Conditions: Cloudy, 62F
Present: Just me
Equipment: No changes.
Activities: Smoked hives about 6:00pm. Inspected a few frames.
Observations:
New Hive:
Two frames of capped spring honey left. About 3 frames of fall uncapped honey drying. The hive was quite defensive. Not sure if it was the weather, the season, or what, but they came boiling out several times. I cut the inspection short after watching a worker intentionally sting my glove. Sufficient bees, spotted larva 5-6 days old.
Old Hive:
As reported at last inspection, no remaining spring honey, though fall nectar is coming in nicely. I observed approximately one super full of uncapped honey drying. The queen is still laying in every open cell she can find, though now that the workers are bringing in nectar they can fill it into newly opened up cells in the supers after the brood has emerged. This is no good for cut-comb as the comb where brood was laid is darker, but hopefully will be great tasting honey once extracted. The super I placed on top did have lots of bees in it, but they have not built out comb on any of the foundation or foundationless frames (I put in three empty frames to see if they’d build those out. There must not be a shortage of open cells, then. Spotted larvae 5-6 days old.
General:
We went to the Geauga County Fair and tasted honey on Labor Day (9/6/10). I talked with a Geauga County Beekeepers Association (GBCA) member who said the fall flow will be disappointing and he’s already feeding his bees, expecting no honey crop. He said a botanist came out to the GCBA to talk nectar and he said goldenrod would produce pollen, but no nectar due to early maturity of the nectar-producing organ in the plant. This natrually made me nervous about potentially ending my second year as a beekeeper without a substantial harvest. I don’t know about all that business with goldenrod nectar-producing organs, but I was relieved to see my bees are finding fall nectar from somewhere. A couple more weeks of fall flow before beginning a winter feeding should leave us with a good honey crop. There have been a few occasional rains which probably helps boost the current nectar flow. August was really dry. The forecast is all days in the 60s with partial clouds, lows in the 50s.
Showing posts with label education/seminar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label education/seminar. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
5/29/2010: County Bee Inspector and Fourth Inspection
Conditions: Sunny, 76F
Present: Summit County Bee Inspector and I
Equipment: No changes.
Activities: Smoked hives about 12:30pm. Inspected numerous frames.
The summit county bee inspector dropped by on Saturday 5/29 and we checked out the hives together. I was particularly interested in talking about my decision to reverse the upper and lower chamers on the overwintered colony and if that was working outwell. He said the old queen is laying all over the frames in the deep now (which is now on top) and he said everything looks great, very normal. So I guess it was a good move. No diseases noted in either hive and very low levels of mites. Lots more bees in the old colony compared to the new, but the new has more food stored up (from the previous colony), so they have a bit less work to do. Not quite time to super either hive yet, so I continue to feed sugar syrup. I will go ahead and ready some additional frames to super, maybe as soon as next week in the old colony. They'll have to build out comb in those supers, but they should produce some surplus honey, at least from the overwintered colony. I'm excited to super!
Present: Summit County Bee Inspector and I
Equipment: No changes.
Activities: Smoked hives about 12:30pm. Inspected numerous frames.
The summit county bee inspector dropped by on Saturday 5/29 and we checked out the hives together. I was particularly interested in talking about my decision to reverse the upper and lower chamers on the overwintered colony and if that was working outwell. He said the old queen is laying all over the frames in the deep now (which is now on top) and he said everything looks great, very normal. So I guess it was a good move. No diseases noted in either hive and very low levels of mites. Lots more bees in the old colony compared to the new, but the new has more food stored up (from the previous colony), so they have a bit less work to do. Not quite time to super either hive yet, so I continue to feed sugar syrup. I will go ahead and ready some additional frames to super, maybe as soon as next week in the old colony. They'll have to build out comb in those supers, but they should produce some surplus honey, at least from the overwintered colony. I'm excited to super!
Saturday, May 30, 2009
5/30/09: LBCA Field Day and 3rd inspection
LBCA Field Day at Queen Right Colonies in Spencer, OH:
Conditions: Sunny, 70F
Present: About 80 experienced and novice beekeepers from the Lorain County Beekeepers Association and I
Equipment: QRC apiary
Activities: I showed up at around 1:15 pm.
1) Inspected lower deep (brood chamber) or a mature colony (not started, split, or swarmed this year).
2) Observed equipment from a colony that had collapsed from American Foul Brood (AFB).
3) Observed hives from an experiment to determine comb-building affinity for different types of foundation.
Observations:
1) The mature hive was interesting. All frames were completely built out. The wall frames were all capped honey with brood located in inner frames. We observed a good brood pattern and discussed signs of weak brood patterns that would require re-queening. Saw some supercedure cells that indicated the workers have some ideas regarding replacing their queen.
2) The AFB colony was supposed to be a live colony kept for educational purposes so new beekeepers could see (and smell) a diseased colony. Experienced beekeepers present questioned the wisdom of keeping this hive and equipment present in a working apiary with dozens of uninfected colonies. The owner has dealt with infected colonies and felt he had an adequate understanding of the disease and could prevent infection of other colonies. All the bees were dead and there was a musty, mildewy smell to the hive. A very spotty brood pattern was evident with sunken caps. The bacterial disease kills and multiplies in the larvae, producing spores which transfer by contact (especially on gloves and hive tools) and are very difficult to kill. Equipment from infected colonies must be burned or dipped in hot parafin (~350F).
3) The foundation comparison study was very interesting. Newly established colonies of packaged bees were set up this season (~5 weeks prior) with different foundations to determine if bees will build out comb faster on some foundations than others. Wired wax, yellow plastic, and black plastic in wooden frames were compared, as well as one-piece plastic frames and foundation. The preliminary results were the bees, all Italians, showed no preference and built all out to about the same extent! Each hive had about 6 full frames built out on both sides after 5 weeks. The LBCA members involved intend to publish a paper with the formal results.Based on this, I'm not sad I went with plastic foundation, but I would have preferred black to yellow to make the eggs easier to spot.
3rd Home Apiary Inspection:
Conditions: Sunny, 70F
Present: Mohammad D. and I
Equipment: Removed entrance reducers on the Italian hive.
Activities: Smoked hives about 5:00pm. Inspected all frames.
Observations: Observed the Italian queen. The Italian hive was docile, lots of bees and new comb. Removed the entrance reducer at the recommendation of a local beekeeper due to warm temperatures and current honey flow. Will probably add the first super during the next inspection. Running out of smoke when we got to the Russians. At one point they came boiling out of the hive and were aggressively bumping me and followed me while I backed off. My fault, next time I'll bring more smoker fuel with me. Mohammad declined the use of a spare veil and got a worker bee up his nose. He was stung on the underside of his nose when the she discovered she was not welcome to probe his left nostril. When I looked over, she was about halfway in and Mohammad was obviously dismayed. Next time he will be wearing a veil.
Conditions: Sunny, 70F
Present: About 80 experienced and novice beekeepers from the Lorain County Beekeepers Association and I
Equipment: QRC apiary
Activities: I showed up at around 1:15 pm.
1) Inspected lower deep (brood chamber) or a mature colony (not started, split, or swarmed this year).
2) Observed equipment from a colony that had collapsed from American Foul Brood (AFB).
3) Observed hives from an experiment to determine comb-building affinity for different types of foundation.
Observations:
1) The mature hive was interesting. All frames were completely built out. The wall frames were all capped honey with brood located in inner frames. We observed a good brood pattern and discussed signs of weak brood patterns that would require re-queening. Saw some supercedure cells that indicated the workers have some ideas regarding replacing their queen.
2) The AFB colony was supposed to be a live colony kept for educational purposes so new beekeepers could see (and smell) a diseased colony. Experienced beekeepers present questioned the wisdom of keeping this hive and equipment present in a working apiary with dozens of uninfected colonies. The owner has dealt with infected colonies and felt he had an adequate understanding of the disease and could prevent infection of other colonies. All the bees were dead and there was a musty, mildewy smell to the hive. A very spotty brood pattern was evident with sunken caps. The bacterial disease kills and multiplies in the larvae, producing spores which transfer by contact (especially on gloves and hive tools) and are very difficult to kill. Equipment from infected colonies must be burned or dipped in hot parafin (~350F).
3) The foundation comparison study was very interesting. Newly established colonies of packaged bees were set up this season (~5 weeks prior) with different foundations to determine if bees will build out comb faster on some foundations than others. Wired wax, yellow plastic, and black plastic in wooden frames were compared, as well as one-piece plastic frames and foundation. The preliminary results were the bees, all Italians, showed no preference and built all out to about the same extent! Each hive had about 6 full frames built out on both sides after 5 weeks. The LBCA members involved intend to publish a paper with the formal results.Based on this, I'm not sad I went with plastic foundation, but I would have preferred black to yellow to make the eggs easier to spot.
3rd Home Apiary Inspection:
Conditions: Sunny, 70F
Present: Mohammad D. and I
Equipment: Removed entrance reducers on the Italian hive.
Activities: Smoked hives about 5:00pm. Inspected all frames.
Observations: Observed the Italian queen. The Italian hive was docile, lots of bees and new comb. Removed the entrance reducer at the recommendation of a local beekeeper due to warm temperatures and current honey flow. Will probably add the first super during the next inspection. Running out of smoke when we got to the Russians. At one point they came boiling out of the hive and were aggressively bumping me and followed me while I backed off. My fault, next time I'll bring more smoker fuel with me. Mohammad declined the use of a spare veil and got a worker bee up his nose. He was stung on the underside of his nose when the she discovered she was not welcome to probe his left nostril. When I looked over, she was about halfway in and Mohammad was obviously dismayed. Next time he will be wearing a veil.
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