Beeherder's Hive Reports

[Beeherder]

July Hive Report

July 9, 2011  Saturday 3 pm

Temps in 80s winds gusty as storms move through, no rain today. The past week has seen 4 very rainy cloudy days (1.6 inches rain) and 1 day of cloudy windy no rain. Yesterday (Friday) i heard the Warre hive (W1) buzzing loudly and began planning to add another box from the underside, maybe on Sunday or Monday. Well today (Saturday) they swarmed. Looks like there may be more storms moving into area from southwest.

   The swarm started slowly as hundreds of bees then thousands were hovering in the air just south of the hive entrance, which is partially under the large pine tree. It took about 15 - 20 minutes for them to begin forming a mass hanging from two or three branches about 10 feet off the ground. Used the 6 ft step ladder to reach as high as possible on the branch with the largest bee mass but still couldn’t get completely above them. When i cut the branch, the jerky motion put lots of the bees in the air so i just inserted the cut branch in one of the holes in the top of the step ladder and left it there while i went back up a step and cut another branch also leaving it in the top of the step ladder. Got a third branch but this put most of the bees in the air instead of on the branch.

   Already had an empty Langstroth hive ready, with screened bottom board, a new deep with 8 new frames of black foundation. Removed frames from slots 3 & 4 leaving that space open. Took the branches over to the open new hive equipment and shook the bees off the branches down into the box, then placed the branches on top of the open hive box and just moved away. There were still several smaller masses of bees in higher branches so just shook those branches to put the bees in the air every 5 minutes or so while the main mass of bees was bearded below the new hive equipment and beginning to move into the hive box. Removed the branches which by then had no bees left on them and place the inner cover then telescoping cover. Over the next hour the entire swarm moved into the new hive. The storms that moved through while all this was happening were windy (gusts 10 -15) but no rain.

This hive will be known as H4

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July 10, 2011 Sunday 8:30 am

Temps in the 70s, winds calm to very light, bright sunny morning with scattered cloud cover.

H4 has normal hive entrance activity. Looks like a good catch. Maybe i can suit up and move them into the fenced apiary around dusk tonight.

H3 - Open hive to find it stuffed with honey. Removed 10 frames of fully capped honey and two frames of 90% capped. Replaced them with drawn comb. Used the smoker less than usual and they remained mostly calm. This remains a very healthy hive. Decided not to open the hive further today. The nectar flow this year is excellent so will check this hive again soon.

H1 - Much to my surprise appears healthy. The two frames stolen from H3 are capped but no queen cell. I wanted to open this hive and inspect but was getting tired by this time, so decided to take two frames of capped honey from this top super and add another super with 7 frames of empty drawn comb. Will return soon to really open them up and inspect the lower frames for signs of brood.


July 15, 2011  5 am, still mostly dark, first light on horizon, calm winds, temp low 60s

By the time i got the smoker going and fences opened up it was light out, just pre-sunrise, so bee activity is very low.

0530 

H4- Was surprised to observe a few bees (3 - 5) return to the hive as i prepared to move them, no bees were observed leaving. Placed entrance reducer to minimize egress, while i move them to their new home in the large apiary, front row, east side of yard. Now H4 is 10 feet from the hive it swarmed out of (W1), and 15 feet from where it was placed after capture. Once hive was in its new place removed the entrance reducer and opened them up for a look see. Wow, healthy hive, gentle bees on 6 of the 8 frames, seems they are working frames 5, 6, & 7 . This captured swarm appears to be about the same size as the typical 3 lb package. This is now a local queen since she was the replacement queen last season when the W1 hive also swarmed. And now (8am) its an hour after they were moved and there are a few bees ( 5 - 10) hovering around where the hive had been. The new location is not yet in the sun and the temporary capture location is now in full sun.

W-1 - This hive swarmed out on July 9. Used the bee elevator to lift the three box Warre hive and replace the screened bottom board because the old one’s landing platform had broken off. As seen from below there is now NO comb in box 3, but some bees appear to be working the frame strips to begin comb building. Kept on lifting to place a new empty box, with 8 frame strips, under the 3 box configuration. Did not remove the inner cover to inspect because wood chips in top quilt looked dry and clean. When its time to harvest honey from this hive next month, i’ll remove that top box to harvest honey and wax. The theory is that the bees will now build comb in this 3rd box and if i had added the 4th box in time they might not have swarmed. This is the only surviving Warre hive.


July 30, 2011  8:30 am temps mid 70s and rising fast, clear skies calm winds

H3 - Healthy, calm, abundant bees. No brood in top super, all 7 frames have some capped honey, varying fro 60% down to 20% capped. Removed top super set it on its end leaving the frames in the super. Tried putting it on its side but the frames immediately began collapsing onto each other and spilling out so switched to end and it worked ok, taking care to note orientation so return to same configuration. Bees still calm and gentle, as some smoke used a little upwind and away from the hive, only that one angry worker. Super number two did not have any completed frames and did have capped brood in slots 4,5,6. Removed super #2, setting it on a 7 frame super of recently extracted comb, away from hive. Stole one frame of capped honey, slot 1 but found solid capped brood in 2.5, 3, 4, 5, 6 and decided to just leave them alone until next month. Cleaned up any propolis and bridge comb as bees still remained calm while rebuilding the hive and adding that 7 frame super of drawn recently extracted comb. Configuration now D8,M8,M8,M7,M7,M7. This hive could yield a harvest in mid August.

H1 - Nice healthy hive, abundant but not overly so. Most likely they had queen made after initial split but i didn’t wait long enough for evidence of fresh brood and kept adding frames of eggs from H3, which they never made into queen cells but apparently did make into workers. According to: http://bushfarms.com/beesmath.htm If you killed or lost a queen, how long before you'll have a laying queen again? 24 days because the bees will start from a just hatched larvae.  So if they made a queen from the initial split on June 01, the earliest there could have been eggs was June 24, and there was no sign of capped brood until this inspection. No honey frames ready for harvest but the last frames of added eggs are now capped and additional capped brood is evidenced in slots 4,& 5. Frame 7 still undrawn foundation. Used same technique to place the top super on its end while inspecting the next super. No completed honey frames but even more brood. Good population, mostly drawn comb in all supers, honey being stored but nothing ready to harvest. Put them back together and added another super of 5 recently extracted frames and 2 frames of empty drawn comb from last year. Configuration now D8M8M8M7M7M7. same configuration as H3, queen made from H3 genetics, current population 50-66% of H3, and this queen also has a solid brood pattern, no holes or gaps. This hive should be good to go for several weeks maybe even waiting until September.

H4 - The captured swarm is showing good hive entrance activity, no bearding or reason to think they are overcrowded so just left them alone. Observing this hive from the garage gives and excellent view from behind through and above the screened bottom board. I watch for any signs of bearding hanging from the frames but have seen none.

W1 - Normal entrance activity, After swarming on July 9, the new queen should have emerged by July 18 and be laying by July 29. No need to mess with them now, will plan for late August harvest but could be a good idea to look for new comb in that box3 just to be sure they aren’t getting crowded again.


July Cleanup tasks include cycling out (to trash) the 5 year old honey frames and also have been scraping off the drawn dark wax on the Pierco (white all plastic) frames which are now 3 years old. Also will scrape off the “honeycomb” frames which i had uncapped and extracted last year as an experiment. Well the second year is not a pretty thing so these should be harvested and scraped down every year even if the comb is not pretty enough to sell it must be used that first year, then the cleaned and scraped off “comb frames should have a 5 year lifespan if put back the next year for the clean new wax and nice translucent yellow comb.

July Harvest - extracted and jared, 28 pints honey, 8 pints honey w/comb

[Beeherder]

Hive Report August 2011

August 7, Sunday 7 am temps in high 70s calm winds

H4 - This is the swarm capture in a single deep of 8 frames. Inspection shows they have drawn 4.5 frames of comb on new black plastic foundation in wooden frames. Brood pattern has occasional holes and classic dome shape with honey in the upper corners, very little stored pollen anywhere. Had another 8 frame deep of new plastic foundation frames ready to add but decided to let them have another week to fill this super.

H1 - The queen is ALIVE, long live the queen!! Good brood patterns all brood frames showing solid full frames with very few empty cells in lower corners of brood frames. Population is good and growing, no indication of mites or other problems in those top two 7 frame medium supers. Decided not to pull more than the top two supers because they are just recovering and i don’t expect much in those lower supers anyway. This hive is tunneling with the brood nest being two frames wide and mostly vertical. They are storing honey so may get to steal some next month but for now i’ll just let them do that voodoo they do so well. They remained calm the entire period hive was open.

Winds becoming gusty 0 - 5 mph

H3 - Old reliable, she is. This queen is a fantastic producer. Was ready to steal some honey but inspection shows things not quite ready yet with only 3 or 4 frames of 50% honey and almost none of it capped in that top 7 frame medium super. I stole 6 frames of honey from this hive in July. Removed the top super placing it on its short side (as advised by pro beekeeper) and at first they didn’t seem to react much and i cleaned off the bridge comb on the bottom of those frames then started to inspect the next super and remove the other side of the bridge comb. Yikes major outbreak, sound of loud buzzing, the bees are leaving the upturned super en mass, mostly crawling like a swarm or package installation. Abandoned the task and quickly replaced the top super. They began to calm down immediately but the buzzing sound remained loud for quite awhile. Next visit should allow a decent honey harvest of 14 or more frames of honey and i’ll remove those supers then configuring the hives for winter.

   The goal here was to remove an entire super of honey filled (or at least 60%) frames. Apparently my bees don’t agree with that plan or i have never properly installed a hive so that they do NOT tunnel the brood nest because both H1, and H3 (same genetic of the queens + local drones) always have two or more frames of brood in every super. My harvest technique of the past has been to remove the capped frames replacing them with drawn comb in which ever super they were found and never finding the elusive full honey super with no brood, ready to be removed as a single act. So that is why my desire is to let H4 fill that first 8 frame deep super before before adding another empty super.


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   The early season honey harvest from last year (2010)included some honey that was likely made and stored from the sugar syrup they were fed in April and May. It is likely i could have prevented this if the syrup feeding had stopped as soon as the local bloom got going. Lets hope i can learn to do better. The plan at the end of last season was to leave them enough honey to overwinter and spring buildup without any supplemental feeding. I did, and they did, and this year’s honey is significantly different than last year. This year being only the fifth time i have harvested honey perhaps i can be forgiven my lapse of quality control during harvest # 4. Tried to capture it after realizing my mistake but some had gone long distance and others insisted my lower quality honey was better than other options and insisted on delivery and full payment. Hey, who am i to argue with a happy customer. Not that the honey of 2010 is bad its just not the quality i want to produce. And my focus to transition my beekeeping techniques to mimic the natural world to a greater degree than i have accomplished in the past is having the effect of making me learn more about the bees’ techniques. So much to learn, ... so little time. In the bottom of my pantry is 8 or so pints of that low quality honey only fit for self and perhaps giving back to the bees if they need spring feeding next year. Each of these jars has separated and the bottom has crystalized appearing to be re-granulated sugar with honey mixed in and some very thin honey in the top of these jars.


Aug 13, 6:15 PM temps mid 80s, winds very light 0 - 3 mph

H4 - This is the first time i have worked the bees in the evening and its quite different than in the mornings. Fewer bees in the hive, lots more entrance activity, and they seemed to just not notice me until i opened the hive. Immediate and loud buzzing so they definitely didn’t want to be disturbed. Frame inspection reveals 5 1/2 frames of comb still nothing on frame 1 and just the beginnings of work on frame 2, honey stores in frame 8 (but did not remove the frame so might have been some brood too), did not disturb the brood nest this time. Added another 8 frame deep of new undrawn foundation, replaced inner and telescoping covers but did not put the summer ventilation wedge between the inner and telescoping covers because we are through the hottest part of summer and they can control inside temps now without the extra ventilation. Am i leaving them too much space going into winter? Will they continue to draw comb going into late summer? So much to learn, so little time. D8,D8

H1 - Entrance observation only, did not open hive. This hive has the brood nest in frames 2 and 3. Yellow jacket activity near the entrance and an occasional single yellow jacket enters the hive in frame 8 area. ?????? These are the hard short body wasps not the lithe longer bodied paper wasps. Maybe i need to break down this hive for a more thorough inspection. Plan to harvest honey from H3 in two weeks anyway wonder if  they can wait? Better inspect next week.

H3 - Entrance observation only. This hive’s brood nest is well distributed both horizontally and vertically and the entrance activity is also well distributed. Maybe a honey harvest sooner than two weeks? Don’t really want to break them down to winter configuration until at least September but this hive will go into winter with D8,M8,M7,M7  with all those top frames full of honey, because they did so well with that last year. Current configuration D8,M8,M7,M7,M7,M7

W1 - Entrance observation only. Knocked down the tall grasses and weeds around the pallet this hive sits on. Used just a little smoke and they took no notice of me. Returning bees are loaded with mostly white pollen, some yellow jacket activity around this hive too. ???? This is the source hive of swarm that became H4, did i do the right thing adding that lower box after the swarm, or have i given them a space too large to defend with their swarm reduced population? Last year’s result was an empty lower box but i did not see any evidence of yellow jackets then.

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Beekeeping maintenance activity - Once again caught in the “common wisdom” i have been reading the periodicals and books of 10 years age. Ten years ago i was just investigating beekeeping learning the techniques modern beekeeping (read that as industrial) was using. Five years ago i had one season of experience and a single hive that miraculously survived my well intended ministrations. One of the recommendations  of that time was to rotate the comb out of the hive after 4 or 5 seasons extracting and brood nesting. This year i began doing that by identifying the oldest comb and there was lots of drawn frames that had significant deposits of pollen and maybe even old sugar or honey in some. I put any which had honey out for the bees to clean. Some they clean some they did not and when i scrapped out the uncleaned comb it was mostly dry old pollen that remained. Makes me wonder if the bees decided that particular pollen was not fit for bee consumption and did the only thing they can do, seal it off and abandon.

Net result is that i rotated out 8 old deep frames and 10 old medium frames, scraping off the drawn comb wondering if it is self defeating to reuse this old frame and foundation?

so much to learn, ... so little time