Hive Winterized October 26, 2019

After a few iterations, the 2019 Langstroth hive is ready for winter. Learned much helpful information at the September COBKA meeting here in Bend, Oregon and put them into practice. Here's what the hive looks like now:
-Two deeps in place, lower is brood box and upper is honey storage which appeared full. I did not open the hive to look at the brood box frames; assume from the bee traffic that it is as it should be--bees still bringing in nectar and pollen on warmer days.
-Over the two deeps, I placed duck cloth on top of the honey frames, then a medium that has a screen barrier about an inch from the bottom upon which I placed 100% wool fabric wrapped around a 100% wool rug. Those filled the box entirely. On top of that is an upside down feeder box, about 3" in depth filled with 2 layers of 1" hard foam insulation. Then I placed the inner cover on top of that to finish the vertical winterization.
-Around the outside of the hive is 1" hard foam insulation, taped and strapped into place. It covers all four sides leaving space at the front for an exit. The exit is about 3/4" square.
-The entire hive is now wrapped in thick plastic, taped down to handle wind and weather.
-When temperatures drop way low consistently, I will reduce the entrance further to 3/8".
-Since I had put the wool filled box on several weeks ago, I was able to check the dampness. Because there was one wet spot at the left front corner I redid the original plan. Previously I had the inner cover over the wool box without a foam insulation barrier and the telecoping hive top which has a metal covering and then a piece of foam insulation. That allowed cold to seep in through transmission by the metal I believe which caused condensation to gather on the wool. The 2" of hard foam insulation should prevent that occuring. I will check in a few weeks.

So, I am comfortable that the bees are comfortable!!

New top entrance August 16, 2019

Friend George and I constructed a new top for the hive to provide a top entrance. Using shims and a 1/2" exterior plywood, we glued and stapled and set the new roof in place. Removed the queen excluder and the inner cover.

There is still no comb drawn in the medium super although bees quite busy returning with pollen and nectar. The frames in the second box appear full so I'm hoping they will begin drawing comb in the super now that there is an entrance at the top. However, they were not using it this afternoon. It may be that I'll close the bottom entrance after a few days if there is no traffic at the top.

New flat top with top entrance

Close up of top entrance

Check of Medium Super

August 9, 2019 Looked into the top medium super and found no comb being drawn yet so no worries about swarming now. I believe I will remove the queen extruder when the top opening cover is installed. Not sure when that will be--need to research Michael Bush's site for more information.

July 19, 2019 Honey Super Added

July 19, 2019  Big day of adding a honey super with the queen excluder for anticipated honey production that I will remove during the fall after bees have finished foraging for the year and have settled in for the winter. The bees were covering all frames in the second box and were not at all bothered by my uncovering the hive. I did not remove any frames to minimize the disturbance today.

Queen excluder keeps her from laying in honey box

The honey super is 6 5/8" high

Looking like a "real" hive now!

July 16 2019 Hive check

2 month hive check. Already two months have passed since the arrival of the bees! Have been gone for nine days while friend Sarah stayed at the house and continued syrup for the bees. She told me bees had emptied the feeder completely three days in a row while I was away so I expected to see comb in the upper box. And was there ever comb! All frames had comb and the frames at each end were about half completed. See picture of end frame below. The middle combs had capped honey; that comb wax is white which indicates they are using the syrup for construction whereas the uncapped honey is colored so I know it is nectar. However, there is nectar in the end combs which I'm thinking is being stored for use in comb construction. Wow! Wow I say, how amazing!! 

At first I was concerned about all the cross combing that I saw...and then realized that this is the storage space for winter honey and I need to let the bees arrange it as they will. No interference needed from me. See picture of third frame below.

I put the hive back together, added more syrup and will check hive later this week to see if the last two frames are filled with comb and then will add the western super with queen screen.

June 29, 2019--7 week hive check

Bees doing just what they do: foraging and returning with nectar and pollen, pollen of all colors--tan, yellow, red, blue! Yesterday a group was buzzing around the front of the hive orienting themselves. Continue to feed 1:1 cane sugar syrup. They are using about two quarts every two-three days.

Opening the hive was easy--bees still gentle although more flew around me after I removed the first frame. It was almost fully drawn to the edges with good brood pattern as well as pollen and nectar cells on the outer side.  Since it was looking good and I prefer not to disturb the hive anymore than necessary, I went no further.

There is no comb at all on the frames in the second deep which I added at 3 week hive check--thinking now that was too early because they have to navigate through it to the feeder above it. Since there is no comb in that box I'm wondering about replacing it with a medium super which I see some beekeepers do for the second box which is usually brood. Will look online and check with local beekeepers--too bad I missed meeting Tuesday.

So in the end, I made no changes, added syrup and closed the hive.

3 week hive check - June 9, 2019

Wow! Not only is this the most mild tempered bee colony I have experienced, they are also quite industrious. All frames have beautiful white comb drawn and closely packed capped brood cells throughout the center of the hive. No queen cells seen. Pictures below show outermost frame and center frame. The queen obviously is viable which is good news in that she may go for the usual three years, perhaps more. Of course, I'll check each year to ascertain her laying pattern. Here's a site as a reminder of the bee life cycle: http://blogs.evergreen.edu/terroir-zack/life-cycle-of-the-honey-bee/

Friend and neighbor, Christie, took photos of  both sides of each frame. I went to frame six and decided that was sufficient, wanting to close the hive to retain warmth. Did not see the queen but know she is healthy and extremely capable. Because all frames had drawn comb and most were 3/4 full, I added the next regular super for the bees to begin comb building and a second box for brood and honey. Will continue to feed the 50/50 cane sugar/water syrup as long as they take it and are building comb. Next hive check in two weeks to see how they are handling the second box.

First  side/ first frame

First side/ sixth frame

Second side/ sixth frame

Day 11 Hive Check

Day 11 for this hive. All seems well, 11:30a, sun is out, 68 deg, calm air and lots of activity inside hive with sugar water and bees flying in with pollen and nectar. Found the queen roaming on the lower comb of a middle bar. Cannot see eggs or larvae yet although I held comb up in sun...hope she's fertile and will be a good queen for the hive. Bees seem contented and there are no supersedure cells which would indicate bees feel a new queen is needed. It is early yet and next week I'll look more closely for eggs and larvae.

Concerned about the black scum that is forming on the edge of the 50/50 sugar water. Checked web for info; not unusual because the hive provides ideal conditions for mold to grow. Tip is to feed less quantity more often. Also wonder about the amount of syrup in the cells--at least it looks clear like syrup but that could be nectar as well. Bees are using about 2 qts of syrup per day and drawing lots of comb so I will continue to provide the syrup.

Although using a Langstroth setup for the hive, I have provided empty frames (no plastic or wax foundation*) and letting the bees draw comb as they desire. Worked well in top bar hives and should be the same here. The center six frames have comb, 3/4 filled on one, 2/3 on a couple, a smaller amount on the frames moving toward the outside, last two frames on each side empty although bees are hanging together there. See https://honeybeesuite.com/festooning-bees-lacework-between-the-frames/ for a photo...fun.  And the cells on those six frames have nectar and pollen.

Next check will be when I return from Colorado trip on June 4 or 5.

*Read a sad thing--one can consider all of the commercial USA wax foundation to be contaminated because of the pesticide treatments. According to the article, cosmetic companies only buy beeswax from Africa where people are too poor to buy the pesticides.

New bees today in Bend, Oregon, USA! May 18, 2019

I left off during mid_June 2015 with healthy hives and rather routine reports. A quick update on those hives: the Warre hive did well until winter set in; the moisture level was extremely high and the bees could not survive even though I has provided good insulation. Apparently there was inadequate upper ventilation so when I opened the hive during spring when bees should have been flying and were not, it was a drippy moldy cavern. The top bar hive did quite well through the summer of 2017 during which time there were several swarming episodes, due in part to an aging queen which I opted to let the hive handle, and also I think/wonder to an unhygienic environment because I had not switched out the brood comb since the beginning. My thought was bees stay in tree hives for decades (as witnessed by friends in Monmouth Oregon) and the bees know what to do. However, the bees remaining were inadequate in number to sustain the warmth needed during the winter of 2016-17. There was plentiful honey stores remaining which I harvested during spring when I opened the top bar hive and found very few dead bees. Hopefully those swarms were successful and had thriving hives. My primary intention as a backyard beekeeper is to support bees in their propagation and pollination efforts; honey I can purchase. Recognizing that I had travel plans for spring 2017, I opted to remain hive-less and only decided now to acquire a new set and establish another backyard hive.

And so the 2019 story begins! Early this morning I drove to Redmond, OR to meet Matt of Apricot Apiaries in Kimberly, Oregon to pick up the package. Quite cool, in the 40's and the bees were cold from their early morning drive so hiving waited until they have recovered and the day warms. Warmer temperature, overcast and no wind so bees moved into hive, feeder filled, hive closed. Will check feeder (1:1 organic cane sugar and pure H2O from Avion Water here in Bend) each day to determine use and need to refill; will remove queen cage after 3-4 days; will do detailed hive check at about 10 days...stay tuned!

I've switched to a Langstroth hive this year, complete with an inside easy to handle feeding system courtesy of a friend from Independence, OR who was a commercial beekeeper in days gone by. Here come the photos!

I'm Back!

After a hiatus of almost four years, I'm back to share experiences--both with backyard beekeeping and also about my more recent rediscovery of Divine Love, a spiritual path to which I've been moving all my life. I hope you enjoy what I share and use or lose whatever works best for you!