June 21-22: Six Hobbies (con't)

A continuation of an update on last weekend's activities:

Camping
I camped in my tent at Lake Hope State Park. I've been to a lot of state parks in Ohio, and I think this park has one of the nicer campgrounds. It is busy enough that I feel safe, and the sites are nicely shaded. Just after setting up camp, a severe thunderstorm blew in. I stuck it out in the car until the storm passed, moved to the tent where puddles of water had collected around the sides, and read a book (another hobby). Unfortunately, it was too wet for a campfire!

Hiking
The next day, I headed out to the 23 mile Zaleski Forest Backpack Trail. I completed the 10 mile day hike--a challenge for my knees. If you think Ohio is nothing but flat farmland, take a trip to Southeastern Ohio--beautiful, hilly, heavily forested area of the state.

Yoga
Some sections of the Zaleski trail are a bit strenuous (for me), so I applied my learning of breathing techniques in yoga (another hobby). I found that if I concentrated on my breath, it helped get me up the hills with less strain and also helped me keep my thoughts focused on the experience of the solitude, rather than the long list of things I need to do.

June 22-28: National Pollinator Week

I almost missed it. Last week was National Pollinator Week, sponsored by the Pollinator Partnership and the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign. The group's web site has a lot of good information. Check out the planting guides: the pdf documents contain region-specific information about pollinators and pollinator-friendly plants. Great resource!

Did you know? Bumblebees are capable of buzz pollination: they can release a flower's pollen by vibrating their flight muscles.

June 27: Italians Drown, Russians Store Honey

This evening, I took a peek under the top covers of both hives. Bees are not too smart when it comes to water and syrup. About 100 Italian bees drowned in the top feeder. Since it was pretty much empty anyway, I took it off. There were many bees up in the split between the two sides of the feeder and I didn't want to shake them out, so I propped it up against the hive. There was a lot of activity in the top box. The Italians appear to be making a slow recovery. I replaced the inner cover and top cover.

I was curious to see if the Russians were yet storing honey in the super above the queen excluder. There is some controversy about whether queen excluders are necessary: some people call them "honey excluders." Remember that the point of the queen excluder is to keep the queen from moving up into the top super and laying eggs, thereby mixing brood and honey when what you really want is a box full of nothing but honey.

I'm pleased to report that the Russians are in the top super and storing honey!

Here's the problem: I have no extra supers on hand, and both hives are growing beyond capacity. As usual, I have not thought ahead and am not prepared. I'm kicking myself for this mistake. I placed an order tonight from Mr. Simpson (Simpsons Bee Supply) for two medium supers with frames. There is a supplier in town but I'm partial to Mr. Simpson. He's given me very good advice in the past, so I want to support his company.

June 27: Good Article on Urban Beekeeping

My mother recently sent me an article from her local newspaper on urban beekeeping. I located the AP story on the web: "Urban beekeeping is the latest buzz". It includes the standard advice for city beeks, including providing a water source, communicating with neighbors, and checking flight paths and local ordinances.

The author makes an interesting point: "cities are often a healthier environment for bees because there is less pesticide usage than in most farming areas." Cities generally have the reputation of being dirtier and more polluted than the "country", but we tend to forget about the tons of chemicals dumped on rural land.

The future of beekeeping:

my brother and his son when installing our very first package.

June 24: Supering the Super Russians

At about 6:30 pm tonight (in the 70s), I inspected both hives.

Italians
I saw lots of Italian eggs. Yeah! They have drawn out more frames in their 2nd brood box and look like they have gained in population. Since there is still syrup in the feeder, I left it on, though they may not be taking it.

Russians
The 3rd brood box on top is full of larvae! I pulled out 2 frames which contained both wax-capped (older) and uncapped (younger) larvae. Very nice frames. I've included a closeup pic (see above) of the brood with nurse bees. It's time to add a 4th box to the Russians which will be the honey "super" (same type of box as the other brood boxes but this box will be devoted to honey collection).

Here are the details of my 10 step inspection process:

1) I lit the smoker (with cedar chip bedding as the fuel) and puffed smoke first into the front of the hive to distract the guard bees and then up around the top cover.
2) I removed the brick, top cover, and inner cover and set them aside on the ground.
3) Using my hive tool, I pried out and inspected 2 frames in the top box.
4) I sprinkled powdered sugar over the top box (bees between the top frames get misted with sugar) to stimulate grooming behavior for mite control.

5) I added a queen excluder to keep the queen from laying eggs in the honey super (see left). The metal grid allows the smaller workers to pass through but theoretically, the queen cannot fit and she stays down in the brood boxes.
6) I added the super with a drilled ventilation hole and 10 frames (4 with honey from last year and 6 frames of foundation from last year).
7) I put the inner cover, then the outer cover, and then the obligatory brick (to keep the covers from blowing off) back on top of the hive.
8) I removed and inspected the vaseline-covered poster boards and checked for mites. Mites appear to be under control.
9) I refilled the water trough.
10) I put out the smoker and dumped its contents.

Very well-behaved bees tonight! No stings.

June 21-22: Six Hobbies, One Weekend

What a great weekend! I was able to experience six of my hobbies in two days: 1) beekeeping; 2) camping; 3) hiking; 4) geocaching; 5) yoga; 6) reading.

Beekeeping
On Saturday, I attended the Ohio State Beekeepers Association summer meeting at Athens High School. It was very informative. Over the next few days, I will attempt to summarize the sessions.

Geocaching
Saturday afternoon, I drove to Waterloo Wildlife Area to search for a geocache. Geocaching involves using a GPS device to locate a hidden container at a set of coordinates that are published at geocaching.com. As usual, I set out unprepared. I had written down the coordinates for the cache on a scrap piece of paper. I arrived at the site and discovered that the area was absolutely gorgeous, isolated, and quiet. I hiked and drove around aimlessly before I remembered that duh, it's supposed to be on Trail 26: that's the name of the cache! There were no maps on site and of course, I didn't print one. I did not have appropriate clothing or insect repellent on me, was absolutely starving (no veggie lunch at the conference) and worried about getting a campsite, so I gave up. I hate giving up on a cache!!! I have risked life and limb to get to caches. But it was worth the trip, as I have never seen so many butterflies in one place (picture from internet). There was some butterfly weed in bloom in the meadows. It is also a site on the Hocking Valley Birding Trail, with 80 species of birds. I'm not much of a birder though.

That is the best thing about geocaching: it takes you to places you would never discover on your own!

To be continued...

June 23: Top Feeder Update

The Italians have about 3/4" of syrup left in their top feeder. There were quite a few bees up there. I plan to open both hives tomorrow for a more thorough inspection.

June 20-21: Ohio State Beekeepers Association Meeting

AGENDA FOR SATURDAY
June 21, 2008

• 8:30 A.M. Registration
• 9:00 A.M. Welcome & Introductions
• 9:15 A.M. Keynote Speaker: Dr. Dave Tarpy, “Healthy Queens, Healthy Bees”
• 10:00 A.M. Break (Visit the Vendors)
• 10:15 A.M. Breakout Session I
  • “Backyard Queen Rearing, It’s Not As Hard As You Think” Dr. Dave Tarpy
  • “Beginning Beekeeping Basics” (Athens County Instructor)
  • “Ohio Queen Project” (In the beeyard) Paul Cline, OSBA Regional Queen Coordinator
• 11:00 A.M. Break (Visit the Venders)
• 11:15 A.M. Breakout Session II
  • “Making Summer Splits” Dr. Jim Tew
  • “Mead Making” Chuck Harrington, Athens Co. Beekeeper
  • “Dumping a Package, Inspecting a Hive” (In the beeyard) Bob Hooker, OSBA
• 12 Noon - Lunch
• 1:00 P.M. Breakout Session III
  • A. “Marketing Your Honey” Jack Cantrell, Athens County Beekeeper
  • B. “Pests and Diseases” John Grafton, Ohio State Bee Inspector
  • C. “Making Summer Splits” (In the beeyard) Dr. Jim Tew
• 1:45 P.M. Break (Visit the Vendors)
• 2:00 P.M. Breakout Session IV
  • A. “IPM For Beekeepers” Bob Hooker, OSBA
  • B. “Reading A Frame” Joe Kovaleski, OSBA, EAS Master Beekeeper
  • C. “In the Bee Yard” Dr. Dave Tarpy
• 2:45 P.M. Break
• 3:00 P.M. Panel Discussion, Plenary Session (Business), Raffle Drawing, Departure

Learn more here.

June 19: Backyard Sanctuaries in the City

I've noticed this summer that I've been spending a lot more time in my backyard. It's because of the bees. Well, and the new fence that hides me from the creepy neighbor (who ironically, just pulled into his driveway). I enjoy watching the bees launch from and land on the bottom board. It's relaxing. I've been more meticulous with the gardening (ignore the weeds in the pics): thinking about ways to make the yard more bird- and bee-friendly.

So here I am. Typing this blog from my patio (wireless) and eating honeybee-friendly Haagen-Dazs ice cream (vanilla swiss almond). In the time that I've been sitting here, a bumblebee has landed on the zinnia in the planter on the table. Two hummingbirds have visited the feeder behind me. Several birds have checked their feeders and are singing. My bees are zooming in and out. And I've gotten stung by mosquitos. One of my cats is meowing from the open window. Many of my perennials are in bloom: clematis, yucca, cat mint, corieopsis, marigold, lilies.

The bees have made me more aware of the activities in my backyard and more appreciative of my own very small, but beautiful, sanctuary in the city.

The winds which passed over my dwelling were such as sweep over the ridges of mountains, bearing the broken strains, or celestial parts only, of terrestrial music. The morning wind forever blows, the poem of creation is uninterrupted; but few are the ears that hear it. --Henry David Thoreau

June 18: State Inspection: My $5 At Work

Yesterday, I got home and found a slip in my mailbox from the bee inspector. He wrote: "Bees look good. Good brood pattern. Super as needed." I was thrilled! Doesn't seem like much but it's validation for a beginning beek. I just wish I would have been present for the inspection.

Apiaries in Ohio need to be registered. It only costs $5.00 per location. That seems pretty cheap to me: especially since the Ohio Dept. of Agriculture has proposed cuts to the apiary program which would eliminate the position of the chief bee inspector for the state. I would pay a lot more for an annual inspection, and that's what I said in my email for the letter-writing campaign.

Did you know? There were 3,128 beekeepers registered in 2007 in Ohio which represents 4,898 apiaries, or an estimated 16,654 colonies.

June 17: Feeding with Syrup and Essential Oils

After a lot of thought and reading, I made the decision to feed the Italians. The population is low and struggling. I'm hoping the feeding will keep them from starving, give them enough energy to forage, and stimulate wax production and brood rearing. That's the theory at least.

Last night, I made 1:1 sugar syrup with 8 pounds regular white sugar, 4 teaspoons Honey-B Healthy (feeding stimulant with spearmint and lemongrass oils) and 4 drops of wintergreen essential oil.

There has been some suggestion anecdotally and in one study that wintergreen oil may repel mites. Thymol and spearmint oil have also been recommended for mite control. In my opinion, essential oils may or may not help but they probably don't hurt. Ross Conrad's book (Natural Beekeeping: Organic Approaches to Modern Apiculture) is excellent if you want to read more about natural beekeeping.

Tonight, I poured the cooled mixture into the top feeder and placed on top of the Italian hive.

Did you know? Most essential oils are created by distilling parts of plants over water. They are said to capture the "essence" of the plant.

June 15: Latest Inspection Results

I opened both hives on Saturday to check progress, powdered them (to stimulate grooming behavior and mite falloff), and added new sticky boards (so the fallen mites can't climb back into the hive). You can see from the view looking down between frames that the population of the Italians is low.

June 15: What is healthy? What is normal?

I inspected my 2 hives today. I feel a little disappointed. I guess I was expecting more progress and now I'm worried. It doesn't help that I just watched "The Silence of the Bees" on PBS about disappearing honey bees (Colony Collapse Disorder). I'm trying to do my small (very small) part to help save the bees, but I feel like I don't know what I'm doing. As if the future of honey bees rests on my shoulders!

A recap: Both colonies were started from packages installed on April 20. One of the hives got started late due to a failed queen which I replaced in mid-May. The other hive made tremendous progress but seems to be slowing down considerably if you measure in terms of capped frames.

Hive A: Italians: 2 medium boxes: top box is partially drawn out and I see eggs but not many bees and not very much activity presumably because of the late start with the queen troubles and progressive die-off of older bees.

Hive B: Russians: 3 medium boxes: bottom 2 boxes are completely drawn out and capped and top hive box is partially drawn out but with little nectar or pollen. A lot of bees but they don't seem to be making much progress on that 3rd box.

Are these hives doing well? Is this normal? Are we in a nectar/pollen dearth? Should I be feeding? Should I combine the hives? I have no idea. I'm an amateur. A novice. A beginner. A newbee.

And that's why I rely on information from the International Beekeeping Forum. The people are polite, helpful, and respond quickly. I've posted my concerns to the forum. I'm sure the masters will have good advice and reassure me!

MBI Lecture: Real Democracy - How Honeybees Choose A Home

The Mathematical Biosciences Institute at Ohio State University is holding a free public lecture at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday (6/17) in 355 Jennings Hall (MBI Auditorium). Thomas D. Seeley, assistant professor of kinesiology at Cornell University will deliver “Real Democracy: How Honeybees Choose a Home.” A reception will follow.

Real democracy — when citizens meet in a face-to-face assembly and bind themselves under decisions they make themselves — has been practiced for some 2500 years by humans, but for more than 20 million years by honey bees. We will examine the remarkable democratic decision-making process of a honey bee swarm as it chooses a new home. We will see that bees have evolved sophisticated ways of working together to identify a dozen or more potential dwelling places, to choose the highest quality one for their new home site, and to make a decision without undue delay. We will conclude with some take-home lessons from the bees (“swarm
smarts”) on how to foster good decision making by democratic groups of humans.

More information...

June 10: Bee Stings

When I mention to people that one of my hobbies is beekeeping, the first thing they ask about is stings. Don't you ever get stung? I'm not quite sure why people are so afraid of getting stung by a honey bee. I think it's because they lump honey bees in with yellow jackets, bumblebees, and wasps. Honey bee stings are much less painful than wasp stings, that's for sure. I try to explain that a) honey bees are gentle compared to their relatives, that b) I rarely get stung, that c) they won't sting you unless you are in their way or tearing up their house, and that d) it doesn't really hurt that much! Honey bees don't seek out people to swarm, like you see in the movies.

Ironically, I'm writing this post after having just gotten stung. The Russians are a growing colony, and I now have to be careful about standing in their flight path. Twice, bees have taken off from their bottom board launch pad and flown right into me. Not their fault.

What do I do if I'm allergic to bee venom?
I keep an Epipen (available by prescription) at my house, just in case someone might visit with an allergy to bee stings. Anaphylactic shock from a bee sting can occur when an allergic person gets stung. You need to inject the Epipen and get that person to the hospital as quickly as possible. But again, it happens very rarely.

Can a bee sting me more than once?
No. Worker bees have barbed stingers. When she stings you, she cannot remove herself. The poison sac gets ripped out along with parts of her gut, so she will soon die. Drones don't have a stinger. Queens do and can sting multiple times, but reserve their stinging for rival queens.

What does it feel like?
Well, there is a stab of pain, like a pin prick, as the stinger sinks in. The pain becomes a bit worse as the venom is released. It can be a bit of a delayed effect. I become slightly dizzy. The sting spot gets numb and red. But it's all over in a matter of minutes.

What do I do if I've gotten stung?
If you do get stung, how long you leave the stinger in affects how much venom is injected. Scrape it out as quickly as possible (see diagram). Don't panic.

What is in the venom?
Mostly melittin which releases histamine and serotonin, causing itching, swelling, decreasing blood pressure and respiration, and pain, and phospholipase A which destroys cell membranes and causes pain. Another ingredient is apamin, a neurotoxin that causes tremors! Luckily, very little venom is injected with a sting.

We need more hobby beekeepers, and unfortunately, I think one obstacle in recruitment is the fear of being stung.

Did you know? Fewer than 20 deaths each year in the U.S. result from bee stings.

June 7: Busy as a Russian Bee

When I inspected the Russians on Saturday, I pulled out a frame sparsely covered with workers, many of them with their heads down in the cells! They stayed in that position, even as I rotated the frame. I thought it was funny, so I took a picture.

Honey bees live in highly organized societies. As workers age, they take on new roles in the colony. According to my Beekeeping for Dummies book, these workers are probably about 12-18 days old. I can guess that they have taken nectar from returning field bees and are storing it in cells. They will add enzymes and fan their wings to help evaporate the water to ripen the nectar into honey.

I concluded from my inspection that the Russians are not ready for a fourth box. They still have more work to do on the third floor.

Did you know? In the summer, worker bees work themselves to death after about 6 weeks.

June 7: Italians Have Eggs!

Very hot day for an inspection, but I was concerned about eggs in the Italian hive and crowding in the Russian hive. The numbers of the Italians are naturally dwindling with their queen troubles, but the remaining workers are still working hard. The frame of Russian brood I had installed last week is capped. I was disappointed to see no eggs in the first 2 frames that I pulled out, but then I spotted some! They look like tiny grains of rice (see picture from the internet) and are quite easy to spot if you have your back to the sun and the frame raised to capture sunlight.

No reason to disturb the Italians any longer once I confirmed queen activity, so I added a second story of 6 new frames in the center and 2 frames of capped honey on each side from last year. The bottom box is all drawn out, so I want to make sure they have some room for expansion. I also thought they might appreciate the gift of honey from last year's bees.

Did you know? It takes 21 days for a new worker bee to emerge from her cell.

June 6: Hot Day for Me and Bees

Check out these pictures of the Russians Friday afternoon. Very hot and humid day (92 degrees at 4:00 pm). The triangle pattern was interesting. The bees were hanging upside down, fanning their little wings furiously: too hot in the hive I guess. They fan to help regulate the temperature. I decided to remove the front cement block, because I noticed that the blocks were retaining moisture under the bottom board. Not having that front block will increase the ventilation on hot days like this. From reading on the forum, there doesn't seem to be any danger of bees overheating in this weather. For me, that's a different story. I'm miserable.

June 3: Eat More Ice Cream

Haagen-Dazs is selling a new flavor of ice cream--Vanilla Honey Bee--to raise awareness of the plight of honeybees. According to their web site: honeybees play a key role in creating ingredients (almonds, strawberries) used in nearly 40% of their flavors. The company has put together a cute (love the graphics) educational site that I would highly recommend: http://helpthehoneybees.com/
There's a section for making your own bee which you can see here. Fun!

So eat more ice cream without feeling guilty!

June 1: Feral Bees

Yesterday in my quest to find a cache in each of the 88 counties of Ohio, I geocached at Mt. Gilead State Park in Morrow County (a nice park by the way). I was hiking a trail when I almost stepped on a small swarm of bees on the ground. I watched them for quite some time, trying to figure out what was going on. A couple of people came up on me on the trail and I stood guard, because I certainly didn't want them stomping the bees to death out of fear. The bees could have been feral but also might have swarmed from a managed colony. Interesting.

When is the last time you saw a wild honeybee in your yard? Feral bees are rare these days. In fact, it is believed that wild bees have almost died out.

Speaking of bees in the yard, I spotted one visiting my cat mint and another circling around the marigolds. I would have to assume these are my own pet bees!