Inside a Bee Tree - Bee Vlog - Nov 12, 2014

How do bees cope with freezing temperatures? What advantages do trees have over our man-made hive boxes? In this video we get to take a peek inside a bee tree and see if I can mimic the conditions of a tree.

Paper by Marla Spivak showing benefits of propolis to bees.


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Hive Entrance Follow-up - Bee Vlog - Oct 18, 2014

I'm really liking the alternative entrances I've been adding to the beehives this year, and it looks like the bees like them as well. The 1" holes seem to give plenty of room for bees to come and go, even in heavy traffic, but remain easy to guard. I'm going to be modifying more hives next year to use this same method.

But there's still more to be learned from this design. This year it's only been used on 1st year hives that are still relatively small. I don't know what to expect on larger hives and during a major nectar flow. I'm interested to see if holes in every box have an effect on how the bees organize the interior of the hive. So those are some of the observations to be made next year.


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If you want to re-watch or catch how this started, here's the start of the modified hive entrance experiment.

Music Treatment Test - Bee Vlog - Sep 13, 2014

This is only a test. Had this been an actual treatment, the music you heard would have been followed by loud proclamations from beekeepers that this could never work. This is only a test.

But won't it be really cool if there is a measurable effect?


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Outtakes:


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To Treat or Not to Treat - Bee Vlog - Sep 6, 2014

I took mite samples of the remaining hives and they all look really good, except for Queen Helen who is showing a very high mite load. In this video I point out the things I'm doing as part of my treatment-free approach to beekeeping and why I don't use treatments to control mites.

Leave a comment and tell me what classical music song I should play for the beehives that I'll be "treating" in my placebo trials.


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More Mite Counts - Bee Vlog - Aug 23, 2014

Dr Dewey Caron is joining me today to demonstrate how to do 2 other methods for counting mites: an alcohol wash, and a sugar roll.

Honey Bee Biology and Beekeeping by Dewey M Caron & Lawrence John Connor can be purchased at Amazon.com.

Unlike the sticky boards, these other 2 methods give you a percent mite load. This is a more meaningful number, as hive population can affect mite drop counts. But a sugar roll or alcohol wash is independent from population size.

However, it is important to get the bees from inside the hive and off brood frames. Taking samples from outside bearding bees, or from bees in a honey super will not be an accurate indicator because the mites hang out in the brood nest and are more likely to be found on the nurse bees tending the brood.

You'll notice that we got 2 different results from 2 different frames within the same hive. Both frames were side-by-side in the brood nest, but the first was capped brood while the second had open brood and eggs. In the sugar roll we got 52 mites out of 304 bees (or 17%) but on the alcohol wash we got 26 out of 346 bees (or 8%). Could this be simply a difference of the brood frames, or is it due to differences in the 2 methods?

Personally, I think I prefer the sugar roll method. This doesn't kill bees, so it suits me better. It also looks much easier to do with more simple, and easy to make equipment.


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Varroa Mite Counts - Bee Vlog - Aug 15, 2014

Getting some mite counts on 6 of my hives: 3 survivors from last year and 3 new swarms from this year. I'll be joining other beekeepers in my local community on a "citizen science experiment/survey" to try to better understand how to help the bees in our area. It's a long term study that will take the next 6-8 months to complete, since winter survival is the final judging criteria for success.

In this video I show the first stage of getting a baseline mite reading with a sticky board. I coated the corrugated plastic boards with petroleum jelly then let them sit under the screen for 24 hours.

Mite count results:
Elizabeth: 14
Helen: 69 (50 is considered to be the treatment threshold here)
Jezebel: 21
Karma: 7
Louise: 3
Natalia: 0

Queen Helen origin video
Finding Chronic Bee Paralysis Virus


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Varroa Destructor

Immature Varroa mite

Bee compound eye

Bee ocelli (simple eye)

Feeding Queen Natalia - Bee Vlog - Jul 26, 2014

I normally prefer not to feed my bees, except in times of emergency. I think this is one of those times for Queen Natalia: a swarm I caught in late June, at the end of our big nectar flow. I'm a firm believer in following your instincts and "gut feelings" when it comes to managing bees. This is one of those times where my gut is telling me to feed them instead of following my typical methods. They don't have any honey stores saved up, so I gave them a quart of honey to see if it helps them get through the dearth and get better prepared for winter.


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Checking Honey, Queen Karma - Bee Vlog - Jul 26, 2014

Inspection time for Queen Karma. The purpose of today's inspection is to see how honey storage is coming along. The main nectar flow is over and I'd like to make sure they have a good supply for the dearth and eventually winter.


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Bee Tree - Bee Vlog - Jun 2, 2014

There's a bee tree located along my usual route to work that I can drop by and monitor. It's also only about 1/4 mile from where I had caught 2 swarms. I wonder if the swarms came from this colony.

Someone tried to seal up the entrance with spray foam insulation, but it looks like a squirrel or other animal reopened it making it livable for bees again.


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Beehive Inspection, Queen Karma - Bee Vlog - May 30, 2014

Queen Karma is getting her first inspection. It's been a month since the swarm was installed in the hive and they're going to need more room very soon. To stay in front of what the bees need I'm adding a box.

These bees look really good. Every frame was full of brood. I also like the color variation I see among the workers. This is a good indication that the queen is well-mated and has a good mix of genetics.


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Hive Entrance Experiment - Bee Vlog - May 29, 2014

I'm trying out a modification to my hive entrances. Instead of using the full width, or even reduced entrance, of the standard Langstroth hive, I'm drilling holes in the boxes to be used as entrances or ventilation. I've seen other beekeepers do this too but never gave it much thought or credit. But last year when I gave a hive a box with a hole I noticed that the bees preferred to use the hole. I thought there might be something to it, so I'm trying it on all my hives.

There are several reasons I think this is a good idea:
1) It mimics the knot-hole-style entrance of a bee-tree.
2) It's small and easy to guard, but...
3) Even though it's small the bees seem to have no trouble using it. It doesn't seem to act like a choke point.
4) With a hole in each box they'll get better ventilation without making it too drafty.
5) I can close off holes as necessary to more easily "reduce the entrance" during the dearth.

I don't know why I was so hesitant to try this. I think I didn't like the idea of drilling a hole in my woodenware. But if I ever need to resize or patch a hole I can simply glue in a dowel plug. It's no big deal.


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