Last Harvest and Winter Prep

Pulled the honey supers today and extracted four more frames. Deep, rich goldenrod honey and very sweet. I started feeding the thick, fall syrup, too. The first batch contains fumidil b to ward of nosema, and two tablespoons of HoneyBee Healthy. I really need to get on top of the varroa mite infestation. I noticed a few dozen dead and dying bees outside the hive with deformed wing virus which is caused by mites. I also witnessed the poor, stupid drones being evicted from the hive. I guess that what comes of a lifetime of loafing and pleasure. Let that be a warning to us all. HA!

Mike and Ellen, prospective beekeepers, stopped by to take a look at things. They seemed very interested and my amateurish mucking about didn't seem to disuade them at all. I hope they take up this sweet hobby. After I extracted the honey today, I put the empty frames against the hive so the girls could feast on the residual honey. Guess this passes for their Thanksgiving.

Goldenrod Honey

On Saturday, September 18 I extracted 30 lbs. of goldenrod honey. I think I'm getting the hang of this. No problems with scratching off the cappings and running the frames through the extractor this time. I didn't extract about five nearly full frames because sections were still uncapped. The goldenrod is still blooming, the weather is still warm and beautiful, and the bees are still wildly foraging so I'm hoping to extract some more in October. Still lots of capped brood and the second deep is full of honey. Looking good for fall and winter. Now about those mites....

Busy Late Summer Hive

Mid September and busy, busy hive. Click "play" to see and hear the commotion. Opened everything up today, too. Both supers are nearly fully capped. Looks like I'll harvest next week. Unfortunately, I saw varroa mites for the first time. Once I harvest the honey, I'll see how bad the infestation is and take corrective action. I hope the coloney won't be so weakened it can't survive the winter.

Late Summer Activity

Checked on things today. One super is full of capped honey. The other has a lot of filled cells but no cappings. Her Majesty is still prolific. Lots of eggs and capped and uncapped brood. There's much foraging and bees are bringing back loads of pollen. No sign of trouble so all is well. These girls are just fabulous.

Hive Check

Things are looking very good in the brood box. Lots of capped brood in a nice tight pattern, and young larvae, and eggs in evidence. No sign of parasites or disease, either. I was also pleased by the rapid repair of cells in the honey supers, and was delighted to see that many of the frames are filled and some are even capped. Not a bad week's work for those busy bees.

42 Pounds of Deliciousness

In my haste to start extracting today, I decided not to smoke the bees or wear gloves. Accordingly, I received numerous stings, all on my right hand and arm, so tonight it's blown up like a balloon. Apparently, bees don't like having their honey stolen. Usually the ladies are gentle and put up with my hamfisted hive manipulation techniques. Also, the Porter bee escape may not be the best way to rid the supers of bees. A few dozen remained in each super, but they were easily brushed off when I pulled the frames for extracting. Only was stung once then. Extracting itself went very well. The total haul was 42 pounds, and the honey is delicious. It's very light, although a few frames contained areas of very dark honey. It's also very sweet and has a slightly minty taste. From the bee forums I follow, this may because of basswood or locust blooms. As I walked my dogs tonight, I noticed for the first time that the creek that runs behind the house is lined with big basswood trees in spots. There are also many of them in the nearby park near Lake Michigan so maybe that theory is correct. Last year most of my honey came from goldenrod and it was darker with a slight spiciness. I used the last of it yesterday and sure am glad I have more homegrown honey to keep me supplied. I've already received requests for gifts of my honey. I don't know if I'll be selfish or not. Probably not.

Honey to harvest

Popped open the hood today and discovered the two supers are nearly full of capped honey comb. I don't have another super, so next week I'm going to extract it and return the empty supers to the hive. I'm hoping that the busy, busy girls will have enough time to fill them again with nectar from the vast amount of goldenrod that has started blooming and blooms until the first frost. Last year, I placed the supers about this time, but I didn't start seeing capped honey until the end of August, yet they nearly filled both supers. I removed burr comb from the hive bodies and the upper deep is full of capped honey, and the brood chamber contains honey, pollen and capped brood. There are numerous empty cells but with the dark wax, cloudy sky and bad eyes I couldn't see eggs. Didn't see the queen either but that's not a surprise with me. Will put the bee escape in on Sunday and extract on Monday.

Mid Summer Update

Popped open the hive yesterday for a check on things. My June swarm hasn't slowed the ladies very much. One of the honey supers is nearly full of capped honey and the other has 4 frames completely full. In anticipation of the harvest, I ordered an inexpensive extractor and capping scratcher from Dadant. I pulled the supers off and next checked the hive bodies. The upper deep is still full of capped honey, and the brood chamber was full of capped brood, pollen and honey. I didn't see any evidence of disease or mite infestation. There sure are a lot of bees swarming about. I'll check again in a couple of weeks.

There's the Queen

I waited more than two weeks hoping the new queen made a successful mating flight and things were back to normal. I opened the hive today and the first thing I saw were beautiful larvae that had been raised in the space between the hive bodies. Her Majesty lives! I pulled frames from the lower hive body and saw frame after frame of capped brood. Apparently, nature has taken its course and all is well. I figured as much since from the outside the hive has appeared normal and field bees have been bringing pollen in all along so I figured they must be raising larvae. Several frames in each honey super have been drawn into comb and they are storing nectar. It looks like I'll have a honey harvest despite the swarm. Next year: I'll try swarm control.

Where's the Queen?

On June 22 I opened up the hive to check the progress of my new queen. All the queen cells were gone. I saw drones and workers, but I couldn't find the queen. I couldn't see eggs or larvae either. Hmm......I added the honey supers because the hive was still honey bound and hoped for the best.

They swarmed!

When I got home from work yesterday I was depressed to discover that my bees had swarmed. They settled on the garage roof and have been there ever since. (The picture on the bottom shows the swarm. The picture on the top shows two queen cells; they're the peanut shaped things sticking out of the bottom of the frame.) Unfortunately, I have no extra woodenware so I guess they're going to become a feral hive. Otherwise I'd take the opportunity to hive them. I can't figure out why they swarmed. There seemed to be plenty of room in the brood frames although the upper hive body is honey bound. I guess I'm a victim of my own success.

I opened the hive this afternoon and pulled the Apistan strips. Pulling apart the two brood boxes I noticed several queen cells had been built between the upper and lower boxes. These were ripped in half. Oops. I inspected the frames, however, and found several other queen cells throughout the frames. There must be close to a dozen all told. I saw no eggs or larvae, but there was some capped brood. The old queen must have stopped laying eggs in preparation for swarming a while back. I'll have to see if the new queen mates and begins laying in the next few weeks. I'll post on the beemaster forum to see if it's best to let nature take its course, or order a new queen. Next year I'll have to do more to prevent another swarm.

Viable Queen

Apparently her majesty is all right. Even though it was cloudy and cool I opened up the hive yesterday and found young, uncapped brood. Obviously she is still laying although, again, I couldn't see eggs what with the dark comb and cloudy sky. I did pay for my impatience with several stings on the hands so today they've blown up like balloons. Last night I could barely make a fist. The girls certainly were defensive yesterday. I removed the hive top feeder and the picture shows the large number of bees in it crawling back into the hive.

Viable Queen?

I inspected the brood frames this afternoon looking for signs of an active queen. I saw capped drone brood which I didn't see last week and frames of capped worker brood. I saw larvae in various stages of growth. I did not see any eggs, but the comb is getting somewhat dark so my eyes may not be good enough to pick out eggs on it anyway. There were no supersedure cells. The hive seems to be running normally with lots of pollen coming in today and lots of foraging going on. I take this to mean that Her Majesty is still viable, but I'll check again in a week.

Oops

On Monday the 27th I added the last dose of Tetra-Bee which necessitated removing the top hive body and feeder. As I leaned over to replace the hive body I noticed the queen on the ground all by herself. She crawled onto my hive tool, and I placed her on the top frame of one of the brood frames where she was immediately surrounded by really interested workers. I'm hoping she wasn't damaged and I will open up the hive today, pending warm weather, and look to see if she's laying eggs. She was awesome last year. Quick build up was followed by extreme productivity in the workers. I was actually able to harvest honey from a first year hive. If I do have to replace her I'll order a new queen from H&R Apiaries in Jessup, Georgia from whom I purchased my bees last year.

Spring Inspection

Finally, a warm(ish) sunny day with no wind has arrived after a particularly cold early spring. I pulled apart the hive to see how the bees survived the winter. Well, there seems to be plenty of bees. Both brood boxes are full of bees. The top box is also still full of honey, and the bottom box is full of empty cells. There is some uncapped brood visible and a spotty pattern of capped brood. There is a little capped honey and some pollen around the brood as well. I did not spot the queen which is nothing new as I haven't seen her since I put her cage in the hive last June. I didn't spot any eggs but I don't know if it's my bad eyes or not. I'll look more carefully for eggs next time.

I decided not to switch brood boxes as there seemed to be no point as the top is full of honey and brood rearing has begun in the lower box. The bottom board didn't look too dirty, but then again it's only a year old. I decided not to scrape it clean.

Medication: Placed two Apistan strips in the lower brood box. They can be removed on May 28th. I put two tablespoons of Tetra Bee around the edge of the lower box as well. I need to treat again on April 21 and April 26. It will be safe to put honey supers on the hive on June 7 which is a year to the day I hived these bees.

Spring Feeding

Several times during the winter the temp nudged 50 or above and I observed my bees taking cleansing flights and depositing yellow "rain" on the house and cars. Over the winter I also removed two shovels full of dead bees from in front of the hive so I'm unsure about the survival rate. Today I installed the hive top feeder, even though there are some honey stores left, and filled it with a gallon of syrup treated with Fumagilin and Honey B Healthy. I hope the weather warms up to the point where I can pull the hive apart to check the number of bees, look for the queen, and clean the bottom board.