Getting the equipment from the deadouts cleaned up and ready to be put back into service. Boxes and frames get excess propolis scraped off. Comb I want to reuse gets cleaned up. Any comb not suitable for reuse gets cut out of the frames and melted down.
Video Link
Monday, February 24, 2014
Monday, February 17, 2014
Inspecting Deadouts - Bee Vlog - Jan 25, 2014
4 out of 9 hives died this winter. In this video I autopsy 3 of them.
In the case of Queen Beatrice it looks like a combination of mites and yellow-jackets made life difficult on them in the fall and they went into winter without enough bees.
I suspect Queen Dulce & Guinevere are sister hives - swarmed from the same managed hive - and both had mite problems early in the summer and didn't really know how to deal with them.
One interesting observation I made in these tear-downs is that the hives with quilts had much less water condensation inside, and less mold. I conclude that the quilt boxes help prevent excessive condensation. It wasn't enough to prevent these small clusters from freezing to death, but it could help larger colonies experience fewer losses through the winter.
Video Link
In the case of Queen Beatrice it looks like a combination of mites and yellow-jackets made life difficult on them in the fall and they went into winter without enough bees.
I suspect Queen Dulce & Guinevere are sister hives - swarmed from the same managed hive - and both had mite problems early in the summer and didn't really know how to deal with them.
One interesting observation I made in these tear-downs is that the hives with quilts had much less water condensation inside, and less mold. I conclude that the quilt boxes help prevent excessive condensation. It wasn't enough to prevent these small clusters from freezing to death, but it could help larger colonies experience fewer losses through the winter.
Video Link
Saturday, December 21, 2013
Bee Log - December 21, 2013
I paid an impromptu visit to 7 of my hives today. 4 of them were active and taking cleansing flights in the 48 degree (F) weather (Flora, Catherine, Jezebel, & Helen). The other 3 were quiet and not responding to my knocks (Guinevere, Beatrice, & Isabella). Since I didn't have my hive tool I couldn't get Beatrice & Guinevere open, but Isabella's was easy to open.
Inside I found a grapefruit-sized cluster, frozen dead. I located the dead queen, as well as a single queen cell that looked like it had been used and was getting dismantled. I'm not really sure what to make of it. I didn't see it in any previous inspections, so I don't know for sure when they tried to raise a new queen. I know the queen survived the cutout, but she must have been failing (hence the lack of recovery) and they tried to requeen. Unfortunately either the queen was poorly mated or never mated. It must have happened really late in the season.
I also took a peek under the lid on Queen Jezebel's hive. They still seem very strong and have a good sized cluster. They've been weighing really light (80 lbs) and I'd hate to lose them to starvation so I added 2 more frames of honey that I took from Catherine last September, bringing the weight up to 92 lbs.
Inside I found a grapefruit-sized cluster, frozen dead. I located the dead queen, as well as a single queen cell that looked like it had been used and was getting dismantled. I'm not really sure what to make of it. I didn't see it in any previous inspections, so I don't know for sure when they tried to raise a new queen. I know the queen survived the cutout, but she must have been failing (hence the lack of recovery) and they tried to requeen. Unfortunately either the queen was poorly mated or never mated. It must have happened really late in the season.
 |
| Dead Queen Isabella and used queen cell |
I also took a peek under the lid on Queen Jezebel's hive. They still seem very strong and have a good sized cluster. They've been weighing really light (80 lbs) and I'd hate to lose them to starvation so I added 2 more frames of honey that I took from Catherine last September, bringing the weight up to 92 lbs.
Friday, December 6, 2013
Bee Log - December 6, 2013
Winter is coming.
No video today. Just posting some log information.
We've had 1 week of very cold, below freezing temperatures, but it's been dry. Today we got our first snow fall and are expecting some bad weather for the next few days. I took weights and checked on my hives this morning. Temperature was 24 degrees F.
One thing to note: The hive weights increased 2-6 lbs over 3 weeks ago. I suspect the hives have not gained weight, but instead the scale measure +5% in freezing temperatures.
I installed the bottom boards on all hives except Catherine & Guinevere.
I also noticed that the hives with quilts didn't answer back when I knocked on the hives, but I could hear them inside. I don't know if the quilt damps the vibration or has some kind of acoustical affect that either makes my knock less disturbing or just more difficult to hear their responsive buzz.
Beatrice: (quilt) 78 lbs. Quiet but still seems to be alive. I could barely hear a soft buzzing within the hive. No mess of dead bees on the bottom board.
Catherine: (quilt) 93 lbs. Sounds good.
Dulce: 116 lbs. Sounds good.
Elizabeth: 120 lbs. Sounds good.
Flora: 140 lbs. Sounds good.
Guinevere: (quilt) 84 lbs. Sounds good.
Helen: 150 lbs. Sounds good.
Isabella: (quilt) 59 lbs. Might be dead. Lots of dead bees on bottom board. I couldn't hear them inside. I'll open it up on the next nice sunny day.
Jezebel: 80 lbs. Quiet, but still there.
We'll see how well they survive the coming weather.
No video today. Just posting some log information.
We've had 1 week of very cold, below freezing temperatures, but it's been dry. Today we got our first snow fall and are expecting some bad weather for the next few days. I took weights and checked on my hives this morning. Temperature was 24 degrees F.
One thing to note: The hive weights increased 2-6 lbs over 3 weeks ago. I suspect the hives have not gained weight, but instead the scale measure +5% in freezing temperatures.
I installed the bottom boards on all hives except Catherine & Guinevere.
I also noticed that the hives with quilts didn't answer back when I knocked on the hives, but I could hear them inside. I don't know if the quilt damps the vibration or has some kind of acoustical affect that either makes my knock less disturbing or just more difficult to hear their responsive buzz.
Beatrice: (quilt) 78 lbs. Quiet but still seems to be alive. I could barely hear a soft buzzing within the hive. No mess of dead bees on the bottom board.
 |
| Queen Beatrice - Very little mortality |
Catherine: (quilt) 93 lbs. Sounds good.
Dulce: 116 lbs. Sounds good.
Elizabeth: 120 lbs. Sounds good.
Flora: 140 lbs. Sounds good.
Guinevere: (quilt) 84 lbs. Sounds good.
Helen: 150 lbs. Sounds good.
Isabella: (quilt) 59 lbs. Might be dead. Lots of dead bees on bottom board. I couldn't hear them inside. I'll open it up on the next nice sunny day.
 |
| Queen Isabella - Large die-off |
Jezebel: 80 lbs. Quiet, but still there.
We'll see how well they survive the coming weather.
Sunday, December 1, 2013
Bee Vlog - November 23, 2013
Free hive plans provided by michiganbees.org:
"In the Beekeeper's Workshop"
I'm building 5-frame medium nucs, but these hive plans can be used to construct any hive size and are very easy to make. The minimum tools needed are a table saw with dado blade, rip cutting blade, & cross-cut blade (although I use a miter saw for the cross-cuts). A power stapler is a nice tool to have too, but isn't required. Nails or screws can be used instead, but may make assembly a little more difficult.
Video Link
"In the Beekeeper's Workshop"
I'm building 5-frame medium nucs, but these hive plans can be used to construct any hive size and are very easy to make. The minimum tools needed are a table saw with dado blade, rip cutting blade, & cross-cut blade (although I use a miter saw for the cross-cuts). A power stapler is a nice tool to have too, but isn't required. Nails or screws can be used instead, but may make assembly a little more difficult.
Video Link
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Bee Vlog - October 12, 2013
Quilt boxes are a good way to help the bees retain heat while keeping the hive dry. In our wet and rainy winters that can be very beneficial. I've got a couple hives that are rather small and may have trouble keeping the hive warm enough to prevent condensation. I'm installing quilt boxes on their hives to make winter a little easier on them.
I made some modifications to the typical quilt box designs found around the internet. Instead of stapling the cloth onto the bottom of the box I figured out how to recess the cloth to maintain good bee space. This video shows my method of attaching a canvas bottom.
Video Link
I made some modifications to the typical quilt box designs found around the internet. Instead of stapling the cloth onto the bottom of the box I figured out how to recess the cloth to maintain good bee space. This video shows my method of attaching a canvas bottom.
Video Link
Monday, October 7, 2013
Bee Vlog - October 5, 2013
Queen Beatrice's population has been dwindling. In the inspection last month I found some problems with the brood that I couldn't really document or inspect very well because of the yellow jackets. Now that the yellow jackets have died back some and the weather is nice I took the opportunity to do another inspection to see what's going on.
The population has really shrunk significantly. All beehives have mites, but in this case it looks like they got hit really hard and it's making it difficult to raise brood. I'm going to just reduce their hive size and see how they overwinter. Next week I'll put a quilt box on to help them keep things warm and dry, but other than that I'll do nothing.
Video Link
The population has really shrunk significantly. All beehives have mites, but in this case it looks like they got hit really hard and it's making it difficult to raise brood. I'm going to just reduce their hive size and see how they overwinter. Next week I'll put a quilt box on to help them keep things warm and dry, but other than that I'll do nothing.
Video Link
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