An avid gardener and outdoorsman, I started beekeeping in 2009, give or take, and began using this journal as a way to document my trials and tribulations. Over the years, it has become a part of my hobby, recording events here.

Honey Bee’s Bringing in Pollen

Over the last couple of days, I have noticed a lot of pollen coming in. The usual gray, but mostly yellow with some a fairly deep red. The red could be the Maples, while the yellow could be the dandelions that have started to pop up here and there. I still have no idea what the gray is. Both hives seem to be active in bringing this in at a good pace. There is also a fair amount of activity on the landing board, possibly young bees doing some training flights.

As noted previously, the weak hive (which I fed syrup all Winter) has a Top Deep that is nearly full of honey (about 7.5 frames full of capped honey.) My reading online indicates that this could be a problem known as ‘honey bound’, where the queen has no place to lay because of all of the honey. This can trigger swarming activity. Kenny at the ERBA and a few folks online advised me to put a couple of empty frames of drawn wax (or simply foundation, if this is all I have – which it is, being a new beekeeper) in the center of the Deep’s, placing the ones currently there (which are full of capped honey) into the freezer for use later.

So, I ventured out over this past weekend to do just that. But, once I was able to get the top off, I noticed that I had some empty frames on the side. So, I swapped the empty frames for the full ones, right in the center of the Deep. I also stopped feeding them a few weeks ago, so the thought is that they will draw this wax out and start to move up. We’ll see…

Now, on to Hive 1, the strong hive. Up until this past weekend, I had thought that it was also honey bound (although I had stopped feeding them last November or December. But, when I went to swap out some empty frames this past weekend, I found that most of the frames in the upper Deep were actually empty! I now believe that my casual observations of the frames (without breaking them out of the Deep) was faulty. I even found two bees that were head first in the cells, as if they had starved (I didn’t poke them to see if they were alive, but doubt they were.) They still had a little capped honey, but not a ton (maybe 3 frames worth.) This was a pretty good lesson, as these guys could have starved. I should have been looking more carefully.

Since this hive, what I have been calling the Strong Hive, had so many empty, drawn frames that I only did a little re-arranging. Last night, I made up a batch of syrup and added 1 Teaspoon of Honey-Bee Healthy per quart. I put two gallons on this hive, thinking that they might need some assurances with the possibility of low food. I went back later this afternoon and didn’t find anyone on the syrup. This is odd. Either it was a little too chilly or they simply didn’t want it (maybe that lemon smell of the Honey-Bee Healthy freaked them out?!) Only time will tell. A couple of days in the high-60’s and low-70’s are coming up soon, so I hope to see some feasting then.

Article in the Post

A buddy at work emailed me a link to an article on Bees and CCD in the Washington Post this morning ( Click Here to See It ). Like most articles for the layman, it beats the drum on CCD, but it did have an interesting tidbit on Winter losses. From the author’s perspective, we have had one doozy of a Winter with very high Hive Loss rates. To this author, it was expected that you would lose about one-third of your hives before this last Winter. They expect much higher losses when the Spring counts come in.

For what it is worth, Kenny advised that he lost half of his hives. That’s a major blow, to be sure.

Still Hanging Out in the Basement

I am now have serious reservations about my decision to feed the weaker hive so much and then put cane sugar (Mountain Camp Method) on the hives in late January/early February. I checked both hives on Friday and, while strong, neither of them had made hardly any progress up into the upper Deep. They both have around 8 frames full of honey (made mostly from sugar syrup, I’d guess) above them. This is somewhat annoying, as I had plans to clean up and fix the lower deeps on both hives with a reversal. The way things are now, this is looking less and less likely (of course, maybe this will be another nube concern and I’ll find them moving up quickly later this month – we’ll see…)

The Varina Beekeeper’s Association had a meeting about putting woodenware together this past Tuesday, although the conversation was seriously sidetracked and we did not spent a lot of time on that topic. It is unfortunate, as the main speaker (Kenny) has a ton of knowledge. To that effect, I asked him about my hives and the fact that the bees were still hanging out in the bottom deep. He advised to take two empty frames (just foundation) and drop them in the center of the upper deeps. This will encourage them to draw these out and the queen is likely to start laying in them (she should need space as she ramps up for the Nectar flow.) I decided to try this on the (previously) weaker hive, since it already had two empty frames in it (both on the far outside of the deep.) I move the frames full of honey to the outside and swapped them with the empty ones.

On another positive note, I noticed the bees bringing in yellow pollen, in addition to the vanilla/almost gray pollen they were bringing in during February and March. Both hives seem to have tapped into this trove a bit. I also found out that the weaker hive is now taking to the pollen substitute, instead of tossing it out of the hive as it used to. A couple of dozen bees were working it before I uprooted them to swap out the frames.

Most of my boxes and nuc’s are now constructed and partially painted. The wet weather is keeping the paint wet and sticky, so it’s been a bit of a pain trying to prevent them from sticking together when I stack them. I hope most of this goes away in the next month to month and a half, when I’ll be adding the two new kids to the block.

Next Sunday I will get my first look at my cousin, Rob’s, bees. He has a strong hive and has not looked at them yet. He invited me to do so with him, so it should be good fun.

Bee Activity

The temps have popped up to 50 today in Richmond, Virginia and my honey bees are showing a bit of activity. The weak hive is showing the most activity, bringing in some pollen resources it would appear (and probably some training flights.) One of my large Maples has just started to bloom a bit (1 in 20 buds have broken), but I did not see any honey bees working it.

The strong hive (as of last year anyway) did not show as much activity this time, but I am not at all worried about these discrepancies anymore.

The Bees are still Downstairs…

Picture of a bee cluster in late February — Is this a lot of bees?

Being my first Winter, I can only read about what to expect (and ask some of the experienced folks in my area.) One of the things that I keep reading about is swarm prevention in these early months before the main nectar flow. One strategy (that I am going to implement) is to ‘reverse your deeps’. Effectively, the bees work there way up into the top deep (eating honey as they go) as they prep for the coming Spring. Once they get to the top, they are more inclined to go into Swarm Prep mode, as it appears that they are out of space.

To combat this, you supposedly (I have not done it yet – this is my first Winter) swap the bottom and top deep’s (thus pushing the girls back to the bottom with a lot of empty, drawn comb above them.) They suddenly decide that they cannot waste energy going into Swarm Prep until they fill out that comb above (the number 1 driver for a bee is to live through the coming Winter – build stores, the number two driver is to propagate, or swarm.)

Well, I went into my hives yesterday (temps got into the upper-50’s) and both clusters were still in the lower deeps. I actually took the top deep off of the weaker hive (Hive 1), as I could see that they were not in the upper deep. The entire cluster was still in the same spot that they were congregating in November – up at the front of the hive. I have heard experienced beekeepers say that a good cluster is about the size of a basketball. I’m not sure these were that big, but they were dang close (see Pic : Is this a lot of bees?).

But, back to the original point, they had not taken a single step into the upper deep (in fact, neither hive had.) They were no where close to needing a ‘reversal’. I am guessing this is perfectly normal, but I had expected to see some movement up. It’s actually great news, as both hives have 8+ frames full of honey (all above them). This should get them through the Winter (assuming they have the occasional warm stretch to reach it), although I can only attest to honey storage. So, hopefully my pollen patties will take care of the rest.

Burr Comb Between Hive Frames — The Tip of the Burr Comb

On a side note, this second picture shows the problems with having frames that are not pushed together. As mentioned in a previous post last Summer, I made a rookie error when I got my bees. Basically, I brought a Deep, full of foundation, to Tom Fifer to pick up my Nuc. He gave me 5 of his frames (full of bees, honey, brood and pollen – and of course the grand lady of a queen) for 5 of my empty frames. We closed the hive back up and left it for several hours before I came back that evening to put some hardware cloth over the entrance and transport them back to my home. Once at my home, I took the hardware cloth off.

This all worked great, but I missed the next step, which was crucial. I left them alone for two weeks before I started weekly check-ins (Hive Investigations), where I would pull the frames out and look at the busy ladies doing their stuff. The problem was that, during the transportation, the frames had become a bit disoriented and unevenly spaced. Although I only waited two weeks to open them up, that was enough time for them to build partial comb (I think they call it burr comb) all over the place, between the frames. It was a mess and I did not want to mess with these new bees by cutting it all out. Needless to say, this situation needs resolution, which I plan to do when I do the reversal! So, the reversal is both for the bees (anti-swarm) and the beekeeper (clean up a mess he is responsible for)!

Bees enjoying pollen and sugar with the Mountain Camp method

This next picture shows the bees from my strong hive (Hive 2), gorging on the pollen patty that I dropped in here last week. Of note, the weak hive did not appear to have touched the pollen patty that I left for them, but I am not sure that they have ever taken to the pollen substitute (they seem to like to throw it out of the hive, actually…) These gals, however, are going to town on this pollen substitute. There were a lot more bees in the upper deep as well, although most of the honey remains untouched (a good sign, I hope.) This hive was the most active today (in fact, this is the first time that they have been the most active.) Bees were all over the place and I actually saw some of them bringing in pollen (usually, Hive 1 is the only one that I actually see this activity in.) It’s good to see this life, although I wasn’t overly worried. It should be noted that these gals came out of the inner cover like a whirlwind when I took the top off. One of them did get a bit grumpy and would have stung me if she could have found purchase. But, I can’t blame her. It’s cold, no nectar is available and here is some joker in white poking around in my honey stores!

All in all, this was a good inspection. The Bees are alive. Honey stores appear to be good. The beekeeper was not stung=) In truth, it is an interesting lesson when reviewing all of the hand wringing I have been doing in previous journal entries. It’s been a tough Winter (or so I think). It will be interesting to see what other Beekeepers are seeing as a comparison. Hopefully, all are fairing as well or better.

Bees Get a Bathroom Break!

After a little over 3 weeks (I think), the bees finally were given a pass to take a Bathroom break today. The temperatures made it into the lower 50’s, although I saw them milling around the landing board and doing cleansing flights in the mid-40’s this morning. Basically, the little wenches have been in a tight ball, staying warm, for 3 solid weeks. Since they do not use the bathroom in the hive, they had to hold it the whole time! As my wife might say, that sounds awful!

At any rate, both hives had some activity, although Hive 1 was clearly stronger this time. To begin with, it’s outstanding to see that both hives have live bees. I could be off, but I believe that my risks are decreasing substantially now. The bees are starting to ramp up for the coming nectar flow and I just need to help them get through this last leg now.

On Sunday, the temperatures could hit the mid-50’s, so I plan to break the hives open and find the clusters. To date, neither of them have appeared to make much a move into the upper deep. I wonder if the Sunday check will show something different!

To finish this journal entry out, I actually painted 4 Deeps and 1 screened bottom board today. With the weather, I am hoping to work on a few more tomorrow and get everything back into the garage before Monday’s rain. My experience with paint, rain and these temperatures has been pretty bad (I have had painted, outdoor fences long before I had bees!), so the plan is critical. The good thing is that I learned a lesson from last year. In 2009, I didn’t get around to painting the things until April. In May, when I started to use them, the paint was not really dry enough and the bottom boards and the deeps stuck to one another. This year, I expect the results to be much different!

Richmond Area Bee Meetings

The East Richmond Beekeeper’s Association has canceled their February meeting due to the rough Winter weather we are having (and the prospects for more in the near future.) They have moved this Feb talk to March. It will focus on a talk by Kenny Andrews on dealing with your wooden-ware. This should be good, as Kenny is one of the more knowledgeable Beekeepers around (in my opinion, anyway.)

The Richmond Beekeeper’s Association has not canceled their meeting (yet) for this month. A following is a copy of the news alert that I received on this meeting:

The next meeting will be held Thursday, February 11th in the Lewis Botanical Gardens educational building in Richmond, and is scheduled to go from 7 to 9pm. The topic for the February meeting is “Illinois super? I thought it was a medium!” The nomenclature of beekeeping. We will discuss the various types of beekeeping equipment and the names we use for them. It’s also show and tell. Do you have some special equipment you like using? Do you prefer a specific type of feeder? Bring it with you to the meeting.

Hive Body Reversal, Feb Feeding and Snow, Snow, Snow

The weather continues on its current course of ‘lots of moisture’ and ‘cold temps.’ In truth, the moisture is the only oddity, from my standpoint. The temps have not been too bad. We had 10.5 inches of snow at the Wilton House this past Saturday. A lot of it is still out there, since the nights have remained below freezing. As with the December snow, several bees from both hives either crawled out to die on the landing board or were able to muster enough energy to fly a few feet before dying (unless that was the work of the ‘Undertaker Bees’!) I am not nearly as worried about this as I was in December. It seems that both hives were pretty strong a couple of weeks ago, despite all of the cold weather.

But, there is always the threat of starvation. It would appear, based on conversations and reading, that February and March are the real times when starvation is a threat. In February, a strong hive begins to build up for the early March blooms of the Maples (and, I am guessing, the hollies.) With all of this new brood to care for, a long stretch of cold can keep the bees from moving to their food source. Even if they can move, they might have eaten it all up.

So, February is the time to go in and check on them (when the temps rise above 50). Make sure that a full frame of honey exists on each side of the cluster. If not, they must have some supplemental food (sugar water and some pollen.) The ramp up of brood needs to be in full swing by early March, when the Maples should be blooming.

This is also a good time to consider a Hive Body Reverse, where you swap the top Deep with the lower Deep. Basically, the bees should have moved fully into the top Deep, eating into their reserves. Swapping the Top Deep with the Lower Deep will put the bees back at the bottom of the stack and create the illusion of empty stores above. This is another option to the Checkerboarding strategy that I discuss elsewhere on the site.

Encouraging Activity During a Warm Spell

After speaking with David Stover and making a forum post at Beesource.com, my feelings about the activities in front of my hives have swung the full gamut. There is no fighting at all and both of them are actually bringing in pollen at this point. I even noticed one gal doing a crazy dance on the landing board before zipping off to the South and East. This is clearly just part of the normal progression of things and is a great sign. The hives are alive and seemingly doing well!

Yesterday, I only watched them from the outside and noticed tons of activity again. Of note, the weak hive was eating up the syrup like mad. I am glad that they were at it, as several are floating in the reservoir where they eat and I would like them to eat up this syrup so that I can clean out that mess (although most times they clean them out – but it seems to happen less frequently in the winter.)

Weak Becomes Strong…or robbing?

I ended up deciding not to open the hives today, even though it reached the mid-50’s and both hives had bees outside of them. The weak hive, which has a top feeder on it, was again the most active. They had bees all over the place, some of them actually coming and going! This was not purely an orientation flight.

Upon closer inspection, I found that several of the bees were actually bringing in a gray pollen of some type. I suppose this could be from one of my camellia’s, but I doubt it. This looks like grass pollen or something. I remember seeing this same kind of thing happening in December and wondering where these gals had found their little gold mine of pollen. But, the main thing was the activity. These things were going to town.

After looking at them for awhile, I became concerned (as always, my mind goes to the worst case) with this activity. Was this robbing? Do bees actually rob in the Winter? There was no fighting, but maybe these rogues had already killed the fighters? More then likely, all of this activity is just evidence that Hive 2 is thriving. But, I plan to put up my robber screen tomorrow, during a rain (when they will not be active.)

The stronger hive (or the one that was stronger back in November) showed very little activity. But, this time there was some flying about, which I suppose was orientation flights. These gals only received (straight sugar) supplemental feeding as of yesterday. Maybe this keeps them a bit more docile in the Winter.

Well, I have living bees, which is a positive no matter what. Hopefully, all is well.

Beekeeping in Richmond, Virginia

Author: Jones Tyler