I awoke this morning with a sense of trepidation, afraid of what I might find. To my delight the hives were untouched! I’m not sure if the bear returned or not. The bacon was all there.
I checked the hives this afternoon and in two I saw the queens! The third had eggs and is 48 hours post bear…so maybe. The fourth hive, which was my strong split and got hit twice, had larva and lots of capped brood. It’s all pre bear so I’m thinking it’s not viable. I will wait to see if they start eating it away to prepare the cells for new brood. I gave them all light syrup and saw pollen in all hives.
I also swapped out a brood box which was damaged by the bear. A total of four frames were lost to the invasion, though I was able to salvage the foundation/comb. They were damaged, but there was still a lot of wax on them that the bees can easily repair. Much easier than starting from scratch.
I have a feeling it will take a while before I can relax about the bear.
Ol’ mister bear was back again last night. Now all hives have been taken down. On my way home from Sac I picked up a new battery for my solar charger. I was surprised and very happy to learn that the battery came fully charged! I was good to go for tonight. Unbeknownst to me, while I was at work Wayne did a temporary install of his AC charger and got the fence wire hot! A huge thank you Wayne! I have strung the wire with bacon hoping that ol’ mister bear will take a bite and get his nose zapped. I am told that you have to train the bear to the wire, otherwise it won’t stop them. With fingers crossed I’ll see what the morning brings.
It’s been quite a day. Gone is the bucolic quality of the bee yard, reality has set in…I have bears! After getting over the shock (and boo hooing on my neighbors shoulder) I got busy. I already had many of the supplies needed for the electric fence, but a trip across the canyon was never the less required.
Got the fence up and wired with the help of my friend and neighbor, Wayne Kopp. I am so lucky and grateful to have such a helpful friend! Tomorrow I’ll get a new battery for my solar charger and with a little sunshine get the fence up and zappy! I don’t know what to think about tonight, though. I am told that I should expect another visit. I put a light out in the bee yard. Hope all goes well tonight.
Here’s a close up of one of the frames. You can see the bear claw marks. Lots of dead and dying bees. I put the hives back together again as quickly as possible. I saw one queen, though I wasn’t really looking. It’s been wet, rainy and cold the past few days, so the bees are already stressed. Have no idea what to expect. Will feed again tomorrow. Thankfully tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and warm! Yahoo!
Hive check Sunday, September 4, 2016
Yesterday I completed my third consecutive powdered sugar treatment for Varroa mites, thus completing the first mite treatment for my hives.
Now that the honey flow is over, next on the bee agenda is to prepare for the winter dormant season. I’m told in our workshops that the goal is to get the bees as fat and healthy as possible before winter. At this time of year supplementing with pollen helps. Dry pollen will be stored by the bees and wet pollen will be eaten immediately. Below is a picture of a top feeder filled with dry pollen. The bees fly/walk through the powdered pollen which attaches to their hairy little bodies (just like on a flower) which they will store in the honeycomb.
After checking the hives yesterday I am once again full of questions. Hive 2 looks very weak to this newbee beekeeper’s eyes. Not sure if it will be strong enough to winter over. Box 2 is full of capped honey, but Box 1, unfortunately, has very little capped brood or stored pollen. The few larva that I did see was spotty and dry. I saw another open queen cell so I don’t know if the bees have superseded their queen yet again.
Hive 2 looks much better. I did see lots of larva in all stages as well as pollen and capped honey.
At tonight’s bee meeting our guest speaker will be discussing the topic of preparing our bees for winter. I’ll be attending with lots of questions!
Hive 2 Stats Box 2 F2 – F9 Solid capped honey
Box 1
F4-5 Spotty dry larva, very little pollen, little brood
Did not see eggs
Overall hive looks very weak
Hive 1 Stats
Super
Super is filling with nectar
Box 2 Only checked two frames
F4 – F5 Lots of larva in all stages, capped honey + brood
Box 1
Saw larva in all stages
Spotty brood
Did not see eggs
Saw stored pollen and capped honey
Even though my Varroa mite count is low, treating all hives at this time of year is highly recommended. Late August is critical because as the bee population begins to naturally decrease in preparation for the dormant winter season, the mite population is reaching its highest population. It’s critical that the reduced cluster of winter bees be as mite free as possible. So yesterday I did the first of three powdered sugar treatments on both my hives.
How they figured out that dusting bees with powdered sugar is an effective mite control, I have no idea, but here’s how it works. Powdered sugar makes a coated bee too slick for mites to hold onto, so they drop off the bee. Since Varroa mites reproduce in the brood cells, powdered sugar treatments are required once a week for three weeks in order to treat all emerging bees/mites. (Worker bees have a three-week gestation period.)
The powdered sugar treatment is harmless for bees. After treatment the bees simply groom each other by eating off the powdered sugar.
Here is a picture of the observation board about ten minutes after treatment. The enlarged circle above shows the mites highlighted in yellow.
There are several options for treating Varroa. We’re told it’s important to use a variety of methods because the Varroa mite is highly adaptive. Treatments that were developed not that long ago are already ineffective as Varroa continue to evolve and build up resistance. Eventually honey bees will build up natural resistance to Varroa, but unfortunately it’s a slower process.
Today was a big bee day. I headed to A-Z Hardware in Grass Valley where I saw a powdered sugar treatment demonstration for Varroa mites, then afterward headed to the honey house where I harvested my honey. Below is a picture of the honey super with frames of capped honey.
Above is the uncapping tub. This is where the wax cap is removed to expose the cells of honey. As you can see, it’s a messy, sticky, honey and waxy mess. The tub has holes where the honey drains so there is no waste.
This is the inside of the extractor. Three frames in, seven more to go.
And here is the honey! It’s strained through two different sized mesh to remove any wax, clumps of pollen and bee debris.
And here is my bucket of honey! I harvested approximatey two gallons of honey from one honey super. I can’t get over how dark it is! Now it’s time to purchase jars and design my label.
The experience of harvesting honey can be summarized in one word, HOT. Literally! The honey house is kept over 90 degrees so the wax is easy to cut and the honey can flow effortlessly. It took me two hours to extract one honey super and clean the equipment. Imagine working in a sauna and you will know what the conditions were like. I was completely drenched from head to toe and probably dropped a few pounds of water weight before I was done. To make matters worse, the honey house had many bees inside and I was stung three times!
When I returned home I put the honey super back on the hive where the bees will keep busy cleaning up the frames and repairing the honeycomb. At this point I was tired and didn’t take the time to light my smoker so the bees were on high alert when I opened the hive. Ended the day with one more sting, four total for the day…an all time high!
Today I did my third alcohol wash to test for Varroa mites. I am happy to report that both hives are in good shape.
A good test result is fewer than 9 mites per 300 bee sampling (1/2 cup of bees), or less than 3%. If your test returns are under 3%, then your hive is in good shape…for the time being! The end of August is a critical time. This is when the bee population starts to decline as it heads toward winter and Varroa mite population starts to increase. Will test again next month.
July 22, 2016 Mite check
Hive 2
Alcohol wash: 4 mites. Tested from Box 1 Frame 5
Adult bees with deformed wings resulting from DWV (Deformed Wing Virus) which is spread by the Varroa mite. Photo credit: Katherine Aronstein. Source: articles.extension.org
Hive check Saturday, July 16, 2016 The bees are back and so am I! I’ve been away on vacation and am sure the bees have appreciated some peace from my weekly visits. When I last checked, I thought the hives were rebounding and that’s exactly what I found. Populations in both hives appeared much larger than two weeks ago.
Hive 2 is filling up nicely. Box 1 has all ten frames built out, filled with lots of pollen, nectar and brood. I even saw the queen on Frame 3. Box 2 is almost filled with capped honey, just the outside frames are empty. I will put a honey super on during my next check with the hope that the bees will get an early start building out the honey comb. I want to be ready for next year’s honey flow! Below is a frame of solid capped honey. It was very heavy when I lifted it out of the hive.
Hive 2 Box 2 Frame 5
Hive 1 is also doing well. Box 1 was filled with eggs, larva in all stages, capped brood, lots of pollen and nectar. Box 2 had lots of burr comb (seen on the top side of the wooden frame.) Box 2 is also filling with capped honey, with the brood nest moving up into the center frames.
Hive 1 Box 2 Frame 2
This is a frame from the honey super box on top. As you can see, the frames are not as deep as the bottom boxes. The bees have decided to build a big blob of honey comb down the center of the frame into the frame beside it. It was hard to break the frames away from each other in order to pull it out.
Hive 1 Super 1 Frame 7
Hive 1 Super 1 Frame 7
Ultimately I broke off the extra comb. You don’t want frames with wonky wax!
Bottom board check
Hive 2 bottom board
Hive 1 bottom board
I was very surprised to see dead bees on the bottom board of Hive 1. I asked at our meeting and was told that there must have been a small opening somewhere in the bottom board. The bees crawled in thinking they’d get into the hive, but had crawled below the screen and couldn’t get back in.
I didn’t see any Verroa mites on the board. I was also told that because I had an interruption in the breeding cycle when the hives were queenless, that alone would knock back the mites.
Hive 2 Stats
Super
No super
Box 2
F1 Little comb
F2 – F8 Full of capped honey
F9 One side of comb
F10 No comb
Hive 1 is queenless! I have no idea what happened. I did not see anything inside the hive today– to the best of my newbee ability – that might explain. I did not see any eggs, very little brood and reduced population from last week. I saw many queen cells and one which looked opened. So maybe they reared a new queen. I have no idea. Now I have to wonder if the beard wasn’t a beard after all…
HIve 1 Box 2 Frame 8
Hive 1 Box 2 Frame 3
Hive 1 Box 1 Frame 4
Hive 1 Box 1
Underwhelming compared to two weeks ago. Last week when I did my hive check I only went into Box 2. Things looked good. Pehaps Box 1 was already imploding. Here’s what’s also strange, Hive 2 also had a queen cell, though I did see eggs and larva.
Hive 2 Box 2 Frame 4
One of today’s objectives was to do my second alcohol wash to test for Verroa mites. It was a little unnerving because I could hot find the queen anywhere (Box 2). Tomorrow I will look through the 300 test bees to confirm that the queen is not among them. I was surprised to see no mites for Hive 2. Hive 1 had 4 mites.
I also removed the entrance reduces on both hives. I was supposed to remove the bottom boards to help increase circulation, but plain forgot to do it. Will pull them out tomorrow.
Hive 2 Stats Box 2 F1 – F3 Honey comb just starting to be drawn out
F4 – F8 Drawn out honey comb
F9 – F10 Honey comb just starting to be drawn out
Box 1
F1 – F3 Bees on all frames. Honey comb just starting to be drawn out.
F4 – F5 Possible queen cells. Bees on all frames. Comb building just starting.
F6 – F10 Bees on all frames Alcohol wash: 0 mites. Tested from Box 1 Frame 8
Did not see queen
Did not see a lot of pollen, what there was was on outer frames
Removed entrance reducer
Hive 1 Stats Super Bees on all ten frames, not comb
Box 2
F1 – F2 No comb
F3
F4
F5
F6
F7 Queen cell?
F8
F9 – F10 No comb
Box 1
F1 No comb
F2
F3 Lots of pollen + honey
F4
F5
F6
F7
F8
F9
F10
Did not see queen
Did not see larva
Saw very little capped brood
Little pollen, little honey
Removed queen excluder last Saturday
Removed entrance reducer
Honey super: Bees on all ten frames, no comb yet
Box 2: Frames 1-2 and 9-10 no comb Queen cell Frame 7
Box 1: Frames 1 no comb Frame 3 pollen and honey Alcohol wash: 4 mites. Tested from Box 1 Frame 5
Removed honey super
Yesterday, June 3, was my sixth time into the hives. Each week I open the hives and am amazed to see something new. Today it was propolis. It was everywhere, thick and gooey! For the first time I had to pry the frames away not only from one another, but up off the box as well.
HIve 2 | June 3, 2016
Both hives are now composed of two deep boxes which are the bees main living area. The pollen, honey and propolis stored here is what the bees will depend on over the winter. The shallower boxes called “honey supers” are placed on top of the main hive. The honey stored in those boxes is the honey for me!
Yesterday’s hive objectives:
Hive 1: determine if it’s time to add a honey super
Hive 2: observe progress in second deep box which was added last week
The frame in the photo above is from Hive 1. It’s the third frame in from box 2. The bees are storing lots of honey under the pretty white wax you see on the left.
This frame is also from Hive 1. It’s the center frame in box 2. The queen has been very busy. You can see the brood patch which has a brownish leathery look.
The mold build up appears to be abating, it’s also been very hot. Hive 2 did not have any mold, Hive 1 had slight mold. I did not see any mites…that I could see.
Hive 2 Stats
Box 2 only
Bees on all frames in the early stage of comb building
Did not see queen
Did not see eggs
Hive 1 Stats
Box 2 only
Did not see queen
Saw eggs and larva in all stages
Saw capped brood on center frames
Lots of pollen and honey
Outer frames are in early stages of comb building
Added queen excluder and first honey super
Today was my second hive check. I felt a lot less nervous and had a lot more fun!
For the past week I’ve been feeding my bees one quart of simple syrup per day/per hive. Collective knowledge sources recommend: “continuously” “one quart every other day” and “one quart every three days.” But what is the appropriate amount?
I’m feeding my bees because these are new hives each with five brand new frames which do not have any drawn comb. (Drawn comb is where baby bees are raised and pollen and honey stored.) I’ve been told that supplemental feeding will help with wax production which in turn will help fill the empty frames faster with honeycomb. I’ve also been told that if overfed the bees will store the nectar in the brood area.
So, here were today’s hive objectives:
Look for nectar in the brood area (overfeeding?)
Look for eggs
Evaluate brood, pollen and honey
Learn more about my hives (I am a newbee, after all!)
Hive 2 is looking much better this week. I saw a lot of eggs and larva in all stages. The bees have now ventured to the outer frames, but have yet to start drawing out comb. I saw a lot of odd-shaped honeycomb (see bottom of above photo). Not sure why they’re doing that, will have to ask my mentor.
Hive 1 is looking good as well. It continues to be the stronger of the two hives. Above is an inner frame. Here’s what I think I see: capped honey along the top and upper corners of the frame, pollen below that, then capped brood (babies). I’m thinking that the empty cells in the center of the frame is from previously hatched brood and will soon be filled with a new egg. I see drone brood along the bottom of the frame (cells are sealed with a dome-shaped cap) and again, weird honeycomb blobs on the underneath side of the frame.
This is another frame from Hive 1. I took this picture because the brood pattern looks spotty to me. Not sure, will have to confirm with my mentor.
A lot more debris on the bottom boards this week, plus you can see the bees are expanding onto the outer frames.
This does not look good. The bottom board from Hive 1 has mold all along the front of the hive. There were also some dead bees and a couple of ants crawling around. Will definitely have to find out what’s going on!
Hive 2 Stats Box 1 Did not see queen
Saw lots of eggs
Saw lots of larva in all stages
Saw much more brood, pollen and honey than week before
No drawn comb on outer frames
Hive 1 Stats Box 1
Hive 1 Stats
Did not see queen
Saw a few eggs, not nearly as many as last week
Saw lots of larva in all stages
Saw lots of capped brood, pollen and honey
Outer frames are starting to be drawn out with comb
Today was my first “real” day in the hives. I must admit, I was excited as well as a little nervous. I had a lot I wanted to accomplish AND I’m suffering from information overload.
By now I have read many books, been to four Bee Association meetings with guest speakers, taken two different all-day classes, one workshop, one “in the yard” workshop and one visit to my mentor’s bee yard.
It is apparently well known in the beekeeping community that if you talk to five different beekeepers, you’ll get five different opinions.
Sometimes those opinions are diametrically opposed or vary greatly. So here I am – going into the yard – what is my approach going to be? I know it will soon feel like second nature, confidence comes with experience, but for now it’s feeling very real, nothing like living in the present!
Getting ready
Before going out to the hives I gathered my bucket with two quart jars of light syrup, my materials needed to test for mites, a notepad, pen, camera and my smoker and hive tools. It was around noon when I headed out.
Going in!
I started with Hive 2 because I knew it was the smaller of the two hives. This allowed me to make an unbaised first impression, which was: that it didn’t seem to be thriving. I guess I thought the bees would have expanded out onto the other frames by now, but they hadn’t. They were still pretty much clustered on the nuc frames. On the other hand, maybe it’s a very young nuc/hive. It seemed like the larva were in an early state. So, who knows, we’ll see what next week brings. It might take off by then.
Hive 1 is a much different story. It has a much larger population and the nuc frame honeycomb is filling in. This is one of the inner frames and I believe that we’re looking at a frame full of bright yellow pollen…though I’m not 100% sure. I believe the whitish band across the bottom is capped honey. Again, not sure.
Not sure what to think of this. Many of the nuc frames had comb built on the bottom of the frame. It did not appear to be swarm cells, I think it was extra comb, maybe Burr comb. Wasn’t sure what to do. I tried to scrape some from a frame, but it was sticky and hard to scrape and I was afraid I would kill bees in doing so and didn’t want to sound the alarms.
Lots of pollen on the board. Thats what all the large spots are. Can pollen be collected from the board and used? Hmmm, I’ll have to find out. Did not see any mites on board. Last inspected 4 days ago.
Hive 2 Stats Box 1 Did not see queen
Did see larva
Few eggs
No comb on new frames Alcohol wash : 1 mite (312 bees)
Hive 1 Stats Box 1 Did not see queen
Saw eggs + larva
Some comb on new frames
Lots of pollen, nectar + brood Alcohol wash : 1 mite (278 bees)
I have screened bottom boards at the base of both hives which serve several purposes. By pulling out the plastic board and observing what you see, you’ll begin to get a sense of what’s going on in the hive. The above picture is from Hive 1. You can see lots of bee debris in the middle, left of center. This indicates where in the hive the main cluster of bees are and presumably where the queen is laying eggs.
Another important reason for observing the bottom board is to monitor pests like the Varroa mite. Should a mite should fall from a bee, it would fall through the screen and not be able to get back in the hive. The number of mites found on the bottom board help determine mite population inside the hive.
Bottom board from Hive 2. Both boards also had several brightly colored yellow and purple clumps of pollen.
Not sure what I’m seeing in the top corner of Hive 2. Will have to ask my mentor.
This picture was taken later in the day. The bees are out doing their bee thing.
