Beekeeping in Richmond, Virginia

A Warm Day Arrives in Central Virginia!

Beekeeping in the Winter is clearly going to be just like the Summer – I look at the bees and wonder what the heck they are doing, if they are struggling and, finally, is the mere act of me ‘messing’ with them setting them back further!?! All of these questions ran through my mind over the Summer and it’s deja vu all over again.

Regardless, Richmond, Va had a day of fairly good weather. They were calling for the mid-50’s, but the only time that I could check the gals was over my lunch break at 1 pm, when it was 58 degrees (that’s in Richmond, as my thermometer says 55 degrees.) Regardless, Tom Fifer always said that ‘if the bees are flying, you can check on them’ and my bees were definitely flying today.

Hive 2

The weak hive was alive with activity. As always, I wondered if I was looking at some of my bees coming out for a breather (lots of wet and cold weather these past few weeks) or if I was looking at a battle to the death between my bees and some neighboring hives (feral or maybe my own!) I could see no fighting and, of greatest interest, I could see a TON of the workers coming in with pollen packed to the gills! I am terrible with colors, but it looked like a pale yellow to me. Maybe some grass pollen? Even my camellias have stopped blooming, so I have no idea what could be blooming out there now. It must be left over grass pollen. There were a few (maybe 3) bees dead or dying beneath the hive, but I am guessing these are the old gals that are going to the great big bee hive in the sky. At one point there were 60+ bees either flying about in front of the hive or climbing around the small entrance hole. By the time I opened them up, it was much less (more like 15 bees, with most on the landing board.)

One of my main tasks today was to remove the top feeder and then, on the next warm day, put down some fondant. This is a new substance to me that I recently read about in one of my bee magazines. Bees apparently have a hard time dealing with syrup in the Winter months. I probably should have executed my plan, but (as will be noted when I upload my pics) the bees were all over the syrup. A ton of them were taking it in. I simply decided to let it alone. There was not much syrup left and I might check with Tom Fifer on his thoughts about feeding syrup through the Winter before I remove this feeder.

Looking into the hive, it was not terrible news, but these gals do not have enough food to make it through the Winter. I probably have 5 frames full of honey in the top Deep super. The other frames are really mostly empty (or not even fully drawn out.) When I took a few frames out, I could see that the cluster was up towards the front of the hive (which would be the South side) in the center. There were a bunch of them and it made me wonder if part of the cluster was in the top super. I recently was advised not to break the cluster, so I stopped there. Of course, this made me wonder why the heck I opened it at all (to remove only two frames.) I need to check with some of the experienced beekeepers to see what they look for in Central Virginia (which may have different strategies then the ones I have heard from others.)

Hive 1

Hive 1 had much less bees about the front and I could not find a one with pollen loaded. I stayed for awhile (the sheer number of pollen bearers coming in at Hive 2 made me want to believe Hive 1 was at least doing a bit of this gathering.) But, I could not find one bee going into the hive with any pollen. Not really sure what this means.

Upon opening Hive 1 (which has no feeder), I found bees all the way to the top. Most of their frames are full, so I am guessing they are moving some honey around and otherwise moving up into the top super. This is the one that I will have to watch for swarming (or maybe doing a break to get another hive.) I am reluctant to do anything that would set them back, as I expect to get a big load of honey (or at least my first jar of honey) from this hive. I decided not to mess with any of the frames on this hive.

Next month, I will go a bit deeper and get some pollen patties on top of the brood next to give them a bit of food for the coming Spring.

More Thoughts on Winter

We are now running about 6 weeks of wet. I have not been keeping an accurate count, but I am fairly certain that we have not had longer then a 4 or 5 day stretch without rain. The problem is two-fold, as the weather has turned cold (so less evaporation) and the ‘spots’ of rain have sometimes been down pours! I have actually filled up my 8 inch rain gauge twice (in 6 weeks – it’s pretty much a record in central virginia and certainly in Varina, Virginia.) Weather like this is not good for the bees or the beekeepers!

At any rate, the temperatures today have hovered in the low 40’s and are heading to the low 20’s tonight. This means that the only thing I do with the bees is kwalk by the hive and think about them. I actually placed my hand on them today, just to see if I could feel any warmth. But, this drove me to do some more reading about the bees and winter in my Zone 7 area, so I have documented these notes below, for future reference.

Ventilation

This whole ventilation concept has been one of those things that I typically do not learn unless I experience it. I apply most bee concepts to myself, so the thought of creating a natural vent (opening a window in the basement and one on the second floor of my house) was repugnant to me. How in the world could that be helpful!? I would be really mad about it, if I were a bee.

The thought, or so I have been told, is that the bees maintain a temperature that is a bit above 90 degrees in the cluster (the area where the bees all huddle in a ball and rub their hands together because it is so cold!) This heat, when present in a cold environment, causes a steam of a sort to waft up the hive and condense on the cover. Soon, as it cools on the bottom of the cover, it forms droplets that eventually fall back down (at a much colder temperature then when they wet up) into the center of the cluster (assuming the cluster is in the center of the hive.) This is fatal for the bees.

So, this is one reason why they strongly recommend against painting the inside of your deep/brood chamber. It is better to leave it unpainted, so that it can absorb some of that moisture (as open wood is likely to do.) But, many folks recommend creating a ‘draft’ (a small hole at the top of the hive to pull air up through the hive and push the wet air out) to help the bees out with this.

Today, my misgivings have been mostly laid to rest, as I have read where a very successful beekeeper from New York (an area much colder then my Varina bee yard) creates a ventilation by pushing his top Deep back about an 1/8 of an inch so that a small gap is created between it and the bottom Deep. This has actually worked for him, although I have to maintain that his bees get mad about it! Still, it must be a good plan.

To close out my discussion of this subject, I found where a good number of beekeepers in my area will take a Popsicle stick, cut it into 4 pieces and place one at each corner of the top of the bottom deep. This creates a narrow (about 1/16 inch) ventilation area. This will be my plan going forward.

Wind Break

My stronger hive has no real wind break, which has been bothering me. One fellow recommended putting up two fence poles (T poles) and spreading burlap between the two of them. I might try this before January.

Battlefield or Leg stretching?

The weather has been horrible this Fall, from the standpoint of both a beekeeper and a gardener. I will record the final total, but I have already received 12 inches of rain in the past 4.5 to 5 weeks. For some of my plantings, especially in the lower areas, I am not sure that their roots have had a bit of oxygen during this time. I am fairly certain that there will be casualties.

When I went out to check on the bees, the weak hive was hopping with activity. The gals were all over the front of the hive, going in and out and otherwise causing me the usual concern.

You always hear about robbing and all of the battling that takes place when it is going on. So, I sat there and watched for 10 minutes or so, sitting up very close to try to catch a bit of foul play.

In all of that time, bees got into a fight one time. I think that was probably par for the course – some random lazy bee from my other hive came over for a free snack of honey and had her rear end kicked out.

Otherwise, it appears to me like they were just out to get some fresh air, enjoying one of the rare dry days over the past 5 weeks.

The other thing of note is the daggone entrance reducer. It should be fairly clear that I was not able to get that into the hive entrance all of the way. Basically, I need to use my hive tool to wedge it in. When I initially tried to do this, it was clear to me that I would have to lift the bottom brood chamber off of the bottom board, which would cause an influx of air. Since it has been both cold and wet, I wanted to wait for a better day to get this done.

At any rate, this is another shot of the bees on ole Hive 2. It should be noted that I do not have nearly the same amount of activity on Hive 1, my (presumably) stronger hive. I watched them from this vantage point for a good while and was unable to find any major skirmishes.

The next goal for these gals is to actually break them open and have another look, if I am lucky enough to get a 60 degree day in the near future.

Swapping Brood Chambers/Supers

As this is my first year in beekeeping, both hives have their brood set-up in the bottom deep (also called Brood Super, Brood Chamber or, as I did, just a Deep.) But, recent reading indicates that older hives will have moved up into the top Deep (assuming you have two deeps for them to work in) by the end of Fall (which is probably late September in Bee-land.) Bees like to move up (and apparently rarely (if ever) move down), so you have a bit of a situation on your hands if your honey is down below at this point.

So, it seems to be commonly recommended to swap your Deeps at this point in the year if you do have a brood nest in the upper deep. This will put the brood nest back down below and let the bees slowly work their way back up again. Although everything we do is for the ‘good of the bees’, I laugh at how often we work against them. I am glad I do not have a People-keeper that keeps undoing everything that I work so hard to do!

This post is mainly a reminder for me next year.

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!

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 14^th 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.