Category: Hive Investigations

This is a post related to an investigation of the hive, which is not simply ‘looking’ at it, but opening that puppy up and taking a real peak.

Candidate for Gov Helps My Bees!

I finally Winterized both of my hives, giving them a good once over in the process. Although I came packing for bear, the bees were not very defensive at all. They really acted fairly docile, with only one from the weak hive giving me the ‘in your face’ eyeball (where they seem to buzz around your face in a prelude to trying to kamikaze you). This gave me a good chance to get my chores done and record some observations.

Hive 1

As always, this kingdom of bees looked great. They have nearly 9 full frames of honey in the spare, top deep. The bottom deep has a lot of honey and pollen, although it is hard to tell how much of which. I did not break much of this up, as I was recently advised not to break the cluster in the Winter and (per my recent post) Winter started back in October…

I did put some pollen patties on top of the frames that were covered with bees. I had to slightly push the bees out of the way, but they went without much objection. Makes you wonder if they were a tad cold, but the temperature was at 71, so it could not have been that. There are a ton of bees in this hive, probably 5 fully flush frames. No sign of any nasties, although I know that small hive beetles are in this one (I’ve seen them before.) This is all good news.

Hive 2

The weak hive was looking better, but there were probably half as many bees. They had some odd behavior (per usual). Everyone seemed to be massing up near the front of the hive body. They covered 3 or 4 frames, but only towards the front. I gave these gals some pollen and made sure the feeder was situated on top of a small twig to provide some air circulation.

One thing that I did note was that the bees on this hive were bringing in some very red pollen. They normally bring in nothing but yellow. I was a bit surprised anyway, as I did not know of anything that was blooming right now! I did find a couple of blanket flowers that were blooming in my Red Ace Plumb flower bed. I might try a few more of these next year to see if they will always bloom this long.

Candidate for Governor

Finally, we come to the subject of this post. My primary source for Bee Information (Tom Fifer) indicated that he leaves the covers of his screened-bottom-boards off during the Winter. But, the State Apiarist (Keith Tignor) recently mentioned (at an ERBA meeting) that he would not recommend it. Quite frankly, I pretty much go with Tom’s advice. He’s cut and dry and definitely a pragmatist, which suits my way of operating. But, this whole open bottom board issue has been a real problem for me. I keep picturing them freezing their you-know-what‘s off with such a large opening.

So, for this point, I will not go with Tom’s advice, but instead use Keith’s. It’s definitely better for my ease of mind. To do this on the weak hive, I needed something to put under it (this screened bottom-board did not come with a cover to do a mite count on.) So, I went for a drive. Fortunately, I quickly found a Creigh Deeds sign, flopping in the breeze about a mile down the road.

His run for Gov didn’t amount to much. But, I’m hoping his campaign sign will help my weak hive through the Winter!

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.

Positive Hive Investigations

Although I think the MegaBee set my girls back about a week, things are still positive. Found the queen in both hives and they are both looking good.

Weather: Very windy, in the 80’s, mostly sunny

Hive 2

Working on 5.5 Frames
4 frames of brood with definite honey and pollen around the edges
1.5 frames of solid honey storage, a little bit capped

Hive 1

Bottom Box
5 frames of brood
5 frames of honey and pollen

Top Box
Drawing out a good portion of 4 frames
3 frames have honey, some of it capped – a little bit of pollen

Filled both top feeders on both hives.

Hive 1 Rolling!

Hive 1 is rolling now. I was worried because I had seen one of the Wax Moth worms out on the landing area of the bottom board a week or so ago. But, I have not been able to really look into it. This was not a full inspection, but I did break down the entire top Deep and was happy to see them drawing out foundation on 5 frames! A couple of the frames were about ready to get an egg or two.

But, I did not break down the Deep with most of the bees in it. It’s a bit late and it looked like they were all in there. In fact, unlike my recent look into Hive 2, there was very little activity outside of the hive. Thus, I will wait until next weekend when I will do a full inspection of this hive too, but with smoke. It will be a busy weekend, to be sure. I hope to not find any (or very little) Wax Moth damage and bees storing lots of honey and pollen, with healthy brood evidence.

This hive looks like it stands a very good chance to do very well over the Winter.

Hive 2 Revisit

Just got in from giving Hive 2 another inspection. It’s been 6 days since the Wax Moth incursion and I could find no evidence of the little critters this time. But, I must say that I did not make it all the way through the hive. Things were starting to get hot and I think that there might have been some robbers around that were taking advantage of the open top to get a little free honey. Regardless, they are fully on 5 frames now. I found capped honey and the start of some good pollen stores, in addition to larvae and eggs. The best news was seeing the queen, which had been bothering me. The only bad thing about the whole event was that I ended up not pushing the frames fully back together. I am sure that will prove a nightmare (I still only have 9 frames in this Deep, since I decided not to replace the one with the Wax Moths on them just yet.) When I get back from the beach, I might need to smoke them to get this straight.

Finally, I used my new Bee Brush for the first time. I can tell you right now that my bees do NOT like that daggone thing. Everything it touched them, they’d hop on the bristles and start stinging the heck out of it. This was whenever I tried to use it to get them off the top of the frames. When I cleaned them off of the bottom of the feeder, they just took to the air, cursing at me in their bee language and threatening all kinds of dire consequences!

At any rate, I am mostly happy about the outcome. I put the first MegaBee mixture into the feeder to see how it would work. I am not totally happy with this stuff, as it did not fully dissolve into the syrup. Maybe I did not have enough sugar in the syrup. Who knows. I guess next week I will find the results of this adventure.

Master Beekeeper Provides Solace

Well, I finally broke down and called one of the three guys in this industry that I really believe have so much knowledge on bees in central Virginia that you cannot go wrong with them – Tom Fifer. He provided my bees but is really busy, so I hate to bother him (plus, I am certain that most of my questions would only irritate him, being novice ‘worry wort’ questions.) But, with this Wax Moth issue, I decided that I cannot let this one go by without confirming my tactics.

He called last night and confirmed everything that I am doing. Feed these gals and keep a close eye on him. I am not sure that he’s on board with the Robber Screen (he gave me one of his neutral remarks about them, like ‘I’ve heard of them’.) My wife and I laugh about that now, as that seems to be Tom’s way of saying ‘They probably neither hurt nor help, but you can waste your time with that if it makes you feel better!’ Heh. Well, at least he didn’t say they were hurting. And, they do make me feel better, which doesn’t make a daggone difference to the bees!

One comment that he did make was to feed them pollen substitute (‘just a small piece’) to see if they eat some. I was not doing that and I think it is primarily because of the issues that I have with getting the stuff into the daggone hive. I’ll figure out something and get a small piece in there tonight.

He also made the assertion that they would not get into the foundation, which turned out to be incorrect for my Wax Moths. I  hope that is not a bad sign. The Wax Moths that I had exclusively ate the daggone foundation (as far as I could tell.) I will have to watch these things.

At any rate, a 15 minute conversation with him has me in good spirits. I am not out of the woods by a far shot, but I have a plan and it seems to be the best one I can implement. I really can’t wait for that MegaBee supplement to show up.