BEE CHRONICLES Sep 2010

I started this epistle early in August. Sourwood nectar flow has just stopped and goldenrod is starting to bloom. This is good news. Usually there is a 2-3 week lag. During this short dirth you could get fall swarms. After you pull off the honey supers you have lots of extra bees in the hive. The brood chambers are full of larvae and food so the queen says she has reached the production goals for this years, let’s all take off for a vacation somewhere.

To avoid this swarming just put an empty honey super on the hive and let the colony collect some extra winter food. If you don’t have wild fall flowers blooming (goldenrod, asters, joe pie weed, iron weed) start feeding 1-1 syrup until the flowers bloom. The bees will start eating this honey early in the fall and the super should be empty by Christmas. Then remove the empty super so the bees don’t have to warm the empty super.

Do your fall medications now. What ever your Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program start now. Your goal is to get the colony as large and healthy as you can before winter. Fumigilan B for nozema, Terramiacin for foul brood, and varroa mite treatment. You can’t do nothing! You must look, analyze and decide to do nothing. That is a consciences decision and a positive action. It is like deciding to take a nap instead of falling asleep on the portch.

I like to treat my varroa with powdered sugar. I pop the hive bodies apart and sprinkle about a ½ cup of 10x confectioner’s sugar all over the top bars. Then with my bee brush I sweep it into the space between the frames. The powdered sugar fall down on most all the bees. Then, I put the next hive body on and repeat the process. Repeat every week for 4 weeks. You will have virtually not varroa mites. Do this before the hive population starts to drop. Once the population starts shrinking there will be more mature varroa to enter fewer larval cells.

You can survey for mites by using the sugar roll process, the ether roll process, the 72 hour mite drop on the sticky board process, or pull drone brood and count mites. If you use a chemical treatment of any kind you will want to test the mite population to determine if you are at or above the economic threshold. This is where the mites will have an adverse affect on your hive. If you aren’t at the economic threshold you can opt not to treat or use as lesser lethal process. You don’t want to chemically weaken your bees if you don’t have to.

Be proactive and order next years queens and bees now. Get on the top of your producers list. LESS ANGZIETY! What type to be to order? A Bee is a Bee! Different varieties will have different characteristics but they all gather nectar. By knowing what you had this year and understanding how to work with them, you can measure your success and your work load. Talking to other beekeepers and visiting their apiaries you can see how there bees are. Then you can do a better job of getting a bee you like. Early fall is a good time to visit other apiaries. The owning beekeeper still remembers which queens/colonies worked which way, and any problems that might have occurred.

Happy beekeeping until next time

Glen