Bee Chronicles

2 March, 2021

The weather outside is "Frightful"! Besides the rain, the wind, and the cold (not too bad for a buffalo), the bees are confused. We are on the eastern edge of a Polar Vortex that hit Texas. Frequently this storm pattern will hit us. There may be another before spring. 13 March 1993, the winter blizzard dumped 3 feet of snow here in the mountains which lasted almost 3 weeks. We can have sleet storms instead of snow. The real damage to the bees is a week of very cold temperatures and little food left in the hive. Prepare to feed if you haven't already.

18 February and the Jonquils have sprung forth. Some on the sunny side of the hill have just bloomed. It is not much in the line of food for the honeybees. It is a sign that spring is a little early. March should be the bloom time.

South of Cleveland, Georgia, the Henbit weed is starting to show color. It will be blooming as soon as this cold spell passes. They are about 30 days ahead of us. The Red Maple in our area is starting to show red twigs on the ends of the branches. This is a sign that the bloom is coming. I would expect about the 3^rd week of March.

I inspected my hives on 28 January and then again 14 February. There were 9 hives alive in January and 8 in February. One had lost the queen, however, there was capped brood down to 1 week old larvae. This tells me the queen died about 10 days ago. Who knows why? The bees had drawn 7 queen cells, all with viable larvae in them. I killed the queen cells as those virgin queens would have no one to mate with.

One of my surviving hives is a 5 over 5 frame nuc. That queen was already brooding a little bit. I combined the nuc with the hive that had lost the queen as there were a lot of bees and 3 frames with brood on them. I hope it works.

Now I have 7 colonies. All are closed bottom board systems. All have bees covering 6 frames. That is a good sized cluster for cold nights. All have stored honey. Some have stored pollen. All are brooding on 3 or more frames. One is brooding on both sides of 5 frames. They are not filling the frames end to end. The brood patches are off center toward the warm side (facing the sun) of the hive. The brood is expanding sideways versus lengthwise. This is normal.

If the temperature stays "up" enough, the bee populations will continue to expand. If the cluster reforms in the cold and is smaller than the brood area some of the brood will "cold chill" and die. It is not a total loss but an unhappy set back.

I am definitely convinced that the bees are doing better in solid bottom board hives. Not just closed up screened bottoms for the winter. All of my solid bottoms had more stored honey all the way down to the bottom of the frame and more bees in the colony.

This would be more critical for a single hive body system as the bees would not have enough stored honey. All my screened bottoms avoided putting honey or brood in the bottom 4 inches of the frame.

I have been relocating combs with honey from my dead hives to the live hives.

Soon I will restack all my empty hive bodies with frames in stacks that I can seal up in plastic with "paramoth" crystal so they don't get wax moths before I need them for my expanding packages. Once wax moths start in a hive you can not stop them. You have to kill the adults before they lay eggs.

The artificial pollen substitute that I am using is Mann Lake's Ultra Bee Dry Feed. I cannot attest to how good other stuff is. I just started using this on the recommendation of another beekeeper and do any scientific comparisons. It is "scientifically developed".

What does scientifically developed mean? They measured the contents before they mixed them up? How much was "science" or "antidotal observation"? The bees ate it and didn't die?

What is the "ultimate test for" bees?

How does it affect the queen, egg laying and brood raising

What is the impact on honey production

What is the hygienic affect

What is the impact on over wintering

What is the structure of the optimal hive?

Solid bottom board with 3/8" high opening.

2 deep hive bodies

3 shallow honey supers

Inner cover (vented)

Telescoping outer cover

Set up 16" off the ground

Any variation (and there are many) to this set up needs to be analyzed using the considerations of financial cost, size and weight of hive parts (mediums and deeps full of honey), labor to maintain (8 frames require more equipment and constant monitoring), and longevity of the equipment.

What is the best way to feed syrup and pollen?

First you have to consider your management objective and the time you can dedicate to working your bees. Larger feeders require less attention.

In hive feeders require more time to check and refill. External feeders are subject to weather impact. External feeders are feeding the entire neighborhood. External feeders are more susceptible to pests (bears and skunks) and predators (wasps and hornets).

Do the feeding bees drown in the feeder? Can enough bees use the feeder simultaneously to make them beneficial? Are the feeders the main source of food or just "stop gap" when flowers are not available?

The answer to all these questions requires discussion between you and you mentor and all the experienced beekeepers you can find. All kinds of techniques have been tried. Why is a certain way being used for what result?