2012-05-19: The Early Bee Gets Exhausted

Last night I set my alarm for 5AM so I could get out of the house in time to pick up my nucs. The darling ToddlerD wanted to make sure I had plenty of time to get ready so she woke me up at 4:45AM. However, as helpful as it was to be awoken that much earlier, she was also unusually clingy and fussy so I was still a little late getting out of the house. I actually managed to drive to my parents in record time, 31 minutes, since there was very little traffic early on Saturday mornings.

My mother and I got into the truck and headed off to the depths of the Northeast Kingdom. It was a bright clear day and warmed up very fast. After driving into up into the hills of an increasingly rural landscape we came out into an area of high meadows with the sun shining over distant rolling mountains. We found Northwoods Apiary with much less fuss than last year (the plank of wood with 'Bees' painted on it at the end of the driveway provided a crucial clue) and after some additional shopping (I wanted some queen excluders, internal feeders, and screened bottom boards.. though he did not have the latter) we were on our way back.

We had made pretty good time all told, but it was still 9:30 by the time we got back to my parents and I had an appointment at 12 back in Burlington. My list of chores was to weed wack the bee yard (since I could not rely on the sheep escaping again to crop the grass), rotate one of the former nucs, install the two nucs, put on supers on any hive that needed it (Josh at Northwoods Apiary said he had already had one if not two supers on his).

As a little background, my bee yard consisted of:

Blue Hive: Started from a nuc that I got from Josh last year (I think they originally came from Georgia) and it did very well and at the end of the season I put a third deep on top of it. I have been thinking of running three deeps into the winter though I don't think it really had the time to draw out that comb. Anyways, this hive should be my strongest hive right now.

Green Hive: I had previously refereed to this hive as Artemis, but the goddess naming theme broke down since whenever I would talk about the hives with my parents I would have to refer to the color of the hive since that is the most obvious way to discern them. So I am just going with colors for this year. Anyways, I had pulled honey off of Green last year only to regret that as it requeened itself and there was a dirth in July. It was in rough shape so pulled some honey out of it to keep my nucs alive (explained later) and condensed it down to just one box... Well that was the plan but it actually was one box over another half empty box since there was still some stores and larvae in the bottom frames. I thought there was not much chance of it getting through the winter. But I fed it and it was a mild winter so it pulled through.

Red Hive: This hive was made from the weaker of the the double nucs when I extracted them from their condos about a month ago. Mid-winter I had assumed that this nuc had died as I did not see any activity in it when I opened the top feeder box and I new it was the weaker one going into the winter. However it was still alive and appeared to still have a small patch of larvae when I broke up the nucs. So I placed it in one deep box (painted a nice red color thanks to some oops paint from the local lumber store).

Yellow Hive: This was made from the stronger of the double nucs. I placed it into a yellow deep that I had used last year since I knew I had a second deep waiting in the wings already painted if it expanded quickly.

I had painted two deep boxes for the new nucs. I got yet another can of oops, this one a nice goldenrod color, and painted one box with that. The other box I pained with a mixture of blue and red to get a purplish-grey color that I was not thrilled with at first but actually looked very nice with two coats on. The two colors actually looked very nice together and I might paint the double nuc using them together.

Back to the tasks at hand. I had about an hour and a half to get my tasks done before having to leave to make an appointment.

I suited up and started the weed wacking. They tolerated it very well and I probably didn't need the suit but really don't want to be without a suit the first time they decide that they actually don't like loud gasoline engines and flailing motion right next to their entrances.

I then spent at least half an hour just moving supplies to the bee yard. I brought down several supers with frames since I thought I wanted them there if I thought I needed to add them, several cinder blocks to make bases for the new hives, the new hive boxes, extra deep frames for the new hives and for the other hives which I knew would need some, and by smoke etc... I have a little wheelbarrow that I got at a garage sale for this purpose but I can't carry more than one box in it without it getting tippy which is not much better than just carrying them down. I may trakc down a wagon in the future.

I had everything in place and less than a half hour to get it all done before I should leave.

I started in by moving Red. When I had assembled it from the nuc components I had placed it in front of its original site to not loose too many foragers who would be confused by too great a change. That original site was occupied by Yellow (which was facing towards the wall as it had been as a nuc). I now wanted it back on the row of pavers I had set into the ground for secure footing. I made a stand for it out of spare pavers and squeezed it in between Yellow and Blue. It seemed none the worse for rare but I think there are only a few bees going in and out so I might be loosing that hive in the future.

Next was turning yellow 90 degrees so that next time I visit I can turn it again so it will be facing South with all the other hives.I also placed another deep box on Yellow since I knew it was a strong hive. The frames in the box were a mix of drawn and bare foundation. I also removed a bottom board from it since it had two (a screened and a solid) and I was short of bottom boards.

I then worked on Green. Taking the top off I found that it still had some chunks of sugar paste from winter feeding, each with several workers licking them. I can't understand how that sugar lasted so long if they had been actively eating it all along. Anyways, I tried to remove the patties and sugar. I then swapped the top and bottom boxes. What had been the bottom box only had about 5 frames in it and was not very populated with bees. The top had a pretty good sized population of bees. I noticed a plastic drone frame to one side. I was going to remove it but it seemed well stuck in there and I was short of time. Also, it appeared to partially filed with curing nectar. So I ended up leaving it in place. I banged out the dead bees in the screen bottom and reassembled the hive. I did add some more frames, but was still a few short. Something to see to next time.

Blue had some odd things going on top since I had some spacers and a slotted bottom board up there. The inner cover had several combs built on it. I decided to put on a super with a queen excluder put on athwartship. I had heart this configuration will generally keep the queen out but the workers are still likely to go up into it. I noticed a several drones hanging out on the comb on the inner cover. I did not have time to investigate what was going on in the main hive. I worry that perhaps it was a sign that the hive was thinking of swarming. Though that seems unlikely as the bees have three deep boxes to spread out in and I believe they are using the bottom ones since this hive prefers the bottom entrance. Another concern is that I may have some drone frames still in there and they are now causing a bumper crop of mite fodder. I will have to get in there next time. I would also like to remove a box if possible.

I then went about transferring the nucs into their new homes. Each had an internal feeder with about 2.5 lbs of sugar in solution and wood chips and twigs to keep the bees from drowning. I also put in one drawn comb and filled the rest with undrawn foundation. I figure the drawn comb will allow the queen to lay as soon as the workers clean them out and with the sugar solution they should be able to draw out the foundation.

I was short one top cover so I had to improvise by putting on an inner cover and then placing a piece of plywood on top with a paver to hold it down.

By the time all of this was one I was a half hour past my hoped for departure time and as I was putting away my equipment my appointment called and I was able to reschedule so that worked out well in the end.

Next time I am up, possibly next weekend, I want to:
-Feed the nucs some more
-Make sure the improvised lid is down
-Inspect Blue properly.
-Turn Yellow again.
-Add a few more frames to Green.
-Possibly start mite treatments. Either adding drone frames, sugar dusting, and or oil patties/spray.

2012-01-01: New Year's Bee Check

A quick Bee check.


A few dead bees outside of Green hive. 

Many more dead bees in front of Blue, of course Blue had more bees going into the winter.

The feeders that were left on top of the double nucs still had plenty of syrup.  I had read that once it gets cold the bees wont take the cold syrup anymore and that seems to be the case.  I don't know how much the lower level over the East nuc is a reflection or (more likely) how much was spilled when added to the hive.

 

2011-12-25: Deck the Hives with Boughs of Ivy!

I am catching up with the backlog of bee photos and updates.  Here was one I took for a Seasons Greetings but never posted.  Better late than never!