May Flowers and Favorable Weather Conditions

Sadly May was a busy month and I wasn't able to find time to post any updates.  The bees have been building up and storing a good amount of honey so far this season.  With regular hive checks and some efforts to keep the broodnest open, so far I've been successful at suppressing the swarming instinct without needing to split hives.  I've found that June is a much better month to split and mate queens in my neighborhood.    

I wasn't able to get a video but if you happen to walk by a Papaver somniferum in bloom you might be able to see the bees rolling around in the pollen like they are intoxicated.  As you can see here this girl is trying to haul back as much pollen as she can carry.

Choisya or Mexican orange bloomed early May as well.

Wild Geraniums started blooming early May and will continue until it gets too dry for them.

Creeping thyme is a good nectar source.

Photinia is another May nectar source and is common in city neighborhoods.

Camas is a native bulb that blooms early May.

Some varieties of Lavender are already blooming.

Raspberries bloomed early in May.

Mock Orange or Philadelphus coronarius is a nectar source.

Black Locust is a good nectar source and can create a nectar flow.  We have quite a few of them around in the neighborhood.

 Raphiolepis umbellata provides nectar.

When thinking of bee plants it's easy to forget that flowering trees or shrubs can also be great food sources. Once established trees and shrubs generally hold up well during dry weather, when many flowers are wilting, and can reach water deeper in the ground which keeps their nectar output going. The Snowbell tree gets it's name from the snow white bell shaped flowers that hang downwards along it's branches.  This tree has a compact shape with dark green leaves and horizontally spreading branches.  The tree does well in partial sun and tolerates acidic soil and it does not complete with woodland plants in it's root area.  However it does need frequent watering if in a dry or high sun exposure location and also needs to be protected from wind.  You can propagate this tree using softwood cuttings in summer or from seed.

Japanese Snowbell Tree (Styrax japonicus)

Hive check (5/5/2014)
Rosemary Hive
Checked to see how they have been doing in the last week and there are no signs of backfilling and in fact I found a fair number of empty cells in the broodnest and not much open brood.  I suspect the hot weather last week followed by a storm caused them to shut down brood rearing for a few days.  Several queen cups present but all were empty.  Saw the queen and she looked healthy.

Cleaning up a little spilled honey/nectar.

The queen doing her thing.

Hive check (5/10/2014)
Luna Hive
They are now using about 70% of the hive and are backfilling.  Saw the queen and she looked good.  Lots of frames of drones coming as well and they have been storing a good amount of nectar in the last week.  Found 3 queen cups with eggs laid today in them.  I removed the cells and added a few empty bars to the broodnest and a couple bars of empty comb to the back of the hive for nectar storage.  My goal is to split this hive but ideally I want to delay the process 10-15 days.

Lots of nectar coming in.

 Looking for places to lay eggs.

Lots of drones.  Some beekeepers would cut out frames like this, I see these guys as mating stock for queens at my other locations.  So far this is my best hive and they have shown the ability to eliminate DWV.  In visual scans of my photos and during inspections I'm not seeing any signs of varroa on the bees either.  We need more genetics like these in the area.

Hive check (5/11/2014)
Ballard Hive
They are still building up slowly.  Some signs of backfilling, but overall a good amount of brood coming.  Not many larvae at the moment, but I suspect this coming week of sunshine will change that.  Using about 40% of the hive.  Didn't see any signs of DWV.  Added an empty bar for them to build.

She is a conservative queen and building up slowly.

Rebels
Still seeing a few bees with DWV, and those are mostly drones.  The hive is growing again and there is a good amount of brood coming.  Lots of orientation flights going on.  They are using about 75% of the hive now and are storing a lot of pollen and nectar.  Added a couple empty bars for them to build.

Here is a photo of a comb repair I did last year.  You can't really tell anymore but there is a window through the comb and the old comb was partially cut off because it was perpendicular to the bar.

The queen doing her thing.  It's nice to see she actually has attendants following her today.

Hive check (5/13/2014)
Rosemary Hive
Brood nest is backfilled but no signs of swarming yet.  Nectar and pollen stores are way up from a week ago.  They also did nothing with the empty bar I gave them last week and I adjusted it's placement.  The hive is 90% full now but they are not raising much brood.  I'm curious to see what this week of nice weather brings and if they will start building comb or decide they would rather make plans to swarm.

Pollen is coming in.  I like to see a lot of variety.

Hive check (5/17/2014)
Rosemary Hive
Opened the hive to pull brood frames and resources to make up two nucs.  Inspection was quick and saw the queen and that they have finally decided to start building new comb.  I pulled 6 frames total out of the hive.

Nucs
Made up two nucs with virgin queens in cages that emerged today.  The source was from an overwintered local hive.

Virgin queen with a couple of attendants to care for her.

Hive check (5/18/2014)
Luna Hive
Lots of nectar and they are starting to cap honey.  The color is darker and I suspect it's from the Hawthorn trees.  Hawthorn doesn't seem to be the first choice for them to work but it's very abundant so they can be picky about which tree they think is just right to work.  Lots of capped drone cells as well.  They were building a little crazy comb in the back and had built most of the two bars I gave them last week.  I gave them several more bars to work on.  No signs they were trying to build queen cells this time and should be good for another 10 or so days before I suspect the hive will be out of room.

Hive check (5/19/2014)
Nucs
Released the virgin queens in both nucs in the AM so they could potentially get out to fly today.  The South nuc might be a little too week and need more bees.

Hive check (5/20/2014)
Ballard Hive
They are still building up slowly and are now using about 60% of the hive.  Some signs of backfilling, but overall a good amount of brood coming and they were building comb.  Workers had cleaned cells further back in the hive for the queen to lay in but she seemed to be ignoring them.  Found a single cup with a freshly laid egg that I removed.  It's possible that they don't like the slow buildup either and they might be thinking of replacing her.  Will see if a new queen cell returns next week.  No signs of DWV were found.

Another shot of the queen.

Rebels
Only saw a few bees with DWV and most of those were drones.  Lots of backfilling but they are also building new comb.  They are using about 90% of the hive now.  They were fairly calm for a late day inspection.  Added another empty bar for them to start working on.

The queen is looking well cared for now.

A good variety of pollen coming into this hive.  It's unusual to see pollen stored in this hive as they usually use it as fast as it comes in.

Hive check (5/26/2014)
Luna Hive
No swarm plans yet, but they are running out of empty cells for the queen to lay in.  Saw the queen and she was busy looking for clean cells.  The drone population in this hive is peaking at about 25% of the population.  Yes this is higher than any of my other hives but they are still storing honey and the queen is still laying out frames in worker brood (at least any that aren't filled with honey).  They are building new comb on the bars I gave them as well.  Interestingly enough I think the high drone population has actually slowed them down a couple weeks on the swarm impulse given how backfilled the broodnest is at the moment.  Also I noted that drones were making an effort to cover capped worker brood to keep them warm while the workers were either collecting nectar/pollen or festooning to build comb.

There aren't many frames left where she can lay a patch of brood like this.  Notice all the drones on this frame.

The queen is looking in a cell to make sure it's clean.  I suspect this is why I sometimes miss her.

Rosemary hive
The hives growth seems to have slowed down a bit.  After just seeing a hive with a high drone count this hive seemed to be lacking in drones with less than 5% drones.  They aren't storing as much nectar/pollen, and are building comb slowly.

A nice shot of the queen.

Nucs
Well so far things don't look good.  Took a quick look and couldn't find either queen.  Granted new queens can be hard to find sometimes, but I'm pretty sure they weren't around.  However I have missed them before so will check again in a few days.

Hive check (5/30/2014)
Ballard Hive
They are still building up slowly and are using about 65% of the hive now.  The honey arches on several frames seemed a bit light compared to what I've been seeing in the other hives.  Saw the queen and she looked good, but she still isn't being very aggressive in laying eggs.

Rebel Hive
The queen died in the last week.  I found her in the very back of the hive on the bottom board.  They were making several emergency queen cells.  Some capped and some close to being capped.  Cells were on three separate frames so I split out two nucs to increase my mating odds.  Not sure why they didn't see whatever killed the queen coming and my only thought is that perhaps the viral load they've had this spring has taken it's toll on the queen.  Overall DWV was actually looking pretty good on this inspection with just a few bees showing signs.

This was the cell that got damaged on removing the frame.  I'd guess she was around day 11.

Here's a cell they haven't capped yet.

Usually you don't find the old dead queen, but sure enough I saw a bee trying to drag her out.

Hive check (5/31/2014)
Plum Creek
Had a swarm call today and picked them up.  It seemed average sized for a swarm and I'd guess is was about 3 pounds of bees.  It seemed smaller so perhaps it's a secondary swarm with a virgin queen.  Based on the bee size I can tell they came from a hive using foundation.

Looks bigger from this angle.  At least I could reach it without a ladder.

Hive check (6/1/2014)
Luna Hive
No signs of swarming and they are still finding space for the queen to lay in.  The entire hive is slowly turning into honey with a few exceptions here and there and a few frames of bee bread.  If they haven't tried to swarm by mid June I'll split them and let them build emergency cells. I squeezed out enough room today to add one more new bar they can build out.  Saw the queen and she looked good.  I also noticed that many bees were dancing to be cleaned by other bees.  I wonder if that hygienic behavior is part of what has helped them recover from disease.

Another nice frame of brood.

A close up of very young larvae.  Notice how well fed they are that they are shiny or wet looking.

Here is the queen.

Plum Creek
Had time to add syrup and some empty comb today.  They had built two tiny 4 inch lobs of comb in the last 16 hours that were so horribly off-center and crooked I had to remove them.  I did see a few eggs in one of the pieces so I now know this is a primary swarm with a laying queen.

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