Tuesday, 25 May 2010

First, an apology to the JBeek, who was at school when we worked on bees today.

Family visit this long weekend; last night, Patrick noticed a small beard of bees--sign of discontent--hanging from lip of the east hive,. So, he offered, when he and and Margaret stayed over for car service, to don the bee suits, light up the smoker, and "do" bees. After she went down for her nap, we accomplished the following:

West (new) hive:

1. We removed the drone comb frame from the top brood box of the (new) west hive, and discovered on it a good quantity of capped drone brood. We wrapped it in plastic and put it in the freezer to kill the contents; we will bring it out in thirty days, and the bees can clean out the dead-by-freezing varroa mite and honey bee larvae and start fresh.

2. We replaced this frame with fresh wax drone foundation, to be removed in 30 days and replaced with the frame placed in the freezer today.

3. We estimated the weight of the honey super, and judged that this new hive doesn't need a second honey super yet, but soon will. Patrick had brought down the four empty honey supers from the guest room closet one with foundation placed, and the other three I must clear out the wax from the crevices of the frames, by heating in a slow oven; place new foundation; must do that this week.

East hive:

1. We did NOT flip the incorrectly placed (upside down) screen bottom board; this hive is packed with bees and very heavy, and we judged it not worthwhile under the circumstances.

2. We removed the honey super, and it was heavy with honey, Patrick judged 40 lbs. i.e. full.

3. To give this hive a frame of drone-comb for varroa control, we did the following:

The top brood box was jammed with brood, so we took it off, and removed a frame from the outside of the bottom brood box, which was part-full of honey, no brood, and we placed this on the chair in front of the hives for the bees to clean. We moved the frames over until we could see the edge of the brood "basket ball" and we placed a frame from the outside of the top brood box on the edge of the bottom box's brood ball. We replaced the top brood box, and moved the frames so as to place the new green plastic drone foundation, which I had that morning covered with melted bees wax, in that important-to-bees space.

NB RE covering with bees' wax, as advised, I tried pouring melted wax onto the plastic foundation, and this warped the surface a bit, discovered after a bit of experimentation what's successful is to heat a dish of wax in the microwave so it's the consistency of a soft wax crayon, and then manually rub the disk on the surface, leaving a good covering of wax. I hope when they discover this, they will raise drone-comb, and not be inspired to place regular comb on top of the wax. We will know in a month. Maybe with that hive, shouldn't have bothered--should not have given them the opportunity for "error"; they seem gangbusters.

4. We then replaced the queen excluder, and placed a new honey-super on top of that, followed by the full honey super we'd taken off, followed by the inner cover, followed by the outer cover, followed by the brick.

We dumped the smoker into the metal garbage can on the far side of the compost bins. And, we removed our HOT suits!

Patrick and I haven't done this as a team for 22 or so years, and we were wonderfully smooth--thank you, Patrick!

We must now return in 30 days to exchange the drone-comb frames in the brood boxes.

Schedule

Here's a draft schedule drawn up from Sunday's OBA seminar:

For AFB-prevention, stop treating four weeks before main honey flow--around here is this dandelions or fruit trees? This year, ca 1 May, so this year, stop treating by 1 April, and because treatment is three times at 4-5 days interval, this year treatment START is mid-March. Since this year we're approximately three weeks early, should be pretty safe to start mid-March 2011. Treat again in the fall (after honey supers off). The idea is, hive may have trace amounts of bacteria picked up from other hives, etc., this is to zap these. To buy: OXYTET-25-S and powdered sugar.

EFB-prevention is same as AFB-prevention.

Chalk brood prevention = maintain strong hives and use hygienic stock.

Sackbrood = maintain strong hives, re-queen every two years with tested queens.

Trachial mites: spring: 65% formic acid pads placed on hives when temperature reaches 10C and brood is present; Mite awayII or 3 multiple application formic acid pads. For MiteAwayII, need a spacer rim (NB), leave 21 days, no honey supers, no screened bottom boards, no entrance reducers. So, place 21 days before placing honey supers and screen bottom board, but after removing the entrance reducer; how does this relate to foul-brood prevention schedule? Monitor in fall by sending away samples for microscopic examination.

Treat again in fall. To buy: two spacer rims; formic acid pads.

Varroa mite options: formic acid, oxalic acid, Apistan, CheckMite, Apivar, drone trapping, drone comb (this is our favoured option). Monitor. Apply Apistan or CheckMite or Apivar strips spring and fall, but if we monitor and find no mites in spring, then no need to treat? Treat after honey supers come off in fall. AND apply oxalic acid in late fall by trickle method. To buy: yellow and red file folders, we have new Crisco and vaseline, set of strips to place after honey comes off, oxalic acid (have syringe, etc.).

Schedule: during summer, regularly monitor for varroa; when honey supers come off around Labour Day, place strips for varroa; treat with Oxytet for AFB; for trachial mites, send away samples for microscopic examination, and my recollection is these must be taken from the brood frames, because the age of the bees is relevant--check this. If infestation level above 10% then treat with formic acid pads or MiteAwayII. Late in the fall before wrapping, apply oxalic acid by trickle method. Spring schedule starts mid-March, write in calendar.

Revise these quick notes.

To do 30 May/1 June

1. 2nd of May, placed drone comb in west hive, this must be removed 30 days later.

2. Place fresh drone comb in west hive,

3. place plastic frame in other hive, having painted this with beeswax.

4. flip incorrectly-placed screen bottom board, so that wide element is at the bottom.

5. when go to bee supply place, buy materials for two top-feeders

6. make checklist of medications; make sure have; for example, our epipen is outdated as of 1 June so must pick up new one from Fortino's before then.

Beekeeping and IPM seminar

On Sunday, 16 May 2010, the JBeek and I went along to Guelph to an all-day seminar "BEEKEEPING & IPM" (IPM= Integrated Pest Management) given by the Ontario Beekeepers' Association's Tech-Transfer Program's three "Bee girls".

We came home with a thick file of handouts and notes, plus our draw-prize: a drone-comb plastic deep frame for varroa control. Memorably, during a quiz at the end of the day, our instructor rewarded each correct answer by fast-pitching suckers, and the JBeek proved adept at both answering and catching.

Summary: the varroa mite is the main threat; if these are controlled, the hives are more resistant to the other main problems: 1. American Foulbrood (AFB), a bacteria affecting brood; 2. European Foulbood (EFB), a bacteria affecting brood; 3. Chalkbrood, a fungus affecting brood; 4. Sacbrood, a virus affecting brood; 5. Honey Bee Tracheal Mites (HBTM), a mite; 6. Nosema disease--(a) apis and (b) ceranae--caused by microsporidians; and (7) wax moth.

We learned about "soft" treatments, for example, screen bottom boards for varroa (mites fall through and can't get back up into the hive)--and the wider element in the bottom board goes at the bottom (one of our boards is upside down--we must change this, next chance we have); place drone-comb in the hive, remove and replace every 30 days. And, we learned about "hard" treatments.

NB: On 10 July at Ancaster's fairgrounds, OBA and the Golden Horseshoe Beekeepers' Association are co-hosting the OBA's summer meeting.

Friday, 7 May 2010

Very cool and rainy spring day; no sign of bees outside. Removed file folders placed 48 hours ago; I found no varroa (which isn't saying much because I can't see 'em), the JBeek's mum laid the folders out on newspaper on their big dining table, and looked closely and found no varroa, and after the JBeek came home from school he did the final, official, careful examination, and phoned to say that ... he found no varroa. I'll Crisco some file folders to stay for a week so if any varroa fall through the screen board they'll get stuck and not be able to crawl back into the hive, then we'll put down fresh Crisco-folders and do another 48 hour monitoring check.

Wednesday, 5 May 2010

This morning, placed a yellow and a red file folder slathered with Crisco on the yellow and red screen boards; must remember to remove these on Friday morning, for the varroa load count. Will place fresh slathered file folders at that time, and leave these on until the next test, since the Crisco will trap fallen varroa.

The JBeek with his sharp young eyes must do the varroa count; maybe he'll have time over the weekend.

NB: We've put the red screen board on the west hive, and the yellow screen board on the east hive, so the positions are reversed from last year. So, this year will designate west hive (that's the new hive, in the old yellow hive's position) and the east hive (that's the hive new last year which swarmed late, took a month off to hatch and mate a queen, gave a bit of honey late in the season, and survived the winter--is mega-strong this spring.

I have managed to splatter bees' wax on the inside of the microwave (don't ask!). Lesson: stick to the double-boiler.

3 May 2010

At the bee hives, the turmoil of yesterday evening seems forgotten. Bees are flying happily, and if I stand under the crabapple tree, now in full bloom, the humming of thousands of bees working the blossoms is, not to be too crass/mundane, like listening to the 403 on a foggy day. Did not place the file folders but they're laid out: first thing tomorrow will shove 'em under the hives on a couple of cookie sheets.