learning from the bees, honey harvest, healthy winter bees, oh my
Oops, I did it again! Somehow June and July always whiz by as fast as a worker bee returning to the hive. It takes a rainy day to get me inside to write this blog. My apologies Club Beez Kneezers. Hopefully you were able to reference back to last year and make management decisions based on my posts from those months. I probably don’t have to remind you that things outside the beeyard have been challenging and heart breaking. The world is sick and on fire. Honestly, my mind has been elsewhere as the events of the last 6 months have unfolded but not unrelated to bees. As a social science major in college, I was awoken to issues of racial injustice and inequality globally and in the US but growing up, our history was taught on very white and sanitary pages of books authored by one view which clashed with the very real, racist underbelly of my hometown. It took taking out copious amounts of student loans and traveling the world to start to get an education and see the truth. Since that awakening, I have been on a journey to play my part in making the world a better place. Since that awakening, I knew that at some point, things would boil over and need to be dealt with. Add to that a global pandemic stemming from an imbalance between humans and the natural world, you have a perfect storm. Finding honeybees and beekeeping have been an instrumental part of this journey. Their struggle with the imbalance of the natural world and humans and our dependence on them for food, struck a cord and there was no turning back. The fact that our food system was built on the backs of black and brown people via slavery and then replaced by an industrialized, chemical dependent agriculture that fills the pockets of the rich and poisons everything and everyone else, is reinforced by the honey bee. I was inspired by their ability to function as a super organism and society. A true democracy led by women. Each bee has a job to do but they work together for the health of the whole society, not just one individual bee. In my eyes, this is what makes them strong and amazing. And that is what I learn from everyday. What should we bee doing? As you spend time with your bees and learn about their biology, remember that they have way more to teach us and than we have answers for them. It just takes listening to what they need and changing the way your behavior puts them at risk. From how you spend your money, to who you vote for, to the way you treat others. Bees teach us that every action matters, no matter how small. And as a beekeeper, if you do something that disrupts and threatens the hive, you get stung. They sacrifice themselves for that reminder.
WHAT ARE THE BEES DOING IN JUNE/JULY?
Since my last blog in mid May to now, the bees have been building populations, producing wax to draw out comb, collecting lots of nectar to fill their nest with honey with the goal of reproducing or as we call it, swarming! They have also been replacing old or sick queens or as we call it, supersedure. I find telling the the difference to be confusing at times. Although not always completely true, one common way to tell the difference is the number of queen cells before either queen event and then the number of bees after the queen event. Also, in the event of a supersedure, it takes way less time to have a queen again. Typically 2 weeks as opposed to 4 weeks. This article explains a bit more about queen cells. Remember, the best thing to do in either event is to wait. Do not add a new queen. It is safer and cheaper to add a frame of eggs from another colony or a queen cell if you can get access to one. This is why it is super helpful and recommended to always keep 2 colonies. If your hive is unsuccessful in producing a new queen, you can end up with a laying worker. This is when a hive is hopelessly queenless and workers start to lay eggs. Check out this description here with tips on how to fix it. As we enter the last weeks of July, the main summer nectar flow is slowing down. There are sill plenty of flowers blooming and I have noticed the nectar flow amounts varying in some places. The bees are curing honey and soon the queen will start laying her winter bees. So what does this mean for the beekeeper?
WHAT IS THE BEEKEEPER DOING IN JUNE/JULY?
In June and early July, I have been trying to get boxes on in time before hard and intense nectar flows get to them first. I have been successful in most areas because of splitting in May but for some super strong colonies, late June and early July, this has not been enough. I did have a few swarms that got away from me at my beeyard at home. easy to get discouraged but overall, the bees are looking good and have made a good crop of honey so far. In late June, I grafted larva from VSH (varrora sensitive Hygiene) Harbo breeder queen attained by my friend Adrian Quiney. “Bees with the VSH trait express mite resistance by disrupting mite reproduction in worker brood that is aged 4-6 days post-capping.” So the bees sense the mites in the brood and remove infested pupae. I took splits from bigger colonies and made about 20 5 frame nucs to overwinter and gave them these queen cells. These nucs will help me improve the genetics in my operation and offer a brood break to these new colonies. I also decided to requeen some mediocre production colonies that were not keeping mites low. Some accepted my requeen with a queen cell, some made there own. But they all got brood breaks limiting my need for using a mite treatment. Beekeeping is a series or experiments! ALSO, I HAVE 32 QUEEN CELLS THAT WILL BE READY ON SATURDAY. THESE QUEENS WILL BE USED TO break down my big production colonies before winter. This allows me to overwinter with smaller hives and break the mite cycle. I will also be pulling the majority of my honey to harvest. That way, any fall nectar will be for the bees. If we don’t have a fall flow, feeding will be necessary. I will leave any supers that are not totally cured which will allow time for this and necessary room in the colony
I would recommend checking your mites this wee/weekend and treating if necessary-if your sample is 9/300 bees. As we know from recent research, mites feed on the fat bodies of the bees which are crucial for the longer lives they must live in the winter. If Fall is when the mites jump, I want to be ahead of the problem before it a problem. I have already checked many hives. The highest number I found was 20/300 mites. I gave them a full dose of Formic. I will requeen these hives with mite resistant queens and continue to check those that tested low. Why not treat everyone? Mite treatments can be hard on the colony and I want to identify those that are able to keep mites low. I have also been splitting and doing Drone Comb removal all summer. This truly helps keep levels down but it does not account for your neighbors activities. and robbing season is right around the corner. If you have only a few hives, get a robbing screen to help during this time. We sell them at the honey house. Along with Formic PRo, Mite Away quick strips and oxalic acid.
