Bee Chronicles Nov 2012

Shazam! What’s a happenin’!

I am sorry, I have nothing good to report. November is supposed to be a “watching month”. But no. Like the rest of this year, nothing is going as the book says beekeeping should. This is causing some consternation with the novice bee keeper. That would be anyone with less than 10 years experience. Us experienced bee keepers are just down right exasperated. We don’t get disheartened any more. We have seen too many ups and downs for that. We are a hearty lot that is hard to discourage.

I guess that is like the yellow jackets that are out in force. After a year where the Japanese hornets were at the highest population in history, the yellow jackets have moved in the fall. They are getting in my hives and robbing honey. They are getting all over my feeders (yard feeders and Bordman entrance feeders). I can’t tell if they are really bothering my honeybees or not. They are all fighting for the same food so I don’t think it is an optimal situation. The only recommendation I have here is to go to an “in hive” style feeder. I lean toward zip lock baggie feeders. Use one gallon bags ¾ full of syrup.

You need a spacer between the last super/brood box and the inner cover for a baggie feeder. You can use an empty honey super. If you have lots of old brood boxes or supers you can cut the good parts into 2 inch high spaces. Just mark the box and run the saw completely around. Place the spacer on the upper most box of the hive. Place the ¾ full baggie with syrup on the top bars like a pillow (make sure it is zipped completely). Then make 3-5 ¼ in slits in the upper side of the baggie. The bees will find the leakage and clean it up.

My bees have eaten most of their honey stores. I am a 1 and 2 hive body bee keeper. In August I thought I had done a good job of having enough honey for the winter. I have had one hive obviously abscond. I found the bees in the grass in front of the hive as if they were swarming. The queen must not have been exactly aerodynamic yet. I pick them up, put them in a nuc box, and fed them syrup. I closed the hive to hold them until they settled down. I opened the hive, the next day they left. What a bummer.

I am in good control of my Varroa mites. You need to be monitoring for mites. As the brood area decreases the mites will stop reproducing. This is a great time to get them out of the hive for the winter. I use the powdered sugar treatment method just for insurance. It also provides dry sugar food for the bees. Half of my hives are screened bottom and half solid bottoms. It doesn’t seem to make a difference as far as this technique working. The screened bottom does allow the mites to fall all the way out of the hive.

I am totally out of control of the small hive beetles. Or maybe not. Dr. Hood of Clemson says the crisis threshold is 300 beetles in the colony. Well I am not there yet. He also says the best beetle control is a strong colony. Some of my hives are there. So why am I seeing so many beetles more than “normal”. I think it is a multifacited situation. The beetles are at their peak annual population. So there are lots of them to fly into my hives. I have lost 4 hives in my apiary. Those beetles have moved next door. I have not seen many signs of hive beetle larvae. This is the best news I can impart today! The beetles are not necessarily being reared in my apiary. When I open my hives I am seeing the many beetles go scurrying. That means the bees are doing their job of keeping them corralled. They are on top bars high up in the hive. and on the inner cover, in corners. It is pretty obvious that they are kept clustered. This guarding practice keeps the beetles from laying eggs. Following my own advice, “You have to do something”. I squish the beetles I can. I use my in affective finger. I also use my hive tool. I am looking for something a little bigger than my finger and flat to press those little buggers to death. If I get time I am also going to go through my hives and inspect each frame. I will have a 5 gal pail with a little vegetable oil and water in the bottom. With the bee brush I will make sure there are no bees on the frame or cover. Then I will tap it into the bucket knocking beetles off into the oily water to drown. This will take some time so make sure you have a very warm day when the bees are flying. This exercise will have two purposes. It will make me feel good and it will reduce the number of mature beetles. Is it necessary? Probably not, but refer to reason one.

I am wondering. If you salted the ground under the hive would it reduce the number of surviving beetle larvae. It would not hurt your bees. In fact the salt would be beneficial as it is necessary for honey manufacturing. I would use granulated red mineral salt from the feed store. It would also keep the vegetation from growing under the hives.

I have also noticed that I do not have as much brood in the good hives as I normally do this time of the year. I blame this on the reduction of available food. This will only be a problem in my weaker hives. I am getting ready to make that great management decision to combine weak hives. Go ahead and sacrifice one queen. You will probable loose both queens when the colonies die. One stronger hive might make it. My queens are young and good so I will find a beekeeper that needs them and I won’t kill them.

Your next activity should be getting you wood work in order for next year. Even though you have 4 months it is not enough time, just wait and see. Put new frames together and wire them as appropriately. Don’t put wax foundation in them until next year. The mice might eat holes in the foundation and you will have to replace it. Just get them ready for foundation now. Get your painting done before Christmas. There are more warm days this side of New Years Eve than there will be before 1 March.

Do your Spring feeding NOW. Get it in the hives before Thanksgiving. Then you will only have to do emergency feeding in the cooler spring when it is harder to get the bees to take up syrup.

This winter is supposed to be cool and extra damp. Three major storms here in the mountains. Dryer south of Atlanta.