Robbing causes Absconsion

The previous swarm was in fact Melissa absconding.  Robbing broke out in the apiary while i was capturing the 'new' swarm.  The next day, when everything had calmed down, the hives were checked.  Melissa was empty except for a few remaining robbers.  All the honey & nectar was gone.  Sadly several frames of capped brood were abandoned.  A loaded double deep with twenty frames of bees was lost.

Did the robbing cause the absconsion or vice versa?  There was robbing taking place a day before the 'swarm' showed up.  At which time all the bottom entrances were reduced.  the opening were only big enough for a bee or two.  Enough for the inhabitants to easily defend.  So i thought.  The robbing had begun again the next day when the swarm appeared.  We didn't see it come out of anyone and thought it might be wild.  Many wild swarms move through the yard in Spring & Fall and i couldn't check the hives because of the robbing going on.  I think the bees of Melissa left when all the stores were gone.  Many dead bees were on the bottom of the hive.  

The next question was what to do with the small swarm; remnants of Melissa.  She had been hived in a medium nuc.  A small colony like that will have a trouble getting through Winter.  I assume she has a mated queen but have not see it yet.  If she does then they need stores & some pollen immediately.  If she doesn't then it's over and the bees go towards boosting another hives population.

Meanwhile Gumption is believed to be queenless with a laying worker or two.  Her population is low and getting smaller all the time.  No mated queens were available to help her.  She's on her way out.

So, i combined the two; Melissa & Gumption.  If the queen in Melissa is present and healthy all will be fine if the combination takes.  It was a simple newspaper combination.  The one box of Melissa's 'swarm/absconsion' on top of the existing two boxes of Gumption.

Newspaper Combination

We might name the colony after Melissa since it is her line that will be continued if his all works out.  We might also give it a new name since both colonies failed (or their beekeeper did).  For now we wait to see what happens. 

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Late September SWARM

For the second year in a row...

...A Swarm showed up in the yard during the last week in September.  Today in fact.  A day after we decide we need a swarm to save Gumption.  How about that!  I estimate the swarm to be less than 3 pounds.  Smallish darker bees.  I didn't see the Queen or any drones.  I eased handfuls of bees into the nuc until finally they took to fanning and crawling into the nuc.  Good indicators the Queen was in the hive.

As you can see in the video it clustered well within reach for once.  The plant cage had to have a big hole cut into it but that's much easier than climbing trees. 

The swarm landed on the post for the basil

The only hitch is halfway into hiving the swarm robbing broke out in the entire apiary.  Talk about bedlam!  Had to stop what i was doing with the swarm to close off all the other hives.  So happy to have little top entrances on all the hives.  Once the bottoms entrances were closed the bees could easily defend themselves at those top ones. 

The big question here is were did this swarm come from.  Last year it came from somewhere else and at the moment i think this year is the same.  Yet, there remains one hive left to inspect this month.  The swarm could have come from her.  Tomorrow i'll check.

Right now the bees are in a medium nuc with five drawn frames.  Tomorrow i'll newspaper combine them with Gumption.  Who, coincidentally, is last years Late September Swarm.

Also, all the Screened Bottom Boards in the apiary have now been closed for Winter.

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Summer Update #2 - A Bee Log

In late July a logger buddy of mine told me they had found a bee tree.  Unfortunately they didn't know what it was until it had been cut down and dragged to the deck.  He said they moved it off to one side.  I was able to check on it and saw lots bees still working.  It looked like the colony wasn't too badly damaged.  It was a week before i had the time to get the bees.  During that week a skidder operator dragged it across the clearcut before being told to take it back to where he had found it.  A lesson in MARKING a bee tree so people leave it alone!

These poor bees had been cut down then dragged twice across the mountain.  If you've ever been dragged by a skidder up & down a mountain twice you'd know how bad that is for the integrity of wax comb not to mention the loss of field bees.  When i finally went to get them, July 29th,  their activity was greatly reduced.  There were tons of hornets working the hive too.  Still we cut the nest out and took it home.  Best to try.

They looked good for the beating they had taken

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Cutting out the nest from an old Virginia pine tree.  The nest was around 20ft up when the tree was standing

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Had to guess where to make the bottom cut.  The nest went a lot lower than i thought it did.  Shaved a foot off the bottom.  The comb in this area was soaked with honey and blocked with nest debris.  The bees weren't getting down here at all.

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Some of the mashed comb i inadvertently cut from the bottom of the nest.

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You can see how big the entrance hole is.  Not sure how to plug it for the drive home so we wrapped it in a bed sheet instead.

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First we VERY slowly rolled it and the sheet into one.  Then we tied rope around the folded ends and middle to hold the sheet in place.

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The log weighed over a 150 lbs. so it took a little to 'ease' it into the truck.

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Long & slow 23 mile ride back home and we set it up in the yard that night

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The next day with an obstacle at the entrance to induce reorientation.

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Had to cover the big original entrance due to constant robing by other bees & hornets.  A bunch of flashing and roofing tar with a wood entrance in the middle.  Can you see the half gallon mason jar stuck in the top of the log.  The jar fit perfectly into the tree cavity when feeding.

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It took the bees a while to find the new front door but they did.  Sadly the robing continued as these bees weren't defending the entrance.  The only times these bees would fly was during feeding.  They took a half gallon each day.

Today there is almost no activity.  The bees act as if they have no queen.  Which is a Very good possibility considering what they went through.  I can still see some bees in the log when i look but they're not doing anything.  There is comb in the nest but i don't see the bees working it. I also feel that when i feed them most the bees i see are robbers.  I think this colony is done for.  If I had some extra brood come i could cut a strip to put in the log to spur thing on.  But there's a better chance it would be robed out too.  Plus adding bees, brood, a queen, & comb into a depleted log nest this close to winter doesn't make sense to me.  It would be like throwing away the resources. 

I'll leave them in the yard until spring to see what happens.  Then probably move the log to the back woods.  hopefully it might draw in a swarm next year.

The only consolation is that I've since found two more bee trees in the wild.  They're both standing and not near any logging operations.  The bees look to be happy, in good number, and are very busy.  Nothing i would want to get bees from directly but an area to set swarm traps in the future for some good old Survivor bees.

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Heiress Presumptive

On Saturday I noticed what appeared to be too much activity at the entrance of Nuc #1.  I would have checked the Nuc then but the air temp was too cool for opening up a queenless and brood poor nuc.  It was also VERY windy. The forecast called for today to be warmer and calm so I waited 'till today to go into it.

When I got out there today I saw much more activity at the entrance.  It's open only enough for a single bee at a time; yet was covered in bees.  I figured the Nuc had died out and was being robed.  The weather here has been terrible since the nuc was made.  We've had snow and lots of cold windy days.  Overall, bad conditions for a few frames of bees trying to cluster around what little brood they have.  It's a nuc so I wasn't upset, but i wasn't happy either.

Fortunately the nuc was better off than it seemed.  Once opened I could see lots of bees.  I checked the frames looking for shredded comb, a sign of robing, and found none.  The comb was in good condition with some capped brood still waiting to hatch out.  There were also 4 Queen Cells.  2 were not yet capped but the other 2 were.  If the nuc was made 12 days ago the capped cells might be 11 days old.  So in 5 more days I should have a Virgin Queen.  The first Queen intentionally made in this apiary.  Woohoo!

All the Queen cells were high or in the middle of the frames.  The 2 capped ones were next to each other.  So they could feasibly emerge at the same time.  That would cause a fight between the 2 queens which could lead to the surviving Queen becoming injured.  I could mash one of the 2 but will not.  It would leave only a single good cell for the nuc.  There's a risk either way but let's see what nature has in store.

The Nuc was being robed though.  Not for the honey but the syrup in the Boardman feeder.  So I took it off.  The nuc still has a good bit of honey and pollen left.  With the field bees it has it should bee OK for starters once the New Queen begins laying.  There are some reserve frames still left over in the frezer in case they run low on stores.  All in all I think this Nuc might make it. 

I have a Slatted Rack for this nuc but until the population begins to increase I'll leave it off.  The Rack is not a lot of extra space but these bees can't yet defend their little nuc.  If all goes well I'll add the second nuc box with 5 frames of honey on drawn frames.

Myrina's Nuc will be next in a week or so.  

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The Quiet Box

When I inspected Myrina the other day I used a 'Quiet Box' for the first time.  I hadn't meant too but it suddenly came in handy.  After opening her up I pulled out the customary 10th frame and set it aside.  Normally I would then shift all other frames to the right as I inspect the hive.  However this time there wasn't much room to work with.  Here at the end of the season there's a good bit of bur comb.  So I needed to make more room.  I took out another frame and it still wasn't enough room left for cleaning the frame rests.  I couldn't take out another one without causing a robbing situation.  I needed somewhere to put these frames.

I remembered reading about 'Quiet Boxes'.  I have an empty nuc sitting around doing nothing anyway so I went and got it.  I set it up and put 3 frames in it.  Instead of the regular cover I simply used a shop towel; easier to move around.  I did use the regular BB and then reduced it to a single opening.  After i put the towel over it the bees on those frame calmed down considerably.  I had expected them to fly out and back to the main hive but they stayed in the nuc the whole time.

 A quiet nuc & big inspection opening (Mary)

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Now I had 3 frames worth of space to work with.  It was a lot easier to scrape propolis away now that I could get my hand in the box.  It is a definite improvement for working with the bees.  I did it again when I inspected Mary.  Same results, Good ones. 

When I took off the top boxes I put then on my portable hive stands as usual but also draped another towel over them too.  This also worked great.  I think one of the best things about keeping bees is continually learning new tricks.

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Screened Bottom Board, Hive-top Feeders

Big day today. I replaced the solid bottom board on Mary with a Screened Bottom Board. Poor ventilation last winter led to condensation in the hive. I installed hive-top ventilators this summer. Now with the SBB there should be a slight chimney effect in the hives. Yet with the Inner cover still in place I expect no trouble with too much heat loss. Myrina will get hers as soon as I make one.

The view from below the SBB

The debris on the solid bottom board was disgusting. Mummified brood, Wax Moth larva, Just a terrible mess. I hope the SBB works as well for me as it seems to for others in the Club.

Debris on solid bottom board
-Train Wreck!-

I was worried the the temps around the brood might be too low in the cooler weather so I flipped the brood boxes (these poor bees got such a stirrin' today!). When all was done everything looked good but soon after I saw some Robing taking place. I quickly popped in the reducer to control it. Eventually the girls sorted themselves out and everybody went home.

Alright! Break it up, break it up!

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Also today I added the Hive-Top Feeders to both hives. I already like these things for numerous reasons.

1. No more refilling jars every day
2. No more storing syrup in the fridge. All of it goes into the hive.
3. I can refill the feeder without exposure to the bees.
4. The syrup in HTF's will be warmer than in entrance feeders.
   
5. The syrup is closer to the bees.

There will be more reasons I'm sure. However there was an initial issue. HTF's must be put in a super. I first tried a medium honey super. It left too much room above the feeder. This extra dead space would (I think) draw heat away from the bees. I do not have smaller supers so I made some. I used 1 x 4's to make 2 of them. The box leaves only 1.5 inches of space above the feeder. I hope this is enough but not to much.

Hive-Top Feeder in it's new super

Mary's girls found the HTF before I closed the lid. Myrina's, however, had some difficulty in finding it. I had to drip some syrup down through the feeding slots onto the brood box. A few girls followed the trail upwards and found the feeder. Good to go.

I am also mixing a tablespoon of Apple Cider Vinegar for each gallon of solution. This prevents mold from growing in the sugar. It has been recommended to me to also add some essential oils: lemon grass & spearmint. I've seen this mentioned positively in the forums and have ordered them.

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The club meetings are great. I'm learning more all the time plus getting my questions answered. I plan to take a beginners Beekeeping class in February. I'm going to get my neighbor to take the classes with me. She loves the bees and sits them for me when I'm not home. I'm planning to put hives in her yard anyway.

It looks like I'll be able to split both hives next spring if they're in good condition. That will give me 4 hives total. Since they are both down in numbers from such a rotten year (or my crappy handling) I'm thinking about insulating the hives for winter. It should decrease the cold stress plus give them an earlier start to spring. We will see.

Picky bee wants her bottle back!

Mesh Reducers

I came up with these after the so-called robbing incident on Mary. I wanted to reduce the entrance but maintain air circulation. The answer was wire mesh.

Myrina on the left & Mary on the right

Mainly I hoped to lessen the pressure from Wax Moths & robing. The hive would still vent as fully open yet the entrance could be open only several inches. I though at first the bees would fill the mesh with propolis but they never did. It seems to work so I'll leave them in for now.

Robbing

When I return home from work each day I like to check on the hives. Today I noticed what looked like Robbing behavior occurring at Mary’s entrance. I removed the entrance reducers (blocks of wood) during Sunday’s inspection. I thought with the warmer weather the bees just needed the room to move. We are looking at 85 degrees this weekend. Anyway, I did not see any great piles of dead bees from fighting on the ground. There was, however, some very aggressive behavior at the entrance. Bee on bee, plus it was the bobbing that got my attention in the first place.

It dawned on me then that in the aftermath of Mary’s swarm she does not have the power to defend her borders. I’m so silly. I retrieved the 2 reducers that came with the bottom boards for both hives. I removed the feeders; I’m done with them now. Then put the reducers in place using the wide setting.

The wide setting because 1) - I still want room for the bees to move. 2) – Myrina can take care of herself. 3) – The single bee sized hole will bake the bees this weekend. Both hives got the reducers since I don’t know whose bees are doing the Robbing; there are several other Keepers within a mile of the yard. Mary got an additional block limiting her entrance to about 5 bees across. This she should be able to defend.

I checked on them 30 minutes later and all was calm. Although for the record as soon as I put the reducer on Myrina *ALL* the guard bees came out to protest. Perhaps nothing was happening in the first place or I caught it as it began. I don’t know. It was, however a good exercise to teach me to aid the bees in protecting themselves. I’ll leave the reducers on till we hit 80 degrees. Then I’ll take Myrina’s off but Mary’s must stay until she has more bees