Spring 2011 Bee Calendar

February 22, 2011 Reversed hive bodies; excellent cluster; lots of hive beetles March 25, 2011 Added medium super, unpainted(!), with one shallow built with minor honey remnants. Hope it suffices to entice.

Swarm Calendar

I need to record my swarm prevention techniques and dates.

February 21, 2010 Reversed brood boxes

March 26, 2010 Added third deep and interspersed ten empty frames among existing

May 7, 2010 Added shallow with foundation under third deep; third deep too heavy

Need to add second shallow soon or maybe medium if I can get it built

Started Seeds

I started some seeds in the ground and our outdoor winter sowing containers today. Into the ground went sugar snaps, lettuce (mesclun and romaine), and spinach. I'm trying the catmint and sweet woodruff in a starter box. I have absolutely no confidence in seeds; it's too much of a miracle I think.

I think I really messed up by piling the leaves in the bed. The hitchhiking acorns are all sprouting which I think we can clear out pretty easily but then I noticed all the elm helicopters and I think that might really be a mess. Live and learn; maybe it won't be too weedy of a mess.

Otherwise, dirt looks great. Nice and sunny today; bees are out and I'm hoping they are taking their feed.

Reversed Brood Boxes

I reversed the two brood boxes today. The lower was in fact completely empty and very light, easy to remove from the bottom board. The upper was somewhat heavy with a tight cluster taking up pretty much every frame but the most outer.

The next steps are to repaint all woodenware (which I will do today) and to buy more frames and some medium brood boxes for later. Maybe I can do that this week. I want to go up to Brushy Mountain and pick up the supplies to avoid the shipping charges.

I am really hoping to catch a swarm (none from mine!) this summer if Mitzi will call and let me know one has landed on her porch! That's where my swarm went last Easter. She said she has three total land in the same spot and just left them there until they flew away. If I have some medium brood boxes then I think I can use it as a new home. I have the bottom board, inner cover, and outer cover already from my spare parts.

Beeking Gets Serious

I've been spending too much time on beesource.com's forums lately and it's made me nervous about what my girls are doing. I am going to document every visit so I can report what I see and be able to follow what's happening in the hive.

Disease and Pests:
2 SHB - one in the cover, one in the lower deep

Frame Inspection:
Lower Deep
1 Foundation not built
2 Foundation not built
3 A: Built B: 1/3 built Frame is empty
4 Both sides built but empty
5 Not recorded
6 Brood in all of frame except corners on both sides; empty brood cells filled with nectar
7 Brood and larvae in all of frame except corners on both sides; empty brood cells filled with nectar
8 A: 1/3 brood, 1/3 nectar B: 1/2 brood, 1/2 nectar
9 Not recorded
10 Not recorded

Upper Deep
1 Foundation not built
2 Fully built on both sides; nectar in 1/3 of one side
3 A: 1/2 honey, 1/2 nectar B: 1/3 honey, 1/3 nectar
4 A: 1/3 honey, 2/3 nectar B: 80% capped honey
5 Both sides: Honey in upper corners; brood in left and right sections; nectar fills most of center
6 Both sides: Honey in upper corners; brood in center backfilled with nectar; nectar in side sections
7 Both sides: Honey in upper corners; brood in center backfilled with nectar; nectar in side sections
8 A: Spotty brood; 1/3 honey; 1/3 nectar B: 1/2 honey; 1/2 nectar
9 Both sides fully built; 1/3 nectar
10 A: 1/3 built with nectar B: Foundation not built

Comments:
I am concerned about the replacement of brood in the upper deep ("backfill") but realize that the queen may return to the lower deep to reclaim as a brood nest. The queen was identified in the upper deep this morning but was not identified in the afternoon. The final two frames in the lower deep were not inspected because I ran out of smoke and had caused great disruption in the hive. I was stung through the pants, retreated to the porch, returned with some smoking capability and wearing gloves. Began inspecting lower deep and repeatedly was tagged in the hands and face. Finally packed up the hive and retreated :) I forgot to put in the 10th frame in the upper deep and did not put on the inner cover. I'll fix that next time...

Uh Oh A Seed List

I'm on the Park Seed site making my list....



Italian basil

purple basil

lemon basil

borage (WS)

anise hyssop (PS)

cilantro (PS)

sweet woodruff - (FS) along the wall by the hive

dill

chives

fennel

spearmint

peppermint

chamomile

lemon balm (PS)

stevia?

Checking on the Hive

Last night, I attended a webinar online by Brushy Mountain Bee Farm. The host talked about the equipment choices and procedures for harvesting and extracting honey. Turns out, it's not as totally scary as I thought. I need a bee escape but otherwise I think my kitchen has everything I need.

I learned a tip, though, during the Q&A. The host said that one should not put on the queen excluder until the girls have built out the comb in the super. I have been waiting and waiting all summer for any sign of life in my super and it must be because I have had the queen excluder on for several, several months. I took it off this afternoon so we'll see how that helps.

Two things. I'll do the gross thing first and then talk about feeding.

So, one of the reasons (excuses) that I had made up for why the bees weren't building out my super was because during all of last year, I stored the built and foundationed frames in the super beside the hive but not on it. I had a telescoping cover over it to protect it from the elements. When I went to put the super on at the start of the summer, I took off the cover and there were a few really gigantic, gross roaches in the super. How totally gross, right? I screamed, chased them away, etc. And then I put that super over the queen excluder on top of the hive and the bees never built it out. I am nauseous right now just thinking about them. So I thought the reason the girls weren't building was because of the previous roach presence. I think now that it was the excluder.

I checked on the hive today and, lo and behold, guess what I found in the super ON THE HIVE. A gross giant roach. Seriously, it was the size of my entire thumb. I killed its baby-sized friend but the big juicy one ran off. There was roach poop around the outside of the hive box which I scraped off with my hive tool (I'd rather lick the toilet than my hive tool for all the gross stuff it does for me.) but the inside of the super and the foundation was spotless. The bees were keeping it beautifully clean as they do all of the hive but they were just not building. Nevertheless, the roaches were in there. Surely now that the excluder has been removed, the roach will not dare return. If I find any further sign of them, I'm not sure what I'll do.

As an aside, I saw a slew of hive beetles, maybe a dozen. All but one were in the unoccupied super on the hive which gives me hope. I think there is a big problem with bees not protecting their resources. Other things move in and take over. Let that be a lesson to me :)

The other thing that I need to do is feed. I hate doing that but the honey supply was low and there was virtually no pollen at all. I'm going to mix up some feed tomorrow and get that out there for them. My mentor Libby had told me to feed back when the queen showed off but I didn't do it. Even the Brushy guy said his honey stores were lower than they were at the start of spring and he was going to feed until the next flow. I guess the good thing about feeding is that it will encourage the girls to finish building out the rest of the frames.