Spring 2013 has arrived!

March 19, 2013 summary of the past few months...

All has been calm in the Warre hive since the October robbing. I've elected to not install a new package of bees in the top bar hive this year and am thinking of selling it. I like the idea of a TBH but have not had the success I envisioned; however, one more year in Bend may make a difference. Once I have a suitable place for a hive, I probably will set it up and find a swarm to inhabit it. A side note: have been asked to give a presentation on bees at granddaughter's school in Bend and plan to use the empty hive to show children how it works--what an excellent way to introduce little people to the wonders of bees!

It was a mild winter here in the Independence area of the Willamette Valley in Oregon. I've been living between here and Bend, OR this winter so observed the hive every few weeks rather than daily as previously done. A few weeks ago, bees were flying and returning with bright yellow, pale yellow, and golden pollen. Yesterday, March 18, bees were still bringing back pollen and others were making orientation flights, an indication that brood had hatched, spent their hive days inside, and were now about to venture out on foraging missions.

The Warre hive entrance was blocked for the winter, leaving a oneing-bee space entrance. The block had been pushed out by early March, so I assume the bees no longer wanted it now that the warmer days have arrived. However, a week of cool, rainy days is forecast so I put the block back with 1" opening and added two rocks to hold it in place--will monitor to see if they move it again or need it opened further.

Have not looked into the hive, which has three boxes. Did lift the middle box and found it was not propolized to the lowest box, which indicates to me that they are not making comb in it yet. Will check for comb building next month or later. Plan to remove top box with honey stores sometime in June, if there is brood comb in second box...all a learning experience since this is a modified Warre, longer than the normally 12' square  hive.

Met with the Central Oregon Beekeepers, a very nice group, and heard from Petra that minerals seem to help her bees and she is willing to give me some to try. It sounds reasonable to offer it and let the bees take it or not.

Looking forward to another bee season!

A repeat of the bee's life cycle:

List of worker bee’s life/duties (from Beekeeping, A Seasonal Guide by Ron Brown)

0-4 days                      cell cleaning and incubation

3-12 days                    feed larvae

About 4^th day              power of stinging fully developed

Between 6^th and 10^th day        orientation or nursery flight, usually around midday

6-15 days                    wax making and comb building

8-16 days                    reception and storage of nectar; packing pollen in cells

14-18 days                  entrance guard, debris clearance and funeral bearer duties

19^th day                       begins to pay attention to bee dances

18-30/35 days             foraging for nectar and pollen

25-30/35 days             collecting propolis

Robbing at the hives...

Today is Sunday...7:00 a.m.
On Friday when we returned from vacation about 2 p.m., the bees seemed as usual, foraging and returning with pollen and nectar. As the day warmed further, activity picked up immensely; I thought how nice the hives were so strong, gathering the last fall nutrients...UNTIL there were more bees than ever before and some pushing and shoving near the entrances of both top bar hive and the Warre hive, and I thought robbing is going on before my very eyes!

I blocked half the entrance of the Warre hive but didn't know what to do for the TBH entrances. (Later, decided I should have plugged those entrances immediately.) Within 30 minutes, the Warre settled down to normal activity while the TBH was swarmed with bees at the entrance. So, I donned my bee outfit and set out with spray bottle of water and hive tools to look into the hive itself, expecting to be mobbed by bees. Definitely robbing--no bees bothered by my being close or even opening the hive...in the past, guard bees were right on it so I knew they were gone. Inside the hive, bees were stacked on top of one another trying to get to the honey cells, cappings were scattered on the hive floor as were dead bees, and no sign of a queen. All this happened within an hour...wow, how quickly the news spread in the bee communities. The Warre hive was able to keep the robbers out.

Decided to tear apart the hive, literally, removing all the bars to check each comb. No brood anywhere and actually not much evidence of honey storage and a couple strange looking white trails on the brood comb...this was a weak hive, which I had suspected earlier in the summer. I'd been away so much that I wasn't tracking the TBH activity carefully and really had decided to let the bees be this year. There were 11 combs drawn: two partially completed combs at the end of the hive, one with a 4" half-moon shape of capped honey; four fully drawn combs about half filled with honey cells, three of which also had been partially used for brood; and five brood combs at the beginning of the hive with the usual pattern of honey and pollen. This is much less than last year when we had 14 combs with seven filled with honey stores. This year's TBH would not have survived the winter without feeding.

After dark when the robbers had gone, I plugged the two entrances knowing the few hive bees left would survive a few days on the honey still remaining. Visitors returned all day Saturday trying to gain access to the hive. Concerned about their moving on to the Warre which sits only 6' away, during the early afternoon I placed a water spray on the hive as discouragement. WRONG thing to do...the bees moved to the Warre hive. I sprayed them off the Warre entrance a couple of times, per instructions found on internet, and finally decided about 3pm to block the entrance entirely. After dark about one-third of the bees remained near the hive entrance--those who belonged in the hive. I unplugged the entrance so they could enter during the night.

Back to a search on how to prevent robbers getting into the hive and found a good screen technique on www.Beesource.com that I felt would be the best for this hive. The screen blocker was installed over the Warre entrance early this morning before dawn so hive foragers would leave the new way and be able to find their way back into the hive upon their return. According to the article, robber bees try to go straight into the entrance rather than find their way behind the screen and travel down into the hive entrance. It's all in place...now the waiting begins.  Also, will check the TBH to see how the bees are faring--I'm thinking there will have been a battle inside and not anticipating good news.

Three hours later, here's what it looks like...

Five hours later, front is totally covered, there is fighting on the ground and at the edges of the screen...not working well at all. Called Ernie, a local bee guy in the neighborhood, who said to restrict entrance to a one bee opening, so I mashed the screen under the board above it, sealing off most of the area. I think there are about four spots at each corner where one bee could pass. Now it's wait and see once again.

While asking about what to do, I was told that three others in the area had harvested their honey during the past few days which sets off a "false honey flow" because some honey inadvertently gets spilled around the hives. It seems all the neighborhood bees are out scouting for honey, smelled our hives, and came to rob. I am not happy about the fact that they didn't let me know that they were harvesting and to restrict the hive entrances immediately. They have the normal Langstroth hives and harvest in the fall; my beekeeping model is to harvest in the spring after bees have taken what they need from the honey stores.

Just now had a visit from Ernie, the local bee expert who retired from beekeeping in California several years ago. He looked at the TBH, said it had been queenless for a long time--a month probably--which is why it was robbed to begin with. Also, he said I should be checking every two weeks to insure there's a queen and all is well in the hive; we had decided to leave bees alone this year...maybe not a good idea, at least in this case. Ernie indicated the white trails on the comb was wax moths, resulting from a weakened hive because no queen in residence...got it!

Now the plan is to remove the Warre screen setup after dark when the visitors are gone and restrict the entrance to one bee opening; I'll do that tonight. After dark, I will also remove the roof of the TBH to let trapped bees out and then do what with the remains...not sure yet.

So goes another learning opportunity--not sure I want any more frankly. Probably will not restart the TBH next year.

TBH peek and Wax Moths ...

Other than almost daily observation of the bees activity outside the hives, there has been no beekeeper intrusion into the bees' lives/hives. Today it was time for a check to confirm that there are adequate bars for future use. There are: five empty bars with B11 having comb drawn about 1/3 of the space. The combs on B11, B10, and B9 seem to be drawn a bit curved but still nicely spaced beside the previous comb.

At this time last year, the bees in the original TBH had comb on B12, about the same size as the current comb on B11. So, bees this year are only one bar behind bees of 2011 at this time of the summer. Although, they did have a head start with the two fully drawn combs from 2011 already in the hive when they arrived. (See July 16, 2011 notes for pictures; there was little new comb into August 2011.)

When I went to get hive tools to open TBH to check need for additional bars, I discovered that moths had taken up residence in the bin, with larvae and cocoons throughout the wax processing items and on the bars, spacers, etc. Interestingly, they only placed cocoons on untreated wood surfaces; any surface that was painted or stained was free of cocoons. Cleared the moth 'stuff' off the hard parts and wax and placed all in the freezer. Tossed the damaged fabric/plastic and leftover comb in a jar, which even though tightly covered had cocoons. Another of those lessons learned...

June report on Warre and TopBar hives

Six weeks since the two packages were installed in the hives (2011 TBH and 2012 Warre). All is looking good, bees have been making orientation flights these past several days and blackberries are blooming, which indicates honey flow here in this area of Oregon. Also, the roadsides in our rural areas are covered with Queen Anne's Lace, a favorite pollen/nectar source. The new bees matured just in time--40 days since queen confirmed out and laying, with eggs and larvae identified. It's really special to see the new bees, fuzzy and bright golden color, making the orientation flights.

Removed the 1:1 sugar syrup feeder from the Warre and added box 3 to the bottom with help from Lee and son Jon lifting the top sections. Although we didn't look into the upper boxes, we know that the bars in the top box (box 1) all have drawn comb (from seeing from the top where feeders were positioned) and expect that comb has also been drawn in box 2. On a very warm, calm day we will lift boxes 1 and 2 and take a photo from underneath. The bees will now move brood into the lower box (2) and use box 1 for honey storage.

Sugar syrup was removed a week ago from TBH because the bees were not using it. Today we added six bars, which were from the 2011 hive and from which honey had been harvested; they had wax residue and a bit of honey on them and were stored in the freezer to keep vermin away and to kill any mites, bacteria, viruses, etc. When I checked 8 hours later, the bars had been propolised and bees were exploring bars to the end of the hive by the left follower. There are now 16 bars in the hive space, eight of which have comb drawn.

I believe not checking the hives each week as was done last year per suggestions by established beekeepers has made the colonies stronger; there seems to be much more activity this year compared to 2011. Maybe wishful thinking, but I think not. Research indicates that it takes 1-2 days for bees to recover from an open hive disturbance.

Now I'm off to Costa Rica on a pleasure trip--hoping to see bees there and return with those very special coffee beans for friends! Next report when I return mid-July.

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...