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

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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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Bee Tea

With Spring comes early feeding with 1:1 sugar syrup.  Last year i first read about bee tea.  Essentially a brewed/steeped tea made from anything good for bees.  To promote health mainly.  One can either add it to the syrup or sweeten it with a little sugar and feed it separately from the syrup.  Many use essential oils in the tea.  I'm not a fan of essential oils, however.  The Tea is a way i can add nutrition to the sugar syrup without blasting the hive away with lemon grass oil or the like.  Lets face it sugar syrup is like feeding your kids nothing but soda pop.  The bees love the sugar but I'd like them to get more out of it.

As far as I'm concerned the ingredients for this recipe should change depending on what sources of nectar are naturally available.  This way the tea reflects what the bees are looking for.  I assume Maples bloom in Spring because they have what bees need the most in Spring. (Evolved over millions & millions of years)  It may be a leap for some but it who am i to second guess nature.
 
Therefore at this time the tea is made of whatever blooms first in this area:  Willow, Maple, Elm, Cherry, Pear, Plum, Sassafras, & Red Bud.  I also added two primary flow sources: Yellow Poplar & Basswood, but any combination will do.  This week the recipe is Maple, Poplar, & Basswood.  Next week will be Willow, Elm, Red Bud, & Poplar.  I'm very leery of giving a tea made from Sassafras to the bees since it is a known psychoactive.  A sprig of Thyme and 2 tbs of Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar are also added per gallon.  These can help with Varroa & Nosema plus the ACV keeps the syrup from spoiling.

Unsure of all this an experiment was in order.  I made a syrup/tea and a non-syrup/tea out of Yellow Poplar and set it out for the bees.  The bees hit the syrup as one would expect.  Alright, so I know they will take it, that's good.  They also did a good job on the non-syrup/tea.  They about hit it as hard.  So it looks like this might work.  Now to make some tea...

The procedure:
First i collect wood rounds from the target woody plants with a chainsaw.  Disks of a ½" in thickness are good.  I cut them from saplings so there is no heartwood present.  Heartwood is where a tree places it's metabolic wastes.  Small saplings will not have accumulated enough yet.

2 Rounds of each species per gallon.  Maple & Poplar

Second i remove the bark.  The inner wood, called xylem, transports liquids and material up into a tree.  The nectar that is found in a tree flower has gotten there via this tissue.  Bark, called phloem, transports nutrients down to the roots.  Since bees feed from flowers not roots I'll go with the xylem.

Use Caution cutting green wood with a ban saw

Then the debarked rounds get cut up into small bits to increase surface area.

All 4 rounds

There are only 2 Basswoods that I know of around here and neither one am i willing to harm.  Fortunately the local health food store has a great selection of 'Frontier' herbs which include dried Basswood flowers.  A half ounce cost $0.35.  Plus they have lots of other things I'll be adding at some point.  So I divided it and put each half in 1 gallon.  After all I'm feeding 2 colonies so I'll need 2 gallons.

Not fresh but they still had a fragrance

The last ingredient this week was the Thyme.  My Wife grows it on the back deck so what i have is freshly picked.  I took what i thought might equal a drop or two of essential oil.

The tea smells like sausage???

Once the ingredients are ready i put the water in the pot.  To make a total gallon of 1:1 syrup i start with 2qts & 15oz. of water.  The water is then heated to between 150°F - 165°F.  (This is the steeping range used for grains when brewing beer; which i do.  It is important to not exceed 170°F because tannins begin to leech into the water at that point and above.)  Once the water is above 150°F I toss in all the ingredients.  Then reduce the heat enough to keep the water in the temperature range.  Steep for 40 minutes.  Stir little or not at all.

Near 170°F i took the pot off the burner to cool it down some

After 40 minutes remove from heat and strain.  I first ladle out the big chunks then strain the rest through a paper towel.

Strained Tea

Then i measure the tea back into the rinsed pot.  Some water will have evaporated during the steep.  Replace that water to get back to the original amount.  Now place back on heat and bring to a near boil.  Remove from heat and add the 6 lbs. of sugar and stir.  The tea/syrup will be clear again in a few minutes.  After which I add 2 tablespoons of Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar to each gallon.  Stir, let cool and give to bees.

My plan is to give the bees a gallon of syrup each week,  When they've finished it I'll give then a strait tea with no sugar for the rest of the week.  I'll post the results, hopefully good ones, soon.

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