Bee Tea & the Venting Issue

Are the bees going for the Bee/Tea syrup?  Well, I don't know yet, but don't take that the wrong way.  Typically the maples break the pollen & nectar fast for the bees.  At the same time we beeks like to start feeding the bees 1:1 sugar syrup.  It supplements their diet and helps them brood up in early Spring.  Which I have done.  The bees however aren't bothering with the syrup very much.  It has been on them for nine days and they have only taken half of it, maybe.  

It seems right now the Maple flow is amazing.  The mature trees are blooming on consecutive days instead of all at once.  This gives the bees a prolonged flow & pollen source.  The trees that bloomed first have been picked dry and are now closer to seed growth.  While more large trees are breaking bloom each day or so.

Might the Tea be another bad idea.  I had thawed a bunch of full honey frames for the last inspection; in case the bees needed a resupply of honey.  Once they thawed out the tray they were on and the deep they were in  became covered in dripping honey.  Today was warm so i put the tray outside for the bees to clean off.  In fact i placed it between the two hives to guarantee they would find it.  Well, this is what that tray looked like six hours later...

Empty Buffet Line !?

Where are the bees?  Not on the free honey!  In fact we found them on a large Red Maple that had bloomed this morning.  My neighbor & I stood beneath her tree and could hear the actual buzzing of the bees; all four hives worth.  Remember she has two as well.  I remembered that bees will locate a major source and stay with it while skipping other minor sources.  Also that bees prefer Nectar to Honey. 

So I can't tell if the bees like the Tea.  They're taking it slowly which is more than what they are doing to the free honey.  Does that count?  When I open fed them the Tea before the bloom started they were all over it.  That's all I know for now.

They're always on it but not many

 I did finally find a way to clean up the spilled honey on the tray and on the deep those frames were in.  I'm glad it wasn't wasted...

Look who came to help

☼   ☼   ☼

The Ventilation issue still confuses me.  The hive, Myrina, has never had a moisture problem.  Yet, here she is with water practically running off the t-cover.  What i did was add Another Vent Box atop the one she already had.  It looks like this.

Note how much Tea/syrup is still left

The added VB is a Summer version with nine holes.  I changed to VB's with fewer holes last year going into Winter, hence the one with only three.  This did clear up the condensation problem.  I still don't know why it happened.  What I do know:

1. The cluster is directly beneath the HTF
2. The t-cover is new to the hive but used and a year old
3. The Tea/Syrup seems to have a thinner consistency than syrup
4. The other hive has the same setup but no problem

If this continues again in the Fall I will be upset.  I thought I had the Ventilation problem licked but apparently not.  More reading!

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Water on the T-Cover

The Bees flew today and I wanted to get a glimpse at whether the bees were taking the Tea/Syrup.  After work I went down and lifted off the t-covers.  Mary had a few bees up in the HTF and the level hadn't changed much. 

The t-cover on Myrina surprised me.  As I lifted it off several ounces of water ran on to the ground like a faucet had been turned on.  Startled i turned it over to examine it.  The underside was saturated.  Fortunately the cover is waxed but nothing is waterproof.  No swelling of the wood but a green & black mildew were acutely present. 

Another problem is the condensation dripping into the HTF is infecting the tea/syrup with the mildew/mold.  A couple of mold spots the size of quarters were floating on the surface.  This poor hive is loaded with the rotten mildew above & below (recall the last post).

The HTF's and tea/syrup went in the hives last Friday.  So all of this happened since then.  Mary was fine.  Her t-cover is homemade and the top piece of wood is 3/4" plywood.  Myrina's t-cover is purchased and it's top board is only 1/4" fleck board.  Big differences in insulation value.  Both HTF's are jacketed by wood shims with 3 - 1.25" holes in them for ventilation, and it's been very windy.  I can't believe there isn't enough ventilation.

Both populations are near the same and the queens are sisters so I dont thinks it's behavior.  We are in the initial Spring Flow with lots of Maple nectar coming in to cure.  I'm not sure why this is happening.

I wiped off the excess water on the inside of the t-cover.  It was too late in the day to do much.  All i did was place tin foil over the HTF shims (Vent Box) and put the t-cover back on.  There will still be condensation but this will keep it off the wood.  We are expecting a bunch of rain tomorrow night.  Hopefully I figure things out tomorrow and get it done before the rain starts.

I don't think any water is getting on the bees from under the HTF.  I believe all the condensation is above it.  Also i noticed only a few bees taking the the tea/syrup in Myrina.  Yesterday was to cold for the bees to fly.  I figured they might be taking the tea/syrup instead.  Today was a Fly Day but not a warm one at 47°F.  Thought they may still be interested in the tea/syrup.

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Apistan Out & a Strange Cluster in Mary

Finally, a Fly Day in the high 50's.  Opened up each box of the hives and removed the Apistan strips that had been place there in late November.  Lots of bees were buzzing out of Myrina but only a few from Mary.  I saw a nice cluster in the top deep of Mary.  Then No bees in the middle deep.  Then a bigger cluster in the Bottom deep.  What does that mean?  I mentioned it on the bee forum.  Michael Bush said he had seen before were a cluster can split on a warm day.  There may be a virgin queen mixed in with the real queen.  Won't know 'till later in Spring when i can do an inspection.

Mary Top Deep

Mary Middle Deep

Mary Bottom Deep

Also i noticed no real condensation to worry about.  A smal drip here or a little dollop there.  Just enough to give the bees a water source inside the hive when it's to cold to fly.

Bees Drinking Condensation Water

I didn't see any pests but i didn't remove any frames either.  The uninsulated VB on Mary was replaced with a Insulated one and the nine hole uninsulated VB on Myrina was replaced with a three hole version.  Both VB's only have a single hole remaining open with tape over the other holes.  I had one pollen patty laying around so i cut it in half and put it in each hive.  It went directly on top of the frames.  Off-center from the middle towards the back.  Otherwise the hole in the Inner cover would have been blocked.

Myrina looked good with bees clustered in both boxes together.  All the deeps on Mary & Myrina are still heavy with honey and whatever pollen they collected last Fall.

Myrina Top Deep

Myrina Bottom Deep

After the quick opening and closing Mary's bees came out in force.

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Condensation: Insulating the Vent Box & Dry Sugar

As you might recall from the last post condensation is puddling in Mary. Not certain how or why so I posted the questing at the Beemaster forum (here's the link plus some more good info). What I learned is that condensation is a part of the Winter hive and can be good & bad. It may be necessary since it can be a source of water for the bees. Yet, it can kill the colony if it drips down on the bees. Controlling it seems to bee the task at hand.

• Vent the hive properly so there's not too much. Some type of top vent...(Check)
  
• Tilt the hives to promote drainage away from the bees. Down the sides rather than on the bees...(Check)
  
• Control which surfaces cause condensation by the use of insulation. Such as insulating the top of the Vent Box...(Check, see below)
  

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Mary, sans her T-cover

I'm using 3/4" styrofoam as insulation. This should keep condensation out of the top part of the hive. I left open two vent holes; to the South & East to let the humidity out. I thought about opening the bottom of the SBB a crack but did not. Too easy for a critter to work it's way in and set up shop. The condensation should be less now. I'll monitor of course.

Now this insulated area above the IC provides a good location for Dry sugar to be dumped. As mentioned on the forum dry sugar can help mitigate moisture in the hive by absorbing it. That's good incentive. Plus, Mary's a small colony with half her reserves gone now. I have more honey & pollen frames I'll put in this week but first...

Diner time

I only had a pound of sugar left and gave it all to Mary. I'll pick up a 25# bag tomorrow. The gap between the IC and insulation is 2". I'll see how much sugar I can put in there between refills.

aun Aprendo

Inspection 1/15/10

Mary
57 F
Sunny

The second fly-day in a row a good time to check the bees. This is my second Winter with bees so one might think it would be easier on me but it's not. I think last Winter I was too inexperienced to know what was happening. Fortunately it was a mild Winter. Yet, this year Winter has been very harsh and I now know just enough to be worried all the time, Ha ha. The girls just spent a month in cluster with daytime temps in the 20's. However, next week's forecast calls for lows in the 30 & highs in the 50's. A warm spell sure would be welcome.

First a quick note about Mary- Weak, under productive, & limping along. SBB (closed), Single Deep, IC, Vent box, & T-cover.

Now back to the inspection. Approach at mid-day, bees flying around the hive. Veil and gloves but no smoker today. Much more evidence of cleansing flights today than yesterday. Good thing I'm wearing the veil. A cloud of bees takes to the air as I remove the T-Cover. A couple hundred bees had congregated inside the vent box above the IC. Yet i still see several bees holding on to one another as if they're still in cluster in the IC opening. Once that comes off i see where the majority of bees are on the top of the frames in the middle of the Deep. Not a great amount of bees, population somewhat low in numbers but I still think they'll make it

For orientation I stand behind my hives and number left to right; more or less. Frames 1 & 2 are still filled with capped honey as are frames 9 & 10. Frames 3 & 8 have capped honey corners and partial pollen filled centers. Frames 4 & 7 are 2/3's empty. Frames 5 & 6 are too busy with bees to check. I replace the frames in this order: 3, 4, 2, 1, 5, 6, 10, 9, 7, & 8. Bees on moved frames were brushed onto 5 & 6 to keep them together. Then it all got put back together. I'll replace the empties with full ones soon. I figure the bees will bee balled up in the middle for now anyway.

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Issues.
*Moisture & Condensation. -Again with the puddle of water in the hive. They did this last year too. So over Summer I replaced the solid board with a SBB. I added a Vent cover above the IC with 1.5" holes in it. And all the wooden ware is new. Not much water probably several table spoons worth resting on the luan beneath the SBB (and dripping out the back!) . The T-cover was dry. The IC was dry. As far as I can tell the bees were dry. So why is there water puddling in rows beneath the frames? 8 out of 9 vent holes were closed off so I opened one more, left side, to increase ventilation.

Water leaking out the through the closed SBB ^

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Two puddles on the left side beneath the SBB ^

*Heating. Passively that is. -The vent box is 2.5" tall. Heat escapes upwards of course so this box draws heat away from the cluster. To fix this I bought some foam insulation to fill the box. I'll leave enough room, or channels, for the humidity to escape through the vents though.

Vent box currently ^

*Dead bees. -2 kinds of dead bees. The ones that are still standing where they were in the cluster when they croaked. And, of course, the bees that starved head first in a cell. Very few dead in the cells. More dead from the cluster locations.

All dead ^

Starvation ^

Then there's this bee. I believe she wandered away from the ball during a warm spell. Found a whole frame of honey to eat. Then didn't make it back to the cluster before the temperature dropped at night. Poor girl.

(click to enlarge) ^

I did not get into Myrina as I ran out of time. I'll try to inspect her within the week. Although Myrina almost never has any problems.

aun Aprendo

Apistan Strips

So today's temp was above 50F. I've had the strips for 2 weeks now and have been waiting for just such a day as this to put them in the hives. The girls are buzzing around enjoying a little Winter sun.

As soon as I open Mary's cover I see trouble (again!). There was a small puddle of water resting on the inner cover. We've had no rain for a week or so; so why the water?. Plus the water had saturated the inner cover completely. When I looked underneath at the hive body & frames I saw them covered in a greenish sooty mold. Mind you that the hive is loaded with bees. I do use an entrance feeder. Have been for months. Yet I've never seen this type of problem before.

Yes it's true that both hives are currently made up of two deep hive bodies with a honey super on top. The bees of neither colony did much in the supers before Winter. I was hoping they would draw out the frames and make some honey, or store pollen, for them to use. The super are mostly empty. The bees ball up down in the deep hives.

So, I have one hive with water & mold damage. I don't know if Myrina will be the same. I quickly place the strips where they need to be in both deep hives. I leave the super off and close the covers. Then on to Myrina. Fortunately she is dry on the inside. In go her strips and more sugar syrup for both colonies. Her super comes off too.

I'll scrub, bleach, rinse, dry, then freeze Mary's super & frames. Myrina's will go straight into the deep freeze. Now I must go and find out why There is water in my hive. Maybe condensation, I don't know.