The Blackberries Are Coming

I've been surprised to find a common theme from conversations with fellow beekeepers recently that many have been essentially following a calendar timeline for hive management.  We have had unusually nice spring weather for months here in the Puget Sound and many hives have already built up.  Without some level of swarm management most hives will be in a position where they are ready to swarm, if they haven't done so already.   This is the time of year to be doing inspections every 7-10 days to keep space open in the broodnest.

Blackberries are days away from having the first bloom spikes opening and we should be peak flow in the next 2-3 weeks.  If the weather stays on course this may also be the last nectar flow until fall and like the bees we should be thinking ahead for what is coming in the next 2-3 months.

Things I will be planning for:

• A long summer dearth
• Brood breaks to interrupt the disease cycle

Centaurea montana (Bachelor's Button Cornflower) is a good nectar source.

Sun Rose (Helianthemum nummularium) is in bloom and a good pollen source.

Ornithogalum umbellatum are in bloom.

Rock Rose is starting to bloom.  This is a popular pollen source.

This is a great time of year to start training bees to use a local water source before they find one in your neighbors yard.

Double crimson Hawthorn blooms.

Raspberries are coming into bloom.

Wisteria is blooming.

Dicentra aurora are still blooming.

Golden Chain tree is in bloom.

Sweet Cicely is in bloom.

Common Lilac is starting to bloom.

Apples have finished blooming.

Scotch broom has been blooming for awhile.

Viburnum plicatum 'Summer Snowflake' is in bloom.

Viburnum is filling the air with it's sweet scent.

Catmint (Nepeta) produces long lasting flower spikes that are highly appealing to honey bees.  They are members of the mint family and do best in sunny locations with moderate water requirements and also show good drought tolerance once established.  Unlike many other perennials Nepeta is tough and can flourish even if neglected for many years.  Both the foliage scent and flowers will benefit from short dry periods between watering.  Trimming back spent flower spikes mid-summer will help keep new flowers forming all summer long.  Many of the newer varieties of Nepeta you will find are sterile hybrid crosses that need to be propagated from division or cuttings.  They are great plants for use in rock gardens, along pathway edges, or as companion plants in rose gardens.

California poppy (Eschscholzia californica) is in bloom.

Some varieties of Lavender are already blooming.

Mock Orange or Philadelphus coronarius is a nectar source.

Chives are blooming.

Honeysuckle is coming into bloom.  Humming birds will out compete the bees for these.

Iris are blooming.

Iceland poppy is starting to bloom.

Hive checks (4/12/2015)
Nuc 1
Looks like the queen cell they had to work with was bad.  I found part of a developing queen on the floor of the hive and she was still white.  Added a virgin queen from another hive to give them a chance to get a mated a queen.

Virgin queens.

Picture of one of the virgin queens on the comb.

Nuc 2
The cell was open, but I didn't see the queen.  Will check again in a week and see if she has started laying.

Rosemary split
Lots of fanning and most of the cells were full of nectar or pollen. No signs of a queen.  I split them with about 4 day old larvae (day 7) in queen cells on 3/22.  I expected new queens about 9 days later on 4/1.  The new queen has had 12 days to start laying but with no sign of her or signs of queen activity and the excessive fanning I'd say it was a good bet they were queenless.  I added a virgin queen from another hive to give them a second chances to get a mated queen.

I believe horse chestnut is the likely cause of this yellow mark.  I had the pollen checked last year and it didn't "match" known samples of horse chestnut, but I still think this is caused by horse chestnut and need to get better samples from the pollen baskets and flowers for a more accurate ID.

Horse chestnut flowers.

Rosemary
The queen is building the hive back up again and there is a good amount of brood coming.  I did notice some brood disease, and I'm hoping that doesn't turn into a bigger issue.

Busy queen.  She has gone through as least 2 winters and perhaps more.

Hive checks (4/25/2015)
Nuc 1
The queen I introduced is still around and I saw a few eggs.  No idea yet if or how well she mated.

They seem to like the virgin queen.  Hopefully she mated well.

Nuc 2
Also found a few eggs in this hive and the saddest queen I've ever seen.  If this hive wasn't just a few frames of bees I would never have been able to pick her out.  Small queens are fine but that is not what she was.  When they aren't any bigger than a worker they usually don't survive long or don't mate and become drone layers.  Rather than wait for the inevitable I pulled her out and combined with Nuc 1 that at least has a good sized queen.

Sad looking queen.  Sometimes this happens with splits and emergency queens.

Rebel Daughter
Saw a few eggs, and didn't see the queen.  This is a big hive and it would be easy to miss her.  I tried to get them to draw new comb and they are being stubborn.  Also everything they did start they wanted to make perpendicular to the existing comb.  Argh!  Also saw what looked to be an old capped queen cell in the front which wouldn't be a good sign.

I think this is old, but you never know.

Rebel
Still seeing DWV in this hive, but they are increasing in numbers slowly.  I'm surprised how hard of a time they are having bouncing back in this hive.  This hive gets almost no direct sun and that might be part of the issue.

She is trying to build up again.

Ballard
They have been slow and steady and have built up nicely.  They are using about 75% of the hive and are on the verge of increasing 3 fold in the next 1-2 weeks.  I found a few queen cells with freshly laid eggs in them that I removed.  Most were empty so I may still have some time to delay them.  I added some spacers to see if I can get them to draw comb instead of swarming.  I would like to delay until the second week in May, but sometimes you have to compromise.

Over the years I have seen newly laid eggs in random queen cups too often for it to be a coincidence and I think this is more common than people think.  I think queens lay eggs everywhere and workers decide when they want to let them turn into queens.  However there is no way to know which is the case if you should happen to see one.

Most of the frames look like this, she has a great brood pattern.

Here is the queen.

Another bee with the yellow pollen marks.

Rosemary
The laying pattern is a little spotty but the signs of disease I was seeing before appears to be clearing up.  They seem to be building up nicely again.

She look huge in this picture.

Brood frame is well covered.

Rosemary split
Saw the new queen and watched her fly off the back frame I was looking at and fly back in through the hive entrance.  Watching a queen fly off a frame is not something you want to have happen!  She hasn't started laying yet like her sister, but this is a bigger hive so could have easily missed a few random eggs.  They were polishing cells for her to start using which is a good sign and where I will look for her to have started laying next inspection.

Hopefully this young queen starts laying soon.

Hive checks (4/26/2015)
Dyno
Caught a swarm that I suspect might be a secondary swarm (virgin queen) and put it into the old Dyno hive.  This hive is full of half combs of honey and should get them off to a good start.

This swarm was wrapped around the trellis and grape vines making it necessary to scoop them off into the box.

What they looked like after I transferred them into the hive.

Blackberries are close.  Just a few more days.

Back to the bees,

- Jeff

Getting Ready for the Blackberry Flow

After a long winter and several months of buildup most hives are in good shape and nearing their peak population levels.  That's good news because it is almost time for the blackberry flow to start which is our main nectar flow around the city and will last until about mid July depending on the weather.  Sadly the peak bee season is relativity short for city backyard hives lasting between late spring and mid summer.  Hives that get moved to different floral sources can continue to maintain high population levels till late summer, however the backyard hives will start scaling down to prep for winter shortly after the Blackberry flow.  So far we've had a mild year and everything has been about two weeks early and things could be picking up in the next week or so for blackberries.  However we need to get rain NOW to get the plants into good shape for blooming and then multiple days of sunshine in June so they produce a good nectar flow.  Timing is everything in nature.

Spring blooming Rosemary doing overtime for the bees.  They bloom fall through mid spring.  Look at all the pollen on this girls back!

Camas is another northwest native.

Usually this time of year we are in a dearth about now, but I've noticed that this year the hives have been bringing in a lot of very light colored nectar and starting to fill up comb!  At this rate I'm going to be having trouble making room for them to bring in more for blackberry.  The new queens from splits are being slow to get going so I am not expecting much from those hives, but perhaps as smaller hives they will perform better late summer when there is less out there.

Many beekeepers around here note that when the buttercups start blooming that a dearth period also starts and lasts until Blackberries start.  However with the early season this year there is still a nectar flow coming in from somewhere and the hives have been back filling the brood nest and capping very light honey.

Buttercup flower.

Choisya ternata or Mexican Orange provides pollen.

Double crimson Hawthorn blooms.

Rubus parviflorus or Thimbleberry provides nectar.

Rubus ursinus is the native Pacific Blackberry.

Pacific Dogwood.

Fragaria chiloensis or Coastal Strawberry.

Ceanothus thyrsiflorus ‘Oregon Mist’ is native evergreen shrub to western North America and stands out for the vibrant blue flowers it makes in late spring.  There are about 50 varieties of Ceanothus with colors ranging from blue, white, and pink, but why would you not plant the bees favorite color?  Being a native plant these bushes are also amazing drought tolerant once established.  Over time they can grow into a small tree to about 15 feet high that provide privacy and color or to fill in that out of the way spot in the garden.  Once established these bushes can be a lazy gardeners dream because they do best when not fertilized or watered and put in a sunny location.

They are also loved by bumblebees.

Physocarpus capitatus or Pacific Ninebark provides pollen.

Sorry it's been awhile since my last post and several pictures are a week or two old (I know!).  Life has been busy.  Here are my latest hive notes.

Hive checks (5/5/2013)
Surf
Checked on them to see how the queen cells looked and found 12-15 large cells capped.  I also took a quick peak at the mother and her frames now in the Sand hive and didn't see the queen but they looked to be organizing themselves still.  Setup two slots in the queen castle with some frames and queen cells.

Hive checks (5/10/2013)
Rebels
Talk about determined.  These girls have come back from maybe a 100 bees and now have two fist sized patches of brood going over three frames.  Really not sure what to make of them yet, or if they would do well in a hard winter, but there's something to be said for their ability to survive and recover.  They also seem  fairly resistant to disease.

This stubborn queen keeps going.

Icon Daughter Nuc
The queen is rebuilding and the nuc should be back up to pre-split size by the end of the month.  Based on my estimates the split nuc should have had a queen on mating flights this week (and we had great weather for it). I'll check them next week to see how things went.

For a smaller queen she has been performing well.

Geeks
The hive continues to grow and there are no signs they want to swarm yet.  I've been adding new frames for them to draw out and some they are drawing out as honey cells and some worker brood cells.  Sadly I was hoping for them to make more worker brood frames, but with natural comb you have to work with what they make.  Added 4 new bars for them to draw out.

Her Majesty in year three surrounded by happy nurse bees.

Lots of drones coming.  This hive is finally caught up to the others that I already split.

This is a great example of the brood nest getting back filled with nectar and pollen.  I'm happy to see so many colors of pollen coming in which means they are getting a lot of variety and have a healthy diet.

New bees in Architect hive.
Picked up a shook swarm (about 2#) on 5/11 and released queen into the old Architect hive on 5/14.  These came from Richards line of queens for winning his 2013 pollen contest in WA.  Yes beekeepers have odd contests.

Hive checks (5/19/2013)
Queen Castle
Of the two slots in the queen castle only one of them had a queen.  The other appears to have lost too many foragers to the other side during orientation and couldn't keep their queen warm enough to emerge.  Combined everyone together into the Plum Creek hive.

Unlike her mother she got a bit darker.  She's decent sized compared to the drones next to her.

You can easily tell which cell the queen came out of here.  Oddly this also makes me think of an evil jack-in-the-box since she's busting out to kill any competition.

Icon Granddaughter Nuc
Saw the queen, but no signs of eggs yet!  Moved them into a larger hive because of all the comb they were making and filling with honey.  I'm really surprised not to see any eggs yet and am wondering if she mated successfully.

She's a big queen and her abdomen hasn't even fully filled with eggs yet.  Not as black as her mother, but still pretty dark.  She reminds me of the Geek queen.

Architect Hive
Checked briefly to look for the queen and signs of eggs.  The queen was there and they were storing plenty of pollen and nectar but no eggs or brood yet.

Another good sized queen that needs to get to work!

Hive checks (5/20/2013)
Rebels
The brood area is ever slowly increasing with a very solid pattern.  They also seem very calm for the time being.

Icon Daughter Nuc
Lots of bees in here and lots of brood.  Everything looks good so far and they are building up.  Will need to put them in a full hive soon.  They also picked up a few foragers from the Icon Granddaughter nuc when that hive was moved into a full hive.

Geeks
Had to pull 3 honey bars out of the hive because it's out of room.  Still encouraging them to build new comb and there is a lot of nectar and pollen getting stored.  I'm not exactly sure what the nectar source is but it is very light and tastes sweet, but no noticeable hints as to what it's from (I didn't pass out so I don't think it's rhododendron - perhaps it's from all the yard flowers and iris in bloom).  Also a good amount of brood is coming as well and I'm not really sure where I'm going to find room for more frames in another week.  I gave the 3 honey/nectar frames to the Architect hive to finish drying.  Gave them 3 more new bars to draw out in an attempt to keep them busy building up.  I plan to do a cut-down split on this hive before the end of the month as the blackberries start.  I'll likely make up a small nuc for the queen and another one to raise an extra queen or two off of her.  My odds of getting a good queen are low but I did get the engineer queen which was a good hive so it's not impossible.  I might also try to raise some eggs from other hives as an another option.

You have to click on this photo to see all the pollen colors in detail, it's really something to see a frame almost full of pollen like this and is a sign of a healthy hive.

Back to the bees.

- Jeff