Author: Jones Tyler

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.

Winterizing Steps

What follows are some notes from Keith Tignor, Virginia’s Bee King, at the East Richmond Beekeeper’s association meeting this past week. In addition, I have added a few notes from the Oct 2009 American Bee Journal. These things will presumably give my bees a leg up on the coming Winter.

Each hive needs 60 lbs of honey for a good Winter. I think I have heard this dozens of times. It really makes me chuckle. What the heck is 60# of honey!? I am willing to bet that anyone who knows what this is, already knows how much the bees need for the Winter! I am sure my neighbors will get a chuckle when I take the bathroom scale out to the bee yard.

Combine the weak hives. Although I only have one weak hive and one strong, Keith recommended combining your weak hives, only to divide them again in the Spring. It is tough for a weak hive to make it through the Winter, but much easier for a really strong (combined hive.) So, pinch the queen (the hive is weak because of the queen, typically) and drop those bees in with some others. The odds of me getting that one right are low at this point, so I am simply going to try to get the weak one through the Winter. In future years, I will convert to this practice.

Winter guests. Mice love to stay in the hive for the winter, enjoying some warmth and a tasty honey meal at their whim. Need to get the entrance reducers in place to prevent this.

Ventilation. During the Winter, the warmth of the bees will cause moisture to form about the cluster. This moisture is apparently a real problem for the bees, as the condensation will coalesce into water that drips down right onto the cluster. That is pretty much a death sentence for the bees.

So, you battle this with a little ventilation. None of this was particularly knew to me, except for Keith’s suggesting to use something that is only a quarter of an inch wide. Since I use a Top feeder on my weaker hive, the suggestion to put a spacer under the telescoping cover will not work for me. But, Keith immediately recommended simply putting a quarter-inch spacer between the feeder and the top brood chamber.

He also was pretty adamant about covering up the screened bottom board. I need to remember that the exact opposite recommendation was given by one of the beekeeper’s in the ERBA (he suggested keeping the bottoms open). Testing something like this would be too difficult for me at this point, but I am thinking that I am going to follow Keith’s suggestion. It’s really a question of comfort (my own!) I have a real problem thinking about that open bottom board. It reminds me of a winter camping trip that I took into the mountains. Having a shelter with a huge open in the bottom would have frozen my bottom off! Closing that up will give me a peace of mind.

Pollen: On Jan 1, it is important that the bees have 5 frames of pollen. Either I do not know what pollen is or my very strong hive did not pack enough pollen. Five whole frames of pollen!? I have it all allong the edges of several frames, but I definitely do not have 5 frames of it. This tip is probably an error.

Regardless, the key point to remember here is that the bees need protein starting in January for the brood build up. This is a very good time to place some pollen substitute on top of the brood.

Don’t break the cluster. When you are examining the hive during one of the warmer days of Winter, do NOT break the cluster. This was a really good bit of information, as I can guarantee that I would have done exactly that. Basically, the point of the inspection is to make sure there is some honey next to the cluster (move it if there is not) and that they have a little pollen. Leave the center frames alone (assuming this is where the cluster is.)

Other comments included…

Nectar flow: This really had nothing to do with Keith’s subject, but it was a bit of knowledge that I definitely did not have. According to Keith, we are lucky if we can get One good nectar flow a year. In my reading, there was a

American Foulbrood : This has nothing to do with winterizing, but Keith Tignor spoke about some of the many bee pests (his Doom and Gloom talk) and one touched on this problem. The main thing that I want to note about this regards his recommendation on frame replacement. Basically, A Foulbrood spore build up over time in the wax. A strong hive is resistant, but why expose them to this spore (at a greater and greater intensity as time goes on)?

The key is to replace your frames every 3 years. Just take the old ones and burn them. I need to start dating my frames…

Varoa Mites : Keith made a fairly interesting point about Mite location. At any given time, only about 30% of them are out on the bees. The rest are in the brood cells, multiplying like rabbits. That’s why it is somewhat pointless to treat only once or twice. You really should try to hit them with powdered sugar 4 or more times, at about 1 every week.

Keith also suggested using a pound of sugar each time you treat them.

Winter Starts in October

Winter. Experienced beekeepers spend a lot of time talking about Winter (I think they talk about it more than collecting honey, in all honesty). This is a time when the bees are most at risk. The temperatures drop to levels where a lone bee cannot survive. Nectar is non-existent. Their stressed state makes them vulnerable to diseases and parasites. All in all, Winter is a rough time to be a bee!

So, why all the talk about Winter? You want to give the bees a good shot at making it through the Winter. The term that most folks use these days is ‘Winterizing’, which are the steps that you take to get the hive ready for the Winter. There are a list of things that need to be considered (noted in a paper that I have posted as a page for later reference.) BEFORE Winter gets here. I have known this from day one.  I have been taking notes and getting ready to implement these steps, PRIOR to Winter arriving. But, it would appear that there was one crucial bit of knowledge that I missed! To a beekeeper, ‘Winter’ does not follow the normal seasons!

In my area (Zone 7), the seasons follow a fairly even flow. Three months per set, here or there, with Winter officially starting in late December. In all honesty, I consider mid- to late-January as the start of Winter. Years of duck hunting have proven to me that, on average, the really tough weather starts then. So, I have always been planning to Winterize my hive in December. But, as with all things related to bees (it would seem), I have missed the boat once again. Winter, to a Beekeeper, starts in October (a strange thought that will take getting used to). So, as of this writing, I have un-Winterized bees even though Winter has begun! Argh!

At any rate, what follows are the steps that I plan to implement tomorrow, the 14th of November, 2009, but hope to implement in early October in the years that follow.

Early Winter (or so they say!)

Folks are really hollaring about the cool weather these days (my wife being one of them). It will be interesting to see how this plays out over the Winter – will this be a real cold one? Something like the late 90’s with Ice Storms and all that mess? I remember skating on the pond below my folks’ house when I was a child. I honestly do not believe that it has gotten cold enough (for long enough) to freeze that pond in close to 20 years. It’s time for some cold.

The bees, on the other hand, are not a big fan of the cold. Yesterday, I bore whitness to this first hand. I do not believe that I have ever looked at the bee hives and not seen a single bee wandering around somewhere. But, neither have I had my bees during the cold. There was no sign of them (I actually momentarily wondered if one of the hives had absconded! =). Presumably, they are all up in a cluster, keeping her majesty warm.

Getting cool (high-30’s and low-40’s) a bit earlier then usual, I have not done some of the important tasks that need to be done. We had the ERBA meeting this past Tuesday, where Kenny gave a talk about some items to do in the Fall. What follows are some of my notes on his talk (although the ERBA setup a website, it escapes them that this kind of knowledge should be posted on their site – one day I will expound on the irony of that site and how they had it setup!)

Requeening By Kenny

The one caveat to this is that Kenny advised that he has never seen this written about nor heard of anyone else doing it. But, he does it with success and reportedly has over 3 decades of experience with bees.

To begin with, why was Kenny talking about this? In the Fall, you may start to see a failing colony or one that is trying to replace their own queen (deja vu for Jonesie boy). Per my comments a month and a half ago, it’s not a good idea to let them raise a queen so late, with all of the risks. In addition, it is a little late in the year to find a queen to purchase. So, here is how Kenny requeen’s when he needs to.

You need a 9-frame Shallow Nuc (I need to follow up on this, as I assumed that he meant a honey super, but while I am writing this journal entry, I am wondering if he meant that or not) with a new queen in it. On the hive that you are requeening, open her up and lay a single sheet of news paper on top. Subsequently, place your queen excluder and then place the ‘nuc’ (or honey super with a queen).

The little gals will eat through the paper, at which point battle will be engaged. When you come back a few weeks later, there will be a fair number of dead bees outside of the hive, but the group should have eventually merged, accepted the new queen and done away with the old monarch. Per Kenny, this is the result 90% of the time. I am not sure what happens the other 10%, but I think the implication is that it is not something that I would be happy about…

Should a Hive Be Level?

Kenny mentioned a ‘trick’ of slightly leaning the hive forward a bit as part of a larger method to deal with pests. This has me wondering yet again about ‘how level should a hive be?’ I have one hive that slopes forward just a tad and another hive that slopes forward a lot. My main goal is to keep water from pooling up on the bottom board, inside the hive (of course, now that I have screened bottom boards on both hives, there is no real need for it.)

But, is this wise? I have read that bees orient the cells in just the right manner so that uncapped/unfinished honey/nectar will not drip out. I wonder if I am causing a problem for the bees (or, I should say, just making it harder for them to properly use my foundation.)

More then likely, this is the Beekeeping Nube coming out in me again and the bees are doing just fine.

Peppermint Candy

Someone in the audience (I do not know him, but he appears to have played with bees for many years) mentioned that they have fed their bees Candy Canes (that’s right – peppermint candy canes of Xmas!) Many folks seemed to agree that a bee would eat this. This tidbit of knowledge will be filed away for later.

Nectar Dearth

Although I may have noted this before, I wanted to jot it down again for future reference. The Nectar Dearth in our area starts around mid-June.

Supers and Space

Kenny was very adamant about not supering a colony that could not make honey. I am pretty sure that I was guilty of that on my strong hive. In fact, I still have that super on them and hope to get it off today if the weather will peak about 60 degrees (which  seems unlikely at the moment.)

No Honey This Year

The check this weekend resulted in mixed results. Hive 2 had actually started filling out a few frames in the top deep, which was a definite positive. I am not sure what to do at this point, but will check at the Bee Meeting next week. I think I will continue to feed the little girls and hope that they keep the queen alive all Winter and kick her out next Spring. I have a pretty good feeling that this hive will not make it through the Winter, but they are storing about two batches of Sugar water a week right now, so there is a good chance.

Hive 1 was busy, but showed no work on the honey super. I almost took it off, but decided to wait until after my meeting this coming Tuesday.

The bees should be prepping for Winter, but I will have a better idea after the meeting. Kenny, a very knowledgeable and experienced Beekeeper, is going to give a talk about what to expect and tasks for the coming Winter. So, this weekend will probably go by uneventfully, except for refilling the feeder on Hive 2. It will be the following weekend when I will begin my activities.

Cool Weather Arrives

It is going to get down in the 40’s this week, so my bees are about to get their first taste of cold weather (even the queens have not been through a winter yet!) Both hives seem fairly active and I have actually seen them on both the buckwheat and some of the asters, which is a very positive sign (I rarely seen the wenches on any of my plants, despite the fact that I have tons of different plants blooming all Summer long…)

Hive 1, the Strong Gals, should do well this Winter, although I have not opened them up for a thorough inspection yet. They still have the honey super on them, but I’ve yet to see any honey getting stored. I will probably smoke them this weekend and take the super off, to let them get prepped for Winter. I also want to see if they are having any major problems with hive beetles or (more likely) wax moths. They are so grumpy this time of year that I really do not like poking into their home. They will try (and probably succeed) to sting me for sure, but I need to have a look.

Hive 2 is always a mystery. They look strong. The feeder has a ton of them eating the sugar water and I see a bunch of training flights even now. They definitely ‘look’ better then they did most of the Summer, but every time that I look into the hive, there is only very minor progress. I did not look last weekend, but will take a stronger look this weekend. Last weekend, I basically just eyeballed them and put a second deep on the hive, even though they had not fully filled out 8 frames in their bottom deep. I did find the queen this time, so she was not usurped after all. But, putting the second deep on may have been a mistake, effectively giving the wax moths a free place to breed and wreak havoc. So, we’ll see what it looks like this weekend.

Rebellion Supressed…I think

The weather in Varina has been outstanding this Fall, with cool weather and occasional rain. The buckwheat that I planted in August has really shot up and is blooming right now. The other good thing about the cool weather is that I can put on the bee armor this week, without any discomfort. After the attack last weekend, I am definitely going in with some cover and smoke this time.

I started with taking a look at Hive 2, to see how the rebellion to overthrow the queen was coming along. Although I never found my queen, I did locate three queen cells. Two were in the center of frames, indicating supercedure, but one appeared to be on the bottom of the frame as well, making me wonder what was going on. A bottom cell is ‘supposed’ to mean that a swarm is forming, but this hive is barely working 8 frames. They have not touched either of the far frames on one side and have only partially covered the last two frames on the other side. It’s like they do not like that other side. Regardless, they definitely do not have enough honey to make it through the Winter. I will be feeding these monkeys all year long, assuming they live.

Or Did She Already Emerge?

It was about 12 days ago that I noticed the original queen cell. As I really have no idea what I am doing, I suppose there is a distinct chance that she was in egg form at 2 or 3 days of age at that time. This would mean that she might have emerged over the last couple of days and killed my main queen (I never saw the main queen during this inpsection.) Even seeing eggs in the cells would not tell me much.

The key will be my next inspection, when I absolutely need to find the Queen. I cannot say that I will be able to act on this knowledge, as it is so late in the year, but at least I will know. If my queen has been killed, the next question will be if the new queen successfully mated or not. The key will be in finding eggs next weekend, assuming that I cannot find the queen. I can say one thing for sure, I will be bringing the following equipment to make sure that I am ready for a thorough inspection.

  1. Make sure the sun is available to shine into the frames, so I can see eggs
  2. Wear a glove on my right hand, so I can use my tool to examine the frames without worrying about dropping them, and without worrying about the pain to my hand when I hold the thing
  3. Bring a camera to take some pictures

Hive 1

I did not really do a thorough investigation, but a brief look into the honey super indicated that not much was going on. I am not even sure if they have drawn out the comb yet. I guess they would have had to do some major work to actually draw out that comb in a week, but I was curious. I am now thinking that my best case scenario will simply be for them to draw out the comb (sans honey), which will save them some time next year when they go into Honey Storage work in the Spring.

Next week, I will continue the thorough check of Hive 2 and probably leave Hive 1 alone until the following week.

Don’t Get Cocky

Ouch! Today, I received my second bee sting of the year and it was a good one. I wanted to have a look at the queen cell that the gals had started last week and make a decision about removing it. The weather was nice and all seemed well. One downside was the fact that the feeder had been dry for 5 days or so, so they might be hungry. Regardless, I needed to see what this hive was up to and make a big decision.

The first mistake was how I took the top feeder off. Instead of carefully working my hive tool along the edges, I pretty much pushed it in one corner and popped it off. When I say ‘pop’, I mean that literally, as it made a large crack and the bees answered with a large hum.

A brief moment of wisdom crossed my mind and I thought about gently putting the top back on and returning later when the gals were less alarmed. But, this lucidity passed quickly and I decided that ‘they’d be alright’ and moved onward with the inspection. Indeed, they would be alright (with the exception of one kamikaze bee) in the end.

Once I pulled the top feeder off, several squadrons lit to the air and began what I call the ‘get back and you’re gonna get it’ dance. They were buzzing all over me and, without any gear or smoke, I became a bit concerned. So, I moved back about a dozen feet and watched for a moment. They soon seemed to settle down back onto the frames and relax. This is how it appeared to my dim senses. In truth, they were organizing for the final defense. When I finally moved back to the box, one of them literally skipped the ‘attack dance’ and made a bee line (literally and figuratively) for a tender spot just below my eye. I am pretty sure the little witch didn’t even land, instead jamming the stinger in before any other action could take place.

At that moment, my glasses took flight, being propelled by a frantically swatting hand. I moved back quickly and made my own ‘bee line’ for the garage. It was time for gear and smoke.

Once I returned with my gear and smoke, the bees seemed to have settled a bit. But, in case this was another bluff tactic, to lure me up close, I shot them with a few rounds of smoke and sent the majority back into the hive to gorge on honey. Being the chicken that I am, I gave them a quick look over and replaced the top. I did not remove the frames, so I have no idea what is going on at this moment.

Ahh, the battles of the bees.

Down with the Queen! Rebellion!

Two days ago, on Saturday, I had big plans to add a second deep/brood chamber to the weak hive and possibly add a honey super to the strong hive. As always, things turned out a bit differently then I expected (why do I even ‘expect’ things!? they never turn out true with these little critters!) The adventures of this Richmond Beekeeper continue!

Hive 1 – the Strong Hive

After looking at this industrious group of bees last week, I was pretty sure that we were getting close to filling out the top brood chamber with honey. This was a definite welcome surprise and now puts in place the possibility of actually getting some honey from this hive in year 1, something I had not planned on. Well, I guess I left the possibility open, as I did pick up two honey supers last March, just in case.

So, I popped these gals open and threw my back out! I chuckle about this a bit now, as many folks have always been talking about ‘smaller honey supers’ and such, to protect their backs. I pretty much viewed these comments with disdain and ignored them. As usual, I now have lived to rue those arrogant thoughts. Basically, I checked each frame and we pretty much had about 70% of full, capped honey. In addition, the busy little creatures had either drawn our or begun to draw out all of the other three frames as well (with a good bit of capped honey on them as well.) And so, the goal of getting them a good food supply succeeded!

But, now the concern about them deciding to swarm crept up. These gals were nearly busting out of this thing and had very little room to expand. Two brood chambers full and no where to go! Fortunately, I was thinking this might be the case, so I had my first honey super (w/only 9 frames using a spacer that I purchased) ready to go. But, what was down in the bottom brood chamber? Doubt began to creep into my mind. What if they were already feeling crowded and had started a queen cell to jump ship? What if wax moths or some other nefarious creature of the night had gotten down below and things were not as good as I thought? Only one way to feel comfortable about this – remove the top brood chamber and give the main nest a good look. Well, that sealed my back’s fate for sure.

Up until Saturday, I had not lifted one of those daggone deep’s when it was full of honey. So, when I went to move this thing to place it on my cover (so I could inspect the bottom deep), I was not lifting with my legs like I should have been, but instead with the ole back. And that ole thing did not like it one bit! The back went poing and ole Jonesie-boy said a bad word.

Regardless, I was able to finish the inspection of the bottom deep and was happy to see no queen bee cells. There must have been 20,000 bees or more climbing all over this thing. No stings, but I did think about going to get my bee suit and veil a couple of times. I believe they were a bit grumpy because of the humid, overcast morning and the fact that rain ‘might’ be on the horizon. In the end, I placed the honey super on top of this hive and removed my feeder. The only negative experience with this thing were the several bees that I killed when putting the top Deep back onto the bottom Deep. Those little bees refused to get off of the sides and I probably killed a half dozen of them getting the boxes back together.

Hive 2 – The Weak Gals

With this hive, I was hopeful of putting my second deep onto the hive. After much ado, they appeared to have filled out 6 frames the last time that I looked and (I was hoping) might finally need a second deep to get them going. As always, this hive surprised me (and not in a joyful way.)

Alas, they were still only on 6 or 7 frames and really had not touched the other three (not even the beginnings of drawing out wax yet.) No matter what I do, this hive struggles and I was beginning to give up on trying to figure out what I was doing wrong. Dutifully, I went about inspecting each frame, figuring that I would see something that would once again alert me to some foul invader that I would have to deal with. Instead, I found out that a rebellion was on the horizon!

On the center-most frame, I found a small Queen cup, right dead center of the frame. Of course, my first thought was ‘these daggone things are swarming?!’ I had seen the Queen walking along the frames, so I knew that she was alive. But, there was plenty of room in this hive and they still only had about 3 frames of honey. How could they be contemplating a swarm?! After a few seconds thought, it occurred to me that this was no swarm, but instead a rebellion! Like me, they were getting sick of dealing with a weak hive and wanted a new ruler! They were preparing for what humans call a ‘supercedure’.

To confirm, I called Tom Fifer and he offered some fairly soothing advice. It was definitely a supercedure cell and I could either let them do their thing or I could scrape it off. With option 1, I would suffer the greatest risk. It was late in the year. When this new ruler came out, she would kill my existing, laying (although poorly) queen and go off to mate. If that flight turned sour and she did not return, there would be no time to really get a new queen. The hive would be shot. With option 2, I would need to continue to scrape these things off until Fall, when they would cease this activity and just try to make it through the Winter. Then, if they tried to knock the old queen off in the Spring, I could let them do so, with less risk (more time to get a new queen or let them try to build a second one.) Tom recommended Option 2, as it held the less risk.

In truth, I have followed all of Tom’s advice to the letter. He provides rock solid, no-nonsense advice. The wise man would go with Option 2. But, I am seriously considering Option 1. I have spent the Summer berating myself for not feeding these gals when I first got them, and thus giving them a hard start of it. That was clearly why they were so weak. But, now the troops are hollaring for the removal of their erstwhile leader. They are saying that the problem was not me, but the lazy queen! Should I interfere with this? I am seriously considering letting them do their thing and taking the risk. This would put my new queen coming out in mid-September. Even if she makes her maiden flight, would she have time to build up enough workers to put some stores away (20 days from the middle of September puts us into October!)? What’s the gene pool look like out there in September? Are those lazy, good for one thing, drones still going to be out and about, looking for love?

I, for one, have no idea. I can say that I did not remove the queen cup and have decided to mull this over while I am at the beach. I have a feeling that I will let these bees run the gauntlet and try to get a new queen going. I think that Mother Nature is telling me that this is what these bees need to have a good shot at future success, even though there is a high chance of complete loss. We shall see.

To Kill a Bee Brush

Well, I put my first powdered sugar on the strong hive and it appeared to go well. At least until I pulled out the bee brush to brush the sugar on the top bars between the frames. Boy do my bees hate that brush. They get on that thing and try to sting the living daylights out of it. Same thing happened the first time that I used it, to remove them from the hive cover.

Amusingly enough, their ire was not solely directed at the brush. One of them jumped on my shirt and I could see her pumping her abdomen furiously, doing everything in her little power to jack me with her stinger. Fortunately (for her and me!), I was bent over a bit and the shirt was well away from my skin. I blew her off and moved away a bit to let her settle down before continuing.

All in all, I am happy to have gotten that done. My next goal is to do an actual mite count on this hive and get some sugar onto the weaker hive. I will wait until this weekend to do all of this and am hoping to see enough progress with the weaker hive that I can drop another deep on top of her. I honestly considered putting just a super on this hive, as I am not so sure they have enough time under the best of circumstances to fill up a deep. But, it occurred to me that they might end up laying brood in this thing before next Spring and I would have another mess on my hands. So, a deep is what they will be getting. I’m hoping to have enough extra honey from the strong hive to share some with the weaker gals in case of emergencies.

Varroa Mites in Central Virginia

My beekeeping education in Varina, Virginia continues. I have definitely come to understand that I am at the base of Mount Everest and, despite my efforts to get to the top quickly, am still stumbling around at the base!

Tom Fifer spoke at the East Richmond Beekeeper’s meeting last Tuesday and gave his typical, no-non-sense advice. Most of it did not apply to me, as I am not using chemicals (yet, anyway) and have no current plans to do so. He reviewed all of the treatments that some folks use to treat both mites and the foul brood diseases. But, the underlying tone was that a good nectar flow fixes everything but maybe the Varoa Mite. On this subject, I did pick up some very valuable advice.

As I knew, all hives have varoa mites to some extent (like my damnable wax moth!) The hives keep them in check, but there is a little trick to apply throughout the Summer and Fall that will help them out. Use Powdered Sugar (1 cup  per deep, 1/2 cup per super) on them once or twice each month.

I knew about this treatment, but thought it was only to be used when you had a really high mite count. Tom advised otherwise. Sprinkle some on them occasionally, just to help them out. I’m not sure that any scientific studies have been done to prove this, but I plan to put some on my hives in just a few hours. It should be another adventure!