Preparing for the 2016 beekeeping season.

It's been a while since I posted here.  Last year, I put out the top-bar hive (Hive Beta) and installed bees into it.  I also cleaned and put new bees into my two Langstroth hives (Hive A and Hive B).  They all seemed to do well, but I ended up combining medium hive bodies from Hive B to Hive A so that Hive A would survive the winter.  Hive Beta seemed to be behind, and I think it was due to me not much feeding syrup to them and the bees truly starting from scratch--an empty hive with no foundation or wax at all.

We put a thermometer into Hive A, and we could see that the bees were alive as recently as late-January of 2016.  In fact, on one day, the hive was in the high-90's when the ambient temperature in the area was well below freezing.

I have yet to check Hive A or Hive Beta.  I don't think that either survived, but I haven't had a chance to crack either of them open.  I did put straw bales around them this year, and that is a first for me.

Going forward, I'm going to move to deep hive bodies.  I only need to use three of them instead of the five mediums that I have been using.  They will be heavier, but easier to and track.

I just got word that the bees are coming Sunday, April 10, 2016.  I tried a guy who is closer than the place I was using in Stillwater, so we'll see how pick-up goes.

I need to get the hive bodies ready.  They are assembled, but I have to drill the holes, get the corks, prime them, and paint them.  I also have to assemble at least 20 frames for the deeps.

Controlled burn this spring?

The prescribed burn that I discussed in my September of 2014 entry was postponed to this spring.  Prairie Restorations, Inc. believes that they will conduct the burn this month yet.  Ideally, it would be done before the bees arrive, but I believe we can burn around the hives and the bees shouldn't be overly bothered.

New bee arrival date; hives ready.

The bees now arrive on April 18, 2015.  The distribution center is Nature's Nectar in Stillwater.  Pick-up day is very busy, and Nature's Nectar used to have certain times that you could arrive--depending on your last name.  If you are far enough away (as I am), I think you can show up whenever you are able.

The hives for spring 2015:  Langstroth (Hive A), a Kenyan top-bar hive (Beta), and another Langstroth (Hive B)

The hives are ready to go.  I had to (or decided to) throw away many frames after my bees died during the winter of '13 - '14.  I believe that they just died from a cold snap and not from any diseases.  There was some rotting of the bees and many of the frames were, I though, no longer useful.

So, I'll need to order about 100+ frames, I think.  Both A1 and B1 need new frames.  Also, as I might show you in an upcoming post, I think that Beta is going to also use those frames.

I have some pollen patties from the first season that I had the bees, 2013.  They've been in the refrigerator since then.  They may still be good, but I don't know how to determine that, frankly...

I'm also struggling with how I'll feed syrup to the bees in Beta.  I may have to use an external feeder and just hope that A1 and B1 leave that syrup alone once they find their own syrup in their hives.

New bees on their way.

A brief update… My bees died last winter, and I didn't find out soon enough to order new ones. We harvested some honey from the hives.

So, this spring, I will be starting my second year of beekeeping. I'm going to restart my two Langstroth hives, and add to my apiary by installing bees into a top bar hive that to my dad and I made several summers ago.

Bees arrive 4/25/2015.

Controlled burn planned for fall of 2014.

Our two hives are at the edge of our ~40 acres of restored prairie.  This fall, we plan to do a controlled burn of the prairie.  To minimize property damage, fatalities, and other catastrophe, the fine folks at Prairie Restorations, Inc. will be helping us.

The image below is not mine, and comes from here.

A prescribed or controlled burn of a prairie.

Bees died over the winter of 2013 - 2014.

The 2013 - 2014 winter in Minnesota was a tough one for bees and certainly for my two hives; they both died.  In late December, we think that we saw evidence of cleansing flights, and I saw live bees in the hive when I looked through the top open hole.

But, come spring, both hives were dead.  When we opened each hive, we could see bees next to capped honey.  They died "head down" in the cell as if they were trying to get the last bit of honey out of the cell.  The mite counts were low going into the winter, and I saw no evidence of disease of infestation. So, it may be that the cold was just too much for the cluster of bees to move to new areas of honey.

In the spring/summer, we harvested the honey.  There wasn't a great deal of it, so we used the crush and strain method with a household stainless steel mesh strainer.  The harvest is below.

Honey from hives A and B (mixed) before final straining.

We also used a double-boiler to melt and purify the wax.  We now have about 2 pounds of pure beeswax.  (No picture currently available.)  There are still fine bits of wax in the honey.  We eat it this way.  But, before we give it to others, we have been using 4 layers of cheesecloth as a final straining.

Varroa mite counting, round 4.

On 8/3/2013 at 1310, I removed the sticky board from beneath each hive.  The boards had been in for about 2.5 days.  Unfortunately, I lost track of specifically when I placed the boards.

Hive A had 17 - 19 mites on the board.  When I removed the boards, I scraped off some Vaseline and (likely) mites.  So, I estimated the number of mites that might have been in the ninth of the board to be 3 instead of the 1 that I counted.  Hence, I'm going to go with the higher number.

Hive B had 33 mites on the board.  One reference that I recall said that greater than 40 mite (in one day, mind you) was another indication for treatment.  I'm still below that number, at least.  In any event, I continue with the mites per 1,000 bees per day calculations below.

On 6/16/2013, Hive A had a population of about 9,375 bees (7.5 frames full of bees x 1,250 bees per full frame).  On the same date, Hive B had a population of about 12,500 bees (10 frames full of bees x 1,250 bees per full frame).  Again, we are going to say that this is over 4 days of collection.

• Hive A:  1 mite per 9,375 bees per 4 days = 1/(9,375 x 4) = 0.03 mites per 1,000 bees per day.
• Hive B:  10 mites per 12.5k bees per 4 days = (1/12,500 x 4) = 0.2 mites per 1,000 bees per day.

So, from the numbers above, I feel that I am comfortable not treating for mites at this time.  The quote that I am following, you might recall, is the following:  "If your sticky board count shows more than 2 mites per thousand bees per day in mid-August or more than 4 mites per thousand bees per day in September, you should find a way to reduce the mite population."

Even if the boards were only in for one day--and thus the mite numbers would be 0.12 and 0.8 mites per thousand bees per day--there would not be a clear indication to treat.

After this mite count, I did not get to a mite count for over a month.  I did an about 2.5-day mite count that ended on 8/3/2013.  There were significantly more mites, but there were also significantly more bees.  I'm hoping to do an inspection over the weekend of 8/3/2013 so that I can get a good estimate of numbers of bees.