames at the top of the hive and poured 5 lbs. of granulated sugar on top of that. Then I placed a wooden spacer around that and closed the hives up as usual.
When I checked on them recently, there was not a shred of evidence that there was every any sugar placed in the hive. We did have a very mild fall, and the bees were active much later that I'd usually expect. It's very possible (and maybe likely) that they just carried the sugar out the front door, like the unwanted debris it was, and dumped it on the ground. It's also possible that they consumed it all. I'm hoping it was the former, because if they hit the emergency back-up food already they've got a long, lean winter ahead.
At any rate, I went back and repeated the whole procedure, leaving each hive with a fresh 5 lbs. of sugar. If they are already depending on this emergency feeding, I'm sure they will go through it quickly. So my plan is to return whenever the weather permits this winter, and top them off as needed. I'll keep you posted.
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