May 31: Third Floor Added

Today's cursory inspection of the Russians revealed that they have drawn out the comb and capped a few frames (that I could see) in the second story of the hive. It is very important to make sure they don't get crowded, because they may swarm. So I added a third story with 7 frames of foundation and 3 frames of capped honey from last year.

I found only a handful of varroa on the sticky board.

The Russians are doing very well. Textbook. When the three boxes are drawn out and capped, I can add a fourth as a honey super.

Fact: Bees maintain a temperature of 92-93 degrees in their central brood nest regardless of whether the outside temperature is 110 or -40 degrees.

May 31: Last Ditch Effort

Despite it being quite windy today (and in the 80s), I decided to check on the Italians. I gave the queen a week to perform and hoped to see eggs. Well, I didn't. But I did see the queen! She was very noticeable on the frame: much lighter in color.

I had to be very careful to not accidentally crush her or knock her off onto the ground. There were some tense moments, as I waited for her to jump off the removed frame into the space between a couple other frames still in the hive box. Then I carefully replaced the frame.

When I removed the next frame, somehow she had made it onto that one! And again, with only two hands, I had to wait it out for her to scurry off the frame and back into the hive box. So, quite a dilemma: the Italian queen is alive but has not laid eggs. Is she infertile? Or just late getting started?

With my smoker still smoking, I opened the Russian hive and the top box was a thing of beauty. All the frames are drawn out, and the first frame I pulled out was full of larvae, not capped. I made the impulsive decision to remove a frame of brood from the Russians and place it in the Italian colony, so they can raise some new babies to replace the dying adults (the picture to the right which I found on the internet shows what the larvae look like). It now occurs to me that I probably should have also moved Russian eggs to the Italians, in case they need to raise a new queen.

Top picture shows where I added the new frame in the Russian hive box to replace the one that I removed.

May 24: Sam

Sam Snapp
1995-2008

My fuzzy little supervisor--always by my side

May 26: Replaced Sticky Board

5/26
On Friday, I removed the sticky board from the Russians and forgot to replace it. Today I covered a piece of poster board with Vaseline and installed on the bottom board of the Russians. There was a lot of activity around the entrances of both hives today.

May 24: Rock Garden

5/24
The rock garden is looking nice this year. Some flowers are starting to bloom. I just planted a couple more thyme and sedum to fill in empty spots. I need to add more rocks in some places where the chipmunks have been digging. You can see the Italian hive at the top right.

Fact: In one recent survey, beekeepers reported sustaining losses of even more colonies over the winter of 2007-2008 than the devastating previous year: 35.2% of their colonies died.

May 23: Inspections

5/23
Two pictures from the inspection. Russians on the left; Italians on the right.

May 23: Long Live the Italian Queen

5/23
I inspected the Italians today and was very surprised and a bit dismayed that the queen was still in her cage after 7 days. The cage had fallen down between the frames. I'm not sure whether the workers just couldn't get to the marshmallow with the cage knocked down or whether the marshmallow had hardened too much for them to eat through. Well, at least she is still alive! (I saw festooning-see previous post.)

Next, I performed the very nerve-wracking task of scraping out the marshmallow and releasing the queen into the hive. The last thing I wanted to happen was for her to fly away or to accidentally kill her. As I worked the cage, the bees noticeably began to buzz much louder. Curious. The attendants and the queen took their own sweet time exiting the cage. I tried to sear in my memory what the queen looks like (see picture from Internet), so maybe someday, I can actually locate her when inspecting. The one thing that I did notice is that she doesn't have a furry thorax and is lighter in color than the Russian queen. Master beekeepers can easily spot the one queen among the thousands and thousands of workers.

The queen scampered out of the cage and high-tailed it downward between frames C1 and C7 (the middle frames). So the Italians have their queen. She needs to start laying eggs very quickly, because with a 6 week life span, the workers installed on April 20 will soon be dying off in waves.

I lifted the lid of the Russians. They are drawing out the frames on the second floor but no eggs up there. I closed the hive up. No reason to tear their house down when they are doing so well.

Vaseline sticky sheets looked much better! Considerably fewer varroa mites.


Interesting fact: Honeybees pollinate 80% of our flowering crops which constitute 1/3 of everything we eat! Every year, 60% of the commercially kept honeybees in the United States--more than 1 million hives--are driven to the almond groves in California.

May 22: Father of American Beekeeping

L.L. Langstroth
b. 1810 (Philadelphia) - d. 1895 (Dayton)

I recently stumbled upon a fascinating biography of Langstroth (The Life of Langstroth by Florence Naille, 1942). Despite being "prostrated" (completely disabled) by "head trouble" and "nervous malady" (obviously depression) half of his life, Langstroth's contributions to beekeeping made commercial beekeeping possible. Our ready access to honey is in no small part due to his discoveries. He:

• Identified "bee space" (3/8")
• Invented the moveable frame, stackable hive (the style of hives you see in my pictures)
• Imported and propagated the Italian bee in the U.S.
  
• Wrote a seminal book on beekeeping called The Hive and the Honey-Bee (1853)

He also was a well-respected minister, abolitionist, and lived in Oxford, Ohio for many years. He's buried in Woodland Cemetery in Dayton. Unfortunately, he was a bad businessman, got screwed over with patent infringements, and barely made any money off of his invention. He had trouble holding down a job because of his illness, and his family survived financially through the generosity of brothers-in-law and friends. Incidentally, his great-grandson was an astrophysicist and co-discoverer of the neutrino.

May 19: Festooning

5/19
I've been reading a book called The Beekeeper's Handbook. David and I noticed last year bunches of bees "holding hands." It was fascinating but we had no idea what they were doing. I read tonight that it's called festooning. Bees apparently festoon when they are engorged with honey and producing a lot of wax from their special wax glands, although this picture I found on flickr doesn't seem to have anything to do with wax. It looks like they are trying to bridge the gap between the two frames. I also found some beekeepers talking about festooning on the outside of the hive in the context of overcrowded hives.

May 17: Backyard in Spring

5/17
Here's what my backyard is looking like right now, facing east. The area to the left next to the shed is a corner I would like to plant with butterfly/bee attracting perennials. It's partial shade/partial sun.

The area front left was the former location of my attempt at a pond. When 3 rats drowned--one of the most disgusting things I have ever seen--I immediately filled it with dirt, covered it with rocks and created a rock garden!

May 14: 24 Hour Mite Count, Ugh!

5/14
The 24 hour mite count for the Russians was disappointing. I purchased them this year, because they were supposed to be mite resistant!!! I would estimate around 100 mites. Not good!

The appropriately named varroa destructor mite, the scourge of today's honeybee, is a parasite that lays eggs inside of a capped brood cell on the larvae (see picture). The bees hatch, the mites hatch, the mites attach to the bees and suck their insect blood (Hemolymph). The bees then become susceptible to the disease varroatosis.

The Screened Bottom Board
My hives sit on a bottom board that has a metal screen. This increases circulation and also keeps fallen mites from crawling back up into the hive.

The Sticky Board
An easy way to check for varroa mites (they are visible to the eye) is to cover a poster board with vaseline and insert it under the screened bottom board. Mites will fall off of the bees and get stuck in the vaseline. That keeps them from crawling back up into the hive. So not only is it a detection device, but a way to trap the mites without having to use pesticides.

There are different opinions about varroa: 1) treat with pesticides a couple times of year, no matter what; 2) there will always be varroa--use your judgment about when the infestation is high and when to treat; 3) don't ever use synthetic chemicals, so that the population of bees will develop mite resistance over time (mites are becoming immune to treatment).

Well I'm in camp #3 this year--no pesticides. At risk of losing the bees, I will try some natural techniques for controlling the mite population.

The Powdered Sugar Technique
I sprinkled powdered sugar on the bees using a flour sifter. I lightly covered the bees located closest to the top of the frames (and hopefully bees in between the frames). The idea is that the sugar will stimulate grooming activity among the bees and that the mites won't be able to hold on to the bees and will fall off. Mr. Simpson taught me this technique last year.

Essential Oils and Naturally Occurring Chemicals
I will check my book on natural beekeeping for essential oil options and maybe explore this angle as well. (Natural Beekeeping: Organic Approaches to Modern Apiculture, Ross Conrad) Stay tuned.

May 15: Post Office Delivers New Queen

5/15
Damage: 0 stings

I expected a call from the post office all day long and didn't get it, so I assumed the queen hadn't arrived. I got home from dinner at 7:00 and found an envelope (with a few holes punched in it) at my doorstep with a sticker, "Live Queen Bees Inside." I quickly lit the smoker and got busy. I did a bit of rearranging of the frames to make sure some really nice fresh nectar was close to the queen cage. Rearranging frames is nearly impossible by yourself! I felt like a really bad beekeeper. I crushed quite a few bees.

Next I pushed in the small cork into the queen cage and quickly stuck a marshmallow into the hole before the queen flew out (she has 4 or 5 attendants inside the cage to help take care of her and candy for food). Then I wedged the queen cage, with the marshmallow side down, in between two frames in the center. Sprinkled powdered sugar (see Mite Count post) just in time--it started to rain.

In a few days, I will check to make sure the bees have eaten through the marshmallow. The slow introduction allows the bees to get used to her in her cage, so they are more likely to accept her as their new queen. I hope she is a super egg-layer. The Italians have a lot of catching up to do!

One worker ended up in my sweatshirt. I could feel her crawling on me when I got back in the house. Amazingly, I was able to get her outside before she stung me (and died).

May 14: Two Most Important Tools

The two most important tools for a beekeeper are the hive tool and the smoker (see picture of my equipment). The hive tool is used to pry open the hive boxes--the bees use propolis (like glue) to seal the cracks in their homes. I also use the hive tool to spread apart frames inside the hive box that are stuck together with wax, so that I can pull them out to inspect them. It's also a good idea to keep the burr comb (comb where it's not supposed to be) scraped off of the hardware.

Smoke is puffed into the hive every time you want to open it up. (I've not used smoke and learned my lesson.) The smoke serves two purposes: 1) disrupt the alarm pheromones of the guard bees at the entrance before they alert the rest of the bees of the intruder; 2) cause the bees to think that there is a fire and they should guorge themselves with nectar and honey in preparation to escape. Eating distracts them enough that the beekeeper can go about business.

I use cedar chips (hamster bedding) for my fuel. It is important to never use fuel that might be treated with chemicals, like burlap or twine. Also, you obviously need to make sure there are no flames shooting out or you will singe the bees.

Last year, I bumped into the smoker with my left calf (I had shorts on) and burned it pretty severely. At the time, I was so busy with the bees, that I didn't even notice. It took a long time to heal and was pretty gross.

I don't wear protective equipment like a veil (see picture of my niece) or bee suit or gloves. It is difficult to maneuver with that bulky stuff on, and I so rarely get stung that I don't bother

It's really too bad I wasn't able to take a picture last year of my brother with his hand inside the bee package trying to retrieve the queen cage that had fallen inside. His hand was covered with bees. He didn't even get stung! He calls himself "the bee whisperer."

May 14: New Queen on Way

5/14
Mr. Simpson is shipping a new Italian queen to me today ($28.00) .

May 13: Inspection Day

5/13
Damage: 0 stings

After work, I got the smoker going, set up a hive box with 10 frames (2 with foundation and 6 drawn out and 2 full of capped honey from the fridge). To increase ventilation and provide an upper entrance, I drilled a 1/2 inch hole in the box (per a book I read). Last year's bees died over the winter when they got wet and froze to death, so I will be extra careful to keep them dry this year.

The Russians are doing very well! Textbook frames. (See picture.) Pollen. Nectar. Lots of capped brood. Lots of larvae. (Check out my closeup pic of the larvae and eggs that look like rice). Didn't see the queen, of course (I never have inside one of my hives). Added second box, because they now need room to expand. (If they get too crowded, they will exit the hive in a swarm.) I won't open the Russians again for a few weeks.

Now for the Italians. They are mean. I probably over-smoked them. I checked every frame. No eggs. No larvae. No queen cells. Not sure what happened. I will order a new queen from Mr. Simpson. The Italians are now a month behind.

I added a poster board covered in vaseline under the screened bottom board of the Russians for a 24-hour varroa mite count.

May 13: Sources of Pollen

5/12
I need to learn more about the sources of pollen when I see different colors coming into the hive. Pic is from my "boyfriend" on the International Bee Forum. Best resource I have found so far is http://www.answers.com/topic/pollen-source. Sure would be nice for someone to provide a daily update on what's blooming. and pollen colors with pics. I should develop a gadget.

Best guess for the pale yellow pollen: maple (gigantic one in my front yard) and apple (Whetstone?) and winged elm. Red: henbit (what is that?) and horse chestnut.

Interesting fact: Bees will travel up to two miles to collect nectar and pollen, so don't expect them to stay in your wonderful bee garden.

May 12: Hives Need Checked

5/12
Past two days have been cooler. I checked the hives tonight, and I was surprised to see some bees (not many) landing with pollen at about 7:00 pm in the low 60 degrees.

I checked one of my books:

• 93-94 degrees is the temperature the bees maintain in the hive by fanning their wings.
• At 61 degrees, drones can't fly. (They're worthless anyway.)
  
• At 57 degrees, the cluster (big ball of bees) forms to keep warm.
• At 50 degrees, brood(baby)-rearing stops and workers cannot fly.
• At 42 degrees, bees cannot move because their muscles aren't hot enough.
• At 40 degrees, bees will die if alone and not in the cluster
• 
  

I came across pollen.com and downloaded a gadget that shows me the pollen counts for each day. I think I can extrapolate that on high pollen count days, there will more sources of pollen? I posted the question on the Bee Forum. It also will tell me when Jenny is most miserable. :-(


Interesting fact:
"Honey bees will tap about two million flowers and fly 50,000 miles (80,000 km) to make one pound (454 g) of honey."

May 10: Too Rainy

5/10
Finally got some sun today. Tempted to open Italians but decided they really need to get some pollen. Russians collecting an unbelievable amount of pollen (nearly every field bee flew in with full pollen buckets with pale yellow pollen). Italians not so much. I saw some smaller bees which makes me wonder if they are younger bees and a queen is laying eggs?

Removed Italian entrance reducer (see pic where red arrow is pointing) for awhile, because it seemed to be crowded at the entrance with field bees landing and launching. Saw couple drones fly in. They have a much louder buzz. Drones die when they mate, so these dudes must not have found any action.

I've decided to go organic this year. Will treat syrup with essential oils but no pesticides or antibiotics. Varroa mites will be a problem. I will need to watch carefully.

5/9
Last 3 days rainy and cooler. Doubt if the bees were out of the hives much. Hate to open them up this weekend and disrupt one of their few days for pollen gathering.

May 5: Pollen Baskets Full

5/6
Took day off of work due to severe head cold. High 70's. Gorgeous day. Watched the bees for a long time which is very relaxing for me. Concerned about the Italians, because they are not bringing much pollen in compared to Russians. Decided not to buy replacement queen after all. At the risk of losing the Italians, I'm going to let them try to recover on their own.

5/5
Russians arriving with beautiful red and bright orange pollen in their baskets (see picture from wikipedia). Italians more active around entrance than Russians, probably due to the stress of not having a queen? Have spent a lot of time debating with myself about what to do about the Italians. Since there are queen cells, that means she must have been alive at one time to lay eggs (duh, I should have figured that out. Means I probably killed her.) I do see larvae in a couple of the open queen cells. Still, I'm considering ordering a replacement queen tonight from Mr. Simpson, if he has one to ship. Don't want to drive up there again.

With the bees in my yard, I have to resist the temptation to open them up everyday!

April 27: Lost Italian Queen!

4/27
Opened Italians. No eggs. I see queen cells and larvae which means the queen has died. I hope I didn't kill her. Feeling like a bad beekeeper today. I hope the battle for the monarchy will be quick and smooth. I wonder if the virgin will mate with the Russian drones?

4/26
Damage: 0 stings

Bought 2 pieces of 2' x 4' plywood. Propped cement blocks so hives about 8 inches above ground. Moved Italians over about a foot to the north. Moved Russians over about a foot so the hives are oriented in a diagonal (not directly aligned vertically or horizontally). Put a stick at the entrances. Should have done that before. Moving even a foot can disorient the returning field bees. Should move them only a couple feet per day with a branch at the entrance, so the field bees reorient themselves when they exit.

Worried about lack of sunlight.

May 3: Queen Cells

5/3
Damage: 3 stings (2 on left ear and one on cheek)

Been a cold and rainy week. Rained all morning and finally sunny about 60 degrees at 3:30 pm. Probably should have waited until later but too curious about the status of the Italians. Opened Russians first and they were really outraged! Guard bees swarming my head. Got the smoker out quickly. Used a bit of paper towel to get the cedar chips burning. These bees are much angrier than the ones I had last year! Saw lots of larvae!! About 50% full.

See no eggs in Italian hive. There are 5 or 6 queen cells on both sides of one frame. Couple queen larvae exposed. Expected the battle to be over by now and to see eggs. Just read on forum that might take more than 7 days. Getting nervous about whether I need to buy a new queen. Was hoping nature would take its course. (Picture from the web.)

April 24: Location Dilemma

4/24
Damage: 1 sting

Opened Russian hive first without smoker. Made mistake not to put 10 frames in the box. Lots of comb hanging off of the top feeder (see pic) where they were filling in the gap made by the missing frame. Had to scrape off comb and throw on ground which pissed them off. Put one frame of honey in 2nd from right position. Decided not to feed anymore so put inner cover back on. The hive slipped and couldn't get it steady so placed 4 cement blocks in front (to the west) of the current location. Picked up the whole hive and placed it on the more stable blocks. Moved 4 feet west. Queen out of cage. Saw eggs!!

Italians. Had to smoke. Much more aggressive than Russians. Queen out of cage. Lots more comb hanging off of feeder. Left the pieces in front of hive. Not sure if they can use it. Could not find any eggs which makes me nervous. I should have put empty comb next to queen cage, not frame with some left over nectar from last year. Doesn't look like she has enough space to lay eggs in that frame. Really hoping the queen wasn't up in the crack of the feeder. I'll check in a few days.

Debating and debating the final location of the hives. Didn't get the new bottom board painted in time and I don't see how I could replace the bottom board at this point. Both need to be higher off the ground. Not getting enough sun where they are but don't like the idea of creepy neighbor watching me work the hives. The response of the Italians is not a good sign either. Can't wait until there are 60,000 of them!

4/23 sat and watched two hives: Italians seem more active around the entrance.

April 21: First Fragile Days

4/21
Checked feeders (see pic): almost empty already! Posted the forum about this: didn't get a good answer. People seem to be anti-feeding these days. Will make more syrup later in the week. Saw full pollen buckets arriving occasionally (not regularly). Italians in gray box seem to be more active around entrance than russians in green box. Don't see much difference between the two except Russians seem a bit darker.

4/22
Propped up the green hive box a bit because not level. Considering where to move the hives: on patio or next to shed. Can't decide. Still more activity around entrance of Italians. Anxious to see if queen is out of cage. Wondering if there is any mixing going on between the 2 hives. Had placed a thick branch in front of Italians entrance. In the 70s all week.

April 20: New Bees!

4/20
Damage: 2 stings

Cloudy and rainy but cleared up later. Picked up 2 packages of bees from Simpson's in Danville with Savannah--3 lbs each, one Russian, one Italian. Pushed cork into the queen cage and quickly squeezed in a marshmallow with Savannah's help. Positioned queen cage in center with screen facing out and marshmallow down. Placed in hive box with 9 frames of drawn out comb in gray and another one in green (new paint job). Syrup 1:1--4 pounds sugar, 4 pounds water, 3 drops wintergreen, 2 tsp honey b healthy. Made 3 batches and spread across two plastic jugs. Remember no inner cover with feeder or will have drowning bees. Put pail of water out with pieces of wood floating, so they won't drown in the water. Put entrance reducer in after reading in book that I should.

A ridiculous number of bees in the air after installing Italians. Very stressful. Took a break to think. Moved green hive further away from gray one (Italians). I don't see how I would be able to work the bees with the hives that close (although people seem to do it all the time if you look at pictures of apiaries.) Waited awhile for Italians to settle. They were very upset. Then installed Russians. One sting now. One sting later when a bee climbed up my jeans.

Savannah was a huge help. I couldn't have done it by myself. She's not afraid of the bees and I think she should start her own hive of Michigan bees.