Back to feeding issues...

Today and during past several days, bees of both hives flying and returning with large pockets of white, tan, gray pollen.

A few days ago Ernie, the neighbor who was a commercial beekeeper in California, was by to check on me and bees and while here, offered a few thoughts and suggestions, which I think have merit.

First,he says  the former queen may have been smothered when I opened the hive in March to remove the two bars of honey. After not being disturbed since November, the bees were seriously alarmed by their hive being invaded and gathered too tightly around the queen in an effort to protect her and thus smothered her. Not much better than the robber bees killing her, but I think more plausible. What I learned from that...slowly begin the process of opening the hives in the spring after a long layoff. Next year I would gradually reintroduce myself by first visiting the hive and talking, letting them get used to my voice and scent, before opening the hive. And then when opening the hive, lift an end bar for 10 seconds, letting light and air in, and then closing it again; repeat for a few times during nice weather before actually removing bars. Of course, this would also be toward the end of May (also recently learned after bees' disappearance this spring).

Also, Ernie suggests a minimal use of smoke so the bees get used to it and know that the "boss" has arrived. I could see how effective it was when he offered to be with me to check for the queen's effectiveness, which is to be done a week after she has been freed from her cage in the package. Although I had not intended to open the hives this year because we had done that way too much last year and already knew what to expect, it was too tempting, and the bee  supplier also had said the queen needs to be checked. So, we did and observed that both queens are laying proficiently and in the expected brood patterns...good. However, instead of smoke I prefer the water misting method espoused by TBH and Warre beekeepers and plan to continue that when needed.

He also gave me a lesson on combs...some of which was new to me. He said the bees should be building a comb a day (even in these 'alternative' hives) in order for the queen to have ample cells for laying eggs and that the comb needs to harden slightly to support the weight of the brood. The way that happens is to feed, feed, feed 1:1 sugar syrup inside the hive to prevent feeding all the neighbor bees and inadvertantly introducing robbing. Ernie said the feeder in the TBH was too far away from the cluster--it needs to be next to the cluster because they walk in the hive and it takes a lot of effort/energy to cross the empty bar space to get into the feeder and back to the comb building site. I've noticed as the bees were flying out more during these warm days, fewer were using syrup from the inside feeder. During the first 10 days in each hive, the bees had drawn two combs, similar to last year. Both the new comb and the two used combs from the 2011 TBH were almost filled with eggs or lavae, and bees were drawing more comb--not fast enough according to Ernie. If the bee population is to be adequate for a strong hive and maximum foraging during honey flow, it needs to be built up rapidly. In order to provide more readily available syrup I borrowed the Warre top feeding method for the TBH--cut a round hole the size of a jar lid in the plastic insulation that sets directly on the bars, removed two bars next to cluster in the hive, positioned the hole above the empty space, inverted a jar of syrup using the adjacent bars as a base, placed a Warre box over that, added a pillow for insulation in the Warre box, covered the open top with a towel for a ceiling, and then put the TBH roof on securing it with bungee cords. Although the roof is now raised, the Warre box covers the hive space where bees are located, and there is sufficient growth space for the duration of syrup feeding--approximately 3 more weeks.

More syrup was provided to the Warre hive by placing a Boardman feeder in the entrance, where it fit nicely while allowing adequate space for an entrance; that syrup is being used more than twice as fast as the attic feeder, perhaps because there is more open surface area and it is at the lower level. (Observation a day later: No--I think it is actually visitors taking the syrup, which puts the hive at risk for robbing, although nothing to rob at this point. Removed feeder from Warre entrance and added another to the attic of the Warre; by evening of the next day, one-half of the syrup was used and many bees clustered beneath the feeders.)

And I thought we were done with the feeding learning. Back to trial and error...rereading "The People's Hive" by Abbe Warre to learn his recommendation for feeding and talking with Ken about adjustments. This is a copy of  email to Ken:
I've also been considering what I heard from Ernie, recognizing that he is coming at it from a commercial mindset focused on generating as much honey as possible. Do I really want the bees to build brood that fast? It seems there would not be enough bees as the original group dies off to keep an expanded brood warm.

Having a feeding station at the entry side of the brood sounds like an excellent idea to me; it would proivde space for opening the brood area nicely. (I won't move it now because it might cause too much disturbance...I want to stay out of their way as much as possible...and I think it would cover the entrances we are using.) Repositioning the holes into the feeder to a lower level would reduce their walking path and adding more would allow more bees to move through at one time.

I'm reading "The People's Hive" which details Warre's hive and see that feeding on the floor is recommended--it's mentioned only once and briefly as far as I've read--will explore that more. The man developed a pretty good system so I think knowing/following his feeding method might be wise...

You are right about attracting other bees--when I had the extra jar of syrup outside the TBHive, 3 cups of syrup was gone in 8 hrs, which is how I knew neighbors were visiting and I was concerned about robbing, although there was no fighting and there is no honey to rob at this point. Much less traffic now that the syrup is all inside. Ernie said to place the Boardman feeder entrance into the Warre hive entrance, which is a good fit and leaves sufficient room for bees to enter; I tried that but again, 3 cups gone in a day--too much for just this hive's bees so even though they had to enter and make a hard left turn, neighbors were enjoying the feast, too. Not doing that again. I'm comfortable with the top feeding system for now as it's enclosed and the syrup level is gradually going down.

Here's what I found now that I'm liking. http://warre.biobees.com/feeders.htm

Summer in May...

One week since the new bees were moved into the hives. Summer-like weather has been beneficial as they fly out to forage, returning with nectar and pollen.

The feeders are both working well--each hive has used three of the four cups placed in the feeders last Sunday, which is not much considering the number of bees. Replenished the syrup supply with four cups today and will continue to provide syrup as long as they use it. The screen under the Boardman feeder in the Warre hive along with the fabric barrier keeps bees in the second box. It was a bit difficult moving bees out of the way to replace the zip lock bag of syrup in the TBH; next time I'll do it early in the morning before they stir.

Later this week it will be time to check brood's status to see if the new queens are adequate or better. Warm, dry weather is predicted all week with lows in the 40's--perfect bee weather. Here's a good site to check weather http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?CityName=Independence&state=OR&site=PQR&lat=44.8314&lon=-123.203

Two new colonies...Italian bees

Another theory (the most convincing so far) for the disappearance of the 2011 bees is that robber bees were attracted by spilled honey when I removed two combs in March. They invaded the hive weak from winter and killed the queen, which disrupts the structure of the colony. If so, the bees were the price of that lesson learned. I thought honey flow began in our area when dandelions bloomed and honey left from the winter stores could be safely removed then…not so, wait until late May.

However, not discouraged for long, we have set up the new Warré hive, a work of garden art produced by hive builder Ken here in Independence, and installed a package of bees in it and one in the TBH on Sunday, May 6. There is a week of warm, sunny weather predicted which bodes well for the bees in their new hives—much different than last year where we had an unseasonably cold and wet spring weather after the April 15 installation for four weeks.

Since I discovered the empty hive after spring bee orders had been delivered to the local beekeeping stores, I planned to buy a Nuc or wait for summer swarms. Fortunately, a call to the Willamette Valley Beekeeping Association put me in touch with Kenny at Wild Harvest Honey who was soon to be assembling packages of local bees. Although I wanted Carniolan, he had only Italian queens so I ordered two, one for the new Warré and one for the TBH. Will sell those in TBH as a Nuc to some adventurous soul this summer or keep it as our own. Weather was good enough on Sunday, May 6, for the packaging operation to commence. I was able to drive to the site, see how the packaging was done, and pick up my two bee packages for a short drive home.  

See the beautiful countryside between here and there…

 After this experience and ordering a package from California suppliers last year, I recommend waiting for local bee packages not only because they are already acclimated but also less stressed from traveling a shorter distance and installed after hours instead of days.

Kenny suggested hiving the packages at dusk and putting whatever drawn comb left from the TBH into the hives as a place for bees to perch instead of clinging to one another. I had kept the best examples of comb for “show and tell” so had two fully drawn dark brown, empty brood combs and two still white combs partially filled with capped honey. The two brood combs went into the TBH, and the two with honey went into the Warré. This will give each hive a head start on comb and will provide a little food for the Warré hive.

All went as expected although dusk wasn’t quite long enough for two installations, but with Lee’s help we got it done before it was too dark to see. Bees were not nearly as active as last year during installation at 4pm, and quite a few bees remained in the screened boxes after the pour. (By this morning all but a few had moved into the hives, and those 20-30 still outside warmed with the sun and joined the rest.) Queens looked fine and were moving well in their little cages so they were taped by the metal tab to hang between bars; will check in three days to see that the candy plugs have been eaten and each is free among the colony. Even after the 6 hours with the queen in the package some bees had bonded; one was fanning on the entry board of the Warré hive after it was closed and some bees were still in the package box…interesting and amazing how quickly they adapt to our manipulations.

Feeding this year is much, much, much better than last year when we tried all sorts of cockamamie ideas to provide syrup outside the hive while protecting the bees from the cold, wet, windy weather. Of course, it is three weeks later in the year and the weather is better, but more because the feeder developed by Ken for the TBH is enclosed and syrup easily provided with a ziplock baggie. An adapted version Boardman feeder in an empty super above two boxes in the Warré makes that an easy refill. Both allow checking and refilling with little disturbance to the colonies and retain the hive environment –heat, moisture levels, light, etc. Very nice…

Warre feeder system



TBH feeder system developed by Ken

 Temperature reached upper 70’s today and many bees were flying in and out of both hives. I know these bees will die off within a few weeks so there will be fewer bees in the air for a while, but optimistically I also know these hives will be strong with bees flying in great numbers to pollinate the local blossoms. So begins our second year of beekeeping...