Thursday, August 16, 2012

Sealed in Wax

It seems like summer just arrived a few weeks ago for many here in the Pacific Northwest, however the bees are already a few weeks into their fall preparations.  The girls are closely attuned with mother nature regardless of what it might be doing at the moment and have to stay a season ahead in their actions in order to compete and survive.  They have been building their winter army and using wax to seal up the nectar they have cured into honey to feed them over winter.  So far it is looking like a decent year despite all the spring and early summer rain.

Nectar from Globe Thistle


Inspections are getting a little trickier this time of year because you need to be fast as not to trigger robbing, but also careful not to over stress the delicate comb.  Beeswax melts around 145-147F, but can get a bit putty like when it gets above 100F range.  Bees do an amazing job of ventilating their hives to keep the brood around 95F either by generating heat or fanning to cool the hive.  This time of year those combs are packed full of honey right up to the tolerance point that the combs can support and pulling them out can potentially cause them to fail under their own weight.  Capped honeycomb turned sideways will essentially "melt" into your hands under the weight of the honey.

On the topic of robbing this is basically what it sounds like.  Hives are ready for fall and have lots of food stored and are trying to scale back their numbers so they don't eat through it all before the spring flowers bloom.  If the opportunity presents itself to steal honey from another hive a robbing situation will occur when two (or more) hives may attack and try to overwhelm another hive to steal their honey.  This is often fatal to the hive either because the queen is killed or the hive is left without enough food to get through winter.  A different type of robbing might also be triggered by Yellow Jackets that are not just interested in the honey but also in eating the bees themselves.  It takes several bees to fight off a Yellow Jacket and once they get through the defenses they will head home to tell the rest of their hive.  At the moment the Yellow Jackets are just snooping around and picking off the weak/dying bees outside the hives in the grass.

Sedum is another popular nectar source.


Magnolia blooms.


Artichokes provide nectar.


Fennel is getting a lot of attention right now.


Hive checks (8/11/2012)

Queen Castle 1
Slot 1 - Didn't see the queen today.
Slot 2 - Empty
Slot 3 - Saw the queen again and she's a big blond girl.  Saw eggs and young larvae!  This is a daughter of the Engineers.
Slot 4 - Empty

Queen Castle 2
Slot 1 - This had the bees from Nuc 3 and I moved them back into their older house so this box isn't in use anymore.
Slot 2 - No sign of a queen.  Dumped them out.
Slot 3 - Empty
Slot 4 - Empty

Icons
- Saw queen, some eggs and brood, but mostly honey.  Moved empty frames into the brood nest so she will keep building up.

A freshly capped frame of honey that is about ready for harvest.


Due to the heat and a newly drawn weak frame I did harvest a frame of this honey.  It's very different from the frame harvested from the Sand hive in West Queen Anne a few weeks ago.  It has notes of Blackberry, Sweet Chestnut and Mint.

Ballard Swarm
- No sign of a queen and they didn't do anything with the frame of eggs I gave them.  Found a small patch a drones in worker cells which means they have a laying worker.  I dumped them out to join other hives.

Northgate Swarm
- Pissy girls again!  I saw the queen and 10+ torn down queen cells and she didn't look like a new queen, but rather the same one from before.  There are eggs here and there throughout the hive as has been the case for the last month.  I've never worked with Russian bees, but I'm starting to think they might be a Russian breed based on the usual building of queen cells and tearing them down at the last minute.  At the moment there were no queen cells in progress, but I will pull the next one I see into a nuc to see what happens.

Queen running around.  She doesn't look like a young or virgin queen.


Engineer Queen's Nuc
- This hive is growing and she is laying out more of the frames.  They should be back up to strength and ready for another winter in no time.

Engineer Hive
-  I didn't see the new queen this time around and no signs of eggs or larvae.  Added some eggs from the Icons to see what happens.

Hive checks (8/12/2012)
Nuc 2
They are building up and are showing signs they will be good hoarders.  I found a queen cup with a newly laid egg in it.  It was the only one so I removed it to see if they make more.  I also added empty frames into the brood nest.

Librarians
This hive has turned around and everything is looking good.  There is a lot of nectar, but not much dried yet.  They are looking like they are in good shape for winter.  I saw a few girls dragging drones out as well, so it must be that time of year.

A good brood pattern for this time of year.


Geeks
Same as last week.  It looks like they might be improving, but hard to say just yet.

There are still a lot of flowers around the neighborhoods to keep the girls busy, but no major honey sources at the moment here.  The Knotweed has started blooming, but I'm not aware of any within several miles that actually has been allowed to flower.  Apparently like many of the other nectar flows here it is considered a noxious weed and on the destroy list.  If there is any around I am sure the girls are dancing in the flowers right now.

Invasive Knotweed delighting the girls with late season nectar.


Back to the bees.

- Jeff

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Essential Oils of Summer

It's starting to feel like summer here and several favorites of the bees have started blooming... herbs.  Herbs are part of Mother Natures medicine cabinet and they can provide essential nutrients in their nectar that other plants lack.  This abundance in different food sources gives the girls more variety in their diet which results in healthier bees that are better prepared for the cold winter.  A few herb gardens here and there can also add subtle notes to the honey that is lacking from hives that primarily work large mono crops.

Drinking nectar from Mint.


Another girl on the Mint.


Looking into a ruffled Dahlia bloom.


The Asters are starting to bloom.


Pollen from a Butterfly Bush.


Fennel blooming.


Nectar from Oregano.


For feeding the Queen Castles I've come up with a new idea instead of syrup.  I'm calling it Snow Ball Feeding, because that's what it looks like.  Basically I mix sugar with just enough water that I can make a ball out of it and then put the balls in the nucs.  It shouldn't cause robbing because there is still work to process it, but will provide food for the bees that is pretty much ready to go.  The girls were all over them as soon as I put them into the hive, and I haven't seen any signs of robbing yet so I think they are a success.  Now to determine how fast they are going through them.

Hive checks (8/5/2012)

Geeks
The hive is in the same state as last week and I powder sugared again.  I'm thinking that I will move the queen into a nuc next week now that I have space in the queen castles.

Icons
These girls are doing great.  They sucked down the syrup and started back-filling the brood nest with syrup and nectar.  I gave them old comb from the Queen Castles so the queen can keep laying.  I want to make a few nucs from them soon.

Ballard Swarm
They have two partial combs built, but no signs of a queen.  Added a frame of brood from the Icons.

Engineer Queen In Nuc
They have a little brood but are being a bit too conservative right now.  Added syrup to see if it stimulates them.

Northgate Swarm
The girls are pissy so left them alone this week.

Queen Castle 1
Slot 1
Saw the new queen and she's a black beauty.  She is most likely from the Geek queen, but slight possibility form the Librarian hive.

She reminds me of the Icon queen.


Slot 2
No signs of a queen and shook them out.

Slot 3
Queen looks great, but no signs of eggs yet.

Slot 4
No signs of a queen and shook them out.

Queen Castle 2
Slot 1
No inspection.

Slot 2
No signs of a queen, but they seemed clam and strong.  I'll give them another week.

Slot 3
No signs of a queen and shook them out.

Slot 4
Empty

I ran across several more Catalpa trees in bloom this week.  It was odd seeing more of these trees just starting to bloom when I thought they were done a few weeks ago.  The micro climates on the hill definitely have the advantage of staging how plants bloom so you have more overlap and variety at any given time.  I also walked by a block of Sweet Chestnut trees that were just finishing their bloom cycle and there was pollen everywhere.  Sweet Chestnuts produce both pollen and nectar for the bees and I'll have to remember to check them next year for activity.  I'm thinking that might have been the destination of the bee-line I came across last week as well.  I noticed several dragonflies in the area that were probably wondering where all the easy food went.

Catalpa bloom.


Back to the bees.

- Jeff

Thursday, August 2, 2012

A Different Kind of Honey

Activity has been slowing down now that the major flow has wrapped up and the girls are only slightly irritated about it which means there is still enough food out there to keep them busy.  Bored and hungry bees can turn into pissy bees quickly!

There are many types of plants in bloom around the area right now which gives the girls a lot of variation in food sources.  This late summer variety in food sources should equate to them raising healthier winter bees and ultimately a stronger hive in spring.  I've also noticed with the cooler weather that some of the blackberry patches are starting to kick off a second round of new bloom spikes.  Nothing like the main flow, but something to help keep the girls working.

Collecting nectar from the heart of an Echinacea bloom.


A girl pushing her way into a Crocosmia 'Lucifer' bloom.


Sea Holly


One of my favorites the Black Eyed Susan.


Hollyhocks producing clumps of pollen.


Have you ever noticed that certain trees drip a sticky sappy like substances over you car or the sidewalk in summer?  Well there is a good change that what you are seeing is probably honeydew.  Honeydew is a byproduct of aphids and scale insects feeding on plant sap.  The insects secrete the surplus as a sticky sugar rich substance that attracts ants and bees to the trees.  The bees can then collect this and make a green tinted honeydew honey which some parts of the world consider a premium honey that is rich in antioxidants.  However from what I've read collecting honeydew is hard on the worker bees and can shorten their already limited life spans.  However it's food when there isn't much of a surplus and I've noticed a few oak trees just covered in bees in the last week.  Even when there aren't flowers there is still food out there for the girls to find in unusual places.

Licking honeydew off an Oak leaf.


Hive check (7/29/2012)

Geeks
Saw the queen and there are some eggs, but mostly capped brood.  They are showing signs of stress from varroa mites and I saw DWV (deformed wing virus).  Powder sugared the hive and I am debating my next steps if there is no sign of improvement in a couple weeks.  I'm still not sure what mysterious factor has taken place in the Librarian hive to turn them around so dramatically in the last few weeks and am curious if it will last.  I have read that bee immunity or resistance can be transferred from bee to bee by sharing nectar/honey.  I'm considering transferring a frame of honey from the Librarian hive to test that idea out, but my fall-back plan is to move the queen into a nuc and let them raise a new one which will give them a brood cycle break and knock the varroa down.

Engineers
Saw the new queen and she's darker than her mom.  I took pictures of what an opened cell looks like vs. a cell that a new queen as eliminated. When a queen kills another queen still in a cell they sting through it and bite the side to open it.

Opened queen cell from emerged queen.


The dead queen is quickly cleaned out of the cell once she has been disposed of.


Icons
The hive has a far amount of stored honey and is still building up.  I am feeding them to push them to continue building up so I can pull a few frames to raise new queens in the next few weeks.

Brood from the Icons.


Ballard Swarm
They are slowly building comb and mostly still clustered so couldn't inspect.  I added feed to help them along.

Nuc 2
These girls are doing good and building up.  They have a little honey stored.

Queen Castle 1
Slot 1
Queen cell opened, no sign of queen.  This slot got one of the donated frames and they have made two new queen cells (capped) on it.

Slot 2
Queen cell opened, no sign of queen.

Slot 3
Saw the queen.  She looks big and healthy... and she's another blond.

One of the other new queens from the Engineer hive.


Slot 4
Queen cell opened, no sign of queen.

Queen Castle 2
Slot 1
This has the hive from Nuc 3.  The sunshine does seem to be doing these girls good and there is a noticeable boost in brood.

Slot 2
Queen cell opened, no sign of queen.

Slot 3
Queen cell opened, no sign of queen.

Slot 4
Unused.

Hive check (7/31/2012)

Sand
Full hive check and they have built two new combs in the last week.  I was slightly concerned they might try to pull off a late season swarm based on their strength, but everything looks good at the moment.

Surf
Added syrup.

Walking home the other day I walked along the boulevard that looks out over the trees on the hillside down at the Puget Sound and came across a large tree top about the same level as the road.  While looking at the view I noticed a beeline that was using the tree as a wind break to fly up the hill and continue on to either a food source or to their hive.  It was amazing to come across a bee freeway like this away from any hive.  If it had been earlier in the day I might have been able to trace them to their destination, but once they got to the top of the tree and over the road they took off further up the hill out of sight.  It's amazing what you can find when you look.

- Jeff