Things on My Mind

I hadn’t been really putting much information on the blog this year about the bees. I don’t know why; I guess I’m just out of the habit.

I’ve noticed that I am getting a lot more information form my inspections this year; having a year under my belt has really helped me to anticipate the needs of the bees a little earlier.

I have also been inspecting a lot more often; I’ve been trying to get in an inspection once a week, even during the busy birthday/end-of-school-year season.

One thing that I’m noticing from last year’s blog entries is that we seem to be running about a month early. The post about “blackberry flowers gone in the valley, flowers still on top of the hill, knotweed bloom starting in the valley” was Aug. 5th last year, but that seems to be about where we are right now.

Latest from the bee yards:

The Hilltop bees are going nuts, tons and tons of foragers out doing their blackberry thing.

Hive West: last inspection: July 4th
– upper super has quite a bit of capped blackberry honey, about 3 frames’ worth, scattered over all 10 frames. I moved less-worked frames toward the middle, and left capped frames at the edges. Super was very heavy.
– lower super has drawn comb on all 10 frames, although the outer ones are less drawn out. Very little capped honey (maybe one frame that has about 10%)
– I added a brand new super with empty foundation between the supers and the brood chamber
– The upper brood chamber has a lot of honey in it, especially out near the edges, but otherwise looks pretty good; lots of brood in various stages, plenty of eggs. Once I found eggs, I decided not to check the lower brood chamber.

Hive East: last inspection: July 4th
– upper super has a little bit of capped blackberry honey, about 1 or 2 frames’ worth, scattered across all 10 frames. I rearranged frames to help the bees work them all.
– lower super has 3 or 4 frames that haven’t been touched. I rearranged to help the bees get these.
– I added a brand new super with empty foundation between the supers and the brood chamber
– The upper brood chamber still looks a bit honey bound. I couldn’t find any eggs in the upper brood chamber, and I wanted to tear apart the lower brood chamber, because it had been awhile. I found eggs in the lower chamber, as well as a couple of supersedure cells that didn’t look like they’d been occupied, so I removed them, and am hoping for the best. Made me really want to look at Hive West’s lower brood chamber — next time.

No swarms at Hilltop this year! w00t!

The Clearwater hives are having a tougher go of it; Road-side hive swarmed about a month ago, and we lost the swarm.

Road-side hive: last inspection: July 6th
– One super has honey in it, the other had none, so I pulled the second super.
– found lots of swarm cells, no eggs.
– Hive appears to be still recovering from a mid-June swarm
– the only small brood was from a frame that was swapped in from the other hive.

River-side hive: last inspection: July 6th
– left both supers on, the upper super had about 2 or 3 frames of capped honey, scattered over the 10 frames. Rearranged honey frames to help bees draw them all out.
– This hive had a lot of bees in it; it did not appear to have swarmed. However, we found no eggs after searching every single brood frame.
– There were lots and lots (maybe a dozen) swarm and supersedure cells, but with tons of bees, it didn’t look like a swarmed-out hive. I worry that the queen was killed somehow.
– Hive is trying to recover from being queenless; we’ll see how that affects the honey harvest.
– Good brood pattern other than lacking eggs.

There is enough woodenware in Clearwater for another full hive, plus 3 supers for each hive.
There is enough woodenware at Hilltop for one more deep (with 3 supers on the 2 existing hives). Just in case of a swarm.

I’ve been inspecting the hives every week, and it’s paid off during the blackberry flow — the bees took a super from “hardly touched” to “all frames drawn and at least some honey on all 10 frames” in 1 week. I think this, more than anything, has been responsible for my being able to anticipate the bees’ needs more accurately this year. Waiting for 3 weeks between inspections caused a lot of strife last year.

My latest fear is about varroa mites. I know we’re going to have to do something about them this year, but I’m pretty sure we have to wait until the honey supers are off, but then of course there’s a question of whether the hives will be healthy enough to go into winter if we wait until after knotweed… More consideration is required.

To-do list:
– Check newest supers on East and West to see whether the bees need them.
– maybe remove and extract the capped frames
– keep an eye on blackberry dearth and decide whether to feed until knotweed gets going.
– learn more about varroa management.
– Wait for Road to get its queen going
– Keep an eye on River to see what happens with the queen problem
– Think a little about getting a nuc or queen rearing setup.