Beekeeping

The understanding of bees their culture and challenges. From the ground up.

[beekinder]

Bee check list - do your orientation before leaving the hive - take a pee break - take the time to smell the flowers - stop at the many watering holes around to get a drink. - collect as much pollen as you can carry. - return to the hive and hand off pollen.

[beekinder]

Spring Show and Tell. We are so close to doing a hive dive, but it still is just a little chilly. But this is what I KNOW from watching , reading the bottom board and data from my hive monitors. WATCHING - fuzzy bees are everywhere. These are newly hatched brood that have not lost hair due to daily ware and tear. - everybody is doing their orientation flights. First time fliers are doing a lot of orientation to hardwire the hive and surrounding location into their little brains so they know where home is. - counted six drones, so we are on our way! - happy bees are engaging in play, crawling around the outside of the hive, and generally happy that the sun is out. - so much pollen is being brought in there are bottlenecks and lots of general milling about awaiting there entrance window. This means one thing. Brood rearing is afoot! - water is also being brought in for general housekeeping and hydration. - There are no signs of robbing or yellow jacket activity. BOTTOM BOARD - indication of moisture build up. Upon checking the airflow. I found that they have sealed the upper screened inside cover with propolis to keep out light and cold air. Blocking the vent out. Upon correction (burning out the blockage) no more evidence of moisture is happening. - pollen of all color ranges are evident. Which means diversity of flowers. Good sign! - white flakes of new wax, indication that bees are drawing fresh wax which also indicates, nectar is available. - scab like patches of wax that is chewed along the edges. Indication of drone hatching. Yea! - no mites, to be found, no bee Body parts or hive beetles. (So far) HIVE MONITOR SYSTEM - brood has broken the cluster and have moved upward into the second box. When they clustered for the year in the lower box they withdrew from the temperature/humidity sensor. Now they have resumed summer position and readings are returning to normal levels. Temp 96F humidity 37% weight up 1.36 lbs since 02/22/17 so we are in a nectar flow. Humidity rises as the nectar is being concentrated and then stabilizes. NOTES I know from my notes that there are two deep supers, with seven frames per box. When they clustered for the winter the brood moved to the upper portion of the lower box on 4 frames. They have now expanded to the upper boxes. Utilizing 5 frames. I will need to drop in J frames in a week to start the spring expansion. I will also need to remove the older frames (dark) with new frames of newly drawn wax to give them fresh wax to live on.

[beekinder]

was able to visit three of my hives yesterday. I expected a lot of development and wasn’t disappointed. Bees were very calm, filling all the frames of a two deep super, with 8 frames each. I actually ended up not using smoke on the last hive as they were happily busy in their duties to bother with me.

All three were in full brood mode. Sheets of solid brood patterns, surrounded by nectar, honey and pollen. Instead of expanding each super to an extra frame. I decided to add on a third super moving up other framers and dropping ‘j’ frames* in the direct center of the brood nest. (if you drop frames outside the brood nest. The comb will be drawn and filled with drone cells.) The bees welcomed the space and opportunity to grow upwards and have somewhere to build new comb.

I experienced a 8 % loss this year, however this is low for me as a average loss is about 40% similar to Adrian’s reporting. I still have a strong base of survivor stock and did not keep any overwintering swarms this year.

I had a few deformed K-Wing virus crawling around outside one hive. That seemed to be the extent of it. Always a sad thing to see. Only two of the hives had a nominal amount of hive beetles in the traps I installed in the fall.

All in all a very happy start to the year.

Valley floor is also in the middle of a full nectar flow that started earlier in the month.

I highly recommend that you have all your equipment ready to go. Indications are that we will be having a very successful year and unlike the past drought years, large build up of brood, consistent collection of resources and hopefully a good honey crop.

* ‘j’frame - A ‘J’frame is a locally coined term for a foundationless frame.

Advantages • In my experience the bees will draw their own comb faster than they will draw foundation. • Natural Varroa control. Allows bees to decide the cell size which typically tends to be smaller which is an advantage in reducing mites in drone cells. • Makes great cut comb, and is easily cut and crushed for solar honey extractors. • Requires bees always draw fresh comb, maintaining a cleaner wax base. With less chemical contamination. • Easy removal from frames and you get a lot of useable wax!

Disadvantages • More fragile particularly in hot weather. Care in manipulating the frame during inspections is required. • Can be extracted in a rotary extractor, with the use of wires and rubber bands. But with some difficulty. • During a dearth resources are better extended to collecting and storage instead of comb drawing. • Tendency to ‘pooch’ to one side if there is too much space towards the adjoining frame.

Great time of the year for keepers and bees!

[beekinder]

Beekeepers of Napa Valley next meeting Monday, March 20 Special speaker Serge Labesque is one of the main contributors and a driving force behind natural beekeeping to the Sonoma County Beekeepers Association. Serge will lead us in a talk and power point demonstration on Splitting a hive. This is one of the skills you must master being a beekeeper. To be able to read your colony and know what the signs are for splitting or expanding is an essential part in your management. We are lucky to have such great researches in the North Bay and honored that Serge is coming to talk to our group. So excited! https://youtu.be/jbHh_BxBzgQ

[blanketflowerbees]

beep beep beep beep

[beekinder]

The sound is usually made to announce the birth of a new queen by the newly hatched queen. It tells the other queens in development is is coming to dispatch them in their cells. Dispatch is a nice way of saying 'Gonna kill u sister'

[beekinder]

These are the little micro sensors that I use for temperature and humidity for the inside of the hive. You can see the first sensor that I installed three weeks ago. The bees covered it with a thick layer of summer propolis, gooey, sticky and really messed up my readings. (I Firmly believe bees dislike plastic anything.), I decided to wire it a little differently and use a queen cage as housing to protect it a little better. Why do I do this? You do not need to go into your hive and rip apart there home every 2-3 weeks. It takes them another week to put everything back In order when they could be doing more important stuff! The front entrance will tell you 1. Are eggs being laid. 2. What colors and hence kind of pollen they are forging 3. Are they carrying water. 4. Is a fungal infection or infection present 5. Robbing 6. Play flight of young 7. Orientation flights Your observation tray will tell you. 1. Where the brood nest is. 2. are they depositing nectar and pollen or are they consuming it. 3. Where are the males hatching and where the females are. 4. What is your mite load, hive beetle and moth droppings. 5. Humidity or ventilation problems. Just lifting your top cover peering down will tell you 1. what they have drawn and where. 2. Is the hive healthy and bees covering all the frames. 3. Off odors or appearance. 4. Can you see queen cells in the middle of the frames. (Superseding cells) 5. Ventilation issues. Lifting the brood super a crack will tell you 1. Is the comb being drawn straight. 2. Are any queen cells for swarming being formed. 3. Are they connecting the top and bottom frames. (Expand space) My hive monitors add and quantify my observations with real time data. 1. Weight, humidity and temperatures inside and out. 2. When they leave and come home (weight) 3. Are they bringing in nectar or pollen or water (humidity) 4 are they being robbed or in a dearth (weight) 5 is the ventilation correct (temperature and humidity) 6 bee counter, who comes and goes and if a large number do not return due to ..... I am hands off, natural, treatment free, and am a proponent of locally adapted genetic stock derived from splits of good bees or vetted swarms. I rally against any requeening or nuc's from any breeder even in Napa or any treatment that makes bees domesticated against there bees natural abilities, genetics and instinct. Be it robbing screen, mite loads or bad queen. All that genetic material is managed with my stock. And I spread the wealth to any bee keeper around me free of charge, as they do with theirs to change the health of a region with like minded keepers and strong bees. It's not the final answer but it's not part of the problem. You will never learn anything by treating your bees like captive work animals or pets. Your not doing anyone any favors. Remember there not our bees, there everyone's.

[beekinder]

Your Bees know it’s the solstice. You should too! 14:50 hours of sunlight. This year the heavenly bodies seem to have conspired to sweeten the pot with an event we haven’t seen in 70 years. The summer solstice isn’t a rare event, a full moon even less so. But they’re both special, and when they just so happen to occur on the same day, as they will this year? That’s once-in-a-lifetime special. The 2016 North American summer solstice happens in Napa on Monday, June 20, 2016 at 3:34 PM. That’s the very moment when, essentially, the sun stands still at its northernmost point as seen from Earth. Its zenith doesn’t yearn north or south, but waits patiently at the Tropic of Cancer before switching directions and heading south again. This is where the word solstice comes from; the Latin solstitium, from sol (sun) and stitium (to stop). This is the first full moon to fall on the June solstice since the year 1967, which some recall as the year of the Summer of Love, a social phenomenon centered on San Francisco, London and other places around the globe. But what the my bees….. The summer solstice is important because it signals the end of bee season, just as the winter solstice signals the beginning. “The end of bee season?” you say. “But it’s just getting started!” Here’s the thing: In temperate North America, the bee colony is at it’s smallest in late November and December. After the winter solstice, it gradually starts to build. The queen lays more eggs; there is more activity in the nursery, slowly the population increases. By the end of June most colonies are as strong as they are likely to get. Basically, the six months from January through June are months of increase, followed by the months of July through December, which are months of decrease. Sure there are variations and fluctuations depending on local climate, weather patterns, and individual colonies, but the trend is six months of increase and six months of decrease. You can see the yearly pattern in your colonies. Up through June, beekeeping is as easy as breathing. In most cases, the rate of growth in your hive is greater than the growth of most predators and parasites. You wonder, “What’s all the fuss about mites?” You don’t see them anywhere. Are beetles and moths really a problem? You wonder what’s so hard about raising queens, catching swarms, or making honey. Like a rising market, everything looks rosy. The whole beekeeping thing is a piece of cake. By the beginning of July things start to change. Much of the continent is headed toward a nectar dearth. Almost imperceptibly the ratio of problems to bees shifts. Swarms virtually cease. The swarms that are cast are usually small or weak. Just as the poem says, “A swarm in July is not worth a fly.” Splits take longer to build up. It’s a little harder to raise good queens. Honey production slows to a crawl. Even flowers that are in bloom may have less nectar because rainfall has dropped and temperatures climbed. New problems arise. Your bees spend all their energy fanning. Robbing honeybees appear out of nowhere. Marauding yellow jackets and hornets case your hives looking for a meal. Your sweet little honeybees suddenly become skittish and would rather you stay away. Your neighbors complain about bees in their pool and hummingbird feeders. Like yellow jackets and wasps, mite populations continue to grow, even while your honeybee populations are dropping. Suddenly, it seems like there is a handful of mites for every bee. Weaker hives may be overcome with beetles. By August workers are throwing out the drones in a last ditch effort to prepare for the coming winter. Foraging continues as long as there is something to collect, but it is harder, consumes more energy, and takes more time. The solstice is not like a switch. Bees are not one way on the 21st and a different way on the 22nd, but the change is sure to come. The seasoned beekeeper knows this intuitively, but a new beekeeper needs to be aware that change is in the wind. The key is to be ready and to handle each situation as it arises. Remember: beekeeping doesn’t take much time, but timing is everything. Be a good beekeeper, know more. BOCA SUMMER BEE MEETINGS Monday, June 20. 6 p.m. – Pot luck dinner

[beekinder]

Wireless Hive Monitor BETA UNIT 1 After 9 months of sourcing out computer components and circuit boards. Another three months of trying to remember my Unix programming and linking up to Hivetool.org. We have installed the first monitor on the valley floor. This is the sixth year this project has been operating, in conjunction with the NASA Honey Bee Research center and the Climate and land use research division. These computerized hive monitors provide realtime and historical data and graphs of weight, internal and ambient tempatures, humidity and light levels which give the Beekeeper a non invasive view to the hive. Programming for Sound, video and bee counters are almost ready. The use by climate and land use research can give NASA a broader knowledge of the plant/pollinator interaction to measure the performance of the envoirment, instead of individual hives. It is open source software and off the shelf components, using Raspberry Pi computer platforms and most of the sensors coming from China. Not including time about $80 to build. So friggin amazing to know so much about how bees interact when conditions change. I already have addressed some ventilation issues, weight loss due to robbing and can actually see a weight change when the foragers leave and return. We will be installing six more through out the Napa Valley to give us data on the valley floor, highlands and with in the monoculture area of grape growing.

[beekinder]

Telling of the bees

I had a sad event this weekend when I was called to remove a hive from an elderly keeper that could no longer care for himself and his bees. His family was moving him to a care facility and asked if I could take the bees.

They have gone to a napa member that lost their bees this year. He was happy that they would be cared for. Tonight I will be installing the hive and will carry on the tradition of ‘telling of the bees’ where you must tell the bees of family events and especially when they have lost their keeper.

Tradition says:

In past times there were many misconceptions regarding the biology of the honey bee, humans admired and respected the creatures. Consequently, peasant farmers began to equate human characteristics to the bee. So sharing human feelings and emotions with bees was commonplace. Announcements regarding important family happenings such as marriages, births and deaths were warranted. Certainly, a death in the family was something that should be shared, especially if it were the keeper of the bees who had died.

The practice became known as “telling the bees.” It might be as simple as tapping on the hive and announcing that your master is dead or gone and saying the name of the person who would become the new owner. The idea was that sensitive bees would be assured that they would be cared for and would not leave the hive.

America’s “Quaker poet,” John Greenleaf Whittier, wrote a poem about this tradition and titled it appropriately, “Telling the Bees.” Whittier’s poem is the story about a man going to visit his girlfriend – a beekeeper – who lived with her father at “Fernside Farm.” The following three stanzas from the poem capture the process and the reason for telling the bees.

Telling The Bees excerpt written by John Greenleaf Whittier 1894“

Just the same as the month before – The house and the trees, The barn’s brown gable, the vine by the door – Nothing changed but the hives of bees.

Before them, under the garden wall, Forward and back, Went drearily singing the chore-girl small, Draping each hive with a shred of black.

Trembling, I listened: The summer sun Had the chill of snow; For I knew she was telling the bees of one Gone on the journey we all must go!”

[beekinder]

All winter long I dream of catching swarms. The initial call, the excitement I feel driving there, will they leave before I arrive? What challenges will I face. Ugh. Really first swarm 35 feet up. Who gonna need rescuing? Please new Beekeepers do not attempt this without help! To report a swarm in Napa valley go to www.beekeepersofnapavalley.org

[napagardentotable]

Combining weak hives and bee art.

It’s better to go into the winter with strong bee colonies; they have a far better chance of making it through the stressful cold months than do weak ones. If you have a weak hive, you can combine it with a stronger colony. If you have two weak hives, you can combine them to create a robust colony.

But you can’t just dump the bees from one hive into another. If you do, all hell will break loose. Two colonies must be combined slowly and systematically so that the hive odors merge gradually. This is best done late in the summer or early in the autumn (it isn’t a good idea to merge two colonies in the middle of the active swarming season).

A good method for merging two colonies is the so-called newspaper method. A single sheet of newspaper separates the two hives that you’ll combine. Follow these steps in the order they are given:

Identify the stronger of the two colonies.

Smoke and open the weaker colony.

Manipulate the frames so that you wind up with a single deep hive body containing eight frames of bees, brood, and honey. In other words, consolidate the bees and the eight best frames into one single deep. The “best” frames are those with the most capped brood, eggs, and/or honey.

Smoke and open the stronger hive.

Remove the outer and inner covers and put a single sheet of newspaper on the top bars. Make a small slit, or poke a few holes in the newspaper with a small nail. This helps hive odors pass back and forth between the strong colony and the weak one that you’re about to place on top.

Take the hive body from the weak colony (it now contains eight consolidated frames of bees and brood) and place it directly on top of the stronger colony’s hive.

Only the perforated sheet of newspaper separates the two colonies.

Add a hive-top feeder and fill it with sugar syrup.

The outer cover goes on top of the feeder. No inner cover is used when using a hive-top feeder.

Check the hive in a week.

The newspaper will have been chewed away, and the two colonies will have happily joined into one whacking strong colony. The weaker queen is now history, and only the stronger queen remains.

Now you have the task of consolidating the three deeps back into two.

Go through all the frames, selecting the 16 best frames of honey, pollen, and brood. Arrange these in the lower two deeps. Frames with mostly brood go into the bottom deep, and frames with mostly honey go into the upper deep. Shake the bees off the eight surplus frames and into the lower two deeps (save these frames and the third hive body as spares).

As a weird twist I used a map of napa valley as my divider sheet. Sitting out side of the hive one day I noticed a wedge of paper being dragged out by some girls. To aid the process I grabbed the edge and pulled it out. Amazingly they chewed all about the outside of the paper leaving the map of their home, Napa unmarked. So weird. It’s hanging on my wall as bee art.

[beekinder]

A day full of bees, conversation and community was had at BOCA hosted by Rob Keller, Jon Sevigny and the Beekeepers of Napa Valley. Jon lead us in getting comfortable with swarms, including swarm capture and attraction to a swarm box. How propolis can replace a lot of what's in your medicine cabenet. Members brought in dead outs for inspection. Rob lead the group in his meticulous breakdown and cleaning of hive bodies and frames. No BOCA meeting would be complete without diving into a few hives. Big thanks to all the attendees. beekeepersofnapavalley.org

[littlecreekhoney]

Air traffic control asleep on the job

[blythewoodbeeco-blog]

Varrox Oxalic Acid Vaporizer

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This is the one Randy Oliver in Scientific Beekeeping says is “One of the highest-ranked models,” and is the one you’ll pass down to your son. It is manufactured in Switzerland and is now available here on Ebay! If you have more than 10 hives or just want the very best, this is the one for you. The pan is made of stainless steel,…

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[beekinder]

Go ahead affect the entire micro bacteria life force that support bees. Superior genetics will always win over quick fixes. Mites are an indicator that help you weed out genetically inferior trends. Let nature help you with your bees. I welcome the death of inferior bee lines. Better for me better for everyone around me.

[beekinder]

The natural world seen by bees.

Every year I get calls from people whom I have collected swarms from and ta da there they are again in the same place. Could this be random? Is the magnolia tree in my front yard a resting place for swarms? I seen two form in the same tree in one season. I have long wondered how a swarm chooses a resting place when issued from the hive and have been doing some reading on Ley lines. It is an intriguing thought. I wonder if these Ley lines which are the Alignment of natural and artificial features that bottle neck or direct currents or paths to a point when they intersect. They are also sometimes referenced to as geopathic stress lines which are magnetic or some other form of energy which is a disruption of the natural earth frequency distorted by underground fault lines, water, caverns and certain mineral deposits. Some creatures are attracted to them (bees, wasps, snakes and cats seem to like them) some repelled. This all came about when reading about beekeepers who used divining rods for hive placement. It was said that they were healthier and produced more honey when located along these lines. It's not so wacky when you think that the Chinese, (which is the basis for feng shui ) and Romans (who would allow sheep to graze on land intended for a building and then checked the organs to see if they were healthy) (sick building syndrome) and a German researcher who developed a theory that many viruses, bacteria and problems with health can be tied to these lines.* It is amazing we know so little of the natural world. If anyone knows how to use divining rods, give me a call would like to map out some stuff out! Jon S. www.beekeepersofnapavalley.org *Freiheer Von Pohl

[beekinder]

Four years of drought. 25 hives lost to starvation. We finally started seeing rain because of the El Niño and it was a welcomed sight. This is January 16. I got a laying queen and so much pollen coming I Had to open the reducer to its four inch setting. As happy as I am. This is far to early even for California. Will they starve trying to feed all those mouths over the next 8 weeks?.

[beekinder]

An amazing day was had with Kirk Webster, beekeeper from Vermont. He talked about the challenges of his climate. His management method and equipment used in making multiple nuc's in one super and use of Russian bees to help him understand the varroa mite and its impact on beekeeping. His conclusions are thoughtful and his method simple to emulate. Next time he is in town spend some time with this very interesting, caring and thought provoking beekeeper. This event was made even better that the entire north bay was represented. Sonoma County Beekeepers Association, Alameda County Beekeepers Association, Lake County Beekeepers Association, Marin Beekeepers and of course Beekeepers of Napa Valley. "Once honeybees and varroa can co-exist in an economically viable situation, then this mite disappears as a pest and takes on the role of friend, ally and mentor-- doing most of our selection work at little or no expense, and pointing clearly to the places where our practices are misguided or poorly adapted. Because of its status as an out-of-balance parasite and its enormous destructive power, the varroa mite is the most important creature to focus on this way: as a potential ally" ~ Kirk Webster.